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“Have faith, Danny.” Samuel’s face was grim despite the words.
“Let’s go,” Daniel pulled the car door open. He wanted to get this over with. He couldn’t stand the not knowing anymore.No more, God. Let it end. Give me the strength to accept whatever happens and just let it end.
“You know what’s strange,” Samuel started the truck. “No gun. We didn’t find a gun or a weapon of any kind in the vehicle or on the body. No way Morin came to meet us without a weapon.”
“Maybe it was thrown out with him, and it’s on the ground somewhere in the dark.”
“Yeah, the guys may find it during the search. But there’s another possibility.”
“Well, yeah. Maybe he had a partner.”
“His mother?”
“Or another partner. Whoever that person is may have Benny now.”
“Yeah. Or there’s one other possibility,” Daniel said, thinking of Benny’s preoccupation with guns and cars. “Benny could have it.”
Samuel shook his head. “I know he’s precocious in some areas, but do you really think he’d take a gun.”
“In a heartbeat. He lived in a home where guns and drugs and prostitution and violence were staples. Nothing would surprise me.”
Samuel was silent, his gaze intent on the road in front of them.
“Samuel?”
“If he’s out there, we better be very careful approaching him. The child is traumatized. No telling what he’ll do.”
The inference hit Daniel. “Benny would never hurt anyone.”
“Under normal circumstances.” Samuel wheeled the truck out onto the highway. “We don’t know what Jorge Morin has been doing to him for the past two days. He needs to be approached with caution.”
Daniel nodded. Under any other circumstances, he would have agreed with his brother. But this was Benny. Benny would never hurt him.
Never.
Chapter Thirty-two
Dodge Farm
Dickinson County, Kansas
Esperanza rolled to her side, stifling the shriek of pain with a hand clapped over her mouth. Maybe if she shifted a little more to the right, her back, behind, and legs wouldn’t hurt so much. She rested on top of the sheets. Anything that touched the welts hurt too much. The pain kept her awake more than Estrella’s snores. Her twin so was worn out from mopping and waxing all the floors in the house that even Esperanza’s misery couldn’t keep her awake.
Esperanza didn’t remember much of the beating. After a few rounds the room swam in front of her, the pain so big she couldn’t think or hear. When he’d finally stopped, she’d stumbled from the room, climbed the stairs on all fours, and collapsed on the hallway floor in front of the bedroom door. Frankie and Estrella had dragged her in and closed the door behind her. No one had eaten supper, and Momma had never come to look in on them.
Esperanza closed her eyes and whispered, “God, are you coming for us? I keep praying you’ll come for us. Or send someone. If you are really there, please help us.”
“Who you talking to?” She opened her eyes. Dom crept toward her.
She rubbed the tears from her face with one hand. “God.”
Dom snorted. “Girls.” He held up a plastic bread bag filled with ice. “Got ya something.”
“You’re lucky he didn’t hear you.” Esperanza fought more tears. “I don’t think I can stand to put it on there.”
“Come on, I’ll do it for you.” Her brother’s face was white in the moonlight streaming through the open window curtain. During the day, Dom never let anyone see anything in his face. Now, in the night, she could see a lot of stuff there. Dom hurt just like she did. “It’ll numb it a little, so you can go to sleep.”
She turned on her stomach so he could lay the bag on her back. The icy sensation sucked the air from her lungs. She closed her eyes and concentrated on repeating her memory verse for the week until the pain subsided enough to talk.Keep me safe, O God, for in you I take refuge. Psalm 16. “What about you? Where’s your ice bag?”
