9.
Lucrecia and LolaStella carefully opened the lid of the petite, bejeweled box. The rosary it contained also looked very old, bearing the marks of centuries of humble prayer.
“According to family traditions this was made from the batten of a shipwrecked Spanish galleon,” the elderly lady put it into Anthony’s hands.
“Marvelous!” the detective admired the ancient religious artwork.
“My grandmother Lucrecia adored colorful clothes but after the death of her husband always wore black. She outlived him by 51 years and habitually held this rosary in her hands.”
“Quite an extraordinary person, to say the least!”
“She really was. She bore fourteen children. My father was born almost fifteen years later then Carmen, as the last one. Lucrecia approached all of her children differently, neve
