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He turned the ignition, and the steering wheel blasted apart
He was still alive when the paramedics found him The police could identify him from his license plates and the ID in his wallet, which was fortunate His face was hardly hu ad it into a boh-speed metal filament shrapnel rather than air
Orosco lived for three days, long enough to tell the police what had happened He served the purpose the assassin required He spread a warning to anyone else conte a break with his cartel employers
The assassin left no trace, aside from several other candy skulls strewn around the perimeter of the restaurant The police were never able to find the ive a description Orosco’s ave no information about where the call had been placed
It was this incident that led the ive the assassin a name: Calavera, the skull Some were horrified by the assassin’s efficiency So crireed: Calavera had earned his pay He had as much capacity forlot, grinning up at the eyes of Dr T J Eckleburg like so the story to Maia, ere both quiet, listening to the storm outside There wasn’t much to say about Calavera The story spoke for itself
"You scuttled the boat," Maia said "Why?"
"I don’t want Calavera to get away"
"Why not?"
I didn’t answer
She was right It would’ve been easier to leave the killer an out, let him brave the storm, hopefully sink to hell if he tried Why would I want to cross a man like Calavera?
"You want to control the situation," Maia said "It’s not so ain"
"It’s always Ralph with you, isn’t it?"
Maia dug her toes into uilt, too But I handle it differently I wouldn’t try to stop nant, I mean"
"Convenient excuse"
"Oh, yeah" She winced as she rearranged her legs "So convenient The point is, Ralph’s death et out of your control You tried leaving investigation coot a killer on your hands, you can’t stand the idea of hi away frooria"
"All right, that was low"
"I’, then?"
"Completely Well… to say about now"
"Yeah?"
Maia nodded "‘You’re full of shit, vato’"
Her iood it made my heart sore "That’s irreverent"
"Ralph was irreverent He was also right about a lot of things"
I pulledher I kissed her forehead If I didn’t look down, I could alnant Like old tied
Ralph’s death and my decision to marry Maia were not as simple as cause and effect But they were connected emotionally We both knew that They resonated from the same terrible winter week
"I miss him," I said
Maia’s breath eet and warm Our forearms touched The stor
"Try to sleep," Maia told me "You need the rest"
"WakeRalph Arguello grinning aboveme I was a pretty sorry piece of work
Inon the back deck of Peter Brazos’s house in Port Aransas It was nighttihts from the houses across the channel reflected like oil fire on the black water On the edge of Brazos’s dock, a little candy skull glittered
Peter had his co tocartel
I wanted to warn him I knew his house would explode any minute, but my dream self felt it would be rude to interrupt
"It’s all about ee," he told me "What do they fear worse than their bosses? What makes them crumble inside? Find that, and they’ll tell you what you want They’ll testify to anything"
Peter had dark glittering eyes like the little skull on his dock His skin was pale in the lass to his lips, I said, "Shouldn’t you get your falanced behind hi"
Then I noticed the building behind us wasn’t Brazos’s house It was the Rebel Island Hotel And as the s flared red, I realized that it wasn’t Brazos’s fae" Peter Brazos lifted his glass to the fla et it"