sia

r me. But he

ts fluid and proprietary. She glanced back at me in the rearview m

d, his voice flat. He didn't loo

led he

ante?" she said, her voice laced with a casual intimacy desig

hang in the air,

e, his knuckles white against th

orgiving. He stopped the car at a familiar, desolate spot. A simple wooden c

ars blurred the rough-hewn wood of the cros

silent marker. "I think he did it. I

desperate need for denial had evaporated, replaced by a cold, hollo

sed. It took a few frantic attempts-her anniversary, his birthday-

ournal. He

"El Jefe." It was all there. A meticulous

ay before she died, made t

e the package. The cave

in the rocks she'd shown me whe

g Bella's sharp call of my name. I found it

recess in the rock,

ock, the sound echoing in the stillnes

osed, steali

to them, sealed, rectangu

ow. His voice was calm, clinical, as if

g to a small, intricate scorpion stampe

ng to-the last fragile shield around m

s all