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Marceau steps forward. “Your wife doesn’t care that you lost all the money from the angel feathers. She just wants you safely back at her side.”
Jimmy’s eyes water, and hope fills them. “You think she’ll forgive me? I promised her a new home.”
“It wouldn’t be a home without you there.” Merri extends a hand, beckoning him toward us. “Come on, let us get you out of here.”
He shuffles forward. “You’ll help me? You’ll protect me?”
Marceau nods. “We promise, Jimmy. We don’t fail cases once we take them.”
Jimmy takes a deep, shuddering breath, his tear-filled eyes fixed on Merri. “You really think Jenny will forgive me?”
Pen gives him a reassuring smile. “She loves you more than money. Why else would she hire us to come find you?”
Emotions choke his voice. “We’ve been together since high school. We had plans, you know? To start a family, build a life together.” He stops beside us. “But I messed it all up with the drugs.”
I place a hand on his bony shoulder. “We’ll help you get clean and find a job. You can still have that dream.”
Jimmy sniffles, his shoulders shaking with tears. “I love her so much. I was so afraid she’d kick me out when she found out what I did.”
“Jenny loves you,” Merri repeats, backing toward the ladder. “And soon, she’ll be telling you that in person.”
Tears flow down Jimmy’s cheeks, leaving streaks of clean skin amid the grime. “Thank you. Thank you for coming for me.”
As we near the ladder, the pile of garbage behind us rustles, and an earth-laden breeze fills my senses.
Alarm shoots through me, and I reach out to shove Marceau to the side before diving toward Merri, tackling her against the wall.
Heart pounding, I catch my balance and turn back to see multiple tree roots slithering out of the alley and slamming into the place where we stood just moments ago.
Marceau reacts with lightning speed, blasting one of the roots with fire, breaking it off.
Before we can react further, the roots snap backward, grabbing Jimmy around the ankle and yanking him toward the pile of trash.
He slams butt first into the ground, his screams piercing the air as he claws at the smooth concrete in a desperate attempt to hold on to anything.
I push away from the wall, my hands lifting and fire coming to my call, but hesitate for fear of burning Jimmy. In horror, I watch as he vanishes into the garbage pile, his screams echoing in the narrow alley.
Then, the screams cut off, followed by a sickening, wet squelch.
While I stand frozen, Merri darts past, racing toward the hole that Jimmy vanished into.
With a shout, Marceau lunges forward and catches her around the waist, pulling her back before she can follow Jimmy to his death.
She struggles within his hold, her face etched with shock and anger.
“No, Pen!” Marceau drags her farther away, bringing her to my side. “It’s too late!”
“We had him!” she shouts.
I reach out to cup her face, turning her wild gaze to me. “We can’t save him now.”
Tears blur her golden eyes, but she blinks them away as her focus returns to the hole. The gut-wrenching squelches continue, and blood seeps out to coat the ground in red.
Then slender, green shoots reach out of the bloody hole, pulling the trash back into place to hide the monster within.
As we stand there, dazed and shaken, the ground beneath our feet trembles with another earthquake.
Stones buckle and crack, and more roots snake up through the widening fissures, reaching hungrily for anything in their path.
