again?”
I hadn’t realized until this moment how much that hurt. I spent half my trip across the country looking over my shoulder, expecting Chance to show up demanding an explanation. By the time I reached Mexico City, I realized he never would.
“You almost died because of me. I understood why you wanted out. What right did I have to keep you if you wanted to go?”
“Is it a question of rights?” I clenched my hands into fists, fighting the urge to yell. “You could’ve said something. Anything. But communication was never our strong suit.”
His voice came as a silver thread of sound, salted with anguish. “Maybe I felt like I deserved to lose you.”
I exhaled unsteadily as I realized we’d turned into the parking lot at the station. For a moment I let myself look at him, really look—probably what Eva would term eating him with my eyes. I’d missed everything about him, but time passed and sometimes broken things heal crooked. The pieces didn’t fit anymore.
“I don’t believe in that, people getting what they deserve. That implies the world is fair and it never has been. You made a choice, Chance, just as I did. You chose to let me go. If you did it to punish yourself, then take off your crown of thorns. What’s done is done, and I don’t blame you for anything. If we were meant to be together, we still would be.” I opened the car door and got out. “Let’s go see Officer Saldana.”
Expect the Unexpected
Jesse was on the phone when we came into his office. Once again, mess cluttered his partner’s desk but the guy was nowhere in sight. I fought the urge to collect the trash and dispose of it on principle. I’m not a neat freak, but there’s something wrong about letting food decompose outside of a compost heap. To amuse myself I counted fast food wrappers and dirty cups.
He motioned us to wait a minute by holding up his index finger. “Yes, it’s chicken blood in the warehouse.” I already knew that. “Did you contact—Oh, right. Yes, sir. I’ll try to keep the press from claiming we have a satanic cult operating in town, but I really don’t have any—Yes, I agree. The last thing we need is religious zealots picketing the parking lot. I’m sure it was just kids messing around.”
I wasn’t so sure about that, but I didn’t think his captain would appreciate any of my theories. Plus, apart from Jesse, I did my best to avoid law enforcement. Like cats always climb on the one person who’s allergic to them, cops always come sniffing around me, sure I’ve been up to something. Once they stopped me in Cut Shin, Kentucky, for driving too slow.
After hanging up, Saldana sighed. “I have a feeling this is going to get worse before it gets better.” As he produced the purse, he added, “Glad you guys are on time. I need to get this back before shift change.”
I expected there to be some tension, but both guys seemed focused on my reading. Bracing myself, I picked up the purse, but to my surprise it felt inert. No charge, no searing pain. I opened it, checked inside. When my fingers brushed across a stud holding the strap to the handbag, I received a small shock, not unlike what I got when I touched Saldana.
Somehow inside the current, I heard a breathy whisper that sounded as if it might be Yi Min-chin: “The
And that was all.
They regarded me with puzzlement. I guessed the show turned out to be something of a letdown. “You can take it back. I’m done.”
Since he’d seen me handle the night before, Jesse looked at my fingers and then the palm of my hand. “It didn’t work?”
“Some things just don’t hold a charge. Metal has the best resonance for capturing and keeping images. Textiles fade much faster.”
This was a synthetic handbag, vinyl disguised as leather. I didn’t know whether she’d done this on purpose or if this qualified as a failure on my part. It had never worked like this before.
“Have either of you ever been to the
Chance looked blank but Saldana arched a brow. “Are you looking for a prostitute?”
I thought of Señor Alvarez, running my shop. How much would he skim, if anything? Would he withhold sales? “I doubt I can afford one.”
“What’s the
“People in the States usually call it Boys Town. It’s a walled compound in Nuevo Laredo where people go looking to party and buy whores. It’s legal there,” Jesse added, evidently seeing Chance’s confusion.
“Yep.” I spoke to fill the silence. “They spring up around the border towns.”
“I haven’t been there since I was eighteen. I guess every guy in Texas checks it out once. If you decide to go for reasons I probably don’t want to know, keep a tight hold on your wallets, watch for pickpockets, and stay away from Tranny Alley. The places don’t get busy until ten and the party runs till six in the morning. You’ll find most people out after dark, if you have questions, but bring bribe money if you expect answers.”
Was Chance’s mom a former hooker? Why else would she nudge us in this direction? Maybe she got out of the life when she got pregnant with him. Well, the purse seemed to be a dead end otherwise, and I didn’t know what to make of this.
“I’ll let you get back to work now.” I saw about a hundred questions in Jesse’s eyes, but I didn’t care to answer them. “I’ll call you, okay?”
Heading for the door, I didn’t see if Chance followed me, but he caught up with me before I left the police station. “Don’t keep stuff from me, Corine. What does the
“I’m not sure,” I admitted. “I just heard the words when I touched the inside of the purse. It sounded like your mom’s voice.”
He frowned as we pushed open the door and stepped out into a blindingly bright November afternoon. “But there was no accompanying image?”
“No. It’s strange.”
Chance knew how backward that was. If an item accepted a charge, it captured whatever its last handler experienced, much like a silent film, but it took a specialized gift in order to unlock it. This sounded like his mother had used the bag to record her words. I didn’t know how that was even possible, but if she could do it, why didn’t she say more?
Offering a tired smile, he said, “I know you’re worried about my feelings, but I don’t think anything could surprise me now. My mother knows how to summon demons and she’s apparently connected to Boys Town as well. So what’s our next move?” He paused outside the Camry, managing to look cool as a Long Island iced tea even as sweat trickled down the small of my back.
I was glad he’d decided to let the relationship stuff go.
“You’re asking
To my surprise, he didn’t argue, just got in the car. “Mexican or Italian?”
Why did I smile because he offered the choice between my two favorites? On his own he’d go Japanese; he loved sushi and I couldn’t stand the stuff, except for California rolls. Chance said those didn’t count, though.
The hot seat made me hiss as I wiggled around. “Depends. Are we talking about Olive Garden Italian or good Italian?”
“I liked Johnny Carino’s when I ate there with my mom, but it
I happen to harbor a soft spot for dives and the folks who operate them.
“Something more authentic then. Surprise me.”
When he pulled up outside a brown brick building on McPherson Avenue, I gaped at the wagon wheels outside the Cotulla Style Pit Bar-B-Q. “Home of the world-famous mariachis, huh? Too bad it’s not Saturday night.”
“We could come back.”
