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He squeezed her bare shoulder

“Enough being with your old father Go with your friends now,” he said “Enjoy yourself You are a young woman now This is your day”

Salinas watched his daughter walk away, then headed toward his ranch e of the dance floor His name was Tomás, and, like all the staff on the ranch, he was a local Tarahumara Indian Tomás and the entire staff, from the security to the waiters to the ht-white linen uniforms purchased solely for the occasion No expense had been spared today

“Please inform my partners that they are to join me in the billiards room, won’t you, Tohter’s day, and thisis to be as quick and discreet as possible”

Tomás nodded and smiled, his crooked teeth very white in his dark-brown, lean face

“Just as you say, sir,” Tomás said It hat his loyal employee always said “Would you like a drink first?”

“No, please,” Salinas said “With all this ceremony, I’ve needed to take a piss for about an hour But have soht into the billiards room, if you would”

“They’re already there, sir,” Tomás said with a nod

Salinas patted his er on the back

“Of course they are, Tomás How could I have doubted it for a moment?”

Salinas sighed as he went into the air-conditioned house Glancing to his right, he spotted the reason he had built the house, at an enormous expense, up here in the middle of nowhere

The view of the Copper Canyon through his ihts in all of Mexico, if not the world His favorite aspect of the majestic vista was just a little bit off center, the thin, silver sliver of an eight-hundred-foot waterfall spilling down the face of one of the sheer canyon walls He loved this house, this view It was like living in an airplane

He ducked into the hall bathroom outside the billiards room to relieve himself He smiled and winked at his reflection in the bathroom mirror as he worked his zipper What a day!

He was just about to urinate when he heard the distinct click of a billard ball He zipped back up and went out and poked his head inside the billiards roo off, no doubt, was bent at the table, about to take another shot On the large-screen TV above the bar, a soccerwith the sound off

“Hey, you there! Asshole!” Salinas barked