Page 60 of Cryptic Curse
“So you never think about it?”he asks.
I huff.“I don’tletmyself think about it.If I did, I’d think about nothing else.”
Again, he has no idea.That night at the barn was bad.Really bad.But is it the worst thing I’ve ever seen?Ever lived through?
I’m not sure.
“You’re better at compartmentalizing than I am,” Eagle says.
“I don’t let myself dwell on the past.I’m the one everyone depends on.I have to stay whole, E.I don’t have a fucking choice.”
He gulps audibly.“Yeah, I suppose.”
That’s it?No offer of gratitude?No sympathy for how I’ve been forced to shove everything to the back burner of my mind so I can fucking take care ofhim?
Of course not.
I shouldn’t expect it.I haven’t gotten it in the last eight years.
I change tactics.
“Why do you want to bring this up now?”
He gulps again.“The other night I heard Vinnie and Raven talking.”
“And?”
“They were in Ray’s old bedroom.The one where…”
The one where Brick Latham was found dead several months ago.I can’t blame him for not wanting to say the words.It’s left a stain on our house that no amount of scrubbing can get rid of.
“Yeah.And…?”
“I was on my way to the bathroom, and I was walking on by, but I stopped when I heard the name Diego Vega.”
My heart drops to my stomach.
Diego Vega was a drug kingpin.And he’s buried beneath our old barn near the border.
Fuck.
Why would Vinnie and Raven, of all people, be talking about Vega?
“Are you sure?”I ask.
“Of course I’m sure.Do you think I wouldn’t knowthatname?So I stopped and listened.”
This timeIgulp.“What did they say?”
“Vinnie said that his source in Colombia had finally confirmed Diego Vega’s death.”
“What?”I demand.
“I’m not even kidding,” Eagle says, “though I wish I were.Then Raven asked if there was a body, and Vinnie said he was supposed to get photographic proof later that evening.”
Fuck.
Diego Vega.
