Page 5 of Sin of Love
He sounds truly mystified.
I laugh. “It was a wind chime, silly. I miss that thing. A storm took it the next year.”
The memory slams into me with the force of a punch. I gasp, my eyes stinging, my skin crawling.
“No,” I whisper, then more loudly, “No!”
I reach behind the front seat and grab the plastic case, pulling it into my lap. In the semi-dark of the car, I pop the lid and remove the gun. I check the clip and thumb off the safety, then place it between my seat and the armrest.
After a few deep, even breaths, I put the car in gear and drive under the archway, not looking up at the wind chime made of tiny pieces of glass and metal.
Most of the house still stands. I’m not surprised, though I remember being shocked back then by how fast the fire department responded. Mere minutes after my 911 call, the trucks had blasted past the gas station, lights flashing and sirens wailing.
Looking at the thick trees clustered around the property, I can see why speed is a necessity up here. I’m even glad a forest fire was prevented.
But at eighteen, I didn’t care if the entire state went up in flames.
I drive around the back of the house, to the half-collapsed, three-car garage. There are no other visible cars, but I’m not fooled. He’s here. Waiting. I turn off the car and sit, listening to the click click of the engine cooling down. Flipping the headlights off, I let my eyes adjust to the night. Slowly, the house materializes from the darkness. Ghostly.
The windows above the garage and along the east wing are blackened and gaping. Old wounds, still angry. The western part of the house is dark but from what I can see, mostly undamaged. A few broken windows. No lights on inside.
I wonder if there’s electricity and running water, and if the cartel ever found out what happened to their two men, the ones Julep killed when they came to take Nate and me away. Did the fire department find their bodies? Did they burn? Does the cartel still own the property?
“Stop thinking.” My voice trembles, thin and breathless. “No thinking. Just go. Do it. Do what you came here to do.”
Kill a man.
No… not a man.
A monster.
