Ruiz’s composure faltered when she saw the tag still fastened around my ankle.

“Who pronounced him dead?” she asked Walter.

“That,” Walter answered, “is a question somebody needs to answer before anyone destroys another document.”

The officer, Detective Mara Chen, was already writing in a notebook.

“Mr.

Mendoza,” she said, “I understand you heard people discussing your cremation.

You’re not going to confront them.

Your job right now is to stay alive and let us find out what happened.”