Page 36 of Hell to Pay

The grass was too long, the sidewalk leading to the house cracked and uneven. The sun was shining, a warm May breeze rustling the newly budded trees, but I suddenly felt sad.

And not just sad.

“I’m nervous,” I said, wiping my hands on my jeans.

Nolan looked over at me. His eyes were shielded by sunglasses, his dark hair a stark contrast to the pristine white T-shirt with sleeves that had to stretch to accommodate his biceps. “We don’t have to do this.”

“I want to,” I said. “It’s just… a weird situation.”

It had taken me a couple days to get up the nerve to call the number on the flyer. I wasn’t a cop or a detective. Really, I had no business at all asking Rain’s family or friends questions about her disappearance.

But the call had been answered by Rain’s mother, a woman named Hateya who had been tragically happy to hear that I wanted to ask questions about her daughter’s disappearance.

Nolan nodded. “I’ll be right there with you. We can leave anytime you want.”

Jude had wanted to come too, but I hadn’t wanted to overwhelm or intimidate Hateya Adakai. And Nolan had a way about him. Maybe it was his medic training, or maybe it was just his personality, but he had a way of asking questions that didn’t feel intrusive.

Jude was a listener, which was amazing, but I needed someone who could back me up with questions if I got nervous and lost my way.

And Rafe… well, forget about Rafe in a situation like this one. Even if he’d wanted to come — and he’d given no indication that he did — he’d be like a charging bull in a glass factory. He probably would have scared the shit out of Rain’s mom.

I opened the door of the Jeep, the most unassuming of the cars owned by the Bastards, and stepped onto the sidewalk. Nolan took my hand and squeezed it as we made our way toward the house.

There was no doorbell so I opened the screen to knock and winced when it let out a shriek. I knocked carefully on the front door, then let the screen close as I stepped back to wait.

I looked up at Nolan, who gave me an encouraging smile, and a moment later the door opened to reveal a small woman about my mom’s age with long brown hair and brown eyes that reminded me of her daughter (I’d spent a lot of time looking at the picture I’d taken of the flyer).

Her gaze went to Nolan first, a veil of suspicion falling over her face. Then she turned to me.

“Lilah?” she asked through the screen door.

“Yes. Hi, Mrs. Adakai. Thanks so much for agreeing to meet with me.” I looked at Nolan. “This is my friend Nolan.”

“I didn’t know you were going to bring anyone,” she said, clearly nervous.

“Oh… I’m sorry. I should have mentioned it.”

“I can wait in the car if you prefer,” Nolan said gently.

She hesitated, then shook her head and opened the screen door. “It’s okay. Come in.”

26

LILAH

We saton the threadbare sofa while Hateya Adakai— she’d actually told us to call her Hattie — brought out iced tea. The living room was small, the furnishings worn, but the house was neat as a pin and I caught the scent of lemon-scented cleaner in the air.

Framed pictures rested on every surface, most of them of two girls, close enough in age and looking similar enough that they might have been twins.

“Is that your other daughter?” I asked Hattie when she’d settled on the love seat next to the sofa.

She followed my gaze to a photograph of Rain with another girl, both smiling into the camera, a body of water glimmering in the sun behind them. Rain was younger in the picture, her face clear of the worry and fear that had been etched on her face when I’d seen her behind the Dive.

“Yes. That’s Lily, Rain’s younger sister,” Hattie said. “She’s just started school at the community college.”

“It must be so hard for her — for both of you — with Rain missing,” I said.

Hattie nodded. “I feel… sick. I can’t eat. I can’t sleep. I know she’s in trouble but the police say she probably just decided to leave. They don’t listen when I say she wouldn’t do that… that she wouldn’t leave us to worry.”

---