The Commandments, not the laws of the land.
Shiloh glanced up at the bird again, and then they both nodded in unison. Deal done, the bird dropped off the branch and snapped its wings out to catch the breeze. Silver glittered like staples through its feathers.
“Done,” he said and deployed the kickstand with the heel of his boot. “What do you need me to do?”
Jonah sighed and cracked his neck.
“It’s going to be easy,” he said. “At least… it will be for you.”
Jonah spat a mouthful of blood onto the scarred white ash boards of the porch. He knew he’d told Shiloh to hit him, but he thought Shiloh had put more into the punch than he’d really needed to. One of the security guards—who’d met them on the drive as Shiloh dragged them pointedly to their fate—made a disgusted noise and slapped Jonah on the back of the head.
“Leave him alone,” Luke said. He was pallid and shivering despite the mild weather. When he reached out and took Jonah’s hand, his fingers were hot and his palm sweaty-cold. “We didn’t do anything wrong. We didn’t come here to hurt anyone.”
Deborah hung up the call she was on and turned to look at him. Despite the hour, she was still dressed, her glasses on and her feet bare.
“You drove through the gates,” she said. “You’re trespassing. That, by definition, is wrong.”
“And you know why,” Luke said. “I tried to help you, Deborah. Maybe I didn’t do enough, or I got it wrong, but I tried. Why would you do this to me?”
She looked blank.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said. “I don’t know who you are. After tonight, though, you’ll know who I am.”
Luke stared at her. “What?” he said. “You… you did this to me, sicced this on me, and now you’re trying to play the anonymous card. You know me.”
She gave him an annoyed look. “I donot,” she said. “So if you’re here because you want something from me—”
Jonah coughed to get her attention. “Do you remember me?”
She gave him a quick once-over. “No,” she said. “Did I have you evicted sometime? No, don’t bother. I don’t care. You have no idea what you’ve gate-crashed…”
Bare feet slapped against the wooden floor inside, and a fat woman with sandy-brown hair stumbled out onto the porch. She was in her pajamas—white cotton with drops of blood at the bend of her elbow—and what little color was in her face washed away as she took in the scene on the porch.
“What are they doing here?” she demanded. “They shouldn’t be here! Get them off the grounds, Deborah! Get them out.”
Deborah looked around, and her face tightened with a familiar, bone-deep worry.
“Arlene,” she said. “What are you doing? You shouldn’t be up. Go back to bed. We’ve got this under control.”
Two bright red patches of color scorched Arlene’s cheekbones. It looked like someone had pinched her. She wrung her hands. Unlike the rest of her—tight, plump, and shiny—her hands were knuckly with loose skin and scars.
“If it’s under control, why are there people here?” she said. “No one should be here.Theyshouldn’t be here, not now. Not atnight.”
Her eyes flicked to Luke and then past him into the darkness beyond the reach of the house lights. Just for a second. And then Deborah stepped in front of her and took rounded shoulders in both hands.
“There’s nothing wrong,” she said. “Mr. Levi’s dog treed our uninvited guests, and I just have to find where they belong. Or who they belong to. Go to bed, love.”
Shiloh's hand tightened on Jonah’s shoulder, his fingers pressed against his collarbone, and he made a low, annoyed noise at Deborah. It was hard to tell if it was at the “dog” comment or the suggestion he belonged to someone.
Deborah either ignored the growl or missed it completely. She kissed Arlene on the brow and stepped back with a quick gesture to the trim man in a dark nurse’s uniform who’d followed her down. He mouthed “sorry” as he stepped forward and took Arlene’s arm.
“Come on, Mrs. Haddon,” he said. “We’ll get you tucked back in. Look at your arms. You’ve made a mess of that…”
He tried to tug her away, but she resisted. “Deborah. Debbie, love, come with me. Just let them go. They’re nobody.”
“Probably,” Deborah agreed, a dry starch to her voice. “But I have to be sure. Apparently, there’s been some questions about the security here. I wouldn’t want anyone—Mr. Levi, for example—to think we’ve been lax in any way.”
Arlene grimaced, her full lips pulled tight over oddly square, even teeth, and tried to catch onto the edge of the door. Her nurse intercepted her fingers, laced his own through them, and guided her away.
