A Killing in the Valley Read Online Free PDF Page A

Barbara. Go to Brophy’s for dinner. I’m hankering for seafood.”
    “Breakfast it is,” she agreed, masking her disappointment. “How early?” she asked. “I’m up before the chickens,” she said with a laugh.
    “Early’s good,” he said. “We’re going to need an early start.” He stood up. His friend Tyler followed suit. “Going to go now,” he told her. “See you mañana.” He gave her a kiss on the cheek.
    “Don’t forget to lock the gate behind you,” Juanita called, as the boys walked back to their truck.
    Steven raised a nonchalant thumb in acknowledgment. They got into their Pathfinder and drove off down the road.

3
    H IGH SCHOOL HAD BEEN back in session for less than a week, and already Maria Estrada was bored. What more could she learn that would do her any good? She wasn’t going to UCSB or city college, which some of her friends were planning to do, so it didn’t matter if her grades were any good.
    The social side would be excellent. She was looking forward to the benefits of being a senior: the parties, dances, shopping with her friends, coffee in the mall, sleeping over with her friends on the weekends, more shopping. Shopping was one of the things she did best, she set the styles for her girlfriends.
    And boys. Maria had been a boy magnet since the seventh grade, and she had never been stingy about sharing her favors. By now, though, none of the boys her age had any luster, they were too young and immature. For the past year she had turned her attention to older guys, like the Marine she had met over the summer, Dennis Montoya, who had been home on leave from Iraq. He’d had money, a plentiful supply of drugs, and he was crazy-wild. The way he explained why he acted like he did was, once you’ve looked death in the face, nothing scares you.
    He was gone now, back to Iraq, or somewhere else. She had tried to stay in touch with him, but he hadn’t answered any of her letters or e-mails.
    Classes were over for the day. Maria sat at one of the outside picnic-style tables at Chico’s, a taco stand near her school. For once, she was by herself. Her two best friends, Sonia Garcia and Jeannette Lopez, who she usually had lunch with, were trying out for the volleyball team. Maria didn’t want to be on the team—too much commitment, you had to go to practice regularly, you had to go to all the games, a million stupid rules. She had played volleyball in junior high, but she wasn’t good at it—her serve was weak, and she couldn’t jump very high. If she couldn’t do something well, she didn’t want to do it at all. Which was why she wasn’t doing any extracurricular activities this year, not even drama, which she actually did like and was good at. There were too many girls who would be trying out for the same parts she’d be trying out for. And the drama coach had a prejudice against Latina girls, the Anglo girls always got the best parts. You couldn’t prove it, but everybody knew it was the truth.
    Two guys came from the pickup window carrying baskets of food and bottles of beer. After glancing around to see if there were any vacant tables, they walked over to hers. “Mind if we sit here?” one of them asked.
    She looked up at him, shielding her eyes against the sun at their backs. He was tall, thin, ropy-muscular. Dirty-blond hair, green eyes. He was hot, she thought immediately. Handsome and casually arrogant, the way she liked her men. His friend was not as tall, but good-looking enough. They carried themselves with an easy self-assurance.
    “Okay,” she said after a pause, like she owned the table and was doing them a favor by allowing them to share it with her.
    They sat down across from her. The one who had spoken to her took a bite out of his taco and washed it down with a mouthful of beer. “Are you from around here?” he asked her, trying to strike up a conversation. He smiled—his teeth were perfectly straight.
    She nodded. What would she be doing around here