Page 56 of Scorched

She stared at the house and back to him, her brow furrowed.

Frustration hit hard. What were the words in Spanish? “Vive en esa casa?”

Her face brightened but she shook her head. “No.Me limpiola casa.” She moved her hand in a circular motion. “Cleanla casa.”

Ah, Maria was the cleaning lady. Paul nodded. “Necesito respuestas. I need answers.” He pointed to Elise’s house.

Rain dripped off her face as she tipped her head back to look up into Paul’s face.

He held the umbrella over her head and smiled down at her reassuringly, though he kept a firm grip on her arm. “I won’t hurt you or turn you in to the authorities. I just need to know if you’ve seen anyone hanging around that house.Has visto a nadie alrededor de la casa?” He hoped he’d said that right. His luck, he was asking which way to the farm.

She shook her head. “No,sólo ala mujercon dos niños.”

“Were you here yesterday during the day?Aquí fueron ayer?”

“Si.” She nodded. “Me limpio la casa de la Señora Slater.”

An image of little Luke talking through the bushes to his friend came to Paul’s mind. Was this where George lived? “George no vive aquí?”

The woman nodded and she looked around as if to see if anyone else was watching her. “SenorGeorgees retrasado.”

Paul didn’t recognize the word. He shook his head. “No entiendo.”

She looked around as if trying to come up with a way to tell him. Finally, she shrugged and circled her finger beside her temple. “Georgees muy loco.”

Crazy? “Georgees poco?” Paul held his hand out at about Luke’s height.

The woman in front of him shook her head and raised her hand to the same height as Paul.

Luke had been talking through the fence with a crazyman? What had he told him? Could he have let it slip what their last names used to be? Would the little boy have remembered?

“Dónde está George?” he asked.

The lady shrugged, her body drenched from the rain. She glanced longingly over her shoulder at a beat-up, rusty car parked in the gravel driveway. “I go.Tengo que ir.”

“Where is George?” Paul insisted.

“En la escuela.”She pulled free of the hand he still had on her arm and ran for the car.

At the school. George was at the school.

Before Maria had her car cranked, Paul had circled around to Elise’s house and jumped into his truck. Which school? Which school was George at?

Shifting into Reverse, he spun the truck out of the driveway and shot into the street. Then he pressed the accelerator to the floor, spitting water up behind him as he blasted down Highland Street toward the high school.

Managing the turns with one hand, he slid his cell phone open with the other and dialed Agent Bradley. “Mel, check all the bug extermination companies in Breuer and the San Antonio area for a truck scheduled for Highland Street in Breuer.”

Mel didn’t respond right away and then cleared her throat. “Okaayy, I’ll bite. Has Elise got bug problems?”

“One of her neighbors saw an exterminator truckparked on the street yesterday. One with the bug on top of it.”

“That ought to narrow it down some. I’m on it. Where are you headed now?”

“To the high school. One of Elise’s neighbors works at the high school. I’m going to check him out.”

“Think he was the one to leave the note in her box?”

Paul’s jaw tightened. If this guy was loco as Maria indicated, there was no telling what he was capable of. “I don’t know, but I plan on finding out.”

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