“SOMEWHERE AROUND HERE,” HANS said, swinging his

flashlight beam from the dark tunnel in front of them toward

the thick wall of vegetation on the right.

Geraldo acknowledged with a wordless grunt, pulled the

truck onto the high grass bordering the rutted dirt road,

and hit the brake. Hans clambered down from the passenger’s

seat and disappeared into the brush.

Twenty seconds later, he was back.

“Yeah, here,” he said, “on the other side of that big tree.”

“They’re all big trees,” Geraldo said.

“That one,” Hans said, shining his light up and down the trunk.

Gilda Caropreso hesitated for a moment, reluctant to

leave the warmth of the cab. The others started opening

doors and unloading equipment. Geraldo slung on his camera

cases, freeing his hands for the heavier work ahead.

Fernando produced a thermos bottle of hot coffee. They

stood around for a while, leaning against the vehicles, blowing

into their hands, waiting for dawn.

Then they set out to recover the body.

Frost coated the samambaia ferns like a sugar glaze.

Nocturnal animals rustled in the darkness. Gilda’s breath

came out in white clouds, spreading and vanishing in the

windless air. Twice she heard gunshots punctuating the rumble

of traffic on the nearby belt road. The temperature was

two degrees below freezing. The location was a rain forest less

than twenty kilometers from the largest city in the Southern

Hemisphere. The jungle that surrounded them was as thick

as any in the Amazon.

Yoshiro Tanaka looked down at his feet and grunted. His

weight had carried him beyond a crust of ice and into a thick

ooze of red mud. The little cop stepped onto firmer ground,

bent over, and started scraping at the gooey mass with a

handful of dead leaves from the forest floor.

Tanaka, shorter than Gilda by half a head, was a delegado

titular. A man in his position had no need to risk his shoes.

In fact, he had no need to be out there in the rain forest at

all. But within the confines of his domain, the area covered

by his precinct, Tanaka could do whatever he damn pleased.

And what pleased Yoshiro Tanaka was the adrenaline rush

he got from visiting crime scenes.

Excerpt ends.