“Babies,” I explained. “Made me bring one home from a job a few months back. He also has a soft spot for pets.”
“Didn’t realize he had a soft spot for anyone,” Bellatrix grumbled under her breath. But I heard it.
“He’s got a soft spot for you,” I reminded her. “He letyougo, didn’t he?”
She shifted on the sofa, her glare directed straight ahead. “That’s because he owed me.”
“For what?”
“Helping him out when I was a kid. There was a time when he was stuck somewhere too, and I showed him those tunnels. Helped him get out.”
“You sure he didn’t know about them already and was just playing dumb?” I asked. I was honestly curious. It was strange for the bossmannotto know something that would be extremely beneficial to him.
“Positive,” Bellatrix replied. “He was almost dead when I found him. If he knew there was a way out, he would have taken it before he was half-starved and bleeding all over the place from a head wound.” She swung her feet off the coffee table and stood to her full height, clearly done with the small talk.
I wasn’t, though. I wanted to know about what the doc was like when he was the one trapped. When he was dependent on someone else letting him out. I wanted to know who else knew about those tunnels and those girls. And I wanted to know where they all went afterwards…
But that would all have to wait because I could already hear the van pulling up in the driveway.
Fuck, Don-Don was early.
Now I was gonna owe him twice over. Once for keeping his mouth shut about where the body was located, and again for not mentioning Bellatrix being along for the ride.
Having a secret girlfriend was starting to get really fucking expensive.
CHAPTER SIXTY-SIX
BELLATRIX
DAY 33
Iglanced outside the window, watching the city speed by. Blurry people strolling down the sidewalk avoiding the delivery guys on bikes, double-parked cars, and the occasional dog tied to a lamppost waiting for whoever was inside to remember they were waiting there.
Kinda like me. Except I was waiting for the man in the driver’s seat to let go of the leash that was strangling me a little tighter each day. Theself-imposedleash. Vee told me to forget about her notebook. But I refused to give up now that I was so close.
There couldn’t be more than a dozen pages left to go. I’d been checking that they were legit before immediately burning them. I didn’t need to read what she wrote to know it wasn’t a good idea to leave it lying around to be used against us again.
Mama didn’t raise no quitter. She didn’t raise no fool either. She did, however, raise an impatient speed demon, who felt like this car was moving at a snail’s pace.
I huffed, a little louder this time, and Casper glanced in my direction.
“Where are we going? And whose car is this?” It was rusty as shit, didn’t have any plates, and smelled worse than the inside of an ashtray…ifthat ashtray had been left to rot in the sun for a year or more.
“Got it from the graveyard.” He shrugged, and I quirked a brow. “It’s what we call the back lot at Briarwood. Buncha old junkers from patients who showed up and never left. This one’s been there since the 60s, I think.”
“Is it even legal to drive?”
“Nope.”
I was about to remind the fucker he never answered my first question when he pulled to a stop outside a modern dark-gray building. All lines and angles. Glass windows across the sides of the second floor and sleek wooden letters telling me it was some fancy gym/spa, the sort that had security at the door and definitely needed a membership.
“What are we doing here?” I asked him.
“Is that what you’re wearing?” he threw back at me.
I looked to Casper, who was already yanking his black hoodie over his head before sliding out of the car. I followed suit, flipping up my collar and tucking it around my face. I grabbed for the baseball cap on the dash next. Because if he didn’t want to be seen, I sure as shit didn’t want to be seen either.
He chucked the keys at the valet station as we walked by, but he didn’t acknowledge the guy. Then he strolled up to the front door, flashed a card against the panel, and tugged on the knob the moment it buzzed him in.
