Ike’s face went red under the weathered skin. “There’s two of you.”
“That math degree is paying off,” Jade said.
Ike’s attention cut to Crystal. “Frank didn’t say anything about a sister.”
“Frank misses details,” I said.
His attention cut back to me. “And you. You were supposed to bring her here, not bring company.”
Every bit of the morning went quiet in my blood.
Jade heard it too. Her shoulders shifted, ready.
“You fed the trail,” I said.
Ike’s grip tightened on the pry bar. “Frank said you bounty boys are all the same. Put the right paper in front of you, and you’ll drag trouble straight to the door.”
Crystal’s breath shook.
Jade kept her stare on Ike. “Crystal isn’t trouble. You are.”
Ike snorted. “Crystal’s a thief on paper. Paper’s what counts.”
“No,” I said. “Paper’s what you thought would count.”
His eyes narrowed.
I took one step out from the row, putting myself between him and the unit without blocking Jade’s angle. “You came for the records.”
“I came to clean up a mess.”
“With a pry bar and tarps?”
“It’s a cleanout business.”
“That what you call it?”
His smile came back, thinner now. “You should’ve handed her over and collected your money. Frank said you’d do the practical thing.”
Jade’s voice went soft beside me. “He hates that word now.”
I kept my attention on Ike.
Ike’s gaze flicked from me to Jade and back again. The pry bar lowered an inch, then rose. His jaw worked while he looked past us at the half-open unit and the narrow lane his truck had blocked.
“What was the plan?” I asked.
Ike’s jaw shifted.
“What did Frank tell you would happen after I brought Crystal here?”
Crystal stepped out of the unit doorway, one hand around the notebook, her face pale but lifted. “Say it.”
Jade turned slightly. “Crystal.”
“No.” Crystal stared at Ike. “I want to hear him say what they were going to do.”
Ike stared at her like he couldn’t make the second blonde woman make sense.
