Page 128 of The Last Sinner

“A water—? Where the hell would I get a snake?”

“Where would anyone? In the bayou. Or wherever! But right now,” she said, tamping down her panic and pointing at the bin, “it’s in there! It didn’t just crawl in there itself and you’re here and—”

“Why would I put the snake in there?”

“I don’t know. Why would anyone?” Her throat was tight, her words strangled as they crossed her tongue. She thought of the warnings, the recent attack. “Someone’s trying to make me go insane,” she said, backing away from Cruz as the idiot unlatched the cord and opened the can for a peek.

“Shit!” He slammed the lid down again.

“Holy crap! I told you!” She stopped backing up as she felt something squishy beneath her feet. A rotting banana on the sole of her running shoes.

Great. Just. Great.

“Why are you here?” Her heart was still pounding wildly, adrenaline firing her blood, but she wasn’t freaking out any longer.

“I came to see you.”

“Me? You don’t even know me—are you sure you had nothing to do with . . . with that?” She pointed at the garbage bin, now quiet.

“Of course not.”

“Well, who? Who would do that?”

“Someone who wanted to scare the hell out of you.”

“Mission accomplished!” She wasn’t shaking, but her pulse was in the stratosphere.

“I’ll get rid of it.”

“The snake?” she said, tempted to let him deal with the problem. “Seriously?”

A cynical smile lifted one side of his mouth. “I’ve dealt with worse.”

“Oh, right.” For the first time she really looked at him, really saw the grim set of his jaw, his eyes drawn to the garbage can. She wondered aloud, “What’re you doing here? And don’t give me any BS about wanting to see me.”

Dave had quit barking and, head down, tail wagging, slowly approached Cruz. Traitor, she thought.

“Just came by for my belt.” Quick answer. A lie.

She didn’t believe him for a second. “Your brother has it.”

Bending down to scratch Dave behind his ears, Cruz said, “So you know who I am.”

She sent him a how-stupid-do-you-think-I-am look. “Well, yeah. I managed to put two and two together.”

A bit of a smile touched his lips as he straightened. “I can get that snake back to the wild.”

“You’d do that?”

He lifted a shoulder. “Why not?”

“Why? Why would you do that for me?”

He didn’t answer.

“Wait a second. You want something. I knew it!” She felt her eyes narrow suspiciously. “What is it?”

“Okay. The truth is, I could use your help.”

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