him they’d arrived. Riel’s ahi-filled stomach suddenly felt sick, and she curled up on the mattress to wait.
Evan stretched out next to her and turned on the TV. “Ooh, Seinfeld reruns,” he said, and leaned over to kiss her neck. She knew he was trying to keep her mind off things, but that was impossible right now.
After about forty-five minutes, there was a knock on the door. Riel sat up, clutching the blankets, and Evan tousled her hair. “It’s going to be all right, Rielita.”
“I know,” she muttered.
Evan went to answer the door, and Riel heard Mishmash’s voice. “Hey, how’s it going?”
“Good, good, how are you doing?” Evan said.
They came into the room, and Mismash grinned at Riel in a friendly, almost childlike way. He came over to shake her hand. “Hey, I remember you,” he said. “Hard to forget a face like that.”
Riel smiled. His hand was warm and dry, which made her realize she was sweating. The sleeves of Mishmash’s plaid shirt were rolled up over his thick forearms, and she saw he had a bible verse tattooed on the inside of his right one.
No se angustien por el mañana, el cual tendrá sus propios afanes.
She took a deep breath, let it out. “To each day its own problems.” That’s a good philosophy in this business. “It’s good to see you, Mishmash,” she said.
Evan stretched back out next to her on the bed, and Mishmash settled in a chair, tugging at the legs of his jeans so they fell straight. He was still watching her, and he grinned again, then reached into an inside pocket of his shirt and pulled out a folded manila envelope, holding it out to her. “So I hear you’re starting a new life.”
Riel tried to keep her hand from shaking as she took the envelope. She clutched it tightly, feeling the passport and her other fake documents within. My new life, she thought a bit bitterly. “Yeah,” she said. “I’m done working for that dick Isaias.”
He laughed. It was almost a giggle, and the sound of it made Riel smile. She had to remind herself that this guy wasn’t as sweet as he seemed; he’d likely killed more than a few people. “I don’t blame you,” he said. “Not after what he did. I couldn’t believe he’d screw over his own sister-in-law like that.”
Riel glanced at Evan, her brow furrowed, wondering if he’d told him about the strip club and how Isaias had hit her. She couldn’t imagine the two of them gossiping like that. But Evan looked just as confused as she did, staring at Mishmash with a frown. “What do you mean?” he asked.
Mishmash’s eyebrows shot up, and his meaty lips formed an “O”. Then he laughed again, slapping his stocky thighs. “Oh shit, he didn’t even tell you, did he? Chingada madre. What a fucking cabrón.”
Riel’s chest tightened. “What did he do?”
Mishmash gave her a hesitant look, rubbing his knuckles against his upper lip, then shrugged. “He got into a tight spot with some feds. They needed a sacrifice, I guess, because they were getting questions from higher-ups and were worried their cover would be blown. So he threw you under the bus. I heard he cut a deal in regard to your sentencing, but still, that’s pretty messed up. He could have given them someone outside the family.”
Riel’s ears rang, and the world seemed to go dark. For a moment she thought she was going to puke and had to close her eyes. As she took deep breaths, she felt Evan’s arm go around her, steadying her.
“I’m gonna kill that dick,” Evan muttered. “I thought she got busted somehow fair and square, and that he just stepped in to keep her going away for hard time.”
“Sorry to have to be the bearer of that bad news,” Mishmash said. “I thought he at least would have told you, given you some compensation or something.”
“Nope,” Riel said through gritted teeth.
Mishmash’s broad brow creased slightly, his shrewd eyes not leaving her face. “If that’s not the reason you took off on him, then why did you?”
Riel gathered herself up. “Because he’s an asshole, that’s why. He treated me like shit. He didn’t pay me. He made me do things…” She squeezed her eyes shut, catching her breath, and Evan’s arm tightened around her.
“That fucker hit her,” Evan said. “I don’t even want to know what else he would have done to her if I hadn’t gotten her out of there.”
“Oh, shit, I