Page 63 of Edge of Ruin
I tensed up, horrified. Evergreen Acres? I hadn’t even checked that place, it was so unthinkable to me that Vivi could have landed there. The Acres was an end-of-the-line dump, frequented by bums, drunks, addicts, down-and-outs, prostitutes and their clients. It was visited often by police cars in the middle of the night. Jesus. Of all places to go.
“Love problems. Well. That would explain why she looked like she was coming down with the flu,” Myra said knowingly. “Come to think of it, you don’t look so hot yourself, honey. Hope you guys work it out.”
I barely heard her words. “Later, Myra,” I said, turning for the door.
“Nice girl, that Vivi. Sweet little shop she’s got. Makes friends fast, too. She sure is popular today. You’re the second one come in asking for her in the last two hours.”
I spun on his heels. “Who? Who was looking for her?”
Myra smiled, archly. “A man. Which is not surprising. She’s a dish. If you’re not careful, some other guy’s going to snatch her right up and?—”
“What guy?” I bellowed. “What does he look like?”
Myra looked affronted. “Do not yell at me, Jack Kendrick!”
My teeth ground. “Sorry, Myra. Please. It’s important.”
Myra grunted. “Well, he was no looker, I’ll tell you that much,” she said, mollified. “Big, heavy guy with squinchy little eyes. He said he’d heard she was opening a shop, and would I tell him where it was.”
“And did you?”
“Of course I told him! She can’t afford to lose any business! She’s just starting out.”
Panic swept up, threatening to engulf me. “Myra, do something for me.” I couldn’t control the shake in my voice. “Call the cops. Send them down to Evergreen Acres.”
“But why?” Myra shouted after me as I ran back to my truck. “What do I tell them?”
I leaped in, started the engine. “Whatever the fuck you want! Just tell them quick!”
The truck surged forward with a roar. The urgency inside me was building so fast, I felt like my chest was going to explode.
Chapter Twenty
Vivi
I felt strangely calm. Numb, even.
Finally, the other shoe had dropped. There was a sense of colossal inevitability to it all. Like continental drift, this moment had been coming my way all my life. All the anxious hiding and scrambling and scurrying in the world could not have stopped it.
“I was wondering when you two gentlemen were going to pay me a visit,” I said evenly. “I was starting to feel left out.”
I was proud that my voice did not shake. Not yet, anyway. I’d get there eventually.
Edna was growling, fangs bared, head down. What a strange spectacle that was. I had never seen my bouncy lab retriever in defense mode. I hadn’t known that she possessed one.
“Take the animal. Put it in the bathroom,” said the old guy with the accent. Ulf Haupt, I presumed. He was exactly as Nell had described him.
I hesitated, and the big, stocky younger guy pointed his gun at Edna. “Now,” he snarled. “Or I shoot the dog.”
That broke my paralysis. I gripped Edna’s collar and dragged the growling, barking dog toward the tiny bathroom in the corner. I closed the door. Edna whined and pawed at the door, her nails rattling and scraping.
“Come back to the center of the room,” Haupt ordered.
I did as I was told. “How did you find me?”
“With difficulty. But we prevailed at last.” John gave her a wide, manic grin. “We found the shop through your old boyfriend, Wilder.”
“Brian?” That astonished me. “But how did Brian know where?—”
