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Chapter 14

The last person I wanted to find in the Brooke Ar area was a hoainst the reception desk, talking to a couple of uniforht’ve beenprofessional--a hospital ad hit on by the three e clipped to her belt, or the shoulder holster under her blue silk blazer Or unless you knew, like every guy in SAPD, that the last cop who tried to hit on Ana DeLeon pul ed desk duty for adoithout pain

She sawon the order of: Here coot lost

"I stayed at the office until seven last night," she told --if you’d shoould we be here now?"

"What’s the word?"

"No change in condition And no leads on the shooter, unless you’re bringing "

I used to have a martial arts instructor who could press his hand very softly on the center of e hi contact, but after thirty seconds, his touch left a bruise DeLeon’s eyes were like that

"I’ hours for ICU"

"The hel with visiting hours"

She studied "

After a few conversations with nurses and sounshot ward

J P Sanchez lay cocooned in linen and bandages, hooked up to sooff hi hiray as his hair

"They’re trying to stabilize hiery if he ht"

"Did he talk at al ?"

"Tres, he flat-lined in the auardrail of his bed Even through the hospital odors, I could sined his wry sripped my shoulder "Buy me coffee"

She steered me toward the elevator

In the hospital food court, I was vaguely aware of the other plainclothes detective--an Anglo guy built like a linebacker--fal ing in behind us He kept his distance, out of earshot

I bought two tal coffees DeLeon and I took a corner booth I drank while DeLeon ear packets into her cup, three at a time

"That’l kil you," I told her

"I’ve been pro a face "So where is Stiritive Task Force"

"Yesterday, you said he was in town"

I stared into oat’s milk, prepared by a blind wo, and I felt like I was stil drinking from the sa An innocentunder stress And I’d been asked to tel the police nothing

"Around five this evening," DeLeon said, "patrol got a calOne of Erainya’s neighbors reported seeing her in her front yard with a gun She was pointing it at Dr Sanchez Then Sanchez calet there Two hours later, we found Sanchez bleeding to death behind Paesano’s Erainya wasOne possibility: She shot her boyfriend and fled"

"That’s absurd"

"It’s also Major Cooper’s working theory" She nodded toward the linebacker, who sat two tables away, feigning interest in the bluebonnet paintings

"Major," I said "That’s a Departitive Task Force," she said "I asked hi to say

For the record, Major Cooper does not believe Stirman would stay in San Antonio"

"He wants a few "

I tried to look her in the eyes, but it was damn uncomfortable

In the year since I’d seen her last, her face had fil ed out Her skin had taken on that healthy glow you see in new rabbing fistfuls

She seee, or the baby, or the promotion I didn’t know The fact that I didn’t know made me sad

I told her about my encounter with Stirman at the soccer field, the videotape he’d sent to Barrera, the McCurdy Ranch, Barrera’s admission that Stirman had been framed

DeLeon listened, and drank her coffee I knew she wasevery statement