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Pablo had made the cal s, dropped off the pay after Dimebox Ortiz Nobody knew Pablo in San Antonio That’s why Wil kept him alive

Across the street, the San Antonio River was flooding its banks Soledad used to walk along the edge of the water there She used to talk to the man who sold hubcaps from his front porch She’d make jokes with the boys who fished off the oil drums in the shade of the syca theotten for a hundred bucks at one of the Arguel o pawn shops

Even with the stash Gerry Far had provided, they were getting low onthat left a paper trail But he should risk a trip to the ATM, dip into the eency fund his friend had set up for hihborhood

Wil put the car in drive

He eased across the Grand Avenue Bridge, through a half foot of water He parked in front of the San Antonio Art Museuain, nervous

Thelilass skywalk connecting them It used to be the Lone Star Beer Brewery, and in Wil ’s opinion that had been a better use for the building

He’d only been here once before, with Soledad, and for her sake, he hated the place

It had been teeks after the McCurdy Ranch story broke Wil had been pissed about the e It would mean trouble for him, for everybody in his line of work Then ca he never should’ve attended

He got out of bed atin the

Soledad sighed in her sleep Her silver Saint Anthonyhis bed He kept waiting to get tired of her, for the feeling of wanting her to pass But the feeling didn’t pass He was no longer worried about her running away He didn’t have her watched, or lock the doors when he left

She said she loved San Antonio This here she was meant to live And the way she treated him in bed--maybe it was a lie, but she acted as if she wanted to be with him If it was a lie, he didn’t want to know

She had put on soht her, but he didn’t mind She had been too thin, anyway

Now she looked healthy Her skin and hair had a glow that hadn’t been there before

She stirred as he was getting dressed, and opened her eyes "Where are you going?"

"The hed, and it was ih with her

"It’s closed, loco boy!"

"Not for ot to meet somebody there"

"I like thewhile you’re gone al day Take me with you"

Her sain, join her under the covers A lot more pleasant than what he had to do

"I can’t," he said "These aren’t good men I have to see"

Her eyes widened "Are they worse than you?"

"No"

"Then I got nothing to worry about, do I?"

He couldn’t tel her no She dressed quickly Together they walked down Jones Street in the dark, holding hands under the ful ht up to the doors The security guard wore an I-Tech patch on his uniform

He didn’t look happy about it, but he let them in "Fourth-floor skywalk"

They walked upstairs, Soledad pointing out paintings She ht the nude models looked sad

"You draw better," she told him "Why couldn’t your stuff be in here?"

She was one of the few people who’d ever seen his sketches--the drawings he did late at night, when he woke up haunted by sorant’s face, one of the hundreds he’d imported that week He didn’t knohy some faces stuck with hi theot their faces onto the paper and out of his dreahteenth-century seascape "I wanted to live on the beach, when I was little"

Another security guard passed by, pointedly ignoring them

"Why San Antonio then?" Wil asked her "No beaches here"

Soledad pinched her ave it to me before I left San Antonio was his patron saint Said the city would be lucky for me"

San Antonio Saint Anthony Wil had lived here since he was eight, when his parentsto escape the oil fields, but he’d never thought about what the city’s name meant "Why lucky?"