Page 36 of Every Which Way

Kenna ran over and up the stairs. At the top, she spotted a man coming out of the room beside the taped-up one. He held a shotgun pointed at Ramon’s chest and wore jeans that hung low on his hips. No belt. No shirt. A chain around his neck and unlaced boots. Hair askew.

She drew her weapon but held it at a forty-five. “Put it down! Put the gun down!”

A woman leaned out of the room and looked at Kenna. “No, he will not!” She wore a tiny skirt and a tube top, her stringy hair hanging nearly to her waist.

“Then I’m calling the police, and they can sort this out.”

Thankfully, Ramon didn’t move or argue.

The guy with the shotgun, however, said, “You ain’t gonna call the police. I’ll shoot him if you do!”

“Because you wanna go to jail for life. You’ll never see her again.”

“What do I care about her? I’m gettin’ paid.”

The woman gasped. “You said we was gonna go to Florida!”

Kenna said, “You might wanna make your own way there. Your man’s goin’ to jail.” She was guessing possession of a weapon would be the charge or some version of it, depending on how things played out. “I’m calling the?—”

“She said it wouldn’t go down like this!” The woman shoved her man, who whipped back around to her with a frown. Ramon grabbed him from behind, his bigger size enough for him to get a good hold on the weapon. He kicked the back of the guy’s knees, and the man fell to the ground through Ramon’s arms, crying out from surprise.

Ramon asked, “She?”

The woman backed up, probably because Ramon now held her man’s gun. “What?”

“You saidshe. Someone told you to pull a gun on me?”

Kenna said, “Start talking.”

“That’s what she said! Eric just got carried away.”

The guy was still on the ground, looking disoriented. Perhaps he was high on something. She kept an eye on him. “Keep going. What did she say?”

“She said to tell you what we saw. But how do I know we’re not gonna be next? I watch true crime shows.” She gasped. “I don’t want to get stuffed in a barrel.”

“What did you see?” Assuming it was the truth. The woman who’d concocted this might have fed them false information to pass on.

But was it Amara or Roxanne or someone else entirely?

ChapterTen

Kenna took two more steps. The woman backed into the room a little. Kenna got in her space with all that police “command presence” they had. “What did you see?”

The woman decided to go on the defensive rather than cower. She stuck a hand on her impossibly slender hip. “She said to tell you we saw the guy carry them out. One in the passenger’s seat, like it was meant to look like he wasn’t alone, and the other on the back seat.”

“Anything else?”

The woman shrugged.

“Where’s the money she paid you?”

The woman scoffed. “We already spent it.” She waved an arm at debris that would usually be associated with a narcotics case.

Kenna said, “Enjoy the rest of your party.” She turned and stepped out of the motel room, glancing over the railing to see someone in the passenger’s seat of her car. Not Maizie.

Maizie was in the front seat, holding onto the wheel.

“Maizie!” She took off running toward the stairs at the end, moving fast. Grabbing the rail and swinging herself around the corner to stumble down even though it hurt her arms. She didn’t care. The only thing that mattered was Maizie.

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