Summary

This section, commencing with Chapter Fifteen, speaks of how Lydia and Sebastian may have had a false sense of security given Lydia and Javier’s friendship. Sebastian took precautions as “no one in Acapulco felt secure” but the two did not fear retribution from the cartel (142). Lydia reassures Sebastian of their relative safety as he publishes an article entitled: La Lechuza Revealed: Portrait of a Drug Lord.

Sebastian provides a through, balanced portrait of Javier that bespeaks his intensity with which Lydia is familiar, but also reveals his “capacity for cruelty” a side with which Lydia is unfamiliar (145). He includes the poem that Javier shared with Lydia; Sebastian discovered it as Marta had submitted it to a poetry contest. It is further confirmation that Lydia has been consorting with a stone-cold killer.

Atop the train, Lydia secures Luca with a canvas belt. Luca...