away our sins like a fucked-up baptismal for the indecent. I sit between Talent’s legs with my back toward him and bring my knees to my chest, resting the side of my face on top of them.
“Don’t keep anything from me again, Talent,” I say.
Resting his arm over the side of the bathtub, he says, “That’s all there is.”
Looking over my shoulder, I ask, “What did Giovanni mean when he said to tell Inez he’s ready to talk when she is?”
“I don’t know,” Talent answers. He sits up straight and the bathwater moves in waves around our bodies. “As far as I know, Hush operates without interference from the Coppolas.”
“That’s not normal, right?” I know little about the inner workings of the mafia within Grand Haven, but Giovanni said it himself tonight. Nothing goes on in his territory without his knowledge. A few Hush girls have been known to serve members of the mob, but as far as I know, Inez is exempt from their control. Why?
“It’s not typical, but it happens,” Talent says, dripping water from the tips of his fingers down my spine. “The sex trade generates huge money. If Giovanni isn’t getting a cut from her operation, there’s a good reason. She’s never talked to you about it?”
Leaning back against his chest, the ends of my hair float on the surface as the water washes over my collarbone. I close my eyes as Talent’s arms encircle me, keeping me whole. “Never.”
“Lydia, wake up,” Camilla whispers. “Inez is on the phone. She wants to talk to you.”
Blinking against a dreamless sleep, my eyes focus to find Camilla standing beside my bed with the phone to her ear.
“I’m sorry, but she says it’s an emergency,” Camilla says in a voice as quiet as a secret.
I lean over to turn on my lamp, illuminating my room in a soft yellow glow. Camilla holds the cell phone out for me to take and stands back in her nightshirt and bare legs. Her gold eyes sweep over Talent’s sleeping form beside me, unsure if she should stay or go.
“Tesora, can you hear me, sweetheart?” Inez says on the other end of the phone.
Sitting up in bed, I shake Talent awake. I haven’t heard from Inez in weeks, and now she’s calling me in the middle of the night. Something isn’t right.
“I can hear you,” I say warily.
“I’m sorry to call you at this hour, but I need you to come over,” she commands. “The sooner the better.”
Talent hears Inez and kicks his legs over the side of the bed. He reaches for a shirt and pulls it over his head before grabbing his cell phone from the nightstand. Opening the home screen, he searches for a number and presses call. When his eyes meet mine, he says, “Wilder, I need to borrow your car.”
“We’re on our way,” I tell Inez, passing the phone back to Camilla.
Wilder shows up at our door twenty minutes later dressed in a pair of black sweats and a plain white T-shirt. He has sleep lines pressed into the side of his face, and he still smells like bourbon. No signs that he witnessed a killing tonight.
“The two of you keep shit interesting,” he says, tossing the keys to Talent. “Do you need me to come along, or can I crash on the couch?”
“You can sleep in my bed,” Camilla says eagerly. Wilder’s sleepy-drunk expression rouses, and a wide smile spreads across his lips. Camilla blushes and corrects herself. “Because the couch isn’t any better than sleeping on the floor. You can sleep in my bed, and I’ll—”
Shoving my feet into a pair of shoes, I grab my phone from the counter and head toward the door. Talent follows me out, quickly stepping past me to lead the way to Wilder’s Mercedes. The night sky idles somewhere between night and morning, mostly black and star-speckled, edged by a lighter blue along the horizon.
“Do you know what’s going on?” Talent asks, turning the car away from the curb and whipping it around so quickly the tires squeal.
“She just said to come over, but this isn’t like her. Something’s wrong.”
Talent drops his foot on the accelerator, and the car roars against the quiet night. “Tell me where I’m going, baby.”
From the outside, Inez’s white two-story home appears vacant. There’s not a car sitting in the driveway, not a light on, no signs of life from the outside. Even the porch light is off. As soon as Talent parks the car,