you mean?” Garcia asked, turning to Gil.

“Well, assuming these bones are Brianna’s, I think we can all agree that whoever killed her and set up this display is not your run-of-the-mill suspect,” Gil said. “I think he has a mental disorder and he’s feeling guilty for killing Brianna. He knows it was wrong and makes these displays to show God that he’s sorry. Mary is the main saint who intercedes with God on a sinner’s behalf.”

Garcia nodded, then recited a line from the Hail Mary, “Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners . . .”

“Exactly,” Gil said.

“Dude, all I know about the Virgin Mary is that she sometimes shows up on cheese sandwiches and tortillas,” Joe said to no one.

“So you’re thinking that the elaborate display is part of his disease presentation?” Kline asked, ignoring Joe.

“It might be,” Gil said.

“Just because the guy is nuts, that doesn’t mean he’s not a serial killer,” Joe said.

Gil sighed, tiring of this back-and-forth with him. “That’s true, but statistically serial killers make up only a fraction of all homicides. I think it’s more likely that Brianna’s killer is local and mentally ill and that this was his first kill. There was some recent stressor that made him do all this,” Gil said, gesturing to the statue.

“Could it be something to do with fiesta?” Joe asked, finally releasing his death grip on the serial killer idea. “It seems strange that it’s this weekend.”

“The whole fiesta thing is really about Mary,” Gil said, thoughtful.

“What about a cult?” Garcia asked. “We’ve a fair number of weird religious groups around here.”

“It’s something to consider until we have any other ideas,” Kline said, then added calmly, “I know we don’t have much experience with this kind of case. So if this is too much and we need more manpower, we can always call in the state police or the FBI.”

Lucy pulled up to her house and saw Nathan sitting on her front porch, going through her mail.

She rested her head on the steering wheel for a moment before getting out of the car.

“What are you doing here?” she said to him, annoyed. “Why are you opening my mail? Can you say federal offense?”

“Did you know they’re going to disconnect your electricity on Monday unless you pay nine dollars and five cents? Why wouldn’t you just pay that? Maybe if it was like two hundred, but nine dollars?”

Lucy grabbed the mail from him. “What are you still doing here?”

“I can’t find my keys. I must have dropped them inside.”

Lucy rolled her eyes and opened her front door.

He clumped in after her, saying, “I thought about trying to get in one of the windows, but I already have two B&Es and I don’t need a third strike, you know.”

“That’s the exact same problem I have with my prostitution charges,” Lucy said, throwing the mail down on a side table.

“Really?”

Of course she would pick up a felon with no sense of humor, who in broad daylight had really bad tattoos and some disturbing scars on his neck. She fished the licorice black rock out of her pocket and dropped it into a bowl by the front door. In the bowl were other candy-colored rocks and a few pottery shards. Lucy had taken to picking up pieces of the mishmash she saw on the desert floor, thinking they made an organic kind of potpourri.

They went into the bedroom to search for his keys, throwing aside dirty clothes. After fifteen minutes, they still hadn’t found them.

Lucy looked at her watch. It was 10:00 A.M. She worked the night shift at the newspaper—usually getting in by around 2:00 P.M. and getting done by 11:00 P.M.—but today she needed to be in by 11:00 A.M. so she could meet her boss for her first yearly review.

“Look, Nathan, I have to be at work in an hour. Do you have an extra set of keys or anything? I don’t think we’re going to find them here.”

“Yeah, back at my place. We can go over there to get them.”

“I can’t really do that. I have to get to work. How about I just call you a cab?”

He shrugged.

As they waited for the taxi, he sat on her bed. She needed a shower, but didn’t want any nakedness to happen until after Nathan left, so she put on her makeup. She would just have to avoid getting her face wet while washing her hair. She watched Nathan’s reflection in the mirror as she put on some