picture out of her hand.
Eloise took a step back, surprised.
Regan advanced on her slowly, backing her into the corner of the neat living room. The old woman looked like she wanted to scream, but from her lips came only a tiny whimper.
“I said”—Regan held the photo close to the woman’s face—“tell me about this girl.”
Chapter 59
I SHOWERED, THE hot water running down my muddy arms, over the grazes and cuts on my knuckles, dirt swirling on the tiles beneath my bare feet. I was given a towel and clothes, and dressed in a cluttered bedroom while the girl, Janna, argued with her mother about having to provide me with her best pair of jeans. The black top, grabbed hastily from a shelf by Melina, read “Gucci” in white block letters. I waited on the couch for instructions, staring at the clock as it struck midnight, my mind too torn by what I had done to provide any guidance.
I’d almost killed a child.
How far was I going to take this?
My phone on the coffee table before me buzzed with a call from an unidentified number. Regan. I didn’t answer. I wouldn’t let him into this house, even if it was only by phone. While the girl and her mother argued, Melina searching the kitchen cupboards for food to stock my backpack with, the tall young boy wandered the house awkwardly, trying to get a proper glimpse of me, not brave enough to offer conversation.
I fell asleep. The sensation was like being punched out, a sudden warm darkness, sounds slowly receding.
I was lying on the couch. The windows were lit pink when I dared to open my eyes. The teens were on the second couch, curled together, eyes glued to a huge television set, fingers dancing over black plastic gaming controllers, bowls of cereal uneaten before them. I tried to make myself get up, but the fatigue was too heavy.
Janna’s voice drew me out of sleep again. “Don’t touch it.”
“I could just hold it for a second,” the boy said. “You snap a picture. Two seconds. She’ll never know. It’ll go viral on Insty. Can you imagine?”
“My mum will kill you.”
“Two seconds! I’ve never held a gun before. It’s probably not even loaded.”
“It is loaded,” I said, sitting up. The teens paused the game and looked at me. I took my gun from the coffee table where it had been lying in plain sight, probably placed there by Melina so that the kids couldn’t sneak off with it without her knowing. I ejected the clip and the chamber bullet, let the slide shunt forward and slammed the clip back in. The boy’s eyes were wild with intrigue. I’d given him a show, at least. The kids lifted their eyes from the gun to me, two attentive kittens, bewitched.
“Are you really gonna kill that guy when you find him?” Janna asked.
“That’s the plan,” I said.
“Won’t that make you, like, a murderer?” she asked. She glanced at the boy for courage. “Won’t it sort of…bring you down to his level?”
Melina appeared behind my couch, giving the young ones a warning look as she put a hand on my shoulder. The kids went reluctantly back to their game as I took up my gun and phone. I wanted to give the kid an answer, but I didn’t have one.
Chapter 60
IN THE KITCHEN, my backpack sat fat and zipped up on the counter.
“There’s plenty of food,” she said. “And I put in an extra jacket and a rain poncho. I put the cash you had in your jeans in there, your wallet…I charged your phone while you were asleep.”
“Thank you. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate this.”
“Well, it’s not every day you get to harbor a wanted woman,” Melina said. “I’ll see you off, and then I’m taking Janna and heading for a hotel. I got a call from one of your colleagues.”
I warmed slightly at the knowledge that someone was warning victims from my past cases that Regan was interested in them. I grabbed the bag and prepared to leave, but before I could, Melina hugged me. I held on, not realizing how much I’d needed the physical contact until that moment. Melina was leaner and stronger now than she had been when I first met her, sitting with a couple of family members in the station interview room. I remembered her elbows and knees had been grazed from being thrown on the floor of the public toilet where she was attacked. She’d