Wicked and True (Wicked & Devoted 4)

“Follow me. Stay. Behind. Me. Is that clear?”

Tessa frowned. Yeah, she probably didn’t like him ordering her around.

“I get it. You hate me right now, but if you want Hallie back alive, you need to listen to me.”

“I don’t hate you. I just want my daughter back. Until I have her again…”

Nothing else mattered.

“I know, baby.” He squeezed her hand.

They rounded the mobile home and found a sliding glass door covered by dark curtains. He released Tessa’s hand and tested it. Locked.

Time to get creative.

He withdrew the blade from under his pant leg.

“What are you doing?” she hissed.

“Prying it open.”

She looked shocked. “Are you kidding?”

Clearly, Tessa didn’t grasp that, in the larger scheme of his job, this was one of the easiest things he did. “No. The door is mounted from the outside. If it had been mounted from the inside, it would be a bitch, if not impossible. But this? Piece of cake. All I have to do is wedge this knife between the door frame and the door itself about six inches from the corner. Here, diagonal from the latch, at the bottom. Now, I’ll just pry upward and tilt the door.” He demonstrated and heard a faint click, then smiled. “That’s all it takes to release the latch from the bracket. And we’re in.”

Zy tested the door, gratified when it slowly slid open. He stepped inside, motioning her to wait on the back steps. He peeked in and scanned the living room. He saw no one except Johnson, who stood at the open front door, his back to him and Tessa, while Trees gave him an off-the-cuff sales pitch.

“Your neighbors, Jessica and Bill, across the way”—Trees gestured vaguely as he cut his eyes over at Zy with a barely perceptible nod—“you know them, right?”

So as far as Trees was concerned, there was no reason the op wasn’t a go.

“No,” Johnson grumbled.

“Oh, you should meet them. Nice folks. They started our service last month. Jessica swears nothing else worked before, but their roach problem is practically nil already, and she’s seeing far fewer spiders.”

“We don’t have an insect problem.”

“You do. You haven’t been here long, right?”

“A couple weeks.”

“Then trust me, you do.”

Zy had to smile at Trees’s schtick, then he turned to motion Tessa inside, nudging her behind a big leather sofa on the right side of the room, where she wouldn’t be visible if Johnson turned.

As Trees droned on about the gross habits and unsanitary conditions of roaches—displaying a surprising knowledge of insects—Zy began easing the sliding door shut. It squeaked. He winced and dove behind the sofa, eyes on their target.

“What the hell was that?” Johnson tried to turn around.

Trees grabbed the man’s arm, signaling to Hector that this part of the pitch was urgent. “See? Insects. We’re half swamp out here, so they’re big. If you weren’t used to that where you came from… Um, where was that?”

“I didn’t say and I’m not interested.”

“I don’t want you to regret passing up this deal. Have you asked the missus if she’s seen any insects? I’ll bet she has.”

“No.”

Zy held his breath as he leaned back and slid the door down the rest of the track without incident before joining Tessa behind the sofa again.

They were safe…at least for now.

“You know how women are these days. Trying to be all independent. My momma would shriek to high heavens every time she came across a spider in her kitchen, but my sisters—I’ve got three of them—they just whip off one of their ridiculous high heels and whap the spider out of existence. Your wife like that?”

“No. I said I’m not interested.”

See anyone else? he mouthed to Tessa.

She pointed to her ear, then to the right.

On the far side of the unit, he saw a sliver of the kitchen. Dishes clanked and a radio pumped out deejay chatter. A vertical half wall dividing the living room and kitchen cut off his sight lines, but clearly someone was in there. Cash?

He would have to get closer for a better vantage point, and that meant moving.

“Listen, Mister…” Trees frowned. “What did you say your name was?”

“I didn’t.”

Still squatting behind the sofa, Zy edged along its back, holding up a hand to stay Tessa.

She looked breathless and afraid, eyes wide. But she nodded, unmoving, watching nervously as he crept across an open space, then ducked behind a matching black recliner.

Suddenly, Johnson whipped his head around, as if he’d caught movement in his peripheral vision. Zy pressed himself against the back of the chair and held his breath.

“Anyway”—Trees went on—“I’m up for a promotion. If I can sign three people up this morning, that would look real good to my boss. He knows I’m a go-getter, but he wants to see more hustle, so if you could help a guy out…”

Zy tuned out Trees’s spiel. He’d heard enough to know they were running out of time. He had to get the lay of the land and figure out how many people were in the house and where everyone was located so they could game plan accordingly.