Page 80 of His to Burn
His eyes almost bugged out. “Asia, did you…”
“Call you up here to show you this beautiful lamp?” I asked, staring at the delicate lamp with a stained-glass shade.
“Yeah,” he said, his voice rumbling out of his chest with annoyance.
“Yes, I did. I also wanted you to check out the closet. Some of these clothes and shoes might fit,” I said.
Jack grunted but checked the closet anyway.
Clothes weren’t the most important thing, but we had almost none.
“Not bad,” Jack said as he came out of thecloset with a stack of black T-shirts, several pairs of cargo pants, and some socks and underwear.
He must have seen my nose crinkle at the underwear. “Yeah, not ideal, but beggars can’t be choosers, right?”
I laughed and then went to the closet for a look around. I grabbed a couple of flannel shirts and then fist pumped when I spotted the box with a pair of clearly expensive women’s hiking boots, size ten and a half. I changed into them and tucked my sneakers into my own backpack. The boots felt clunky, heavy, but they were already nicely broken in.
I’d get used to them eventually.
As we approached the last house, I started to feel almost good about the day.
Jack looked at the house, then at me. I nodded, then moved the fake rock with the key underneath. Jack looked at me curiously, and I shrugged.
“A tip I picked up from a couple of former clients,” I said. Though I had never expected to use it, let alone have it come in so handy.
This house was on the far opposite end of the neighborhood, maybe half a mile away fromthe judge’s. Smaller, maybe renovated in the late nineties, but still very nice, almost quaint.
The search was uneventful, and before we headed downstairs to leave, I looked over at Jack.
“Maybe this wasn’t such a bad idea after all,” I said.
Jack smiled. “I told you?—”
“Hate to interrupt, but I’m gonna need you to put down those weapons, darling,” came a man’s voice from the doorway.
TWENTY
Jack
Asia was actually smiling,loose in the shoulders, shifting in her new boots to test the fit.
I’d almost let myself fall into her good feeling.
Then that voice slid into my ears.
Slick.
Amused.
Like he told a joke and I was the fucking punchline.
Then it came again, almostgleeful now. “Like I said, I hate to cut in here, but put those weapons down.Now.”
Every muscle in my body snapped tight, but I didn’t react.
Just cataloged the danger.
Made a plan.
