“I can’t believe you were going to serve the investigator that nasty stuff,” Castillo said, wrinkling her nose at some dark pickled leaves, as if that were the most important thing that had happened. “We’re the only family in the county that will touch it.”
“Food is food,” I said. How could I get Castillo to go away? Mom and the aunties were discussing my fate, as well as that of the investigator, and I couldn’t hear them while Castillo was nattering at me. I scrubbed harder. Maybe if I ignored her long enough, she’d get bored and scoot.
“. . . call the local magistrate,” Auntie Areum was saying. “Surely they’ll understand that—”
“Hey.” Castillo kicked at a bowl to get my attention. Its contents scattered, making a greasy mess of the section of floor I’d just scrubbed. “Min, stop spacin
