‘He insisted,’ said the doc in hushed tones. ‘Said if he was going to die, he wanted to be here.’

‘He’s going to die?’

‘It’s early days. He needs complete rest and some new blood in his system. We did a midline operation to clamp a slow leak in his abdomen and we have stitched him up but we have to keep a close eye on him. Regular scans and monitoring so he doesn’t develop an infection. Two of the boys are matches for his type – they will donate what he needs.’

‘But he’s going to die?’ I said again.

‘Don’t worry about him, Rhiannon – this isn’t his first rodeo. These were the twelfth and thirteenth bullets I’ve taken out of him. He’s a fighter. There’s no doubt about that.’

They were all fussing and flapping about Tenoch in his bedroom all day and I couldn’t get close to him until about seven o’clock that night. Only then did Paco and his Chipmunks exit stage left – another ‘little job’ they had to do for Tenoch – but which I wasn’t told anything about.

When the doctor was happy Tenoch was bedded down for the night, he announced he was going to get some shut-eye himself.

‘I will be next door, Tenoch. If you need me, press your button.’

Tenoch lifted his wired button and pressed it, causing a small device in the doctor’s hand to vibrate and flash a red light.

‘Great, it works. I will see you later.’

Tenoch patted a vacant spot on the bed beside him. ‘Come.’

‘You should have stayed at the hospital,’ I told him as he held my hand. ‘What’s wrong?’ He had that pained look again – the fear face.

‘I thought you would have gone.’

‘You asked me to look after the place. I’ve cleaned, I mowed the lawn. The Chipmunks put new windows in…’

‘What about the men? What did you do with them?’

‘I buried them. They’re in the back field with the others.’

‘You bury them straight away? No dressing them up or reading them bedtime stories this time?’

‘As soon as it got light. My back didn’t hurt as much this time. Think I got into my groove a bit more.’

Tenoch smiled. ‘Good girl.’

‘I missed you.’

‘Did you?’

‘Yeah, of course. I didn’t know what was happening.’

‘Neither did I,’ he said. ‘Your soldier boy been visiting, has he?’

‘What? How did you—’

He chuckled. ‘You still have much to learn about me, gatita. Remember what I said – as far as you’re concerned, I have eyes everywhere.’

‘I knew it. That why Paco’s been following me to the hotel, isn’t it?’

‘Not always Paco. They take it in turns. I told them to be discreet.’

‘Have you been bugging me too? How did you know he was a soldier?’