“I didn’t want to die.”
“I get it. And that wound slowed him enough so I could catch him.”
“Good.”
“Did Kevin say where he was going with Vicky?”
“He said it wasn’t far. Said there was a party about twenty miles west of the city.”
“What kind of party?”
“Said he was playing poker and always did better when he had Lady Luck with him.”
“He said Lady Luck?”
“Yeah. I thought it was weird.”
“Anything else?”
“Is that why Kevin killed Vicky? Did he run out of luck and get mad at her?”
“It had something to do with that, but I don’t have all the pieces yet.”
Tears welled in her eyes and when one spilled, she wiped it away. “Jax convinced Vicky to run away with him about four weeks ago. He said he loved her.” Swollen lips twitched into a wry smile. “He said the same thing to me as well as Darla.”
Riley sat silent for a moment, knowing there was nothing she could say to the girl right now. “I saw Sandy.”
“Is she okay?”
“She’s worried about Cassie. She’s been gone for a couple of days.”
Jo-Jo pushed back a strand of dirty blond hair. “Shit. And she’s new. Not as new as Vicky, but Darla would’ve fixed her up. Did Kevin come back for her?”
“Kevin is dead,” Riley said. “Someone shot him.”
Her brow wrinkled in a frown. “Good. If he killed Vicky, then I’m glad he’s dead. But who took Cassie?”
“Do you remember anything else about Kevin? Did he have friends?”
“Kevin told Jax there was a tournament,” Jo-Jo said. “He said they might need more girls. He wanted to pass Jax’s name along to the others. Jax was thrilled.”
“Did Kevin say where the other players were coming from?”
“All over. They all wanted to challenge the old man.”
“Any names?”
She shook her head. “No.”
Riley drew a slow breath.
“Where’s Jax?” Jo-Jo asked.
“Right now, he’s hiding out in his motor home with Darla. A friend of mine put the fear of God in him, so he’s gone underground.”
A smile teased the edges of her lips. “That must be some friend.”
“He’s not someone to mess around with.”
She tugged at the sheet’s coarse cotton. “Jax won’t stay afraid long. He’s mean, but not always smart.”
Right now Carter was trying to stay out of sight and alive. “You’re supposed to get out of here tomorrow, right?”
Panic flared in her eyes. “I don’t think I’m ready to leave.”
“I know. It’s safe here. But I know a place. It’s a house run by a nice couple. I can call them for you.”
Annoyance flashed across her bruised face. “You can’t make me go anywhere.”
Riley’s phone pinged with a text from Duke. She read it and texted back. “I’m not going to make you go anywhere,” she told Jo-Jo.
There was a knock at the door and the girl stiffened, sitting straighter in her bed. “Who’s that?”
“A friend.”
“The scary one?”
“No, though he looks meaner than a snake. Don’t let the ink scare you. He’s about the most gentle guy you’ll ever meet.” She moved to the door and opened it to let Duke into the room.
Jo-Jo studied him closely, her body as tense as a taut rubber band. “Who’s this, your grandfather?”
Laughing, Duke rubbed the back of his neck with his hands, showing off an arm covered in tattoos. “Hey, I might be old enough to be her dad, but not her granddad. I’m not that broken down, kid.”
Jo-Jo shook her head. “You’re up there, Pops.”
Duke looked at Riley, amused. “Tough crowd.”
“They all are at this stage. Didn’t you say I took a swing at you?”
He rubbed his chin. “Barely missed.”
Another knock on the door and Maria entered. She was grinning and had a large grocery bag full of clothes. “Sorry, I stopped at the nurse’s station. I know one of the gals from church.” She smiled at the young girl. “So you must be Jo-Jo. I’m Maria and this is Duke, my husband. We run a restaurant and we shelter kids. And in this bag are clothes. I had to guess your size, so there’re all kinds.”
“Her real name is Melanie Lawrence,” Riley said.
“Melanie,” Maria said, smiling. “I like that. Very pretty.”
“My name is Jo-Jo,” the girl insisted.
“Okay.” Maria nodded as if knowing the kid clung to the name because she was afraid.
“Are you, like, foster parents?” Jo-Jo asked. “I’ve done foster care and it sucks.”
Duke slid a ringed hand into his front pocket. “We work with social services, but we don’t take government money. Our place is all donation based. And it’s not foster care. We offer a safe harbor until you figure out what’s next.”
“So what’s the catch?” Jo-Jo asked.
“You agree to come with us, and I’ll talk to social services. Then you got to go to school,” Duke said without hesitation. “Education will get you out of this life.”
“School.” She laughed. “Right.”
Riley pulled a card from her pocket and handed it to Jo-Jo. “The decision is yours. I can’t make you go. Neither can Duke or Maria.”
Jo-Jo flicked the edge of the card, not bothering to look at it.
“They gave me a second chance, and I took it. If not for them, I don’t know where I’d be now. Play it smart, and take the offer. You won’t get another one.”
After Jo-Jo’s sullen acceptance of Duke’s offer, Riley left the hospital, not convinced the kid would have her happy ending. The road ahead would be tough for a girl who’d seen too much in her fifteen years.
As she opened her car door, her phone buzzed. Agent Sharp’s name popped up on the display. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”
“We found Lewis’s hotel, and I now have a search warrant. Want to play agent one more time before you put the uniform back on?”
“I do.”
“I’ll text you the address.”
She arrived at the hotel a half hour later. It was decent but not plush like the casino hotels in the big cities. A black SUV was waiting for her as she crossed the lot. Bowman got out, his dark suit and glasses making him look like a fed. If he really was retired, you’d never know it looking at him.
“What’
re you doing here?” she asked.
“Agent Sharp called me.”
“So I’m not the only one he called to the party. My feelings are hurt.”
Bowman tipped his head toward her. “Given the choice, he’d pick you over me any day. I would.”
The deep timbre of his voice triggered a rush of heat in her body. She cleared her throat and looked at the hotel. “Wonder if Kevin was on his way up the ladder of success or down it?”
“If I had to guess, I’d say down. My guess is that he owed money, and that’s what got him killed.”
“Makes sense.”
She approached the front desk and waited until the clerk looked up from her computer screen before she raised her badge. The midtwenties woman wore her dark hair pulled into a tight ponytail, chic glasses, and a navy-blue suit that didn’t quite fit. “Yes?”
“I’m Trooper Tatum, and this is Mr. Bowman. Agent Sharp called earlier.”
“He’s upstairs.” She lowered her voice. “In that dead man’s room.”
“Right.”
The clerk coded a new plastic key and handed one to Riley. “Room 202. The elevators are around the corner.”
“Thanks.”
They made their way to the bank of elevators and Bowman punched 2. As the doors closed, two young girls about the age of twelve scrambled into the car. They both wore wet bathing suits wrapped in towels and dripping with water. The girls glanced at Bowman and Riley, making no effort to hide their curiosity.
One whispered something to the other, and they both giggled. Riley couldn’t remember a time when she ran free or kicked around with a friend. Her mother and stepfather had kept a tight rein on her, believing if they gave her too much time to herself, she’d find trouble. Monsters live on the streets, her mother used to say. They also lived in the house, though her mother never would admit it.
The doors dinged open and Riley and Bowman exited, finding their way to room 202. They both pulled on latex gloves. A swipe of the key and they were inside. Cigar smoke. The scent permeated the room.
Riley doubled back and checked the room door. “It’s a nonsmoking room.”
Bowman sniffed. “Surprised he’d break that rule?”
Sharp and Martin were in the room. While Sharp searched a drawer, Martin dusted a doorknob for prints. A “Do Not Disturb” sign hung on the doorknob.