Chapter Thirty
THIRTY
Chloe’s parents seemed normal enough, but who was Shepherd to judge? He exchanged numbers with the mom, gave Lex a quick pat on the head when she dodged a hug, and went back to his car to find Ginny once again in the passenger’s seat.
The cold blast of the A/C on his face felt like a gift from God Himself after being outside for approximately thirty-three seconds.
Shepherd steered the car back onto the road the GPS indicated. “What did this maniac say, anyway?”
Ginny pulled down the visor and flipped open the mirror.
She reapplied her lipstick and brushed out her hair with her fingertips, the scent of her coconut shampoo filling his nose, which he only breathed in by accident.
Besides, his hair smelled like that too, because she washed his hair for him last night.
Shepherd cleared his throat and adjusted himself.
“The maniac,” Ginny repeated, closing the visor. “Mr. Cardello.”
Shepherd huffed.
She continued, smiling wide, “Said he saw my brother on the news, and it made him feel, and I quote, ‘some type of way.’ He said he thinks he can help us and asked us back to his house.”
“I don’t like this guy.”
“Shepherd.” Ginny put her hand on his shoulder, and then moved it behind his neck, pressing her fingers into his tendons. “You don’t like anybody.”
“Exactly.” He tried not to let his stupid face show exactly how good the impromptu massage felt. “Everyone is terrible, and I am always right about it.”
She giggled. Shepherd tried to ignore what her giggling did to his blood pressure.
“That’s it,” Ginny cooed, her treacherous fingers still at work. “Just relax and accept that this is happening. It will all be over soon. Don’t—”
“Don’t tell me not to freak out, Ginny,” Shepherd said. He gripped the steering wheel as tight as he could. “Don’t say that again or, as God is my witness, I will freak out in such a way that it will make headlines. No one will have seen anything like it before. And they never will again.”
Instead of backing away, Ginny only giggled again and started scratching her nails against his scalp. She was chaos incarnate, through and through.
A man was waiting for them outside Charlie Cardello’s house.
A clean-shaven, well-dressed, handsome man in his middle forties, with slicked-back dark hair.
His guayabera shirt was light blue and unbuttoned low enough to show off chest hair and a thick, gold necklace. He grinned and waved when he saw them.
“Who the hell is that?”
Ginny snorted. “That’s Charlie. Remember?”
“What?” Shepherd took a moment to process this information. His brain sparked unpleasantly when it finished verifying her statement for accuracy. “The guy we saw yesterday? But he was gross.”
Ginny threw open her door, smiling at him over her shoulder. “Isn’t it amazing what a shower and a shave can do? Come on, let’s get this show on the road. One step closer to rescuing my mother and shoving her in my stepmother’s perfect face.”
Shepherd left the car with all the dignity and pep of a man walking to the hangman and his noose.
Charlie reeked of cologne. Shepherd rubbed at his nose and accepted his fate.
This new version of Charlie was still gross.
A different type of gross. And there was no way in hell he was going to leave him alone with Ginny.
Charlie shook his hand: firm, dry, calloused. “Ordered a pizza last night from your place. Delicious.”
Shepherd grunted in reply.
“Well, come on over, you two. I set out some drinks in the shade.” Charlie had a plastic picnic table with a giant umbrella on top set out on his concrete dock.
The canal had ocean access, but it still had an unseemly amount of star jellyfish lurking among the algae.
The ocean access was probably on the other side of the neighborhood.
Far enough to be a decent trip in an idling boat, but close enough that the smell of rotten seaweed hung in the air with the changing of every tide.
Still, a house like this in a neighborhood like this with a canal like that didn’t come cheap, and yet Charlie was motivated by free pizzas.
He poured them each a glass of lemonade out of the condensing pitcher and handed it over with a smile. “I don’t like this,” Shepherd mumbled in Ginny’s ear. “This is how we each lose a kidney.”
Charlie overheard. He laughed, reaching into his pants pocket and pulling out a package of American Spirits. “No, no. I’m not here to harvest your organs. I’m here to help you free your mom.”
Ginny wiped the lemonade off her top lip. “You know where she is?”
“Ah. No.” He lit his cigarette and took a deep pull.
Ginny traced her mouth with her fingertips. “You will loan us the money to pay her ransom?”
He pointed his cigarette at her. “Also no.”
“You will give us the money?” she tried, her tone of voice slipping into such a high register at the end of the question that several birds took flight from nearby telephone poles.
Charlie grinned, his teeth perfectly straight and bright white. “We’re gonna steal it. The three of us, as a team.”