CHAPTER NINETEEN
A short, shrill scream burst out of her throat before she could stop it. Eduardo grabbed her by the bicep, his fingers digging into her bare flesh. He dragged her farther into the library behind him.
“How the fuck did you get back here?” Spittle flew from his mouth. She instinctively shrank away from him, but he had an iron grip on her arm.
The sound of footsteps pounded along the corridor outside. Rico burst into the room, Willie on his heels.
“What’s going on?” Rico stopped in his tracks and stared. Behind him, Willie went pale, his eyes round.
Eduardo shook her roughly back and forth. Her teeth clattered against one another with the impact. She gave another little cry of pain, her breath short and shaky.
“This little bitch is wandering around where she shouldn’t be.” His words came in a wild cascade, tumbling in rapid-fire bursts out of his mouth. He sniffed loudly. “What the fuck, Rico? She one of yours? You can’t just let people wander around this place, ése.”
He sniffed again, as if he were allergic to something in the room.
Dilated pupils, runny nose, diarrhea of the mouth: someone’s been sampling the company product. Her eyes fell on an ugly gilded clock on the mantel, naked cherubs gesturing toward the face. It was just after ten thirty—almost fifteen minutes since she’d called Lamb.
Rico held up both hands. “It wasn’t me. I’ve never seen this chick.” He gave her an appraising look, his lids heavy. “I’d remember.”
“Eduardo, man, I think you’re hurting her,” Willie said, his voice uneasy. “Why don’t you let her go?”
“Shut the fuck up, Willie.” Eduardo jerked Veronica close to his body, his face only inches from hers. The smooth-talking flirt of the night before was gone. This Eduardo was taut and aggressive. Tendons strained in his neck and arms, and his hair stuck up where he’d been running his fingers through it. Between that and his bulging eyes, he looked quite mad.
Tears sprang to her eyes, but she didn’t try to hide them. She wanted to look as defenseless, as nonthreatening, as possible. “Don’t you remember me? We talked the other night, down by the pool. We were going to take a walk on the beach, but I was here with my boyfriend. I came back tonight to find you. I didn’t mean to do anything wrong.”
“You think I’m some kind of idiot?” he spat. “I want to know who you’re working for!”
She glanced over at Willie and Rico. She didn’t know what she was hoping to see in their faces—sympathy, maybe, or even exasperation. Instead, Willie was looking studiously away, his twitching rabbit eyes darting around the edges of the room, as if he were politely trying not to notice the way Eduardo was twisting her arm. Rico, on the other hand, grinned foolishly. He looked like he thought he was in for a treat.
“I’m really sorry,” she whispered. Her vision blurred for a moment, and a tear cut down the side of her cheek. She held very still, trying to keep her focus steady. “I didn’t mean to do anything wrong. Please, just let me go, and I’ll go back down to the party. I won’t bother you. I’ll leave, if you want, and never come back.”
“Hey, man, that seems fair.” Willie shifted his weight. “She didn’t hurt anything. Let’s just take her back out front and leave her alone.”
“Get lost, Willie.” It was Rico who spoke this time, his voice soft and slow. “We need some privacy.”
Willie licked his lips. She caught a whiff of sweat and patchouli as he rubbed the back of his neck with one hand. “Sure, Rico. Sure, I’ll just … I’ll head back to the party, okay?” He edged toward the door, slowly at first, as if he couldn’t quite get his speed up. Then he disappeared down the hall. Veronica could hear a distant door open and close. And just like that, she was alone with the Gutiérrez cousins.
Rico turned to shut the library’s double doors with a soft click. Eduardo stood stone still, his eyes boring into hers, his grip tight.
“I’m not sure what I did wrong,” Veronica said feebly. “The door was open. I just came in and looked around.”
“The door wasn’t open, mamí.” All of a sudden he let go of her. She staggered a few feet back, rubbing her arm, as a wolfish smile spread over his face. It was a lot like the smile he’d given her just the night before, on the terrace. Both times she felt hunted, but this time, she felt teeth.
“The door wasn’t open, and we both know it. So why don’t we cut the shit?” He shouted the last word and swept an armful of books off the shelf as he passed, sending them crashing to the floor. Rico walked around the other side, flanking her with an expression of stupid amusement.
She took a step backward and felt one of the bookshelves pressing against her spine. Rico laughed, stopping a short distance away from her. She felt around behind her for something, anything, that she could use as a weapon, but there were only books.
“Who … sent … you?” Eduardo’s voice had escalated to a furious scream. He lunged toward her, his lips pulled back in a snarl. She flinched away from him, stumbling over a fallen book.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” she cried. She looked from one to the other, truly confused. Did they know she was a PI? Did they think she was a cop?
“She’s not gonna make it easy, Eddie,” Rico said thickly. He grinned at her. “But she’s gonna make it fun.”
When she looked at Eduardo, he was reaching behind his back, fumbling at something she couldn’t see. A moment later her heart stuttered painfully in her chest.
He had a knife.