I walked into a small sitting area and a kitchen that faced a porch through two French doors. One of the doors was open, a salty breeze coming through. This is where Ellie would have had her dinners. Had she cooked for him? Did they have morning coffees together?
“I’m here,” said Gus and I followed his voice down a hallway to an open door at the end, ignoring the cramp in my hand from holding the gun so tightly. I peered inside the room and saw Gus standing at the foot of an unmade bed, a bullet hole in the wall. On the floor was a large bald guy, shot in the shoulder, a gun a foot from his open hand. Blood was soaking the carpet beneath him.
I know what I’d just done to the man in my hands, but the sight still took my breath away.
“Is he dead?” I asked.
Gus nodded, eyes still on him, as if he was expecting the guy to jump up from the grave. “Unfortunately I had to shoot first, then ask the questions.” He looked to me, noticing the guy for the first time. “Who is that?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “He answered the door. He knows about Ellie.”
Gus shook his head. “She’s not here.”
“How do you know?”
He shrugged and kicked the guy’s leg. “I just do. They’re gone, Javier and her. Raul. His bodyguards. These guys are sloppy. They’re the ones who get left behind to water the plants.”
The man in my hands grunted, as if insulted by that remark.
“Well I guess we should try and get him to talk,” Gus said coming closer. He peered at the man, then shot me a look I could have taken as impressed on any other day. “Re-injuring an injury. Smart boy.” He pointed at the bed. “Here, set him down. We’ve both got guns, he’s not going anywhere.”
I yanked him forward and then pushed him so he went flying. Blood sprayed on the sheets. It was only then that I realized what I was seeing. Ellie and Javier’s bedroom.
I almost joined the man on the bed, if only to smell the pillow. I needed to know that she had slept here, that she was alive, just to remember what she smelled like. But I kept it together. Instead I noticed a pile of clothes leading into the bathroom. I went over, confident that Gus was watching Javier’s house sitter and picked it up. Ellie’s jeans. Her tank top. The very ones she was wearing the day she went with him.
I held them to me, like they were some injured creature.
“No blood,” Gus said, his gun out and aimed at the man though his eyes were on the clothes. “Just dirty. Weren’t ripped off either by the looks of it.”
I took a step into the bathroom. The shower was dripping sporadically, the towel damp to the touch. She was here. She showered. Shed her dirty clothes. And then what? What did she wear? Was she alone getting changed or …
I had to choke back the bile that was flooding my throat. The thought of Javier and Ellie together. Her naked, him touching her. Taking advantage of her.
The blackness spread quickly. I felt myself floating away.
I spun around, throwing her clothes in the sink and marching right up to the boy, gun back in his face.
“Did Javier hurt her?” I seethed, spitting in his face.
The boy let out a little laugh and I immediately whipped the gun across his face. It cracked, crashing against bone and teeth.
“Hey, Camden,” Gus said sternly but gently. I pretended I didn’t hear him.
“I’ll do it to the other side to make things even,” I threatened. “Now tell me if he hurt her. Tell me what happened to her. Tell me where she is.”
The man spit out blood and peered up at me through a running red eye.
“I’m not telling you anything. Except that she deserves whatever is coming for her.”
“Camden,” Gus warned me. I bit down on my tongue until I tasted copper, my lungs squeezing and squeezing, a hot black hand wrapped around them, egging me on, wanting me to let loose and drive that gun back into the guy’s head. I knew he was saying this shit to aggravate me and it fucking worked. He didn’t see how serious I was. He didn’t know how far I would go.
Even I didn’t know how far.
But part of me was really curious.
“Rope,” I grunted through grinding teeth. “Get some rope, Gus.”
Gus hesitated but went straight to the closet. He opened and let out a low whistle through his teeth.
“What is it?” I asked, not taking my eyes off the guy. He was still staring back at me, daring me to do something, to shoot him. I didn’t want to shoot him. I wanted answers.
“Ellie’s clothes,” he said quietly. “They’re all here. That nutter saved them all these years.”
That wasn’t helping. “Rope, Gus.”
I heard metal jangling and he came over to me with a belt. “Belts work just fine.”
“I need three more. We’re tying him to the bed.”
He sighed and came back with more. “Do you mind telling me what you’re going to do?”
I shook my head. “I want answers. Then we’ll leave.”
“Well you better make it fast because unless they have gunfights here every evening, someone’s going to report that. You can probably bet on the cops showing up.”