Chapter 35
Sol
Iwasn’t sure what to wear,” Sol was telling Luke and Divya as they walked through the pedestrianized cobblestone streets in Mallorca’s capital.
“I mean, nightly adventure, but we need to fit in at a cocktail bar, while still not wearing something too obvious… It wasn’t easy to choose!
” She’d just put on some wide-legged jeans and a cropped sweater.
It wasn’t as much that she wanted to make sure not to stand out in any way at the bar they were headed to, she’d been still too inebriated to even try making an effort. Her head spun if she focused too much.
She probably sounded a bit silly but she tended to overshare while drunk. Plus she was nervous. She still couldn’t believe the detectives had asked her to come with them to Mallorca in search of Leonardo, and now Luke wasn’t objecting to her joining in the search for the mysterious FadeToBlack.
One thing was clear, her lover was probably not feeling okay.
Under normal circumstances he’d have grumbled, told her they didn’t know if the whole thing was going to be dangerous, and asked her to stay at the hotel.
She then would have had to ask for Divya’s help and explain they were just going to a public cocktail bar.
But none of that had been necessary. Luke had simply asked her to please be careful and to remain by his side at all times—he was at present holding her hand zealously as they walked.
The contact of his warm skin against hers was comforting—and slightly heady.
But those had been all his requests. Was he also drunk?
Just stunned about the whole change-of-plans situation?
They’d been talking about marriage before Divya’s interruption, after all.
Or had he just learned to trust in Sol’s ability to stay safe when it came to her helping in the investigations?
“It’s here,” Divya said, pointing to a turquoise-paned wooden door.
Once inside the vaulted stone cocktail lounge, they recognized the woven light that had been captured by FadeToBlack in their post. The three of them sat at the bar.
Under normal circumstances, Sol would not have ordered the pina colada she so much wanted.
She’d drunk enough that night. But there was nothing normal about the whole thing: for one, she was undercover with Luke and Divya!
And she was still reeling from the unfinished conversation with her lover.
Had she been about to ask him to marry her?
Because last time she divorced she had promised never to put herself through something like that again. Ever. And yet…
They ordered drinks, a pina colada for her, and alcohol-free beer for the two detectives who clearly were taking the whole working assignment more seriously than she was.
“So…what now?” she whispered.
“Now we pretend like we’re having a great time, and an even greater conversation,” Divya said, a smile plastered on her face as her eyes wandered around.
“But in reality we’re making sure not to lose sight of anything or anyone around us.
If FadeToBlack is here, we don’t want to miss them—or risk being recognized as investigators. ”
“Cool! I’ll try my best!” Sol said. The reassuring squeeze of Luke’s hand on her thigh alleviated some of her tension.
A waiter placed a tall glass with a wedge of pineapple in front of her. At the first sip of the pale yellow drink, she relaxed even more. It was sweet, cold, and boozy—exactly what she needed.
Several minutes of the detectives pretending to be having fun, but not even trying to contribute to the conversation, and Sol was officially bored.
Surveillance sure was not exciting—regardless of what she may have believed in the past. Plus, she’d almost finished her drink and didn’t know what she’d do once she couldn’t keep sipping the refreshing concoction.
She was absent-minded and drunk. That’s when an idea assailed her.
“Could we?” she said and then hesitated. That was probably such a silly question. But then again, she realized those two had never made her feel silly. “Could we maybe ask the waiters if they’d ever seen Leonardo around? Maybe they even recognize him if we show them a picture…”
Luke and Divya, who’d been sitting at the bar on opposite sides of Sol, turned their faces instantly to look at her.
They both narrowed their gazes at Sol. She believed each of them was about to say something, to refute her crazy idea, but they didn’t.
That was when the detectives looked at one another and had one of their wordless conversations.
“Are you guys not gonna say anything or what?” Sol had always been a bit jealous about their ability to understand one another so well without words.
“I think both of our initial reactions were that your idea was a bit of a stretch, we wanted to remain undetected after all. But it doesn’t look like FadeToBlack is here anyway,” Luke admitted, warmth in his intense brown eyes. “So we’ve reconsidered. What gave you the thought?”
