Page 62 of Elijah's Hope
“What’s his name?” I asked.
“Why?”
“Because I’m going to kill him,” I said. And it was funny, too, because I knew it was the absolute truth. I had spent time in the Army. I had opened fire on enemy combatants, but I had never killed anyone up close so that I could see their face as they died.
That’s what I wanted to do to those two men. I wanted to watch them die, so I could tell Shelby they were dead, and they could never hurt her again.
So many things made sense now. I remember our first picnic when I had brought all that food. Everything she’d made me eat first. Had she done that purposefully? Her reticence about sex. Taking off her clothes in front of me…
Because she’d been drugged and raped. How recently?
“When…” I couldn’t get the words out my throat was so swollen.
“She said it happened over a month ago. Her uncle was waiting to find out howpopularher video was and then he was going to start making her do more of them. She was desperate to leave but didn’t know how she was going to get away without money or a reliable car. She said she prayed for an angel, and the next day saw you on the Facebook ad. A chance at a round trip ticket away from her uncle. She knew God had answered her prayers when you selected her. She came all this way and met her Angel. Too bad he turned out to be the devil.”
I closed my eyes again. Any lingering buzz I had was gone. “Jesus, tell me she didn’t go home.”
“No. She already had a plan before she got here. She was never going home. I tried to give her money. Real money so she could start over, but she wasn’t having it. I ended up pushing a thousand bucks on her so she could find a place to stay for a week or so wherever she landed.”
“I have to find her.” I looked up at Zeke. “You have to help me find her.”
He remained silent.
“Yeah, I thought you might have a change of heart. But see, I don’t know if you’re worthy of her anymore. Seems to me someone as sweet as that deserves someone who might give her the benefit of the doubt before kicking her to the curb.”
“I didn’t…” I started to say that I didn’t tell Shelby to go but leaving her like I did was probably just as bad. “Eve, I’ll beg you. If that’s what you want, I’ll fucking beg you.”
Her lips quirked. “I gave her a credit card with a thousand-dollar balance. When she uses it, I’ll know exactly where she is.”
“Thank you. First, Shreveport.”
“Okay. But only to teach them a lesson. Don’t kill them. You’re not a cold enough killer not to get caught, I think. That happens, you go to jail, and Shelby doesn’t get her happily-ever-after ending.” She looked up at Zeke who was rubbing her baby boy’s back. “And I happen to like happily-ever-after endings.”
14
Tacoma,Washington
Eli
I parked the car in front of the motel. My heart was beating like crazy. I had an address for the place but obviously not a room number. I could go inside and ask for her and they would put me through to her room, but I think I had a better shot of doing this in person.
It was a single row of rooms. Two floors. She was either in one of them or would be coming back to one of them from where she was. She had no car but looking around I could see there were a number of places she could walk to and from the hotel. A convenience store. A chain fast-food place. A local coffee shop on the corner.
It wasn’t exactly a nice neighborhood, but it wasn’t the hood, either. The blocks I’d driven down to get to the south end of the city had looked like a typical blue-collar, working town.
Nothing too fancy but nothing that made me fear for her safety.
Now, it was just a matter of waiting. I settled down in the seat to get comfortable, but not a few minutes later did I see a honey blonde walking out of the coffee shop at the end of the block.
I sat up in anticipation and let out a breath when I knew it was her. It was hard to describe the relief I felt at seeing her again. This was a big fucking world, and the minute I realized her plan was to get lost in it, I was convinced I had ruined everything.
Because I hadn’t even asked her why she’d been so desperate.
She walked up, completely oblivious to my presence, and I saw her take the stairs at the end of the row of rooms to the second floor. She had a brown bag in her hand and an oversize key ring.
She stopped at room twenty-two, unlocked her door and shut it behind her.
I closed my eyes for a second, wondering how I had gotten so lucky at a second chance because my luck had only ever run to cards. When I got back to Hope’s Point, I was going to have to get Eve a fucking dozen roses for giving me this chance.
