led lane, and the nun who opened its s

Then she simply stepped aside and said, "Blankets are in the kitchen. Hurry." Within ninety seconds, the whole group had vanished i

Sophie, and she did not say thank you. She only nodded once, slowly, the way you might nod to someone who

idden worse than this." He lit a cigarette with trembli

t last year,"

eant it

thing, and Sophie knew exactly who he was seeing. She wa

man at the win

houldn't hav

is

been near the pipeline before tonight. If he was at that depot, then Vict

meone told them

es

o k

he thought he would lie. "Beto. Me. And Victor,

him. "Then Vict

bout." He rubbed his face. "Come on. We're not safe here

d every room, and dropped into the chair by the window with the revolver on the table beside him,

He looked younger, and more worn, and entirely un

the girl's voice. She poured a glass of water, drank half, and began to pace the way she always did whe

d pressed her thumb into

d scratched. She sat back on her heels

loth from handling, was a police notice six years old: Wanted for questioning. The photograph showed a younger man with the same scar through his eyebrow and a fac

not hear

back,

t moved. He was watching her with half-open eyes, an

never to

He sat up slowly. "I di

of names. Money you can't explain. You told me you belonged to

rt that would

oice shook, and she hated that. "Am I being protect

away. Instead he crossed the room, pulled a ring of keys f

say run. Or you can go. I'll give you the money, a bus ticket, and an address in another city, and I won't follow. Bu

sn't a

nly honest

ndful of honesty at seven in the morning, and she could not decide w

Cynthia's phone on the bathroom floor and a girl's blue lips in a truck. She thought of the

rrible villa

been

et. "I'll stay. For Cynthia and

loosened in his face, very

d not

of printouts he had brought home, pages of owners and shell companies and staff lists for Ámbar. The papers meant nothing to her at

es, clipped from some society page. A long table covered in white cloth. A crowd in

over. Then she hear

the frame in a borrowed suit with her mother tucked against his side, both of them young and glowing

man beside them

ld friends. He was broad-shouldered, in a leather jacket, with a gold chain at his throat.

tchen

d. The same man. The same finger. She had thought he was a stranger, a face in a glare, someone who had merely watch

the van with his jaw loc

ritten three first names. Her father's. Her mother

ie. She did not say a word. She sat with her hands flat on the table and her heart beating in her

is sleep. She could not catch the words, but she tho