Lead, Lead Poisoning the Cowboy Way, and the Periodic Table of Death and Mystery

Sometimes the Periodic Table of Death and Mystery comes very close to home. She was from a prominent family in her small, insular town, and he worked as the manager at a brothel. She was eighteen when they met and he was thirty-six and married. She became pregnant with his child before he was shot, dead from the lead of a bullet fired in anger. His name was José Ramirez, but everyone called him Joe.