The house of Esperanza was a small concrete structure near the Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe in the southwest section of Immokalee. Its detail work had never been completed. Three of its outer walls lacked stucco, pipes and wiring were exposed throughout the interior, and several windows were still without glass. The roof had been tarred but remained ungraveled, and it leaked from a half-dozen places. Esperanza had informally inherited the house from Salvador Escondido, her husband by common law, who one morning kissed her goodbye at the door, left for work in the fields, and never came back. That was nine months ago. The most popular rumor was that he had run off with a gringa from Fort Myers and was now working as a waiter in Chicago.