“Standing between her and everything.” Her fingers twisted once. “Crystal said, ‘Move,’ and I wanted to argue with her like she hadn’t just survived men planning to make her death look convenient.”
“She needed to say it.”
“I know.”
“She needed you to hear it.”
“I know that too.” Jade’s voice went rough. “Knowing things is getting annoying.”
I let the truck run through the silence for a while.
My house sat on a quiet street twenty-five minutes from Whispering Pines and a long way from Pine Shadow, Bearclaw, and storage-unit gravel. It was small, single-story, white paint that needed touching up near the porch rail, a strip of grass that went brown every July, and a kitchen window that caught too much afternoon sun.
Jade stared at it when I parked.
“This is very normal,” she said.
“Sorry to disappoint you.”
“I expected at least one wall of weapons and a chair facing the door.”
“I keep the chair inside.”
“Comforting.”
I got out and came around to her side. She opened the door before I reached it, because of course she did. When her boots hit the driveway, her knees gave half an inch.
I caught her elbow.
She didn’t pull away.
The place beneath my sternum pulled tight.
Inside, the house smelled like cedar from the old hall chest, laundry detergent, coffee I hadn’t made in days, and stale air from closed windows. Morning light cut across the kitchen table, the sink, the two mugs I’d left drying on a towel before taking the job.
Jade stood in the middle of the kitchen and took everything in too carefully.
“No motel decor,” she said.
“No.”
“No vending-machine pretzels.”
“I’ve got crackers.”
“Don’t ruin this for me.”
I set my keys on the counter, far from any pocket, and watched her notice.
Her expression softened.
“Bathroom’s down the hall,” I said. “Clean towels are in the cabinet. I need to check my ribs, then you can have the shower.”
She turned toward me. “You’re bleeding.”
I checked.
A thin line of blood had dried across my knuckles where they’d scraped against Ike’s truck. The rib pain was worse now that the adrenaline had drained.
