Red Leopard (The Vistaria Affair Series) Read Online Free Page A

they’re wisteria,” he said, without looking.
    “They’re blue, though.”
    He nodded. “It’s some sort of tropical variant that grows wild here. It’s the national flower of Vistaria, of course.”
    That would be why so many women had been wearing it. “Why of course ?” she asked.
    He rubbed his eyes with thumb and forefinger and let his arm drop across the back of the sofa. “ Vistaria is Spanish for wisteria. That’s what this country is called. La Vistaria de Escobedo . The wisteria of Escobedo. Escobedo’s Wisteria. Escobedo’s country, for all the difference it makes, too.”
    Calli frowned and shook her head a little.
    “I have thrown you in the deep end, haven’t I?” Uncle Josh said. “The Escobedo family has been virtually the royal family here since forever, seems like. José Escobedo y Castaños is the current president and supreme commander of the Vistarian Army.”
    “The military junta,” Calli murmured.
    “A damned benign one, let me tell you. It’s thanks to Escobedo’s moderate policies that we’re here at all.”
    “Is that who you called to get me out of jail? Someone high up in the government?”
    “Nothing so impressive, I’m afraid,” Josh confessed. “I phoned the government liaison that has been assigned to work with us opening up the silver mine and asked him who I should call. He never got back to me. But I must have sounded a bit upset, because he obviously did something. I’m sorry we didn’t get there to pick you up in time, Calli. We were on our way, but I hadn’t planned on traffic grinding to a halt because of the fiesta. By the time we got there, you had disappeared. People remembered seeing you, though Customs wouldn’t tell me a damned thing. That’s when I phoned the government guy. What happened, anyway?”
    “I hung around for a while, waiting. I even tried phoning here. When I got no answer I figured something had happened to you. So I thought I’d find a cab, point to your address on the email you sent me and get him to take me there. The information desk told me there were no taxis at the airport because of fiesta, but if I walked up the street I could hail one. So I walked up the street, dragging my case and watching out for a cab when five men came around.”
    She explained what had happened, the jostling and the grope that had caused her to react. “The man at the jail told me I’d broken at least one nose and handed out a few bruises. If they’d been feeling less generous I think they might have charged me for assault or something, but the man—he knew why I had reacted that way. He understood.”
    “What man?”
    “I have no idea who he is, but he carries a lot of weight. I’ve never seen men scramble to attention as fast as these guys did when he walked into the room. We talked a bit, then he said I’d be released shortly and that you’d be waiting for me.”
    “They phoned me and said to come and get you.”
    “Who did?”
    “The police station.” He frowned. “So you explained to this man what had happened to you?”
    “I didn’t get a chance to explain too much. He seemed to know all about it. All about me.”
    “A general?”
    “He wasn’t wearing a uniform. He had red hair and they called him Roger.”
    “Red hair ?” Josh paused from rubbing his eyes again, startled. “Roger?” He thought about it. “For a minute I thought...but no, if they called him Roger....” He shrugged. “I have no idea who it is.”
    She frowned. “Who did you think it might have been?”
    Joshua shook his head. “No one. A passing idea, but far too ridiculous to consider.”
    Minnie emerged from her bedroom carrying an armful of clothes, which she dumped on the coffee table. “I don’t have all that much you could wear, Calli. You’ve got at least six inches on me, so all the pants will be high-waters. But there’s a skirt and some tee-shirts and something for bed, if you really wear anything to bed.” She held up a diaphanous