Page 173 of The Final Cut

“Oh.”

“Oh, yes. That is generally how people with guns respond to being shot at.”

“That is not how it’s being characterized here, of course.”

“Naturally not. I’m sure Blackwood was the aggressor.”

“Something like that.”

The edge in her voice pulls me back to childhood so fast I almost laugh. Mother never needed Isabel’s coldness to command a room. Hers was softer. More tired. Usually followed by a damp cloth, a cup of tea, or an instruction whispered in a hallway where punishment could hear us if we breathed wrong.

My throat aches.

“What happened?” I ask. “Who was hurt?”

“A couple of soldiers.”

“Names?”

A pause. Then, “Raúl died before they brought him in.”

I didn’t like Raúl. I’m not sorry.

He once caught a kitchen girl by the wrist hard enough to bruise because she dropped a tray near Isabel’s luncheon table. I stepped on his foot with a heel and smiled through his anger while Mother sent the girl away.

Still, a name is different than a number.

“And?”

“Mateo has a broken arm and a bullet graze. Nicolás was arrested. Isabel is furious.”

“That sounds survivable for everyone except Raúl.”

“Delia.”

“What do you want me to say?”

“The truth.”

I laugh once, quietly. “That’s a dangerous hobby in our family.”

Mother says nothing. The empty line hurts more than a reprimand would have.

I rub two fingers over my forehead, careful of the bruise near my temple. “I’m tired.”

“I am, too.”

My fingers loosen around the phone. “This is exhausting. Trying to keep some people safe. Trying to decide which truth gets someone killed and which lie buys another hour. Trying to protect Reva when she hates being protected and protect you when you won’t admit you need it.”

Mother’s breath trembles. “I know.”

I stare at Marisol written in black ink.

“They want you to come here.”

The line goes very still.

I continue before she can decide silence is safer. “Nash. Deacon. Shiloh. Ever. Reva didn’t say it because she was asleep or pretending to be, and because she might throw something if we make decisions for her again. But they’re ready.”