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PROLOGUE

They found the bodies on a Tuesday. Two days after the family had missed their flight home. Six days after all texts and social media had gone dark. The last post was a selfie saying they’d arrived in Mexico: the dad and mom making exaggerated duck faces, the teenage girl pink-cheeked and mortified, the little boy wearing plastic sunglasses and a gap-toothed smile.

The rental wasn’t beachfront. It was off the beaten path, a small structure at the end of an unpaved alleyway, carved into a patch of roadside jungle in Tulum. The smell hit the local cop in the face when the property manager opened the front door. The maid hired to clean up after departing guests was sitting on the cement stoop, her hands working a string of rosary beads, her face streaked with tears.

The place was sweltering.

And filled with the buzz of flies.

But for all the decay in the air, there was no blood. No obvious signs of foul play. That’s when the cop knew he needed to get out of there.

Within the hour, men in white hazmat suits trudged through the property, eyes fixed on handheld air sensors. They found the mother lying on the couch, frozen, a paperback tented on her chest. In the bedroom, the girl was on top of the made bed, her cell phone still clutched in her hand. The boy was tucked in tight, peacefully, stuffed bear at his side.

The team inspected the stove and the water heater.

Then they drifted morosely out the patio doors to check the exterior gas line. That’s when they found the trail of blood. And the father—at least what was left of him.

CHAPTER 1

MATT PINE

“Rough night? You look like you slept out here with us.”

Matt studied the chessboard, ignoring the weathered black man sitting across from him at the battered table in Washington Square Park.

“Ain’t you cold? Where’s your coat?”

“Shush, Reggie,” Matt said, waving the questions away with a hand. “I’m trying to concentrate.” He continued to plot his move on the board. A cool morning breeze pushed through the park, and Matt rubbed his hands together from the chill. It was way too cold for April.

Reggie made a sound of amusement in his throat. “Take all day. Ain’t gonna matter.”