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I suspected just this ht kill hiladiator’s gauntlet Closing h that tenuous connection, knowing that was ick

But h Because a place popped into e of one Unfortunately, I had no idea where it was Fro countryside, it was probably on the Tex-Mex border, scrubland full of broken mesas and dry as dust

Then even the prickle left e left h I wasn’t much of an artist, I captured the shape of the rock I hurried out to the patio, where Jesse and Chuch were talking to some uniformed officers Three squad cars had turned up, and since there was a dead body on the premises, they’d call the crime scene unit out too

"dunno who they were," Chuch was saying "Never saw ’em before"

"You had trouble with the Montoya cartel, correct?" At Chuch’s nod, the officer et the blame for this It would probably be the first severed head in Texas that the Montoyas could honestly say they had nothing to do with The two surviving brothers weren’t running the op anyway A second in command had stepped up, from what I heard, and eventually it would be known as the Ramirez cartel, once he consolidated power Not my business I was finished with the cartels I wanted to be done with angels, demons, and decapitations as well

It took hours for theather all the witness statements and wrap up the scene Since the criminals never entered the house, it minimized the inconvenience to the Ortizes, at least Jesse stayed, overseeing the process, and offering plausible theories whenever another officer picked a hole in Chuch’s story I was grateful to have him here

At two am, the last of the city officials finally left I touched Eva on the arm After all the dra as soon as I had enough information "Who would know the famous rock formations nearby?" I asked

Her jaw dropped "You want to go sightseeing? Tonight?"

"No" I hastened to explain, then showed her the drawing I had done

"Oh So you’re looking for Kel You think he’s trapped?"

"I’m afraid he is"

"Honestly, my mind’s a blank Let me sleep on it I’"

That was frustrating, but it wasn’t like I could do anything about it If I’d knohere to look on er In their shoes, I didn’t knohether I’d loantheh three vehicles; only the Mustang had withstood ed to Chance Which was probably why it had survived

So many problems to solve and I had so few resources I closedmy head on the back of the couch

"That wasmy reverie "Well, in person at least"

Dolores laughed "Stick around, you’ll get used to it"

"If you get the chance, bid the others bonne nuit for me, will you?" He offered a cheery salute "Oh, and don’t wait up"

The slender woman blushed a little, and swatted at him with one of her myriad scarves But she didn’t dispute his assessment of the situation The two strode out to her car, entirely in charity with one another Apparently Dolores only cut and ran if the spatter got on her outfit, which was a pretty impressive line in the sand Otherwise, like most of Chuch’s relatives, she was rock solid Of course, maybe she’d be more upset if the deceased had been fully hu to the doorway a fewa few months back"

"Is it possible for the Luren to take an unwilling host?" I asked

"I’m not the expert, but I don’t think so I’ body via sex ht, based on what I reue and frag most of the time, that made sense And sometimes the memories sneaked up on me like a sudden kick in the face Then horror suffused ain Sos I said and didhow did I handle it? Denial wasn’t a solution, but I just couldn’t deal with everything at once

One step at a tiine the deh"

"Probably not" Jesse didn’t sound syht the dude should’ve known better than to rent his body out to a Luren All kinds of things uy would ever enjoy No matter how foolish he’d been, I couldn’t be utterly unmoved by his fate I hadn’t wanted to think about it until now, but that was a hu who lost his life in Chuch’s backyard

Da the case," I said then

He shook his head ruefully "Me either He’ll be looking for normal connections between the vic and killer, but there won’t be any He’ll spin his wheels for a week and get nothing, even with our descriptions of the attackers That’ll really stick in his craw"

"You sound like you’ve been there"

"Not under these circumstances, but yeah And sometimes I wonder if a cri up eht struck ifted netithin law enforces hushed up?"

He set back to the old footing, Corine I’d al you"