Page 139 of Myla: The Hawthornes

“They’re here,” Tommy said, poking his head inside the door. He looked at Myla. “Good?”

“I’m okay.”

He disappeared again. A few moments later, I let two men in suits inside.

“Hi, I’m Special Agent Robinson, and this is my colleague Special Agent Gibson.”

“Cian Kelly,” I said, shaking their hands.

They looked to Myla.

“Myla Hawthorne,” she said, her voice still broken and raspy.

“We know a little from Special Agent Morales,” Robinson said, not unkindly. “But we’d like you to walk us through what happened tonight.”

“Okay,” Myla replied nervously.

Gibson looked at me. “Could we have a moment?”

I just stared at him.

“We understand the situation,” Robinson said. “And we can speak to Ms. Hawthorne here, alone, or we can talk to her at the field office.”

“I’m okay,” Myla said, laying her hand on my lower back. “It’s okay.” She looked at thespecialagents. “He’s a little anxious about letting me out of his sight.”

I shot her a look.Anxious?

Leaning down, I kissed her softly. “I’ll be right outside.”

“I know.”

“Right outside,” I told the agents.

“Understood,” Gibson said.

Outside, the carport was lit up like a parking lot, and people were swarming the area like ants. Tommy was sitting at the edge of the porch on one of my aunt’s lawn chairs.

“What’s goin’ on?” he asked, looking nervously at the doorway behind me.

“They wanna talk to her alone. Said if they couldn’t do it here, they’d take her in.”

“Motherfuckers.”

“Agreed.”

We sat in silence.

“Boys have scared the shit outta me a fair amount over the years,” Tommy said after a while. “But nothin’ compared to tonight.”

“I sent her a shitty voicemail right before she called you,” I confessed, staring at the deck between my feet. “She was probably fightin’ for her fuckin’ life while I was bitchin’ at her for not showin’ up to Saoirse’s birthday party.”

“Get that shit outta your head,” Tommy ordered. “Doesn’t matter.”

“I had no fuckin’ clue. Spent the day feelin’ like there were bugs crawlin’ on the back of my neck, my head on a swivel, and I didn’t worry for a second that Myla was in trouble.”

“No way you coulda known.”

“Shoulda been more careful.”

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