What I hadn’t expected were the two right before it. Brazil. Both entry and exit stamps, on pages opposite Brazilian visas. Not only had my sister been to Brazil, she had been twice, one year apart, once for a week, another for two.

As I held the passport up for Teo to see, he watched my expression. “What are the chances Wendy’s trips to Brazil had nothing to do with Vítor Calvo’s death?” I asked.

“There are still an awful lot of unknowns.”

He was being kind. We were no longer proceeding one step at a time. I felt as if I’d just been dropped miles into enemy territory.

I closed the passport and picked up the ones belonging to my nieces. I thumbed through and found nothing of interest. “I’ll put these somewhere safe.” I paused. “Somewhere Wendy and friends can’t get to them if they come looking.”

“What’s next?”

“I have to pick up Holly and Noelle, but the next time I get Mom alone, I’ll ask if she knows about the trips to Brazil.”

“Why don’t I come with you? We’ll take the girls out to dinner. Then maybe drive around and look at the lights.”

“Everything is such a mess! Why are you willing to be part of all this? Didn’t I mess up your life enough the first time?”

“Apparently I’m a sucker for punishment. Or you. Can’t tell which.”

I couldn’t look at him. “Does it matter? They seem to be inextricably linked.”

He reached around me, closed the safe and pocketed the gun and ammunition. “Life was pretty dull until you came back into it.”

“Teo, you told me you liked dull. You sat right here on my porch today and said that.”

He put his arm around me and guided me toward the door. “You, of all people, shouldn’t believe everything you hear.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

One more thing I had learned about lies? They have a shelf life. You can plump them up with more of the same, smile when you utter them, insist all is well, but only for so long. At some point, lies expire.

I knew this from firsthand experience. A week had passed since Teo and I had opened the safe. I’d just spent most of the day with my parents, who had royally entertained my nieces and the little girls in their classes at a joint birthday party, and the expiration date on the lies I’d told them was about to come due.

Luckily, with some people I could tell the truth and nothing but, and I was with one of them now.

Teo pulled his SUV into my driveway, and turned off the engine. “You have two sleepy little girls here. I think you’ll need some help getting them inside.”

I peeked behind me and neither girl looked all that sleepy to me, but I was delighted to have an excuse to invite him in. “I’ll handle them if you handle all the presents.”

Both Holly and Noelle had birthdays during the week before Christmas, and a celebration had been in order. All afternoon my parents’ quiet lanai had rivaled a college football game for noise. From a comfortable patio chair at poolside, I’d watched overly chlorinated water churn like waves in a tropical storm as two dozen little girls swam for balloons filled with trinkets. Teo had been kind enough to keep me company.