Her eyes grew big like saucers, and then she frowned.
“No, please, Señor. Did I do something to displease you? If so, I can get—”
“No, sweetheart. It’s not that at all. Just hear me out a bit. We need to talk.”
“I am responsible for earning my portion of my rent, and I have a sister. I don’t have time to talk.”
“But I’m paying you for some of your time. So I’m paying you to talk,” Brady insisted. He checked that his voice was gentle and calm.
The young girl searched the room carefully, as if someone were standing there. “This is not a good idea, Mr. Roger.” She pulled the settee toward him and whispered in his ear, “They are watching.”
This didn’t surprise him. Besides, this kind of recording could be a second source of revenue for Rojas. “I understand. Now please sit back down. I don’t want to hurt you, and I don’t want to get you in trouble. Do you understand?”
Brady tried to speak to her as if he were a relative or the father that probably never really cared about this young girl. It wasn’t hard for him to imagine having a child like her. His moral indignation was giving him fits. If he could, he would have snatched her and set her free.
She sat down carefully, her knees together, her hands folded in her lap after pulling her hemline down to cover her legs properly. She looked positively angelic, which was probably the whole idea.
“I came here to find out about Mr. Rojas. If you help me, I will help you,” he whispered.
“No, Señor. I am very happy here.”
“So how long have you lived here?”
“I don’t remember when I came. I was little. I don’t remember my parents.” She didn’t act with any emotion. He was surprised to hear that living here at the ranch was all she’d ever known. “There are many of us children who live here, and we have a very nice life. We work in the garden, we pick fruit, we help with the horses and the animals, and we play together and have fun.”
“But you’re not allowed to leave the ranch, is that correct?”
“Some do!” Her demeanor brightened. “Some get married. And they leave to go meet their husbands.”
“Meet their husbands? How do you meet your husbands?”
“Today, there is a big wedding in San Diego. Mr. Rojas is there.”
“Yes. The wedding of his niece?”
“In a way, yes. It is a big wedding, because several girls are getting married today. They go to meet their husbands.”
“So Mr. Rojas arranges for them to meet men, who then will marry them. Is that what you’re saying?”
“Yes. Without Mr. Rojas, we wouldn’t be able to meet anybody. He has been very good to us. I have an older sister, and she is one of the lucky ones who is getting married today.”
“Does your sister have any say in this wedding?”
“Of course, but why would she object? Mr. Rojas finds us husbands who are very wealthy, with big houses and beautiful cars. These new brides go live very happy lives. I hope he will find a husband for me as well.”
Brady sat back and stared at the ceiling, trying to think of all the information he needed. He didn’t want to spook her with too many questions, but they’d come to Mexico to catch him, and now it appeared there had been a change of plans. He wondered if somehow Rojas was onto him.
“So Mr. Rojas will be here tomorrow? This was all planned ahead of time? And does it happen often?”
“What does that matter? My sister is delighted, just like all the other girls who came before her. She is free, living in a new country with a nice husband and money to spend on her own. I want that for myself as well.”
“I’m sure you’ll find that someday—what did you say your name was?”
“Isabel.”
“Isabel. That’s a pretty name. So these weddings, your sister has planned for this I imagine for a long time. Does she know this man she’s marrying?”
Isabel frowned. Brady could see she was getting spooked, and he cursed himself inside for rushing thing. But time was ticking away. He maybe had one shot at this, and then his real intention might become discovered. He needed to be careful not to blow it.
“Just tell me what you can, please, Isabel. Perhaps I might want to do something like that. Could you explain how it’s arranged?”
She examined her entwined fingers on her lap. With hesitation, she told him her sister had left only a week ago, after it was announced she would be getting married.
That’s exactly what Brady suspected.
“She lived here with you.”
“And with her daughter.”
“She has a child?”
“Yes, she has a little girl, three years old now. I take care of her.”
There was a lot to unpack here, but he needed to go further. “How did that happen?”
She smiled. “Surely—”
Brady interrupted her. “No, I didn’t mean that. I meant how did she manage to get pregnant? Didn’t she use protection? Or was this a planned pregnancy?”
He thought for a second perhaps he’d gone too far, but Isabel had a quick answer for him.
“She was a gift from God.”
“Someone she knew then, someone she planned to be pregnant with.”
“No, Mr. Rogers. It was a miracle. One of her customers gave her a little gift when she wasn’t careful.”
“I’ll bet her employer was angry.”
“No, he was very happy. He told her that he will make sure the baby had everything she couldn’t do for her and would send her to her new home after she was married. El Dragon is a wonderful man, a gift from God.”
Brady clenched his teeth but otherwise showed no reaction. Isabel was watching him carefully now.
“Well, I’ll find out from Mr. Rojas how all this is done. And did you say he’d be back tomorrow?”
“No, I think no. Tomorrow is the wedding. Tonight is the fiesta.” Her eyes lit up like tiny sparklers.
“And do you know where this big wedding is going to be?”
“It’s always at the Cinderella Slipper. That’s in San Diego. You know of it?”
Brady had frequented that motel in his younger years as a recently minted young tadpole. It was in a seedy part of town, an inexpensive place where lots of young, hopeful SEAL candidates could take a date and not blow a week’s worth of wages. The area was known for street gang violence and robberies, so unless armed and with several other men, Brady hadn’t gone there alone. And for the last ten years, never.
“So Mr. Rojas will be there another day, and then he will come here?”
The young girl thought about his question, as something seemed to spook her. “Señor, I am okay talking, but I need to talk to you about me. Or about you. I will hear from my sister soon, I hope. She will call me in a few days, even if it’s just to say hello to her daughter.”
“Has this happened before—to other girls you have known here?”
“Yes, they call to speak to them. And when the time is right, Mr. Rojas will send her little girl to her. In the meantime, her daughter gets to stay with me, and I help my sister by taking care of her.”
“One last question, Isabel.”