Page 85

CHAPTER 83

AVA PULLS HER SUV up in front of Isabella Luna’s small brick house. She has showered, scrubbed off the soot and the smell of smoke, and changed into a fresh uniform. Her hair has been washed and stretches down her back in a damp braid. She takes a deep breath, knowing the importance of this interview.

Ava approaches the front door of Isabella’s house as her phone beeps with an incoming text. She stops, midway up the walk, and checks the message.

It’s from Rory.

Marta is safe.

Ava closes her eyes and breathes a big sigh of relief. Then another text comes in.

Zebo arrested.

She feels a jolt of satisfaction. Then a third text comes and robs her of her good feelings.

Carlos is injured. On his way to hospital.

If you pray, say one for him.

Ava looks up from the phone, blinking back tears. Thunderclouds are overtaking the sky as the sun sets, creating a feeling as ominous as this news. She starts to text Rory back, but Isabella opens the front door.

“Ava?” she says. “I saw you pull up.”

“Hi,” Ava says. “Is now a good time?”

“It’s as good a time as any, I guess.”

Just then, another text pops in from Rory.

Let me know what happens with your interview. Call me. No matter how late.

She puts her phone away and hurries the rest of the way up the walk, where Isabella gives her a hug.

“Thanks for agreeing to talk to me,” Ava says, trying to put thoughts of Carlos—and how bad his injury might be—out of her mind.

“I’m not sure how much help I’ll be,” Isabella says, leading her into a nice living room with hardwood floors, a kiva fireplace, and a worn leather couch with an accompanying love seat. The coffee table is messy with newspaper clippings, printouts from online articles, and copies of police reports. A cardboard box sits on the floor, its lid ajar. Inside, Ava spots similar documents.

“I got out this old box of stuff from my disappearance,” Isabella says. “I thought it might jog my memory.”

“And?” Ava says, sitting on the love seat to give Isabella the couch.

“Nothing.”

Ava glances over the articles, with headlines like:

Tigua Girl Missing After Powwow

Police Seek Information in Missing Girl Case

And finally:

Missing Girl Found Alive

Ava can see why the articles haven’t jogged Isabella’s memory. They’re all about everyone else’s experience. Not her own.

“What do you remember about the powwow where you were last seen?” Ava asks.

“Not much,” she says, shrugging. “It was just like any other powwow. I guess the cool thing was that this one was in our backyard. It felt kind of special because of that.”

Ava asks what the last thing she remembers is, and Isabella says she’s not sure. She has memories of the event—dancing, competing, laughing with friends—but she isn’t sure what order they happened in. Ava presses for more information, but every question she asks is met with a quick dismissal. As much as Isabella says she is willing, she doesn’t seem to want to help.

Ava gets the feeling that it isn’t that Isabella can’t access those memories.

It’s that she doesn’t want to.

Ava feels frustrated that while Rory and Carlos were putting themselves in danger to save Marta Rivera, she is just spinning her wheels with Isabella Luna. But what did she expect? She’s just rehashing the same questions they already asked.

She has to find a new approach if she wants to get the answers she needs.