Page 108 of His to Burn
I stepped back quickly, but then heard that voice again.
“Asia, is it you?”
I looked toward the voice and trembled with relief.
“Bridget!”
The older woman was flanked by two other figures.
I glanced at one quickly—a man. Maybe fifty, in decent shape, bald head.
Then I looked to the other.
A devastatingly beautiful brunette in a wrinkled charcoal gray pantsuit.
“Caitlin?”
“Are you going to let us in, Asia?” she asked, attitude radiating from her every word.
But her hands trembled. She glanced over her shoulder twice, her throat bobbing with each hard swallow. For just a second, her eyes met mine with a naked, terrified question. Then she blinked, set her jaw, and her old attitude was back.
Yeah. Definitely Caitlin.
I stepped aside and ushered them in.
“Miss Newman?”
I looked at the other members of the group and took in the young Mexican woman and the lanky teenager next to her.
“Lourdes!”
I hugged the young woman quickly and looked at her brother, Miles.
“Where’s Esteban?”
I knew how stupid the question was the moment the words were out of my mouth.
Lourdes’s expression crumbled, and Miles blinked and looked away, clearly holding back tears.
“He didn’t make it out of the courthouse,” Lourdes finally said.
“Let’s save the niceties. Get in here,” Jack muttered.
He stepped from behind the door and ushered the others in.
I realized why.
We were practically having this conversation outside—and that wasn’t safe.
I stepped aside so everyone could enter.
I hugged Lourdes, then Miles. They both smelled of smoke and sweat.
Then I hugged Bridget.
“What happened?” I said.
Bridget sniffled. “I spotted Caitlin and we chatted on the way out of the courthouse. Then everything went to hell. In all the chaos, we stumbled across Miles and Lourdes. And Elliot.”
