“So you call me in the middle of the night,” Paz started, “and tell me the killer is near your house, that your wife and Jana are out in the street somewhere, and I come out in a car and see you, Izabel, sprinting through the street, carrying Jana over your shoulder back toward your house. So I circle the block and I see him. Well, I can’t believe it. Same suit you described, everything. But I haven’t got backup. I hadn’t put it all together, in the middle of the night. And I follow him the best I can, but as I can’t get out of my car for too long, he eventually loses me. I’m beating myself up about this, mind you. I’m pissed off. And then I hear about all of this”—she gestured at the space between Kaito and Izabel—“and how there’s a gun involved and I have to get child services involved. And lo and behold, I call child services and you’re already seeing one of their therapists. Yeah. So now Opa’s here with us. Thanks for coming, Opa.”

Opa nodded.

“That was my night,” Paz said. “Now I want to hear about yours. From the beginning. From earlier than that. From whenever you think is the right place to start. That’s the part I want to hear it from.”

Kaito said, “It seems like our daughter sleep-talks about the killer.”

Paz smiled. “Yeah, I was wrong. Okay. We’re not going to start there. Where’d you get the gun?”

“I took it from the police station,” Izabel said.

“What’s wrong with your voice?”

“I was outside too long.”

“Chasing the murderer?”

“Chasing Jana.”

“Yeah, chasing Jana who was chasing the murderer. So you took the gun from the police station. I guess I’ll find that out soon enough when they run the serial number. Hell of a shit storm that’s going to be. Thanks for that. Why’d you take the gun?”

“I don’t know.”

“Was it to kill him?”

“I guess it was to be able to kill him if I saw him again.”

“You think you can recognize him?”

“No. But I’d be able to kill him if he came to my house.”

“So your whole family would die, but you’d get your last shot in. That kind of thing?”

“Yes.”

“Your voice is shit. When will it come back?”

“I don’t know.”

“The doctors didn’t say?”

Izabel shook her head.

“Are your children safe, at your house, with you two?” Paz asked.

“Yes,” Kaito said.

“I think I should ask the questions regarding that,” Opa said.

Paz ignored her. “Did you know about the gun, Kaito?”

“No.”

“Then you can’t say, can you?”

“He might know where we live again, now,” Izabel said.