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Guillermo stopped struggling when I said his name.
‘Prez?’ He frowned, apparently confused.
John let him go with a shove, stepping back and removing the hoodie from his head. ‘What the hell was that?’ John asked, his face red and his breathing fast. He looked pretty fucking stressed out, and that made my stomach do all sorts of weird things.
‘I didn’t know it was you,’ Guillermo muttered, looking embarrassed.
‘What happened?’ I asked John.
Guillermo walked back towards the kitchen, massaging his elbow, as John slammed the door shut.
‘Pack an overnight bag,’ John said tersely. ‘Now.’
He never spoke to me like that, and in light of everything that had happened with Murphy, I didn’t see the need to ask questions.
‘What’s going on?’ Guillermo asked, looking between John and me.
‘Dornan happened,’ John said impatiently, looking at me and pointing to my bedroom. I nodded, passing him and entering my room, where I grabbed a duffel bag and started gathering jeans, underwear and make-up. I dumped it all into the bag and zipped it, coming back into the hallway a few moments later.
‘You need me to come?’ Guillermo asked, an off look on his face. Surely he couldn’t tell anything had happened between us just by looking at us, but he had suspicion written all over his face.
‘Stay here,’ John replied, opening the door and motioning me outside. ‘And, call Dornan. He’s got about fifteen hours to fill you in while we drive to Colorado.’
Colorado? Where did I know Colorado from? Those post-it notes that John was always giving me, amounts each month to send to a bank account in Colorado. The wire transfer. I wondered if it was related. Probably not, but I made sure to file that mental note away for later.
Once we were on the freeway, I rounded on John. ‘What happened?’ I asked. ‘Guillermo’s not here now. You have to tell me. What’s in Colorado?’
He stared straight ahead, seemingly in deep thought. Just as I was about to press him again, he started to speak.
‘Has Dornan ever mentioned a woman called Stephanie?’ he asked, glancing at me before looking back at the road.
My stomach dropped. ‘Yeah. His girlfriend? From before we met. Did something happen to her?’
‘She disappeared,’ John said. ‘Sixteen or seventeen years ago, I can’t remember exactly when.’
He didn’t offer any more.
‘Sometimes I’d like to disappear,’ I said after a few moments silence.
John’s hand shot out. He grabbed hold of my wrist and squeezed tight.
‘Ow,’ I said, glaring at him. ‘You’re hurting me.’
‘Do you have any idea what we’re going to walk into tomorrow?’ John hissed. He didn’t ease up on the squeezing. I pressed my teeth together in frustration.
‘No, I don’t know where we’re going,’ I snapped, finally managing to tug my wrist out of his grip. ‘That’s what I’m asking you. What happened to this Stephanie woman?’
John’s lips pressed together to form a thin line. ‘Dornan happened to her,’ he said finally.
I thought of the woman from the trafficking operation, the mother who Dornan had shot in the head. I thought of our baby.
‘What did he do,’ I asked, a lump rising in my throat.
‘I’m not entirely sure,’ John said. ‘Dornan’s always thought she was dead, that her body might turn up one day.’
Realisation settled into my bones like an old friend. ‘You helped her get away,’ I whispered.
John raked a hand through his hair, agitated. ‘She was pregnant,’ he said. ‘She was pregnant and freaking out, and I did the only thing I could think of. I gave her some money and got her out of town.’
