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"I’ll do it, Mr W," Alex piped in

"If I find you are using entlemen," White continued, "your life expectancy will be even shorter than mine Alex, you stay here Madeleine will see to their needs"

"What?" she demanded

"Go with them," White commanded "Cooperate with them Watch them"

"Frankie isn’t worth the effort I don’t want this job" Her fists were balled, her voice simmered

Guy White raised an eyebrow "You don’t have any choice, my dear After all, he was your brother"

Chapter 7

"SO YOU TOLD HER NOTHING," ETCH SAID

The old ainst his porch railing

Down belointer mist filled the Olhtoward the hills where chimney smoke trailed up froreed "I meanould be the point?"

Santos , Etch thought

Doctors were not cops They couldn’t pull off a lie

Santos had aged since retirement His eyes had turned soft and desperate His chest caved inward His hair had worn down to gray patches like a bad coat of primer

"Miss Lee seems smart" Santos tried to sound casual about it "She asked about the blood under Frankie White’s fingernails"

Etch sipped his atole

It had been years since he had the stuff The cinnamon and chocolate sent his, presents, fa ti but sweep season for hoot a DNA uello Ana didn’t want to accept that She claimed the test was ta like that You’d have to have access to the evidence roo But it’s possible Look at that big scandal in Houston They had to shut down their entire DNA lab"

"What are you saying, Jaied "Just that it wouldn’t be hard"

Etch set his cup on the railing There was a bullet hole dug into the rough-hewn oak Etch put his finger on it "Still the teenage snipers?"

"Daet on that utility road down there with a 22 My s are the only thing you can see on this side of the hill at night They think I’hts cops"

Etch nodded sympathetically He took another sip of atole

Christo, Lucia and he had found Franklin White’s third victie student, Julia Garcia had been raped and strangled off Mission Road, abandoned like a used tire The spot had looked a lot like the marshland below Santos’ deck

Julia Garcia had been a few months shy of her twentieth birthday She was the first in her fae Alive, she’d had a radiant sram She wanted to be a teacher All that was cut short because she’d let a well-dressed youngin below-zero wind, watching the forensics teaully

Lucia said: We’ll get hiot aith it, he had told her Why not the son?

Lucia’s face darkened She couldn’t offer him any reassurance

Guy White had never killed his women, but the distinction didn’ttheir power, taking the wolo cattle barons had before them and the Spanish alcaldes before that The lords of San Antonio never changed They had to find the heart of the city, the deepest foundation, and violate it Possess it Make the that the oldest inhabitants of the land, families that had been here for three centuries, were defenseless against them

Like Lucia, Etch carown up within the sounds of the bells of San Juan and San José

He’d also been a cop long enough to kno easily justice could be bought and sold He’d seen how reticent the homicide detectives were to approach the White family, hoiftly White’s lawyers counterattacked

No one could bring Frankie White to justice At least not in the conventional way

No one wouldout Julia Garcia’s life

Etch took another sip of Santos’ atole "You suggest anybody else for Miss Lee to talk to?"

The old ME wouldn’t meet his eyes "Why?"

"Just curious" He decided to risk a bit of the truth "I have a guy tailing her"

"You think that’s worth your tiirlfriend I have to assume eventually she’ll hook up with Navarre Be stupid not to have her tailed"

Santos’ hands trembled "I don’t recall We talked for just a fewsorry for Santos If he was Etch’s suspect, if this had been a foration, the old doctor would’ve been dead meat "You remember Larry Drapiewski, used to be with the Sheriff’s Department? He told Navarre the hit man theory--Titus Roe"

"Yeah?"

"I wouldn’t be surprised if there was souess it’s possible"

"Jaime, I don’t want the killer to be a cop I wouldn’t like it if people were sending that e"

"We take care of our own"

"Used to be that way," Etch agreed

"So," Santos said, ?"