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“It’s okay,” soothed Gutsy, and the coydog immediately fell silent, though he stayed alert.
Gutsy opened the back door. Karen Peak stood there, dressed in dark clothes with an old man’s porkpie hat pulled low. She pushed her way inside and closed the door.
“No one saw me,” she said. “I was careful.”
“Good,” said Gutsy. “Come on. We can talk in the kitchen.”
She led the way, but as soon as they entered the kitchen, Karen cried out and backed up, her hand moving toward a pistol she now wore in a leather holster clipped to her belt.
“What is this?” she demanded.
At the table, Spider, Alethea, and the Chess Players looked at her. Only Alethea was smiling, but it was a nasty smile. Rainbow Smite lay on the table, with the studded end pointing toward Karen. Gutsy, who stood very close to the officer, darted out a hand and snatched the pistol from the holster before Karen could stop her. She ejected the magazine and racked the slide to remove the chambered bullet, and then she handed the weapon to Mr. Urrea, who placed it on the table.
“Sit down, Karen,” said Ford, waving his hand toward one of the two empty chairs.
“This is insane,” said Karen. “I’m not going to—”
Gutsy shoved her toward the chair, and she wasn’t very nice about it.
“Sit down,” she said. Sombra snarled. Karen looked around, but there was not a friendly eye in the room.
She sat, perching like a nervous bird on the edge of the chair. Gutsy sat next to her.
“Here’s how we’re going to do this,” she said. “My friends all know what I know. I told them what little you told me. They know about Sarah.”
“And our hearts break for you and your daughter,” said Urrea.
“But we all need to know what you know,” continued Gutsy. “You’re going to tell us.”
“As a measure of trust,” said Ford, “we’ll tell you what we know. All of it. Understand, Karen, if we thought you were the enemy, we wouldn’t do that. We’d hold back key facts to see if you tried to lie or twist the truth. But we’ve known you since the beginning. You were with us on the Raid. You’re brave and tough and, for the most part, honest.”
Gutsy saw Spider mouth the words, for the most part.
“We’re giving you the benefit of the doubt,” added Urrea. “You told Gutsy that Sarah was sick and intimated that the Rat Catchers were responsible. That’s beyond horrible, but it makes a kind of sense. It sounds like they needed a way to put a leash on you, and everyone knows how much you love Sarah.”
“Then you know why I can’t talk about this,” insisted Karen.
“It’s a risk,” said Gutsy. “Sure. I don’t care. Something bad is happening here and it’s getting worse. I care about Sarah too, but I nearly died the other night. The Rat Catchers know that I know something about them. They’re probably going to come after me. Maybe as soon as tonight.”
Alethea drummed her painted fingernails on the handle of her bat. “Which means that you have to tell us everything, ’cause you don’t want to find out what’s going to happen to you if anyone puts a finger on Gutsy.”
“Let’s not resort to threats,” said Ford, but Spider gave him a withering look.
“Yeah, Mr. Ford, I think threats are what we need right now. I mean . . . what else do we have?”
“We have trust,” said Urrea. He looked at Karen. Everyone did.
She closed her eyes and sat in silence for several seconds.
“Okay,” she said, opening her eyes and turning to Gutsy. “But you won’t like it.”
“People tell me that,” said Gutsy, “and they’re usually right. So, no, I don’t expect to like it, but I think I need to know it.”
Karen nodded.
Ford and Urrea told her what they’d told Gutsy. Then Gutsy, Spider, and Alethea retold their part of it, going into great detail. Karen listened without interrupting, nodding occasionally. Sometimes dabbing at tears that tried to form in her eyes.
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