“You don’t really mean that,” Sara says. “That’s not the Juana Martínez I know, who always says where there’s a bad smell, there’s a skunk, and it’s our job to find the skunks. There’s a skunk behind this e-mail. I want to find it.”
“This time I think we need to live with the smell,” Juana says, looking away.
“Juana.” Sara leans forward, waits for Juana to look at her. “When the cartel wars were raging and every newspaper reporter had been threatened, you were one of the few who kept on. Even after El Sol lost two reporters, you continued writing the truth. I remember reading your articles when I was in grade school. You’re the reason I decided to be a reporter. Your courage is why I’m here. You can’t want me to stop looking.”
“It’s different now,” Juana says quietly.
“How?”
“I told you already. This newspaper has to survive.” Then, as if regretting the tone of her words, Juana shakes her head. “Nothing I say is going to stop you, is it?”
“I can’t give up,” Sara says, thinking of Linda.
For a moment, Juana looks almost angry, but she says, “Keep me informed of everything. I mean everything.” She waits for Sara’s nod. “This is not a request. It is an order from your boss.”
“I will. I promise.”
“Here.” Juana picks up a business card and hands it to Sara. “Call this guy. He’s constructing a new mall near Zaragoza. I want you to do an article about why he’s doing it now—what signs he sees in the city and the economy that make him think a new mall will succeed. Go to the site where he plans to build it. Get some pictures.”
Sara holds the card in front of her for a few seconds. “Is this for the happy article Felipe wants me to do? I sent an idea to him a little while ago.”
“No, it’s a favor to someone who’s willing to spend a lot on advertising. This is a business, remember? We can’t do any good if we’re not in business. Do this one after you write the one for Felipe.”
“Okay.” Sara stands. “Juana, can you forward the e-mail with the threat to me? I want to study it a little more.”
Juana reluctantly hits a few keys on her computer. As Sara is leaving, she reminds her, “Sara, the e-mail mentions the reporter’s family. Your family.”
Sara swallows and says softly, “I know.”
Back at her desk, Sara thinks for a long time. Does she really want to pursue something that could affect Mami and Emiliano, the two people she loves the most? They took so many precautions after Sara received her first threat. Their address is not in any public records. All the bills go to Sara at work. Juana is the only person at El Sol who knows where she lives, and most nights, Emiliano walks to her office after school and they take a bus home together. She’s done all she can to protect herself and her family. She did all that so she could continue to investigate the disappearance of Linda and so many other girls. She owes it to them not to give up now. She will go slowly and carefully and stop if she senses any real danger. How can she “stand down,” as Juana says, when Linda may be alive?
She forwards the threatening e-mail to Ernesto, the head of El Sol’s two-person IT department, and asks him if there’s any way to figure out the identity of the sender. An hour later, Ernesto calls. “Just from a quick look, this e-mail was sent by someone who knows a lot about encryption. The server bounced the message around so no one can locate the sender. If it’s okay with you, I’ll send it to my friends.” His friends are the Jaqueros, a group of technology and computer experts he knows. The Jaqueros helped her with an article she did on a joint investigation between the FBI and the Mexican Attorney General’s Office. They had access to e-mails and texts betweeen cartel members and government officials that no one else could get.
Sara says what she always says when he offers to send something to the Jaqueros: “Okay, but don’t break any laws.”
He responds like he always does: “Who do you think we are?”
After Ernesto hangs up, Sara answers his question silently: You’re the people who will help me find my best friend.
Emiliano, in the front seat of the van, glances at Brother Patricio, who is driving and talking. He tries to think of something that will make the brother go a little faster. Emiliano wants to see Perla Rubi before she goes to volleyball practice at eleven, and he has a lot to do today. But Brother Patricio drives the way he hikes: slow and steady.
“I have to head over to El Paso and get Memo’s new boots,” Brother Patricio says. “I tell you, we are fortunate there was no school today. I’d never be able to do all that needs to be done before the trip next week.”
“Yeah, it’s too bad we had to get up at five a.m. on our day off,” Paco says from the backseat.
“I’m sorry, but seven in the morning was the only time the Aguilas could play. They’re a public school, remember. They aren’t lucky enough to have the day off like us. Besides, we need all the exhibition games we can get.”
“You got us playing again at nine tomorrow,” Paco continues.
“Well, tomorrow’s game is in El Paso,” Brother Patricio explains. “The Conquistadors were the best team in El Paso last year. It will be a good tune-up game.”
“The only tune-up I need is sleep,” Paco says, yawning. “I’m burned out and the season hasn’t even started.”
“What are you complaining about? You barely moved all game,” Pepe says.
“Hey, who scored the winning goal?”
“That was all Emiliano. You were just standing there picking your nose when the ball hit your head and bounced into the goal.”
“Brother, take the other lane. It’s faster,” Emiliano says.
But Brother Patricio is not listening. “I wish I could take Memo to El Paso so he could try the boots on himself. It’s chancy to buy boots with only a measurement.”
“Why do you have to get Memo boots?” Paco asks.
Emiliano turns around and grimaces at him. That kind of question will only make Brother Patricio slow down even more.
Brother Patricio searches for Paco’s face in the rearview mirror. “It’s a tradition of the Jiparis Explorers Club. A Jipari gets new hiking boots at the end of his first year.”
“Why do you call it an explorers’ club?” Paco says. “You guys don’t explore anything. All you do is get your brains fried in the desert.”
Brother Patricio stops to let a car get in their lane. Emiliano throws his hands up in desperation.
“When are you going to join?” Brother Patricio asks Paco.
“When am I going to join? What’s that pledge you have to take to be a Jipari?”
“You want to tell him?” Brother Patricio nudges Emiliano.
Emiliano recites impatiently, “ ‘I will abstain from all intoxicants. I will be honest with myself and others. I will use the knowledge and strength the desert gives me for the benefit of others.’ ”
“Hear that?” Paco says, animated. “That first one would kill me. While you guys are out chasing lizards, I’ll be in the shade of my porch, having a cold one. If you get rid of that pledge and you let girls in, I’ll sign up.”