Chapter 71

• I was at the dog park the next morning. It was a brisk fifteen-minute walk from my house. I was letting my blue Great Dane, ’Tato, run in the park. This was a daily ritual, even in the worst of the Vegas heat. My great beast of a dog needed the exercise.
• I threw ’Tato’s slobbery tennis ball as far as I could for the umpteenth time, and he took off after it with great bounding strides.
• “Morning, Lourdes,” a gravelly voice said just behind me. I jumped about a foot.