"Baby," he said. "It's not fine. You're not fine. I can see it all over your face. Now tell me, what is it?"
"Nothing." I pointed toward Bishop, who was climbing into the driver's seat of the dark sedan. "You should go with him." I squinted at the car. "Where's he going, anyway?"
"I'm guessing he'll drive 'em home. Or maybe some public place. Hard to say."
"How would he know where they live?"
"Driver's license."
"Oh." How had I forgotten? The guy was a regular expert when it came to those. "So what's he gonna do?" I persisted. "Drive them home and just leave?"
"Hard to say."
"You're at least gonnaopenthe trunk before you leave 'em someplace. Right?"
Lawton glanced toward the trunk. "I dunno. Maybe." He returned his gaze to me. "Except it won't bemedoing anything, becauseI'mstaying here with you."
Again, I glanced toward the car. "You've done this before, haven't you?"
"Done what before?"
"I don't know." I couldn't put my finger on it, but they seemed way too good at dealing with whatever had happened tonight. "Stuff like this."
From the driveway, I heard a sudden burst of muffled thumps and angry voices.
"See?" Lawton said. "Second guy woke up. He's fine. Just like I said."
I'd seen the damage firsthand. "Fine" was definitely an exaggeration. I listened harder, picking up more thumping and even more yelling.
I bit my lip. "They're trying to get out."
"Maybe," Lawton said. "Either that, or they turned on each other." He gave a half shrug. "It happens."
I stared at him. "It happens? How would you know?"
From the driveway, Bishop rolled down the window and called out, "You comin' or what?"
"No," Lawton said.
"Yes, he is," I called back.
"No," Lawton said through clenched teeth. "I'm not."
Bishop looked at us, his eyes flat and his tone bored. "I'm leaving in five seconds. In or out. Your choice."
"Go ahead," Lawton said. "I'll see you at the house."
A moment later, Bishop was on his way. Together, Lawton and I watched as the car reversed out of the long driveway, then pulled out onto the street like the driver had all the time in the world.
When Lawton turned back to me, I blurted out, "You should've gone with him."
"Why?"
"Because I can't have guests over."
He gave me another strange look. "Baby, who's in the house?"
"No one."
