There was something tender about having her head in Paz’s hands, even if it was also shockingly intimidating. And then they both heard someone yell for Paz. She let go of Izabel and stepped one foot out of the room.

In those seconds, Izabel grabbed a handgun and put it in her bag.

Paz yelled, “I’m coming,” and came back to Izabel. “Look, my boss wants to meet you. I said, No, another day, but now you’re still here. Christ. Can you do this?”

“I have a medicine in my purse I’m supposed to take.”

“Then take it.”

“Now?”

Paz nodded.

Izabel took out the bottle, pushed down the child lock, took out a pill, shoved it in her mouth, and let it dissolve on her tongue. “Oh no,” she said.

“What?”

“It tastes like orange,” Izabel said. “I hate orange.”

“You’ve never taken one before?”

Izabel shook her head.

“What if it makes you all loopy?”

“I don’t know.”

“You’re a mess,” Paz said.

Izabel didn’t say anything. She focused on her breath and how horrible the medicine tasted. It felt like it was sliding into that space between her back molars and her cheek. She ran her tongue back there. It felt like her mouth would taste bad forever.

“Better?” Paz asked.

“I don’t think it works instantly,” Izabel said.

“I’m walking you in there and they’re going to make a fuss and you are going to act like the hero you are.”

“I’m not—”

Paz yelled, “Are you listening to me, Izabel!”

“Yeah,” Izabel said. “Yeah, I’m a hero. I’m your witness.”

“Good,” Paz said. And they left the room and all the guns in their matte metals.

    Chapter Twenty-One

After the police station, Izabel needed to talk to Kaito. She went to the offices where he’d been working. She asked for him at the desk and the man asked her to sit. His nametag read arnold. His shoulders were too slender for him to be the killer.

She sat, put her purse on the floor, took out her tablet, and saw the gun. She wondered what Arnold would do if he knew she had a gun in her bag. At her feet, she made sure the bag slouched closed.

In her app, the 2017 news coverage had been about the fires for days. The fires are controlled. The fires are out. New fires are beginning. The conditions are dry and windy.