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“Well… is he still alive?”
He coughed again, this time more violently than before. Eventually though, he regained his composure.
“As far as I know, yes.”
Relief — sweet, beautiful relief — washed over me in a warm, euphoric wave. My eyes closed. My heart soared.
“When was the last time you saw him?” Silas demanded.
“About two weeks ago. Maybe more. Maybe less.”
Santiago growled. “Maybe?”
“Yes, yes,” the man answered hurriedly. “Definitely two weeks ago. He’s not in town now, though. They shipped him out.”
“Shipped him where,” I cut in.
“I don’t know!” Lucas cried. “Seriously, they never told me. They never told him, either, I don’t think. The Lozanos are like that, but…”
He paused. His eyes darted again.
“But what?”
A sliver of fear pierced my chest I could tell by his expression he was about to say something none of us were going to like. Especially me.
“But they said he was a loose cannon.”
“Awhat?”
“A loose cannon,” the prisoner in the trunk repeated. “I mean, no offense but the guy was off. He was shaky, weird, always fucking up. And when you have guys like that, well…”
I relaxed my grip on his shirt. I didn’t even realize I’d grabbed him by it.
“Say it,” I told him, slowly letting go. “I need the truth.”
“Loose cannons don’t tend to be kept around.”
The impact of the statement cast a shadow of despair. As the seconds ticked by, it stole over us in the silence.
“Where did you see him last?” asked Cody, eager to change the dynamic. “And who were you with?”
The man lowered his chin to his chest. His beard had silvery strands of tape still dangling from it.
“I— I don’t remember.”
Santiago’s lip curled back in a snarl. Silas clenched a fist.
“I mean it, I really don’t remember!” cried Lucas. “The Lozanos are all over the place, constantly moving. Sometimes I don’t know where I’m going until a few minutes before. And it’s rarely the same place twice. And also—”
“That’s enough,” said Santiago. “You can stop now.”
I shot the tattooed giant a wounded look. I didn’t want him to stop! This asshole was one of the last people to see Evan. I needed to wring every piece of precious information from him that I possibly could.
“Cody?”
“Yeah?”
“Get the shovel.”
