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stomach to her pancreas and beyond, and those very efforts to keep going somehow made it all that much sadder.
    At least there was dignity at the hospice—something that hospitals never provided and rarely cared about. The dignity came in the form of honesty. Medical jargon and euphemisms for the inevitable gave way to blunt surrender and acceptance of impending death. The staff was solicitous and friendly, and under the circumstances Annie wasn’t sure she could ask for much more.
    It had been a long day, and Annie still had much to do. She’d returnedto Aunt Elsa’s apartment a few hours ago and had spent the evening rifling through the reams of papers that never seem important until the end of someone’s life. The apartment was a comfortable one, situated one block from the water on A1-A in West Palm Beach. Annie’sUncle Larry was staying there, too, lending a hand, and it had been kind of fun to spend the evening chatting with him about the old times, even as it was decidedly less fun to talk about the future.
    The apartment was designed as a loft, and Larry had graciously offeredto sleep on the sofa in the living room, while Annie settled into her grandmother’s bed upstairs. Sleep eluded her, though, as she stared at the ceiling, her mind awash in the staggering details of all that needed to be done. It helped that Aunt Elsa was so actively involved in the funeral plans. Ever the efficient manager, Annie had already caught her grandmother sitting upright in her hospice bed with her ever-presentyellow legal pad, orchestrating the details of her own farewell. She was particularly emphatic about who could speak and who could not. Catholics could be long winded, Elsa had pointed out, and she didn’t want any speeches that went on past people’s ability to comfortablyendure.
    It hurt Annie to think about how much she would miss her when she was gone.
    The phone awoke Annie a little after midnight, before she’d even known she’d fallen asleep. The shrill ring cut like a knife, tripling her heart rate. Good news never came at this hour. Assuming that Aunt Elsa had slipped away during the night, she let it ring twice, steeling herself for the bad news.
    “Hello?” At first, all she heard was background noise—the sound of a party—but after just a second or two, she also heard the sound of snuffling.
    “Mom?”
    At the sound of Kimberly’s voice, her heart rate doubled again. “Hi, sweetheart, what’s wrong?” She worked hard to keep the panic out of her voice.
    “There are soldiers at our house. Daddy’s been arrested.”
    The words hit like a lightning bolt. A kick to the stomach. Without prompting, Kimberly poured out what she knew in a continuous, unbrokennarrative. She heard all about how Kurt had been running late from the airport, and about the call from Jorge. Annie recognized the name immediately, and with it came full realization of the impending tragedy.
    Annie did the math in her head. Kurt’s flight had landed around eight o’clock, and now it was after midnight. That was four hours. Things were spinning wildly out of control, and they’d lost valuable time.
    “Listen to me, Kimberly,” Annie said quickly. “This is very important.Are you listening to me?”
    “I’m scared.”
    “I know you are, sweetheart, but you have to be strong now, okay? You need to take a deep breath and be strong.”
    “What’s happening? Why are they at our house? Why have they arrestedDaddy?”
    “I don’t know,” Annie said, wincing at the lie. “Is Erik with you?”
    “He’s at the Prietos.”
    That wouldn’t do. He needed to be with the rest of the family. “I need to call them,” Annie said. “Where are you now?”
    “I’m at the Arosemenas. They’re having a party.”
    Annie nodded. “Okay, fine. Ask Señora Arosemena if she has a telephonebook and get me the Prietos’ number.”
    “I have our directory,” Kimberly said. “The one from the hall upstairs.”
    Annie couldn’t believe