“Where did she go, sweetie?” I asked.
She shook her head again, and her grip tightened on mine.
“It’s okay, Roza.” I assured her with a comforting smile, though I was anything but calmbeneath the surface. My mind reeled with worries. “You can tell me. You won’t get in trouble.”
Roza stared at me for a long moment, weighing my words with a solemnityI wouldn’t have thought a seven-year-old capable of. Finally, she opened her small pink lips and whispered the words that brought my world to a screeching halt.
“He took her.”
***
Roza sat on a stack of milk crates, her thin legs kicking at the air as she licked an ice cream cone. Fae had found us a few minutes ago, and I’d immediately handed over my mint chocolate chip to Roza before filling my best friend in on what the girl had told me.
“What does she mean, ‘he took her’?Whotook her?” Fae asked, her own untended ice cream cone melting down her hand.
“I don’t know,” I said. “But she’s pretty shaken up. Do we call someone?”
“Who? The police?” Fae lifted one eyebrow doubtfully.
“Well, we have to dosomething.” I looked over at Roza. “She was waiting for me, you know. She waited all last weekend, too. She knew I’d come eventually. That’s what she told me, right before you got here.” I couldn’t help but think about the three weeks that had passed since my last visit. If I’d come sooner, if I hadn’t been so caught up in my own life…
“Lux, this isn’t your fault,” Fae told me.
“I know that,” I muttered. “But these girls… They don’t have anybody.”
Fae sighed. “We don’t know that for sure. And we can’t call the police. Vera and Roza might not be legal citizens…the last thing we’d want is to try to help and in the process accidentally get them deported.”
I nodded in agreement.
“Roza,” I called, approaching the little girl slowly. “Can you do me a favor, sweetie?”
She nodded, licking the green ice cream residue from her lips and fingers as she finished off the cone.
“Can you tell me where you and Vera live?”
She stared at me blankly.
“Do you know your address?” I tried again. “Your neighborhood? The name of your street?”
“Don’t know,” she said, shaking her head remorsefully.
“Could you bring me there?” I asked. “You…take me….home?” I did my best to mime the question with my hands, and watched as comprehension flared in Roza’s dark eyes. She nodded once, then reached out and grabbed hold of my left hand. Hopping down from her milk-crate throne, she turned and began walking, tugging me along after her.
“Where are you going, Lux?” Fae hissed, keeping pace with us. “You don’t know where she’s taking you. It might be a bad neighborhood. You could get in trouble.”
“I know,” I said, catching her eyes with mine. “That’s why you should stay here. If I don’t call you in an hour, you’ll know something’s up. Okay?”
Fae was silent for a minute. “You’re serious about this?”
“Yes,” I said, nodding firmly. “I have to know that Vera is okay. If something happened to her…”
“This is insane,” Fae grumbled.
“That’s why you’re not coming,” I said.
“That’s exactly why I amdefinitelycoming.” She scoffed. “At least one of us with common sense should be going on this crazy escapade.”
“I have common sense,” I muttered indignantly.