The Sigma Asset 🏳️‍🌈 (bxb)║AMBYS WINNER 2022

59: La Perla Negra

La Perla Negra hadn't changed one bit since I'd last walked through its silver-painted doors with my UC María study-buddies almost three years earlier. The same tired underwater wildlife murals of octopuses, giant clams and anemones still covered the walls, and the air was still heavy with that dank smell of incense and ganja that permeated everyone's clothes for hours afterwards.

As my eyes adjusted to the gloom of the club in the long walk through the bar to the balcony beyond, I could make out the familiar dark corners lined with benches and brightly-colored cushions, probably the same ones that I'd sweated on years earlier with whatever wasted guy had been flavor of the week.

The balcony had improved since I'd last seen it; stylish tables sparkled in the baking heat, and huge parasols shifted under the breeze like airborne jellyfish. Teresa lounged at a table with a beer, neon jewelry and badges glinting in the sun, her phone buzzing away in her hands as she swiped out text after text. I tiptoed up behind her and slid soft fingers over her eyes.

"Zeph!" She pulled at both wrists, dragging me down into a bearhug and almost upsetting her beer in the process. "You look good, sweetie! I mean...way better than you did when we were interviewing you back in Este."

"Yeah, well, police-victim-gray isn't the most flattering color." I crashed into a chair while Teresa waved over a waiter. "You look great too. How's work in Mercedes?"

Teresa slammed her phone down on the table. "Busy. Office keeps texting about why I've left work early."

"Early? It's five-thirty. I thought that Mercedes doesn't have much crime."

"That's before we found out that the sugar factory is run by a Sigma-affiliated company."

I was about to express my surprise, but then a quick sort through my brain-shelves revealed the fact that Will had confessed to meeting Jones at the sugar factory to book me as compensation.

"Oh yeah. I knew that."

Or rather, the sugar factory was where Will had started on his clumsy yet successful effort to free me from Sigma.

"So, my team's working with Sofi now and again. She told me what Will Graz did to you. Showed me the notes from your little bust-up in the hospital. Fuck."

I sipped my beer in an attempt to look nonchalant, but my hand trembled at the thought of that night. My rage. Will's heartbreak. Charlotte's terror. Sofi's pity.

"I went to Will's trial today."

"Why, sweetie? Why put yourself through that?"

"I wanted to find out how to get Raheem," I said, gulping down more beer. "And Charlotte asked me to go with her. Will didn't know I was hiding in the public gallery. Charlotte's really stressing about him."

"Charlotte Graz?" Teresa whistled through her teeth. "You're her best buddy now?"

"Yeah. Literally. I'm like...her only friend. Her husband's my new visa guarantor."

"Guillermo Reyes is your guarantor?" Teresa hooted, shaking her head at the turn of events. "Wow, sweetie. Sofi must be spitting acid."

"Sofi wasn't exactly happy about it," I shrugged. "But she's kinda...come to an understanding with Charlotte."

"So, how did the trial go?"

I had no idea how the trial had gone. Despite Will not knowing I was there, so much of the trial had felt like it had been for my ears alone. Will had taken the smuggling job to keep Mozhgan's house. Will had given his entire payment from Sigma to Orchard Park. Will had visited me on the night of the fire to help me, despite not even knowing how to. Exactly the kinda dumb decisions that I'd expect a frightened, desperate and naïve Will to have made.