"Ana Sofia? Don't be nervous. FBI, I'm Agent Jennifer Jeaner. Can we come in?" Jiejie's Spanish wasn't as fluent as Jack's, but she could handle everyday conversations.
"I'm Ana Sofia. I speak English."
The woman's expression softened slightly, but she remained nervous, her eyes involuntarily glancing down at the ground as she spoke. The chubby little boy beside her had already hidden behind his mother, only daring to show a small part of his head.
"That's great, thank you." Jiejie slung the assault rifle behind her back, and the other three did the same.
"Mom, what are these people doing here?" Fear filled the boy's chubby face, but as Jack conjured a lollipop, his eyes suddenly brightened, like a cat seeing a candy bar.
"They're just here to ask Mom a few questions," the Mexican woman named Ana Sofia said, caressing her son's head.
Hannah took the lollipop from Jack, twirled it in her hands, and smiled at the little boy. "Your name is Arturo, right? Want to try the racing game on my phone?"
"Please follow me."
With a hint of worry, Anna Sofia watched the little boy follow Hannah into the dining room connected to the kitchen. Then, she led the other three FBI agents into the living room.
Jack habitually surveyed the room. The carpet, though cheap, was immaculately kept. The appliances, some of which looked a bit older, were present, but they were all there.
A dishwasher, a vertical oven, a water heater, a large LCD TV—these appliances are essential in American homes, but this was Mexico.
"What exactly happened?" The woman spoke English quite well, albeit with a slight accent.
Unlike the initial friendliness displayed by Jiejie and Hannah, Jack played the "bad cop," so he didn't answer but instead asked, "What do you think? You should know what the FBI does, right?"
"American police." Anna-Sophia's face showed a hint of embarrassment. "I didn't know the FBI even dealt with this kind of thing. Was it his American wife who found you?"
Jiejie raised her slender eyebrows slightly. "So you knew Robert Mueller had a family in Arizona?"
The four of them had discussed this on the way here. Young mistresses are generally not likely to initiate childbearing. Judging from the boy's age, Anna-Sophia was likely under 20 when she gave birth to him.
Therefore, they all agreed that their relationship wasn't a typical maintenance, but a de facto marriage.
However, Anna-Sophia's reaction at this moment was somewhat unexpected, clearly indicating that she was not completely unaware of this.
"That was almost half a year ago." The woman's face now showed a mixture of relief and resentment.
"His previous company sent a severance check and some documents listing his wife and two sons in Arizona, so I learned everything."
"It sounds like you had an argument?" Clay asked, carefully observing the woman's expression.
For the former SEAL, analyzing micro-expressions was a new skill he hadn't yet mastered, so he, ever eager to learn, never missed a rare opportunity.
After all, most of his teammates were veterans. Jubal was experienced and had perfect expression management, while Jack and Jiejie were too advanced and often deliberately misled him.
As for the remaining three, Hannah had always been simple-minded, and the ease with which she could handle the situation meant she couldn't gain experience. Aubrey and Alice were a perfect match, but they were now so often together that you had to be prepared to be fed a lot of dog food.
"Of course," Anna-Sophia said, her teeth still gnashing as she spoke. "We had an argument, and he admitted everything."
"But?" Jiejie gestured for her to continue.
"But my son needed a father, so we reconciled." The woman finished her words with a bit of difficulty, then subconsciously lowered her head.
"It sounds like you still harbor resentment towards him?" Clay asked tentatively.
"Perhaps," Anna Sofia suddenly sensed something was wrong. "You didn't come here for this, did you? It was about Robert, what did he do?"
Jie Jie glanced at Jack, and seeing him nod slightly, she spoke softly, "Unfortunately, your husband, Robert Miller, was murdered tonight."
"Oh my God!" The woman subconsciously made the sign of the cross, tears welling up in her eyes.
It was clear that while this wife still harbored resentment, she still had feelings for Robert Miller.
Jiejie consoled Anna Sofia for a long time before she finally recovered from the shock of the news. Sobbing softly, she said, "Although my husband gambles, drinks, and has a few other bad habits, he's always taken good care of us.
He never gets into fights, and even when drunk, he never hits me or our son. Who could have done such a terrible thing to him?"
"That's what we want to know," Jack said, staring into the woman's eyes. He touched Clay's arm, silently signaling him to pay attention.
Under the gaze of the three FBI agents, Anna Sofia's gaze shifted slightly, her expression gradually stiffening.
"We came to visit because we thought you might know something," Jiejie said, hinting. "Can you tell us?"
The woman covered her face in a daze. After a moment, as if waking from a dream, she rose and walked towards the closet in the corner of the living room.
The moment she opened the closet door, Clay, who had his hand on his pistol, froze in place. Even Jack and Jiejie were so surprised, their mouths half-open, at a loss for words.
Inside the closet was a shrine, housing a statue of a skeleton clad in a blood-red wedding gown and holding a scythe. It was the statue
of "La Santa Muerte," the Holy Death, whom Jack had seen in the chapel when he and the seals were trapped in the slums of Ixtapaluca. (Chapter 622: The Church)
Several candles burned eternally around the statue, along with decorative flowers and offerings of various fruits and tequila.
"Isn't this what it is?" Clay was stunned, unable to react for a moment.
"La Santa Muerte, the protector of the abandoned," Jack recalled some of the stories Colonel Martinez had told him.
Mexico has no state religion, but Catholicism holds a significant majority, nearly 90% of the population.
But this statistic is actually not accurate. Compared to the "Eastern Power" with the largest population in the world today, where the doctrine of cultivating the afterlife is prevalent, a large number of poor people are willing to accept the suffering they have endured in this life.
Catholicism does not have much advantage in this regard. A large number of lower-class Mexicans regard themselves as people abandoned by God and have turned to believe in the Holy Death.
These lower-class people include mobile vendors, taxi drivers, pirated goods vendors, street thugs, people engaged in the erotic industry, pickpockets and members of drug cartels. These people are generally believed to be unable to find spiritual comfort in the traditional Catholic Church.
Jack still remembers that when they arrested the drug lord Doza's subordinate, the guy named Lazo, he saw the tattoo of the Holy Death on his chest.
(End of this chapter)