Chapter Forty-Two
Pink Couches
and English Tea
Cain drags me toward the black sedan, and I let him. Not that I have a choice when it comes to his raw strength. He closes my door and climbs into the driver’s seat. As soon as his door is closed, I lay into him.
“Tell me what you know about that girl.”
Eric pushes open the screen door and watches as we pull away, yellow Texas dust kicking up around the car. I keep my eyes trained on the officer until we’re a safe distance away.
Cain watches the road. “I know what you know. That she left a few months back, and it upset Madam Karina.”
“There’s more to it than that!”
The muscles in his forearms jump. “Yeah, I think there is, too. I also know Eric is in Madam Karina’s pocket just like the cops were in her father’s pocket, and it isn’t good to ask too many questions.”
“What does her father have to do with anything?”
“He doesn’t, really, except that her father was the mayor of Pox for a long time, and he wasn’t a straightlaced kind of guy. My dad said he taxed business owners and then kept the money for himself. Not much anyone could do about it, since he was paying off the deputies. And since Madam Karina is this guy’s daughter, that power just sort of slid over to her. Lot of people want to leave Pox, because it’s shady here, but they don’t have the means to do it.”
“So, what, you’re just going to roll over? Cain, if you’re living in a house run by a criminal, wouldn’t you want to know?” I shake my head. “Something is really, really wrong here.”
He laughs, though I don’t see how this is funny. “Didn’t you know? We’re all criminals. It’s Madam Karina’s House for Burgeoning Convicts. You going to cast the first stone?”
“Stop laughing. What if Ellie is… What if that girl is dead or something?”
The grin on his face vanishes. “If I thought that, I’d be gone.”
“So what do you think happened?”
“My honest opinion?” He glances at me, and I nod. “I think she stole cash from the house and skipped town. And I think Madam Karina covered it up by circulating rumors. Better to have people afraid than have them think you got robbed.”
“But you seemed worried back there.”
Cain straightens. “I wasn’t worried. I just know the madam has powerful influence in this town, and sometimes it’s better to leave questions unanswered.”
“Influence like Eric?”
Cain doesn’t respond.
“You know those women said Ellie’s dad is looking for her. Even if she’s okay, isn’t it wrong that her family thinks otherwise?”
I let that hang in the air as the landscape soars past, silence settling between us like a sticky morning fog.
Cain shifts in his seat. “Let’s talk to Angie about it.”
“Thought you said it was only rumors. No harm, no foul.”
“I don’t like that her dad is looking for her,” he says. “You’re right. People shouldn’t be afraid of Madam Karina. It isn’t right.” Cain seems to be telling himself this as much as me.
“You think Angie knows something we don’t?”
“Yeah, I do.”
“Think she’ll tell us?”
“Depends on how much she lost at cards this morning.”
Angie trails outside as we pull up, cussing at her Dobermans to get back. Get back to where, I’m not sure.
An American flag hangs limply on a pole at the top of her trailer, and an old oak tree bows over her home like it’s paying homage. Pecan shells and dog feces litter the ground and, though it’s a park, the next trailer over is well out of earshot. Angie lights a cigarette and strides toward Black Betty, her beloved tractor. She lays a hand on the machine like she’s afraid it may suddenly vanish.
She points her cigarette at us. “Madam Karina know you’re here?”
“You know she doesn’t,” Cain replies.
“Then you best get off my property.”
I almost remind her that it’s technically not her property. Might be because I’m envious of her dusty trailer with its curtains and mud-caked doormat. It’s home for Angie, and that’s something.
“We just want to come in for a few minutes.” Cain heads toward the front door, but Angie cuts him off.
“I can’t let you do that.”
Cain peers over his shoulder at me. “She must have lost her ass this morning.”
Angie smacks him on his shoulder. “That’s got nothing to do with nothing. And I didn’t lose my ass, smart aleck.”
“How much you win then?” he antagonizes.
She presses her lips together. “I would have won if that old fart Deloris didn’t cheat.”
“She is a cheat,” Cain agrees.
Angie stares at him with one eye narrowed, trying to decide if he’s messing with her. She must decide he’s not, because she groans and waves toward the trailer. “Well, go on then. Make yourself at home. You’re going to anyway, right?”
Angie’s dogs rush in before the three us can take a step inside. The woman yells at them without conviction and sits down on a pink sofa that’s wildly out of character for her. Then again, I suppose her trailer is yellow. A fact she seems proud of.
“I’ll take a glass of tea,” she tells Cain. He smiles and disappears into her kitchen. He’s been gone for five seconds when Angie yells, “And don’t give the dogs any peppermints. You know how it makes Kali sick.”
“I know, I know…”
“That damn dog and her damn stomach,” Angie mutters to herself before turning her attention on me. “I suppose you’re looking for answers.”
I sit in a chair across from her, hoping if I stay silent she’ll talk more freely.
“Wondering what it is you got yourself into and just how sincere that Madam Karina is?” When I don’t reply, she says, “Well, I’ll tell you this much. I hope you don’t got plans for leaving. Because once you become Madam Karina’s property, you’re tagged for life.”
“What happened to Ellie?” I ask.
Angie sits back and sighs. “You don’t beat around the bush, do you?”
“Where is she?”
Cain comes to stand in the doorway, his back to the kettle.
Angie looks at the ceiling. “Mr. Hodge will skin me if he finds out you two are here digging around.”
“Angie,” Cain urges, his voice gentle. “That girl’s dad was here, in Pox, looking for her.”
“Well, he came to the right place.”
“You think she’s still here?” I ask.
“I think you know exactly where she is.” Angie directs the statement to me. “And that’s all I’m going to say about it.”
I swallow a lump in my throat. “Is she dead?”
Angie’s face peels back like an orange. “What? No, you twit. That girl ain’t dead. What do you think this is, some true crime novel? Madam Karina has a heavy hand, but she’s not a murderer.”
The woman runs her hand over one of the Dobermans and he lays his head on her knee. “What you need to be concerned with is what you’ll be asked to do while working for Madam Karina.”
I glance down. “I know what I’ll be asked to do.”
“Do you?”
I turn my face away. “It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure it out.”
“And are you prepared to give everything you have to Madam Karina? Because that’s what happens out there in those guesthouses.”
Cain runs his hand over his shorn hair and grits his teeth, his jaw working. “Domino doesn’t have to do anything she doesn’t want to.”
“Like hell she doesn’t.” Angie stands up.
When Cain spots the anger on Angie’s face, he returns to the kettle. But neither of us misses his next words. “How would you know, anyway?”
Angie sucks in air. Opens her mouth to say something. Closes it. Opens it again. “Because I worked in that goddamn house. If you ain’t figured that out yet, you’re dumber than I thought.”
Cain stops what he’s doing, and I remain motionless.
Angie sucks on her cigarette, ashes falling onto the floor. “I worked for her then, and I work for her now.” Her voice drops an octave. “It’s harder than you think to get out. It’s like the Sicilian Mafia.” She makes a gun with her free hand and fires off a round into my chest. “Bang, bang.”
When she sees the look on my face, she waves away the implication. “It’s not like she kills you. Jesus, stop going so dark with it.”
“So what does she do then?” I ask, growing frustrated. Cain is still staring at Angie like he can’t believe she was ever one of Madam Karina’s girls, but I’m not sure it’s that big of a surprise. She carries herself like she’s ancient, but she could have worked in that house as few as ten years ago.
I could see it, Wilson says, nodding. She’s got spice, ya know?
Angie’s eyes travel to a large window and, slowly, her pupils begin to dilate. “Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. That’s Eric’s car. You have got to get out of here. Now!”