Page 97 of Hell and High Water

“No. We don’t,” Evan snips, and my eyes widen. I’m about to explode into a rant when he cuts me off, continuing. “We haven’t trusted you, and we should. You’re right. This never would have happened if you felt like you could come to us with it.”

Gavin looks pensive, nodding after thinking about it for a minute.

“I won’t do this again, I promise. But we need to work on some things. I am not going to stay locked in that, or any, house forever.” I inhale, sucking a deep, long breath before gusting it out and finding my Zen again.

Thank you, Guru Tell.

“Now. Are you all going to drag me back to safety, or are you going to help me look for clues?”

Gavin looks around, his eyes settling on the picture frames. “Is this…?”

“My dad’s hideout. Yep.”

“Why would the shooter ask you to come here?”

“She… had questions. I wouldn’t worry about her attacking us again, at least for a while.” Trying to navigate what I actually know and what I am speculating is a tricky game.

“Hellena, she tried to kill you.”

“No. She didn’t,” Gavin posits, looking at me for clues, some sign of reaction.

“No. She’s just a hired killer. It sounded like maybe she had a debt to settle with the Sinful. I was just a vindictive outburst. Rachelle, on the other hand…” I regret the fib as soon as I say it, but I want to talk to Gavin first, alone. It’s only fair.

Tell perks up. “Who hired her to kill Rachelle?”

“She didn’t know.”

“I doubt that. We almost always knew who we were working for back in the day.” Gavin is holding the picture of the crew, dropping it to pick up the photo of my parents and me. “You’ve been here before.”

“Not that I remember.”

“Is someone going to fill us in on who this mystery woman is?” Tell chimes, flipping cabinets and drawers open with fast, jerky movements. “What? There could be rats in the drawers. I don’t wanna get startled.”

All three of us stare at him for a second before I burst out laughing. Gavin follows, and even Evan shakes with a chuckle.

The tension in the room drops about thirty degrees. We have all been way too on edge.

“So. This woman said she knew info about your father.” Evan eyes Gavin as he says it, giving him room to speak up, but also offering him the out if he doesn’t want to share.

I’m curious whether he will.

“She didn't tell me much in that regard that we didn’t already know. Just confirmation that he was with the Sinful. And that she was the one who killed him.”

“What?” Gavin looks like he might puke.

“I am still processing that myself. And wishing I had asked so many more questions. But she told me about this place for a reason. There has to be something here, or at least I think she thought so.”

Evan’s stalking through the house, looking at the walls and the furniture. “You know, technically, this place is yours now, Hellena.”

“Yeah, so what?”

“So do I have permission to tear this place down and find what we're looking for?” A smirk pulls at his lips.

“Go to town.” The sooner we find the secret stash, the sooner we can get the fuck out of this depressing, horrible place.

Because that’s all this is. A hollow, empty place.

“Not that I care, but you don’t need to wreck the place. At least not before we get the locked door in the back open. That’s bound to have something useful. Then we can burn it down. The only thing I really want is this.” I slip the photo of me as a child out of the frame, tucking it into my pocket.

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