“No, we have enough to do here. Besides, he has some legitimate concerns on how that task force operates. I’ll let him figure that out on his own.”

Amé was looking down at her hands. “Did he say anything about Nemesio? Is Nemesio responsible for what’s happening in Ojinaga?”

Chris paused before answering, considering. She rarely, if ever, mentioned her brother’s former cartel by name, and never so directly.

“He believes the attack on those students in Ojinaga was either ordered by Nemesio or made to look like it was. It’s a power struggle between Nemesio and another cartel. Supposedly this Fox Uno, the leader of Nemesio, is at the center of it. We’re lucky enough to have our own front-row seats here in the Big Bend. Our five dead are likely just more nameless victims, and Eddy, a not-so-innocent bystander. Garrison thinks Fox Uno’s days are numbered.” Chris had stayed up for a while going through the folder Garrison had left him. It had been a tough, dispiriting read, and he’d learned more than he ever wanted to about Fox Uno. “He’s on the run or may already be dead.”

Amé stood up, leaning against the closed office door, as if she wanted to make sure none of the other deputies walked in. She looked again like that teenage girl Chris had first met wrapped in a hooded sweatshirt outside Mancha’s, her face hidden by sunglasses and cigarette smoke. Unsure, unsteady, but not necessarily afraid. “Agent Garrison is wrong,” she finally said.

“What do you mean?” Chris asked.

“Fox Uno isn’t dead, Sheriff,” Danny quickly added. “And he definitely isn’t in Ojinaga.”

“That’s because that man, my uncle, está aquí . . . in Murfee,” Amé finished.

Danny folded his arms, looking up at Amé with an expression Chris couldn’t read: worry, anger, relief. A tired mix of all three. This was what Danny had been waiting for since they’d walked in, the reason for all their shared glances. Danny knew. He’d known all along. He’d only been holding out for Amé to say it first.

“That’s why we had to talk to Eddy first thing this morning,” Danny admitted. “We needed to find out if he knew anything about Fox Uno, or could at least tie the man who showed up on Amé’s porch last night claiming to be him to the bodies we discovered. We don’t think so. Not now, not directly. My hunch is Eddy and Apache are actually working on behalf of this other cartel, these mysterious Indians he went on about. Eddy’s just too far down the totem pole to know.”

None of them smiled at Danny’s grim humor. “You’re both telling me Fox Uno’s here, now, in Murfee?” Chris asked, incredulous.

“He calls himself Juan Abrego,” Amé said.