The call came on a Wednesday.
Fina was on her lunch break from Meridian Partners — the real job, the daytime one, the one that had existed before contracts and estates and yellow kitchen light kisses — sitting on the bench outside the building with a sandwich she was eating too fast because she only had twenty minutes.
Unknown number.
She almost didn't answer.
She answered.
"Fina Tesla." The voice was female. Quiet. Careful in the way of someone who had rehearsed the first sentence many times. "You don't know me. My name is Mara Solano."
Fina stopped eating.
"I know who you are," she said.
A pause. "Then you know why I'm calling."
"Tell me anyway," Fina said.
---
They met at a coffee shop three blocks from Fina's office.
Fina arrived first — of course she did. She took a table
