cover-up. He was studying her bedroom in all its Goodwill furniture glory.

“Why do you have all these chairs in here?” he asked.

She looked at the walls lined with five wooden chairs that once matched a table, long since gone.

“It’s for when I play musical chairs with myself.”

“Really?”

She sighed. “No. I was trying to make a joke.”

As she patted on face powder, she realized the chairs were from a game of sorts. One she had played with her ex-boyfriend, Del Matteucci. The game had been called Let’s Move a Thousand Miles Away and Then Break Up. It wasn’t a very fun game, and she was definitely the loser. She had come to Santa Fe a year and a half ago to be with Del. She had wanted to stay in Florida, but he got offered a photography job at the Santa Fe Times. She had hoped to get a reporting job, but in the end, she took the only job she could find—night editor at the Capital Tribune. Six months later, they split up. The chairs, along with the rest of their joint possessions, became the playing pieces in the Break Up game. He won the coffeemaker and silverware, and she got the chairs.

She had half of her makeup done—so the left and right sides of her face looked like before and after makeover pictures—when she heard a honk of a horn.

“Nat, the cab’s here,” she said.

“Okay, sure.” He didn’t move.

“So, let’s all go out to the cab now. Come on. It’ll be fun.” She made shooing motions with her hands at him.

He finally got up, and they went to the door. He hesitated in the door frame. It was only at that moment she realized he might try to kiss her good-bye.

“I’ll just see you out to the cab,” she said to forestall any such thing.

She walked the few feet outside to the cab door, opened it, and said a sunny “Bye-bye. See you later.”

“Umm . . . you know . . .” Nathan started to say, not getting into the cab.

“Look, I really need to go,” Lucy said.

“Yeah, I know. It’s just that, you know, I don’t have any cash.”

“You work at a bar. Don’t you have money from tips?”

“Not really. Last night was really slow. Plus I owed this guy some money . . .”

He tried to do his best cute-dog eyes, which worked since he was still wearing his spiked dog collar.

“Fine. Whatever.” She went back inside and got her wallet. Outside, she said to the cabdriver, “How much to take this guy home?”

“About fifteen dollars.”

“Swell,” she said. “Do you have change for a twenty?”

“You know, I just realized,” she heard Nathan say from the backseat of the cab, “I’m going to have to take a taxi back here to get my car.”

Lucy leaned her head against the roof of the cab and started laughing. What was supposed to have been a free and easy one-night stand was going to end up costing her thirty dollars in consequences. She pulled another ten out of her wallet and gave it to Nathan as he said, “I really appreciate it. I’ll call you—”

“Take care.”

“But how will I pay you back—”

“See you later.”

“If you—”

She walked away, shaking her head. God, but she was a moron. She had just paid a man to go away.

Joe followed Gil as they entered the cathedral to check for any additional signs the killer might have left inside. Joe stood back a ways, looking uncomfortable.

Gil crossed himself with the cool holy water as he went though the doors. The church was just over a hundred years old, young by Santa Fe standards, and had been built in the French-Romanesque style. The interior was bright with sunlight, and tall ceilings were crisscrossed with flying arches. The locals had added their own touches, too. The Stations of the Cross were made in the santero style, and the huge altar screen featured Native American and Mexican saints.

Gil walked over to the front of the altar and genuflected, crossing himself and kissing his thumb.

“What am I supposed to do?” Joe whispered. “Bow or something?”

“Just keep walking,” Gil said.

“Man, I hate churches. When can we go investigate something in a bar? Now that’s my scene.”

They went over to the chapel of La Conquistadora, which was to the left of the altar. This was the only part that remained of the adobe church that had stood here since the 1700s.

The back wall of the chapel was completely taken up by a