Monica is looking forward to a quiet end of the summer on Lucia Street. She's even beginning to accept her neighborhood and get accustomed to the view from her porch--a street lined with run-down houses, tall skinny palms, and here and there, a gnarled pepper tree. When she sets out one late summer morning amid kids playing baseball and neighbors calling out to her in Spanish, she does not expect the tantalizing mystery that awaits her. While visiting...