Page 23 of Goodbye Paradise
My heart seized as I pictured Caleb at the wrong end of the gun.
But it was his voice that shouted, “Get thefuckaway from him before Ifuckyou both up!”
I couldn’t see him, though, so my heart was in my throat until the two men reappeared in my line of vision, hurrying back into the car.
Seconds later, they pulled away, tires squealing.
Caleb climbed back into the cab, followed by Washington, who looked as if might explode. I scooted into the back to make room for both of them. The driver slammed the door, then rounded on Caleb. “What the fuck was that? You have agunin my cab?”
Caleb pointed the weapon at the floor and offered it to Washington. “Take a look. It’s not loaded.”
Washington palmed the gun and then inspected it, and all the while his face was a raging storm.
“I’m sorry,” Caleb said. “I stole it from the Compound because it has value. I wanted to pawn it.” His guilty eyes weren’t looking at Washington anymore, though. They flicked tome.
“This could get us inbucketsof trouble,” Washington spat. “Could getmein trouble! Right now, if the police pull up to see why I’m stopped, and they search this place? I got a weapon and no license? I’m arrested.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“You got anything else in that bag?”
Caleb kicked it over to Washington. “Not a thing. Look for yourself.”
“Am I going to find the ammo?”
“I didn’t steal the ammo. It’s heavy, and I didn’t know if it was valuable.”
Washington groaned. “Boy, are you shitting me right now? Because you justlookedlike you knew your way around a gun. That’s why those punks ran off.”
“Idoknow my way around a gun. Been shooting coyotes since I was twelve. Most of our acreage was cattle. I’ve never shot at anything on two legs, though, unless you count the paper cut-out at target practice.”
With a sigh, Washington buried his forehead in his hand. “You better pray the police don’t show their faces. I’m not taking the rap for this.”
“Yessir.”
“Yessir,” Washington muttered. “Such aniceboy — with an unlicensed handgun. You swear there’s nothing else in here that can get a guy locked up? Weed? Blow?”
“No sir.”
Maybe Washington was over it already, but I wasn’t. “DoIget to look in the backpack?” I was disgusted with all that I’d just learned.
Caleb trained his weary eyes on mine. “I’msorry, Josh. I should have told you about the gun.”
I felt the inconvenient sting of tears hit the back of my throat. “You got me thrown out of the compound for stealing something you took!”
He sighed. “Everything issofucked up. I took that gun to get some cash, so I could leave with you.”
“With me,” I spat. “Are you sure?”
He looked stricken. “OfcourseI’m sure!”
“I don’t believe you.”
“Why the hell not?”
Washington was watching our drama play out, but I didn’t care. “You feltguiltyabout getting me tossed. That’s why you left.”
“The timing sucked, Josh. I won’t argue with that. And Iforgotthat you always did that fucking inventory, okay? I took the gun because neither one of us had ever used it. But it was just my shitty luck that they noticed right away. I didn’t even steal it but one day before! And then the fuckinginventory.” He put his head in his hands.
