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“Fuck. Oh, fuck. I think I… killed her,” Oliver said.
The woman gasped and snorted, startling Oliver so much he scrambled back a few feet.
“You didn’t kill her.” Cody slowly pushed to his feet and, walking a bit hunched over, stepped beneath the overhang out of the rain. “But I’ve got half a mind to do it. She got me good.”
“She’s alive?” Oliver said, relief ebbing back the adrenaline that had swamped his system. “Just unconscious?”
“Well, just unconscious is kind of iffy to say. She could have a concussion or something. But, yes, she’s alive. Probably banged her head on the cement during your tussle.” Cody flashed a weak grin. “First time rolling around with a woman, Ollie?”
“Fuck off,” Oliver grumbled, getting to his feet. “Now what?”
“Let’s get her back to the room and see if we can convince her to talk,” Cody said. “She’s the only lead we’ve got for Demmy and Dave.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
They carried her back to the room, struggling under her dead weight, and sat her in a chair. Cody tore open the package of socks Oliver had bought while shopping with Dave and used them to bind her wrists to the arms of the chair and her ankles to the front legs. Her head hung forward, chin to her chest, her long, straggly hair hiding her face. She was breathing steadily which Oliver took as a good sign.
But he’d noticed something during his and Cody’s scuffles with this woman. Getting on his knees, he carefully lifted the tattered and dirty hem of her skirt to inspect her boots.
“Hey, ease back on the pervy moves, Ollie.” Cody had come out of the bathroom where he’d been wiping off mud. “Weren’t you the one saying I was making you uncomfortable?”
“I’m not lifting her skirts any higher,” Oliver said, not looking around but gesturing at the boots. “Look at these boots. They’re practically new.”
“Okay, so she just went shopping.” Cody bent over and eased Oliver’s hand back until he dropped the skirt. “Let’s just leave her clothes in place while we wait for her to wake up.”
Oliver pulled his hand free and got to his feet. “Stop that. I wasn’t doing anything. Her boots caught my attention, that’s all.”
“I don’t think they’re your size.”
“No, I… God, how does Demetrius stand being around you all day?”
Cody grinned and waggled his eyebrows. “There are benefits you’re not privy to.”
“Gross. That’s just… ugh.” Oliver blew out a breath then waved a hand toward the woman’s feet. “Those boots are dirty, but they’re almost brand new. And they’re Red Wing brand boots, which aren’t cheap.”
“Your point?”
“She’s dressed in a shabby coat, dirty and torn blouse and skirt, with long, stringy hair that hasn’t been washed in a while. The only way we’ve heard her communicate is through screaming and shrieking. But her boots are new and expensive. It doesn’t add up.”
“Maybe she stole them.”
The woman groaned, attracting their attention. She moved her head back and forth, making her hair sway in front of her face.
“Let’s hope that knock on the head you gave her rewired her brain so she can speak in complete sentences,” Cody said.
“Hey, I didn’t knock her out.”
Cody raised his eyebrows. He stood beside the chair and held a hand out as if in presentation of the unconscious woman tied to it. Oliver glared and crossed his arms tight.
“Asshole,” Oliver mumbled.
“Big asshole,” said the slurred voice from behind the curtain of dirty hair. Oliver stared at the woman then looked up at Cody to find him just as surprised.
“You can talk?” Cody said.
The woman raised her head, clumps of hair obscuring most of her face. She tried to lift her hands and realized she was tied. She looked at the socks keeping her to the chair, then up at them. With slow movements, she shook most of the hair from in front of her face.
“I hope these socks were clean.”
