He followed her.
Once he’d crossed the threshold into the cool house, she swung the door closed behind him and whirled to face him. “What do you people want? I already told the other agent that I have nothing to do with my sister!”
He held up his hand. “When was this?”
Her nostrils flared with her emotion. “This morning. Early.” She spat the words at him. “When agents came to my home and took me away like a criminal. When they pulled my son from his bed and carried him away.” Teresa gestured down the hallway. The smaller shadow, no doubt, was her son making himself scarce.
If Lucas had picked them up, Alex couldn’t blame her for being angry. But she wasn’t just angry. There was fear. Fear and—? Her hands trembled. The pulse in her neck was racing. Her eyes were red and her lashes wet.
Fear and grief. She knew her mother was dead. And only one person could have told her.
“I’m sorry for your loss,” Alex said.
She swallowed hard, shaking her head, as if to deny it.
“Lena? Lena!” He called out to her, his voice a bellow of frustration. Why could she not have gone to Ace’s place like he’d told her? Why did she have to push every step of the way? He pressed his hand up against his ribcage and stalked down the hall.
“She’s not here,” Teresa called after him.
Her footsteps slapped the floor behind him as he called out again.
She raised her voice over his. “She’s not here! I threw the little bitch out of my house!”
Alex turned. “What did you say?”
Teresa folded her arms across her chest again. Her jaw set, and her lips turned down with hate. “I threw her out. She’s not here anymore, and she won’t be back, so you can go, too.”
“You threw her out?”
“Yes.”
“Your own sister?”
“Half-sister!”
There was nothing in the file to reflect that, so he merely filed the lie away. “And where was she going?”
“To one of the stupid boys she sleeps with? To her awful friend? To my idiot brother? I didn’t ask. If they’re smart, they’ll throw her out, too.” Teresa tossed her long hair back behind a shoulder. “Maybe she ran to the park or the market to creep around pretending to be a normal person like she used to do. How should I know? And why should I care? She got my mother killed!”
He felt his disgust mirrored on his face. He continued to the back of the house, a long open space with a kitchen at one end and a living area at the other. Teresa stalked after him, ordering him to leave her boy alone and spewing half-formed threats. The room was empty but for furniture and the small boy squeezed between the wall and the back of a wooden chair. Alex crossed to the boy.
“Joseph.” He squatted, back straight to ease his ribs, as he regarded the scared child half hidden behind the slats of the chair. Wide, dark eyes stared back at him. “Was your aunt here?”
The boy peeked at his mother.
Alex had to have his attention. “Joseph!”
The boy jumped.
“Do you know who I am?” Alex asked.
“A bully!” Teresa spat at his back.
Alex ignored her. He focused on the boy, hating that he needed to question him. The pit he’d waded into kept getting deeper and deeper. “Joseph, do you know who I am?”
Joseph nodded. “Council agent.” His voice was so faint as to be barely heard, especially with one eardrum still healing.
“That’s right. And if you lie to me—no matter who tells you it’s okay—it is very wrong. Do you understand?”
Joseph nodded again.
“Okay. Now, was your aunt here, Joseph?”
“Yes.” Joseph kept his gaze fastened upon Alex’s.
“And is she still here?”
Joseph shook his head. “She had a fight with Mama.” Tears welled. “She said my ‘buela was gone. She said the Council killed her.” He sneaked a glance at his mother and then back again. “But Mama said no. That Tia Lena killed her?”
“Actually, she tried to protect your abuela. Okay? It was a terrible accident, but she did try.”
Joseph nodded. His small hands, still baby fat, curled around the back bars of the chair he hid behind.
“She tried, Joseph.”
Alex rose. He made a quick circuit through the two tiny bedrooms and the bathroom joining them. No Lena. Her sister really had thrown her to the wolves. Some family.
On his way back out to the main hall, he paused where Teresa stood, her chin high, nostrils flared, and eyes dark. The woman hadn’t even bothered to comfort her own child.
“How long ago did she leave?”