It was in the Marketplace that he saw her.
Or at least he thought it was her. The photo was an instant snapshot of a naked Latino girl of 15 or 16, with thick black hair and dark, expressive eyes. She glared up into the camera, and it was plain to see that she'd been scared...but also that she was defiant.
It was those same eyes that he saw right now, though it wasn't easy to recognize the rest of the girl.
She was clothed for one, but more than that...she was fat. She waddled along with a baby held tenderly in each arm - tiny heads resting atop her massive bosom. Her hair was up in a matronly bun and she wore well made, though very plain looking, clothes much like the rest of the local girls. A white blouse and dark skirt seemed to accentuate her size.
"Hurry, Juanita! We wont be in town for long, and I have much to do. Wait at the cafe while I attend to my business. You mind me, girl."
The man who spoke was old (at least 70) yet ruggedly handsome and built like a man half his age. He was dressed in a white shirt, tan slacks and brown cowboy boots.
He was also known to me.
HE was one "Gomez Padraza" - an obscure Mexican gangster who had many contacts in the Latino underworld of Texas. I'd heard him mentioned as possibly connected with the boys disappearance, but I'd hoped against it. The enemies of Gomez Padraza had a habit of vanishing.
I watched as the large, bulky young lady waddled to wards an eatery called "Herrera's" and took a pair of seats. I followed quietly, sliding into the seat behind her.
She undid the front of her blouse and exposed her breasts while raising her infants up to her nipples. They began to suckle at once, and the girl looked at them with love, then out over the public square. Her look changed to one of unhappy resignation, and she blinked back tears.
"Oh Madre! Oh Padre! Has it been a year since I've seen you?" She sobbed as she wiped her eyes with a napkin. "I just wish I could tell you..."
"Excuse me?" I said in English.
Juanita turned and looked at the man who'd just spoken. He was obviously an American tourist, but now that she'd been robbed of her ability to speak or understand English she lacked the ability to communicate with him.
She smiled politely and said "No hablo English, senior."
I frowned at that. Was I wrong about her? I'd have sworn that this girl was the apparently transgendered boy I'd been sent to find.
I tried again in Spanish "I'm looking for a missing American boy. He'd be a little over 16 now. He'd had an encounter with a gang of rough Texas Latinos, and all my tracking has led me to this village. When he was last seen...he looked like this."
The effect of his words on the girl was obvious. She'd first looked stunned and surprised, then she'd taken the photo from him and nodded eagerly, saying in Spanish "Si! Si! This is me! This is the photo they took right after they did this to me! How did you find me? How did you get this?"
"You mean that this IS you?"
The girl swallowed, then nodded. I'd heard of things like this. Gomez Padraza must be some kind of a pervert - taking a healthy boy and using what I could only guess were surgery and drugs to transform him into a wet nurse.
I didn't know then that all this had been the work of Gomez Padraza himself. I couldn't know that this elderly gangster had some kind of powers to alter both a persons body and mind.
I looked around and saw no one looking at us. I stood and said over my shoulder "I'm going to my car. Follow me and look as casual as possible. Get into the back seat...then get down."
"What about my babies?"
"Aren't they his kids?
"Yes. They are his, just as I am his. I am his wife."
I blanched at that. The old bastard had warped this kid, then forced him to become his wife! I could only assume that the poor kid had been brainwashed into believing that he'd actually given birth to those two infants.
"Then bring your kids along, but hurry."
I stood and walked to my car, slipping another ten-dollar bill to the fellow who'd been watching it for me. Then I slid behind the wheel and pulled up until I was along side "Juanita".