Candace had gone in with Melanie, but Kevin had held back, watching from just beyond Aurielo’s desk.

“Last night I lost my sunglasses,” Melanie had said. “So we go out there just to see if we can find them, and we get shot at again!”

Kevin had expected Siegfried to explode. But he didn’t. Instead, he was immediately apologetic, said that the soldiers were only out there to keep people away from the island, and that they shouldn’t have fired their guns. He agreed not only to fix Melanie’s car but to make sure she got a loaner in the interim. He also offered to have the soldiers scour the area for the lost sunglasses.

Esmeralda appeared with the dessert. The women were pleased. It was made with locally grown cocoa.

“Did Siegfried mention anything about what happened today?” Kevin asked.

“He apologized again,” Candace said. “He said he spoke with the Moroccan guard and assured us that there won’t be any more shooting. He said that if anybody wanders out there by the bridge, they will just be spoken to and told that the area is off-limits.”

“Likely story,” Kevin said. “As trigger-happy as those kids they call soldiers are, it’s not going to happen.”

Melanie laughed. “Talk about the soldiers, Siegfried said that they spent hours searching for the nonexistent sunglasses. Serves them right!”

“He did ask us if we wanted to talk with some of the workers who’d been on the island and who’d been burning underbrush,” Candace said. “Can you believe it?”

“And how did you respond?” Kevin asked.

“We told him it wasn’t necessary,” Candace said. “I mean, we don’t want him to think we’re still concerned about the smoke, and we definitely don’t want him to think we’re planning on visiting the island.”

“But we’re not,” Kevin said. He eyed the women while they smiled at each other conspiratorially. “Are we?” As far as Kevin was concerned, getting shot at twice had been more than enough to convince him that visiting the island was out of the question.

“You wondered why we laughed when you told us we were having fish for dinner,” Melanie said. “Remember?”

“Yeah,” Kevin said with concern. He had the distinct feeling he wasn’t going to like what Melanie was about to say.

“We laughed because we spent a good deal of the late afternoon talking to fishermen who come to Cogo a couple of times a week,” Melanie said. “Probably the ones who caught the fish we just ate. They come from a town called Acalayong about ten to twelve miles east of here.”

“I know the town,” Kevin said. It was the jumping-off place for people going from Equatorial Guinea to Cocobeach, Gabon. The route was served by motorized canoes called pirogues.

“We rented one of their boats for two or three days,” Melanie said proudly. “So we don’t have to even go near the bridge. We can visit Isla Francesca by water.”

“Not me,” Kevin said emphatically. “I’ve had it. Frankly, I think we’re lucky to be alive. If you guys want to go, go! I know that nothing I could ever say would influence what you do.”