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this year. It’s not about that, is it?”
    “No, it’s…not that. Don’t worry about it. I’m sure he’ll fill you in when you get back. He’s been busy with all the freaks coming and going at the lodge. Probably hasn’t had time to tell you.”
    Maria had said it in her typical blithe tone, but Astrid didn’t buy it. WeinerFest was a Falk tradition, and they’d been hosting it at the lodge since the end of World War II. The only thing that would make Eric cancel it was if the lodge closed, or if someone was sick or dying.
    But, if someone had died, he would have told her, especially if it were one of their grandparents.
    She opened her mouth to probe into the subject further, but before she could get the words out, Dana said, “Astrid, we’re going to try to get you linked up with Felipe sometime today. He was doing a job down in Charlotte, but should be out of the weeds by dinnertime. Let him confer with Fabian, and Felipe will pass on whatever needs critical translation.”
    Good. The less touching she had to do, the better. “Send me a text message and let me know when so I can make sure I’m in an area that actually has cellular reception.”
    “Yep. Call that agent when you’re done terrorizing store aisles.” Dana disconnected, followed by the other three Shrews in North Carolina.
    Astrid sighed and tucked her phone into her jacket pocket.
    Right. The agent. She’d do that right after she called her brother, orders be damned.
     

CHAPTER FOUR
    The senior Felipe Castillo shifted behind the open doorway, furrowing his brow at the snatches of conversation he’d gleaned from his daughter-in-law.
    Poor thing, she could barely walk because of all the water retention. His wife Jacqueline had been the same way when she was pregnant with Felipe and Fabian. Near the end, he’d hated leaving her, but he’d had to work—to get up on that tightrope without his partner and perform for Jacques and all the paying voyeurs.
    This was the first time in the three weeks Senior had been watching in which his son had left the vicinity. Felipe generally stayed within a one-hour drive of his wife, but this job his boss had sent him out on was a short one and he’d be home by nightfall.
    Sarah had been forced into early maternity leave, and good for her. Maybe they—the Shrews—were overcautious about her condition, but better safe than sorry. He knew that from experience.
    His first grandchild ! He’d never thought he’d live to see the day, and the only thing keeping him going in the past years was the idea he’d one day do to Jacques what Jacques had done to Jacqueline.
    Senior had been following. Watching. Biding his time. They all thought he was dead, and that’s the way he wanted it. A few times, he may as well have gone ahead and pulled the trigger. He’d been close enough, but in the end, thoughts of his boys always made him take the gun out of his mouth.
    At the circus, they’d been trapped the same way he’d been until Jacqueline died and he’d deposited his young sons at his aunt’s. He’d had to run away to grieve. He’d had to run away from the circus, and knew Jacques wouldn’t let him go easily. He’d had to hide, and a man couldn’t take children when he was hiding.
    He’d thought he’d covered all his bases, settling the boys in the Spanish countryside with his elderly aunt. They could have had a real home that wasn’t on wheels. She was so far off the grid on that tired vineyard, few people paid her much mind.
    He’d thought they’d be protected there amongst the old stone buildings and the ancient vines, but Jacques had found them.
    He took them in exchange for some sweet lies to Senior’s trusting tia . He bound them to his freak show the same way he’d bound Senior, but this time, he’d had a new motive. Revenge.
    Jacques and Jacqueline were supposed to be a match, Jacques had always said. They’d grown up in the same village in France. Their mothers had been friends, and