He got up and kicked Arturo in his ribs. ‘Everyone has their price, gatita.’ He didn’t say it like Tenoch – he hissed it, like a rattlesnake. And he kicked me in my own ribs. Pain radiated and I curled into myself like a bean.

‘CALL ME A FUCKING PRICK, GATITA!’ he screeched, kicking me again. ‘COME ON, WHO ARE YOU? YOU JUST SOME LITTLE BITCH? WHERE IS MY SERIAL KILLER? WHERE THAT HOT-BLOODED CHICA NOW, HUH?’ He grabbed my hair and pulled up my head. I could barely see for the strings of pain in my skull but I would not give him what he wanted – Old Me. The Hot Head. The Killer. The Weak One. I would show him how strong I really was.

‘WHERE IS YOUR PAPI, GATITA? EH?’

Paco dropped my head and shouted a bunch of loud, sweary Spanish. Before I could see it coming, he’d kicked me in the face.

He must have knocked me out again.

Next thing I knew, the light had dimmed, the sandwich was dry and curled up and the soda can had vanished. Arturo’s body had gone too – just a bloodstain on the rug remained. Paco was sitting in Tenoch’s armchair; a bowl of nachos on the armrest, watching the blank, shot-up TV screen.

‘You ready to talk yet, bitch?’ he said, through a mouthful of chips.

My mouth was swollen and all I could taste iron in my spit. ‘I told you, I don’t know anything.’

‘He gave you cash when you two went into the town. Where was he getting it from?’

‘I don’t know, his office?’

‘I’ve checked there. I have checked this whole fucking place and guess what – nothing. He cannot have taken it all – he must have left some for me. Or you, huh? Did he leave it to you?’ He sprang out of his chair to threaten me with his boot again but this time I was ready for it and curled into a ball, shielding my head with my one free hand.

He sat on the footstool and lay one of the machetes across his knees, stroking the blade back and forth. ‘I’ve seen you down at the beach with your boyfriend. You going to him today? That where you’re going with my money?’ I didn’t like how he was stroking the blade.

‘No. I don’t have your money.’

‘You sure about that? You leaving so suddenly. You going to Tenoch—’

‘NO, I DON’T KNOW WHERE TENOCH IS AND I DON’T KNOW WHERE HIS MONEY IS. PLEASE, LET ME GO! WHY DON’T YOU LISTEN?’

‘What do you know about Celestina?’

‘Nothing. Tenoch said she got another job. That’s all I know about her.’

‘Bullshit,’ he spat. ‘Tenoch treats you two like his daughters. You’re protecting him. You both knew what he was planning.’

‘He doesn’t say shit to me! Why would he say shit to me?’