Chapter Six #2
“You’re gonna need dental work when these cuffs come off.”
“There’s Twister.”
“Fuck you.”
Under different circumstances I’d have an answer for that. Not with Kaylee bleeding three feet away. I climb halfway into the van instead.
“Kaylee.”
Her eyes are glassy.
“Stay with me.”
Bullet presses gauze against her side. Blood stains through. Not pumping. Thank fuck.
Still too much.
“We need somebody,” he says quietly.
“Not county.”
“I know.”
Twila hears him from outside the doors. “What does that mean?”
I look back. “Means we ain’t calling your department.”
“You don’t have that choice.”
“Yeah. We do.”
“You have a missing woman in your custody.”
“And now I got a deputy too.”
The words leave my mouth before the smarter half of my brain can tackle them.
Bullet’s head turns slowly.
Twila stops moving.
For about two seconds, nobody says shit.
Then Bullet looks at me.
Twila does too.
Her face changes one degree at a time.
“No.”
I step out of the van.
“Whiskey,” Bullet says.
“What?”
“The fuck are you saying?”
“What it sounds like.”
Twila actually laughs.
Short and disbelieving.
“You’re not taking me anywhere.”
“Yes, I am.”
“You tackled and handcuffed a deputy.”
“Yeah.”
“And now you’re saying you’re abducting me.”
“Wouldn’t use the word abducting.”
“What word would you use?”
I think about it.
“Relocating.”
Bullet closes his eyes. “Jesus Christ.”
Twila looks at me like she’s deciding which murder charge fits best. “You’re out of your fucking mind.”
“Probably.”
“My daddy will shut this club down.”
“Maybe.”
“He will hunt you.”
“Already don’t like me.”
“You think this is funny?”
“No. I think it’s hilarious.” I step closer.
Her anger holds. Anger keeps people moving. Keeps them from noticing when fear starts getting underneath everything else.
“You were asking questions about Pearly Gates.”
“So?”
“And they know you’re asking.”
“Then uncuff me and let me call it in.”
“To who?”
“My father.”
Her chin comes up on the word.
Pure Sheriff Dix’s daughter.
Loyalty beating suspicion even while she knows I just put a crack through the middle of it.
“What if your daddy’s department has a leak?”
“Then we deal with it.”
“We?”
Her eyes flash. “Law enforcement.”
“Same law enforcement calling missing girls voluntary departures?”
“You don’t know what my father knows.”
“Neither do you.”
“That doesn’t make him dirty.”
“Never said it did.”
“You implied it.”
“I’m saying I don’t know who’s safe.”
“I am.”
“Yeah, Deputy. That’s why you came out here alone.”
“If the Kings aren’t involved, why didn’t you call me?”
“Because you’re a cop.”
“So?”
“So I don’t trust cops.”
“Glad we cleared that up.”
Bullet mutters from inside the van, “This is going real well.”
“Shut up,” Twila and I say together.
He lifts his eyebrows.
“Well, ain’t that cute.”
I point at him. “Not another word.”
Twila tries to move around me.
I catch her upper arm.
She jerks away. “Hands off.”
“Need you in the van.”
“I ain’t getting in a murder van.”
“You are.”
“No.”
“Twila.”
“Whiskey.”
“Don’t make me carry you.”
She steps close enough that our boots nearly touch.
“Try.”
There she is.
Tall, furious, handcuffed, and still without one ounce of retreat in her. A sane man would admire that from a distance. I ain’t sane.
I lean closer. “You wrestle for sport.”
“And?”
“I fight men who shoot back.”
“So?”
“So quit mistaking my patience for inability.”
Her chin lifts. “My daddy says men only say shit like that when their dick’s small.”
She watches my face instead of my body, waiting to see whether the hit lands.
Behind me, Bullet coughs.
I look at her.
She smiles.
Mean.
Beautiful.
Completely fucking impossible.
“Your daddy talk about dicks with you often?”
“Only yours.”
Bullet loses it.
Actually turns away laughing.
I glare at him. “Help the girl.”
“I am.”
Twila looks entirely too pleased with herself.
I hate that I like her more for it.
“Van,” I say.
“No.”
I slide one arm behind her knees.
Her eyes widen.
“Don’t you fucking dare.”
Too late. I lift her.
She’s tall enough that the move ain’t graceful. Her shoulder hits mine, the cuffs dig against my forearm, and she immediately starts kicking.
“Put me down!” She twists violently enough that I nearly lose my grip.
“Goddammit.”
“I told you I can walk.”
“Then quit trying to make us both eat dirt.”
“I hope you eat dirt.”
“Charming.”
I set her on her feet at the rear doors of the van.
She immediately turns away.
I block her.
“Get in.”
“No.”
“Kaylee’s in there.”
That stops her. She looks inside.
Kaylee lies beneath the blanket while Bullet keeps pressure against her side. Her eyes are closed.
“Kaylee?”
The girl opens them.
Barely.
Twila’s entire demeanor changes. Deputy and woman at the same time now. “I’m here,” she tells her.
Kaylee’s eyes drift toward the cuffs behind Twila’s back.
Confusion creases her forehead.
Twila notices.
I put a hand at her upper arm.
Her spine stiffens immediately.
“Get in.”
“This doesn’t mean I’m cooperating.”
“Wouldn’t recognize you if you did.”
She climbs inside.
I follow.
Bullet shuts the rear doors before walking around to the driver’s seat.
The van smells like motor oil, old leather, blood, and the cheap air freshener Bullet hangs in every vehicle because Becki says his trucks smell like ass.
Twila sits on the bench opposite Kaylee.
I sit beside her.
She immediately scoots away.
“You kidnapped me.”
“We covered that.”
“I’m going to put you in prison.”
“Get in line.”
“My daddy…”
“Yeah, yeah. Your daddy’s gonna bury me.”
“He is.”
The van starts moving. Twila turns toward the rear window as the old Pearly Gates buildings slide between the trees, gray and rotting behind streaked glass.
Something moves near one of the upper windows.
I catch it. A shadow.
Gone before I can focus. Cold crawls down my spine.
We were seen.
I look toward the front.
Bullet’s eyes meet mine in the mirror.
He saw it too.
Neither of us says a word.
Twila turns back from the window and looks at Kaylee beneath the blanket.
Then at me.
“You just kidnapped a deputy.”
“Yeah.”
“You know how fucking stupid that is?”
I settle against the wall beside her, keeping myself between Twila and the rear doors.
“Darlin’, I met you.”
Her eyes narrow.
“Apparently stupid’s contagious.”