but I’m totally sober now,” she said. Legally, she knew that at least was true.

“How much are you drinking?”

“I told you, a couple of beers.”

“How often?”

“I dunno. A few times a week. It’s no big deal.”

“Do you think that’s a good idea?” They stood in the parking lot as Gerald watched her and waited for an answer.

“I don’t know, I’m just . . . I’m tired,” Lucy said.

“Tired?” Gerald asked.

Lucy didn’t say anything more. She only felt honestly, truly tired.

“Have you ever treated patients when you’ve been drunk?” he asked.

“No,” she said. When he didn’t look convinced, she said again, more strongly, “No. Never. I swear.”

“What about driving? Have you driven drunk?” he asked, his voice starting to edge into judgmental territory. Lucy was about to insist that of course she would never drink and drive when she thought about last night. How had she gotten home? She couldn’t quite remember. Surely Nathan had driven her. Although in the morning her car had been at her house, as had Nathan’s. She must have driven home from the Cowgirl. She couldn’t remember. Oh, God. She looked up at Gerald, knowing she had to lie but not wanting to. She did anyway. “No. I’m really careful,” she said firmly.

“Look, I don’t know what’s going on with you . . .” he said without finishing the thought, then sighed. “Just . . . take care of yourself.”

“Yeah. Thanks,” she said hesitantly as he turned to leave.

Take care of yourself? That’s what you said to a person you hope to never see again.

CHAPTER FOUR

Friday Morning

Gil was driving lights and sirens while Joe sat in the passenger seat checking out the neighboring cars as they zipped by them.

“Hey, slow down, dude, that girl in the Toyota back there had a killer chest,” Joe said, turning around to gawk.

Gil ignored him and instead said, “Look, what I said back at the house, I didn’t mean to—”

“Dude,” Joe said with a laugh, “it’s no biggie. You just gotta ignore me when I get mad. I’m a total jackass, but I get over it fast. If I’m ever really mad, you’ll know.”

“How will I know?”

“By my fist punching through your chest.”

Gil wondered if Joe had been as volatile before he joined the army. He maneuvered the Crown Vic around the stopped cars in front of them and through the intersection of Cerrillos Road and St. Francis Drive.

“What did you think of the family?” Joe asked.

“They were about what I expected.”

“Really? Did you know what I noticed most? Laura’s Nike Air Force 1s. That girl’s got style. Those were some killer kicks. I bet you she’s the most popular girl in school.”

“What are you talking about? Her shoes?” Gil asked, negotiating his way around a city bus.

“Those aren’t just shoes. I bet they were a special release. Easily cost a hundred and eighty bucks.”

“For tennis shoes?”

“What? You’ve never heard of sneakerheads? Sneaker collecting is like the new thing. Dude, do you go out into the world at all?”

“Really?” Gil wasn’t sure if Joe was joking.

“An original Nike Air Force 2 high-top from 1982 just sold for like fifteen thousand dollars,” Joe said. “God, if I owned those, I’d jerk off to them I’d love them so much.”

“How many do you have in your collection?” Gil asked, joking.

“I just have a couple pair of old Air Jordans. They’d sell for like maybe a hundred bucks each. Man, you should be all over this. You used to play basketball.”

“Yeah, but I’d throw my shoes away when they got old. I didn’t hang on to them to show to company.”

“Dude, you almost made a joke,” Joe said, feigning surprise.

“I did notice that Ashley had cutting marks,” Gil said, trying to get them back on track.

“Really? I didn’t see that,” Joe said, tapping his foot on the floor. Then he asked again, as he had three times since leaving the Rodriguez house, “So the chief didn’t say anything at all about where we’re going?”

“I already told you, no,” Gil said. Working with Joe was like being with a seven-year-old hyped up on sugar.

Gil pulled up to the Santuario de Guadalupe. He parked on the street and kept his emergency lights on. Another car raced to a stop, pulling up next to them. It was Kline with Garcia.

“Hey,” Gil said to them as they got out. “What’s going on?”

All Kline said was “Let’s go see.”

Gil and Joe walked up to the crowd of people gathered around the perimeter of a crime scene tape line