“You don’t remember? We weren’t halfway there when you passed out.”
“Passed out –”
“At the wheel. You flipped the damn car. Fortunately we –”
“Because you took us on this fuc –” Stomatt caught himself, eyes on the kid. “On this frigging detour, didn’t you? Unlit damn dirt roads.”
“Just as well you crashed out here, with no one to notice the wreckage.”
“That don’t look like no one.”
Before Reece could fill him in, Leigh-Ann burst out onto the porch. “Stomatt you motherfu –” she spotted Zip and expertly redirected “– ungus. You’re up and uglying up the place!” Dressed in just an enormous (stolen) flannel shirt, with her big ball of curly hair a tangle, she cut a balance between sultry and dishevelled.
“Woke on a damn sofa by some leather straps like some kinda bondage chamber,” Stomatt said, moving off the porch to check the view. He noted the house’s second storey. “Took all the beds for yourselves, huh?”
“You want hauling upstairs next time you get shot,” Leigh-Ann said, “weigh less.”
“Hey fu – urget you.” Stomatt stumbled over the words, frowning at Zip again. He gave up on minding his language: “Why the shit is there a kid out here, Reece, come on!”
“Things got strange,” Reece said.
“Sicko farmers had her tied up,” Leigh-Ann said. “Now she’s our new lucky charm.”
“You want to take a kid –” Stomatt started, but Caleb lumbered outside to interrupt.
“Sto, you’re loud enough to wake a rock.”
“Interrupt your beauty sleep?” Stomatt only got louder as he plodded on the shingle. “Someone fill me in! Did we or did we not hand it to those shitbergs yesterday, and are we or are we not now rich and clear?”
“Rich but we ain’t clear,” Leigh-Ann said. “Not by a few hundred miles yet.”
“Then why the hell we stop?”
“Because you wrecked our car!” Caleb cried. “And then – this!” He gestured wildly to Zip, who cringed closer to Reece. Their volumes had escalated loud enough to hit bursting point, but they all quietened on seeing how Reece watched them.
“So where we at?” Stomatt asked.
“Ready to keep going,” Reece said. “Soon as someone gets a grill on. Barring one loose end here – got a girl upstairs.”
“Another girl?” Stomatt cocked an eyebrow. “She older?”
“She’s a pederast,” Leigh-Ann said. “Or at least mixed up with them.”
“So she needs taking care of,” Stomatt said. “Yes?”
“Ain’t no way you leave it to him,” Caleb said.
They all went quiet again, looking to Reece. He’d been telling himself they could just up and leave Nina. She wouldn’t want the police out here, so what was the harm? But however seedy those men might have been, it was hard to accept that young lady’s involvement. Was that him being hopeful, naive, sexist or what? He looked at Zip. “Cher, that woman? She as bad as the men?”
Zip hesitated under the attention. “She didn’t touch me. She didn’t want to come close.”
Everyone kept waiting for Reece’s guidance. He said, “I’ll talk with her while y’all get ready to go. Zip, Leigh’ll take good care of you. Once she gets some pants on.”
Neither Zip nor Leigh-Ann looked happy about this, and Stomatt made it worse by whispering, really loud, “And just what the hell is up with her eyes?”
But Reece winked off the worry. “It’s gonna be a good day, guys, wait and see.”
Leigh-Ann could’ve thrown something at him, plain enough. Damn if she didn’t hate optimism.
There was a scuffle of movement when Reece entered the bedroom, as Nina kicked up over the bed and against the wall. As far as she could manage with one wrist cuffed to the metal frame. Sat on the pillow, she stared fire and held her free hand up taut like she might gouge his eyes out if he came close enough. Reece stayed in the doorway.
“You’ve rubbed your wrist raw,” he said. There was also a boot on the desk and another near the door, evidently tossed to help her escape. He couldn’t guess how.
“I gotta pee,” she said with her mouth closed.
“All right.” Reece held the key up. “I’m trusting you’re smarter than to try anything. Right?”
That wasn’t getting an answer, but he approached anyway. She breathed heavier and recoiled when he unlocked the cuff. Quickly nursing her wrist. He stepped back to give her space and she slunk into the hall, never taking her eyes off him. Over to the john where he waited outside trying not to listen. After the flush, she stayed inside. The gang were arguing below.
“You never do it right, that’s not enough mayo,” Stomatt was complaining.
“You want a sandwich or a soup?” Leigh-Ann snapped.
The restroom door opened and Nina looked out with a resigned huff. Admitting that whatever new escape plan she had concocted had come up bunk. Reece flashed her a smile and gestured back to the bedroom. She considered making a break for it and he let her think it through, as Leigh-Ann’s voice bounced up the stairs, “I swear to God you’re the only man I know asshole enough to be able to sleep off a damn gunshot so he can irritate the hell out of everyone!”
Realising there were more people here than she could outrun, Nina moved back into the bedroom. Reece followed and closed the door behind them. He said, “Now we’re rested, why don’t I start? We’ve got a kid taken from her family, tied up and –”
“Eyes red as the devil,” Nina said viciously.
“Lemme finish,” Reece told her. “We’ve got a guy drew a gun to hide her away; would’ve shot us rather than let us get near her. His pal, I guess, was helping, and here’s you – young, frightened? Forced into your old man’s sick hobby? I pray that’s true – it’d mean we did you a favour. The alternative, though . . . you your dad’s daughter or what?”
“My dad was a good man – you have no idea.”
“So fill me in.”
Nina crossed her arms tight. “I told all. That little bitch showed up on our doorstep and we took her in. Fed her. She was mute as a plank except she started raving and screaming when she went to bed. Freaking the hell out. Talking prophecy of doom shit.”
“A scared kid starts talking and you tie her up?”
“Wasn’t just talk! There’s more’n red in her eyes! It’s a demon in her! Donny almost chopped a finger off under her witch words!”
“She distracted him from cutting carrots?”
“Cursed him, more like! She was talking ghosts and – and apes! Coming for her, here, gonna kill us all.” Nina snorted. “And look what happened. You blame my dad? The kid warned us you was coming – he was defending his home.”
“Forgive me,” Reece said, “but tying her up and waving guns about still ain’t a reasonable response to an upset child, even if she did get lucky predicting someone might come save her. Someone ties you up, you’re not gonna make threats?”