"Marquita," Dr. Gold said, knocking on the door. "There's someone here to see you."

"Who?" came a stubborn-voiced answer. "Tell them to go away."

"Marquita, it's Catherine," Catherine replied, making her voice gentle like she had the night she mollycoddled Marquita and her hand.

"Venido adentro," said Marquita after a pause, her tone a little brighter.

Catherine stepped into the room and saw Marquita, sitting up in bed, a magazine open on her lap and wearing a worn-out Lisa Frank T-shirt depicting prancing unicorns. Her hand was heavily bandaged and wrapped in a cast, each finger separated into an individual padded compartment.

"Catherine," Marquita said, excitedly. "I was hoping you would come to see me!"

"Well, I'm happy you're excited," Catherine smiled. She approached Marquita and hugged the girl, who hugged back. Dr. Gold smiled to himself and quietly left the room to make his rounds. "Unfortunately, I'm not here to visit."

Marquita's face fell. "Ay."

Catherine pulled up a chair and sat down. "Don't worry. It's nothing right now. I just need to know—from your point of view—what happened two nights ago at Stop-n-Go."

"It was two nights ago?"

"Yeah."

"Wow…" Marquita looked down at her hand. "At least I kept my hand."

"At least."

"But my aunt is gone." A rogue tear escaped from the corner of her eye. "I'm not religious, Catherine, but I gotta tell ya—I really do believe you are an angel, sent by God to save me. You really did save me. I probably would have bled to death if you hadn't opened the door and found me."

Catherine smiled, "If you didn't make all that noise in the closet, I wouldn't have found you. You were very brave."

Marquita put her chin to her chest and smiled a little bit, her dark hair falling over her eyes. Tiny gold cross earrings hung from her lobes.

"Can you tell me about the robbery now, honey?" Catherine pulled a small notebook from the back pocket of her jeans and a pen from behind her ear.

"I have to?"

"Yeah," Catherine said, gently. "If we wanna catch who killed your aunt, you're gonna have to say something. Start off easy. Your mother says she didn't know you went with your aunt. Why did you go?"

"I needed something."

"What? You can tell me, Marquita, we're both girls."

"I don't want to. It doesn't matter anyway. It doesn't matter," Marquita repeated in a whisper. "Um, I heard Aunt Pancha getting up and well, I'm a light sleeper so I got out of bed and asked her where she was going. She said my mother wanted some mild painkillers and I asked to go with her. She didn't ask why—Aunt Pancha never asks why, that's what I love…loved about her.

"We got to the Stop-n-Go, I got my stuff, Pancha got hers and we were just about to go pay when this…this vato comes in. All in black. Big sunglasses on his face. They were the kind where you can't see the eyes behind them?"

"Reflective?"

"Yeah, reflective. He looked sort of young. Twenty maybe. came in all mad and shit, like he was gotta bust a cap…and he did, right into the head of the guy behind the counter."

"Okay. Good, Marquita, keep going," Catherine scribed furiously.

"I screamed. I couldn't help it. I watched in horror as he fired more shots into someone else. A young guy, maybe a little older than my brother Diego, he was shot a few times too. I'd never seen anyone shot before, even in my little barrio. My aunt Pancha screamed too. Then the vato, that pedazo de mierde turned around and fired at her. There was nothing I could do. It all happened so fast. All I could do was scream and scream. Then…he came towards me. I don't know where I got my strength from, Catherine, but I charged at him. I just…went for him you know?"

Catherine frowned. "That was pretty dangerous."

"I didn't care. I've done worse stuff," Marquita said quickly, then she regretted it. But she continued anyway, "I charged at him with all the adrenaline that had built up and he whipped out the knife. He came towards me…and I had my arms up like I was going to hit him, yelling like crazy, in Spanish, in English, every curse word and dirty name I could think of…and before I knew it we were face to face and…he knifed me. Stabbed. Whatever you want to call it." With her free hand, Marquita tucked her hair behind her ear and drummed her fingers on her knee for a few seconds before putting them to her voluptuous lips and biting her nails. "You wouldn't happen to have a cigarette, would you?"

"No, I don't smoke," Catherine said, not looking up from her notepad. "I'm a scientist, Marquita. I know what cigarettes do to a woman's body. So the assailant just…" Catherine made gestures with her hands "…stabbed you through the hand and walked out?"

"Pretty much. I know it sounds crazy."

"You were lucky. A seventeen year old versus a man with a gun. He could have blown you back to kingdom come."

"I know that. Listen, I'm not as ingenuo as you think I am. My mama, I love her, but she doesn't know everything I do."

Catherine screwed up her mouth. Her mind flashed to Mason Ziegler. "Have you ever…experimented with drugs, Marquita?"

Marquita looked up, shocked. "Depends on what you mean by 'drugs'."

"Well, marijuana, for one."

"Sure, I've tried pot. Who hasn't? In my neighborhood, it's nothing unusual."

"Do you know anyone by the name of Mason Ziegler?"

Knitting her brow, Marquita shook her head, "I don't think so. Doesn't sound like anyone from my neck of the woods, for sure."

Catherine continued, "He also went by the nickname of Mazz. Does that sound familiar?"

"Yeah. He's this kid…my brother used to hang with him. I never met him but I used to hear Diego talking to him on the phone all the time. Or at least mention him a lot."

"Well, Mason Ziegler…he was the clerk killed at the Stop-n-Go. The one behind the counter."

"¿Verdad? That's crazy!"

"Do you know anything else about Diego and Mazz?" Catherine leaned in, feeling like she was really getting to the meat of the situation.

"No, not really. Diego was worse than I was, verdad. I've seen the crazy shit—sorry, stuff he used to do. He used to run with this gang called Los Malos Lobos Grandes."

"What's that?" Catherine, who didn't know much Spanish, asked.

"The Big Bad Wolves?" Marquita looked at Catherine with serious eyes. "They would pick one girl to be La Una Rojita, the Little Red One. Like Little Red Riding Hood? It was a sick game. Pick one girl from the area that they all knew, hunted her down and…" Marquita buried her face in her hand. "Qué terrible sino…"

"Marquita?" Catherine put a hand on the girl's shoulder.

"They would…attack her," came a shuddery whisper. "Make her be their…slave. They would do it…at gunpoint, knifepoint."

"How do you know about this?" Catherine was horrified now.

Marquita began to cry. Her shoulders rose and fell with sobs. Catherine became alarmed.

"Marquita…honey, please…you have to tell me about this, we can get them to stop…stop crying, please…" in a motherly fashion, Catherine held Marquita and rocked her slowly, like she did with Lindsey. "It's okay…"

"Please, Catherine…I don't want to talk anymore tonight. Please. Don't make me talk anymore," Marquita sobbed.

"It's okay," Catherine assured the girl. "It's okay."

"Find who did it, please," Marquita buried her face into Catherine's shoulder. "Please. Catch him…"

"I'm gonna do my best," Catherine promised.