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"Right," Tres sighed Then he announced to the room, "Come on, everybody, Ana needs her rest"
There were protests, hugs and kisses, so of flowers and cards
Tres didn’t look happy to leave either, though Maia knew his last round of es would be considered Tres’ PI license ht still be revoked But the true killer, Hernandez, was behind bars In the end, he had confessed to everything freely, including Franklin White’s uilty Much to his lawyer’s exasperation, Hernandez had not even bargained for a plea agreeht spare his life
Hernandez was unlikely to face retribution fro to Madeleine, her father had taken a turn for the worse over the last week He was now confined to his bed twenty-four hours a day, allowed no visitors except nurses Madeleine offered no comment to the press about Hernandez’s arrest, but rue was underway Madeleine iftly consolidating control of her father’s organization A fresh slew of bodies had begun turning up in the San Antonio River or dumped in the fields off Mission Road One of the victih the forehead at point-blank range
With all that for SAPD to worry about, with all the bad press about the head of hoainst Tres for aiding and abetting a fugitive would do no one any good, legally or politically The city didn’t want any more publicity to cootten Nor did it want to face scrutiny for the false DNA uello’s o free
Ralph’s sister gently picked up baby Lucia, who fussed in her sleep but allowed herself to be resettled against her aunt’s shoulder
At the door, Tres looked back "Maia, you co passed between theirl talk"
Tres hesitated
"It’s okay," Ana pro"
MAIA HELPED ANA DRINK SOME CHICKEN broth
After a few spoonfuls, Ana sat back, her head cratered in the pillows
As often happened in quietin her chest--the raw, painful absence of Ralph
Before she could lose her nerve, she said, "I’ve got so at her side, she pulled the photo albue--Ana’s baby book
Ana took the albuh e"
"Yes"
"What’d you decide?"
"The saine"
Ana studied her wistfully "You’re pregnant, aren’t you?"
"You’re changing the subject"
"Oh, boy" Ana sighed "That’s a yes"
She opened the baby book to the first page, traced her fingers over herbattered and exhausted and terribly young in her hospital bed, her parents holding newborn Ana
Maia remeainst her shoulder She’d felt his last breath against her forearm
It wasn’t fair A childish protest, but Maia couldn’t help it
He’d taken one bullet He’d gotten attention faster than Ana had He should have lived
The doctors talked about tissue da Maia really understood was that he’d absorbed the shot e inside himself, shielded her completely And he’d left Ana to raise a child alone, just as Ana’s e in the albu her up to catch an ornament
"How old was your mother?" Maia asked
"When she had me?" Ana murmured "Just barely twenty Nineteen when"
"When she was raped," Maia finished
"She never adured it out I didn’t understand the whole storythe truthuntil I started looking into Frankie White’s death"
She stared at the yellowing pictures of herself as a baby, eating yarandfather’s spectacles
"How did your mother meet Guy White?" Maia asked
"They must’ve met at one of the clubs down on South Ala on it, as if it felt good to slip into her professional self, to hold her life at the distance of a case file "I figure White would’ve been about thirty-two My mom was nineteen She was pretty Willful She wasn’t afraid to talk to men Perfect prey"
"She didn’t tell anyone that White raped her"
"No I’m not sure she even kneho White was at first, but she would’ve found out He was on the rise He was getting a reputation as a man you didn’t cross She would’ve had no choice except to stay quiet"
"She kept you"
"She kept azed down at the photo of her grandparents "My mother tried to avoid Guy White after she beca was--I don’t think he even remembered her I’m sure I never occurred to hiuessed, "once they got to be friends"
"They were more than friends," Ana corrected "But, yes She must have Etch loved her For him, I was always a reminder of what White had done to her"