The Sinners of Saint Amos - Logan Fox Page 0,233

we draw someone’s attention. If they come for us, at least then we’ll know who took Trinity.

Apollo jumps out of the passenger door, Cass a beat behind him. They race up to the front door.

Rube and I meet them halfway down the stairs. It’s crowded with the four of us, but that doesn’t matter.

Apollo’s holding out his phone. “Watch it,” he wheezes. “One of you—”

Cass snatches it. “Christ, Apollo, get some fucking exercise.” Then he looks at me, at Rube. “He figured out the password. He opened the file.”

“The one from Gabriel?” Rube asks, reaching for the phone.

Cass pulls it out of reach.

For a second, just one weird fucking second, I think he’s screwing around with Rube. That if he tried to go for it, Cass would pull it away again. Like driving away from someone before they can get in the car. But just a few feet. And then you apologize. And then do it again.

“Rube, my man,” Cass says quietly. Then he shakes his head. Looks at me. “I…don’t even know if we can.”

“Can what?” Rube growls, going for the phone again. This time Cass lets him take it.

“Watch it,” he says. Crosses his arms. He and Apollo share a look, and then drop their gazes. “We couldn’t.”

“It’s a video?”

They nod, still looking down.

Christ.

There’s a mess of noise from the phone. Rube turns it on its side, lifts his chin a little. But he’s holding it. He’s watching it.

I shift a little, peering over his arm at the screen.

Darkness. Then a flash of light. Pale blue carpet. Neat, clean. Suggestion of furniture which quickly resolves into a dark blue chest of drawers painted with big yellow stars. There’s a red toy robot on top, and a random assortment of He-Man action figures.

Jesus Christ.

But Rube says nothing.

And we keep watching.

The view pans to a bed. There’s a little boy sitting on the side. He has tear tracks down his face and his red Spiderman T-shirt is damp with spilled tears. He’s still hiccupping, and as the person holding the camera phone goes closer, he lifts a little fist and wipes it over his eyes.

“Hey, Justin,” someone croons softly. “Don’t cry.”

The boy frowns hard at the person holding the camera. “I wuh-want my muh-m-mommy.”

“Oh, I know. I know. She said she’ll be here any minute now.”

I glance up at Cass and Apollo. They’re staring at us now, both wide-eyed, like they’re waiting for us to shout Uncle.

The kid’s not even in a basement. Yeah, I couldn’t go down into the dark earlier, but he’s in a bright and sunny room.

Pussies.

But then I hear Rube swallowing. I look back at the screen.

It’s gone black.

My stomach clenches.

Light returns. It shows a slim figure walking away from the camera that resolves into a young, pretty woman.

Late twenties.

Dark, curly hair.

Bright blue eyes.

Freckles.

She goes to sit beside the little boy, and puts an arm around his shoulder. He cringes away, but she just ducks her head a little closer.

“Would you like some cookies and milk while you wait for Mommy?” she asks.

The little boy looks up at her, wary, and shakes his head.

“Are you sure?”

He drops his head a little. Sniffs.

She scoots closer. “I tell you what, Justin. Let’s have a nap, me and you. And when we wake up, your mommy will be here.”

Justin shakes his head. “I’m not tired.”

“I know.” She moves a lock of hair off his forehead, and looks straight at the camera. “But it will make the time go by so fast.”

Rube clears his throat. “Is that Monica?” he asks, looking up at Apollo and Cass.

“Who else?” Cass says. Apollo nods.

Rube doesn’t look at the camera again. “How does this help?”

Cass frowns. “Gabriel said Apollo should show this to Trinity. I’m guessing he told her Monica was involved, and she wouldn’t believe him.”

“Yeah, she didn’t mention any of that to us,” Apollo adds.

I’m looking at them too, but I can still hear what’s going on. The rustle of fabric. The cooing sounds Monica makes.

Rube goes to turn off the cell phone, but I stop him. His head whips to look at me. “Really?” he murmurs. “You really want to watch?”

“It’s not in a basement,” I tell him.

“Does it matter?” His voice drops low and deep. “You know what’s going to happen. Why the fuck do you have to watch it?”

“Because it’s not in a basement!”

Apollo leans back from my yell. I rake my fingers through my hair and snatch the phone from Rube’s hand. I move my finger over the