“Honestly?” She turned her face from side to side to look at the two detectives.
“Please.” Divya smiled at her.
“I’m drunk and unfiltered.”
“Would you say that being drunk, sometimes, boosts your creativity?” Divya continued.
“At the risk of sounding like an alcoholic, absolutely!” Sol said, without hesitation. “I just don’t do it very often.”
“No judgment here,” Divya said.
“I also thought,” Sol explained, her voice barely higher than a whisper.
“that whoever FadeToBlack is could have taken that picture of the bracelet here, no? I mean, it’s what makes more sense.
I doubt they had the picture in their cell phone and just decided to post it when they were having a cocktail…
Plus, have we considered FadeToBlack could be Leonardo? ” She whispered that last bit.
“We have.” Divya smiled. “I still think he isn’t.
But I like your reasoning. Now, the last time I tried getting a good picture of Kristen Stewart online, I just kept finding weird pics of her with even weirder hairdos and outfits.
Sol, would you mind trying to find a picture of Leonardo online, where he looks recognizable for say an average person, so that we can show these chaps? ”
“Of course!”
After a deep search of internet materials, Sol was satisfied Leonardo Pascual looked exactly like himself in the photograph she’d unearthed of him attending a television festival a couple of years before and posing on the red carpet. She handed it to Divya.
“Stay here,” the Mancunian said, and she stood up to go talk to the waiters at the other end of the bar.
“So…” Luke said, the moment Sol and he were alone. His eyes were firmly set on her face. “Can I hire you on a permanent basis?”
She blushed, blinked several times. Why was it that she hadn’t ordered another pina colada yet? She most definitely needed it.
“Are you asking me to be your other detective partner? Or to be your wife?”
His grin was smug. “I’m asking you to consider collaborating with me and Divya in a more official capacity going forward, yes. For the wife thing, I’m still waiting on a firm proposal from you—when you’re not drunk. You know I take consent extremely seriously.”
She swallowed. Hard. Now she was glad she hadn’t ordered that second drink.
“Sol, oh my god!” Divya startled her. She’d appeared behind them. “Could you perhaps consider working with us more often? Not just as a translator but a proper investigator.”
“I was just asking her that.” Luke’s voice was honeyed.
“Your freaking idea was genius. One of the waiters saw Leonardo here yesterday.” Divya was ecstatic. “In fact, it sounds so obvious. I really don’t know why we didn’t think about it.”
“Because sometimes we’re still too used to following our previous agency’s methods and forget that fieldwork doesn’t necessarily mean always surveillance and not calling attention to ourselves,” Luke said, and his eyes still hadn’t left Sol.
The mention of the former agency where both Divya and Luke had worked, met each other, and then left, brought Sol memories of how she’d gotten to know both of them.
“Luckily, Sol here was able to think straight,” Luke added.
She was technically drunk. But sure, she was thinking straight. And absolutely delighted at the idea of Luke and Divya wanting her to help them more often.
“So, what did they tell you?” Luke asked Divya, finally losing his hold on Sol’s eyes and permitting her to relax—a little.
“The two waiters remember Leonardo being here yesterday. The bar was pretty empty but they insisted they’d be able to recall him even if it was a packed night.
Apparently he looked hooooottttt.” Luke was about to ask Divya something else but she didn’t let him.
“No, they haven’t seen him at the bar before or since. And he wasn’t alone.”
“Another lover?” Luke cleared his throat, though the thrill was obvious. He was enjoying the solving of the puzzle—and finally not mad at Divya for the interruption with a side of late-night outing.
“They didn’t get that vibe,” Divya dismissed. “Apparently it was a very unremarkable chap, and Leonardo was totally—and I’m quoting here—out of his league.”
“What does it mean that this chap who was with Leonardo was unremarkable?” Luke asked, still in chasing mode. “What did he look like?”
Divya and Sol glared at him, then Divya said: “It means they have no clue what the other chap looked like because they only had eyes for Leonardo, mate.”
Luke rolled his eyes. He wanted to find the actor, but Sol was starting to wonder if he’d ever liked Leonardo.
“But this is where things get interesting,” Divya said. “They don’t believe Leonardo was here of his own accord.”