Chapters (110)
- Cover
- ALSO BY J. TODD SCOTT
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- PROLOGUE
- I
- II
- PART ONE
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- PART TWO
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY-ONE
- THIRTY-TWO
- THIRTY-THREE
- THIRTY-FOUR
- THIRTY-FIVE
- THIRTY-SIX
- THIRTY-SEVEN
- THIRTY-EIGHT
- THIRTY-NINE
- PART THREE
- FORTY
- FORTY-ONE
- FORTY-TWO
- FORTY-THREE
- FORTY-FOUR
- FORTY-FIVE
- FORTY-SIX
- FORTY-SEVEN
- FORTY-EIGHT
- FORTY-NINE
- FIFTY
- FIFTY-ONE
- FIFTY-TWO
- FIFTY-THREE
- FIFTY-FOUR
- FIFTY-FIVE
- FIFTY-SIX
- FIFTY-SEVEN
- FIFTY-EIGHT
- FIFTY-NINE
- SIXTY
- SIXTY-ONE
- PART FOUR
- SIXTY-TWO
- SIXTY-THREE
- SIXTY-FOUR
- SIXTY-FIVE
- SIXTY-SIX
- SIXTY-SEVEN
- SIXTY-EIGHT
- SIXTY-NINE
- SEVENTY
- SEVENTY-ONE
- SEVENTY-TWO
- SEVENTY-THREE
- SEVENTY-FOUR
- SEVENTY-FIVE
- SEVENTY-SIX
- SEVENTY-SEVEN
- SEVENTY-EIGHT
- SEVENTY-NINE
- EIGHTY
- EIGHTY-ONE
- EIGHTY-TWO
- EIGHTY-THREE
- EIGHTY-FOUR
- EPILOGUE
- I
- II
- III
- IV
- V
- VI
- VII
- AUTHOR’S NOTE
- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
- Excerpt from LOST RIVER
- LITTLE PARIS
- DILLON
- ABOUT THE AUTHOR
- What’s next onyour reading list?
“Yeah.” He laughed. “They didn’t turn out quite right. Not the way I thought they would.”
“¿Qué vas a hacer?” she asked, testing the Spanish she knew he’d been practicing.
He looked toward the invisible river, hidden by the cane and salt cedar. You could only tell where the bodies were by the yellow tape she’d put out and the sunlight gleaming on the light stands. “Well, I’m going to burn them I guess, and then decide how to start over.”
They stood silent together, listening to the wind move. The handheld radio on the sheriff’s belt crackled, breaking the silence, coming to sudden life. It was Tommy Milford relaying that he’d heard from DPS. They were still a couple of hours away, but Doc Hanson, the county’s ME, had just passed him on his way to the trailer.
Finally, she said, “I don’t know anything about this, or what’s going on over the river. Not then and not now.”
The sheriff nodded, putting a gentle hand on her shoulder. “I know, Amé, I’ve always known that. You don’t have to say it, and I wasn’t going to ask. I just wanted you to know he’s coming.”
“Bueno,” she said. “So he really doesn’t like me?”
“I’d say it’s more a matter of him not quite trusting you.” And the way the sheriff said it, he almost made it sound like there was a difference. “But I do. I trust you with my life, and you know that. Honestly, he probably doesn’t trust any of us out here, including me. There’s not a hell of a lot I can do to change his mind, so I don’t try. Not that hard, anyway.” He looked like he was going to say more, but instead he nodded to himself, and started walking back around to the front of the trailer, to meet Doc Hanson.
Before he rounded the corner, he turned back to her one more time.
“But whatever reason has got him coming out here tomorrow must really be bothering him. No matter what he thinks about you, or me, he truly hates this place.”
SIX
CHAYO & NEVA
Neva would never be pretty again, but she was still beautiful.
For one whole day, Chayo cradled her face, talking in her ear. She cried most of that time, from both pain and fear.
He held her tight and her heart beat fast against him, fluttering like one of the small swallows that circled the fields at Librado Rivera.
She cried even more when he went to stitch her smile back together.
She couldn’t speak, but she didn’t have to. Her eyes said everything.
Neither of them knew if she’d ever smile again.
—
THEY HAD RUN, Chayo using his body to protect her, but a bullet had caught her across the face anyway.