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“Miss. Are you all right?” His hand moved to the butt of the gun.
She pushed herself up and stretched.
“Miss.” His voice rose an octave. Ciara jumped.
She rose her hands in the air. “Yes, I’m sorry. Yes. I’m fine.”
“How did you kids get in here?” He moved his hand, thankfully.
We did look like a couple of kids or maybe he though we were illegal.
The guy’s radio on his other hip squawked.
“Truck belongs to a Linda Stanford.” The radio squawked again. “She’s night clerk at the Spruce Gardens.”
“You stole this truck.” His eyes narrowed and his hand slid back on to his gun.
“No,” Ciara and I said in unison.
I slowly slid to the front of the truck bed. “Listen, my name is Ricky Lopez.” I felt better with my feet on solid ground. He backed up but kept a close eye on me. Ciara started to move, and the guy’s eyes twitched again. “Ciara. Stay where you are.”
I could feel her glare on the back of my neck, but she stopped moving.
“We’re friends of Roman and Sean.”
Hank glared.
“I’m just getting my phone.”
Hank held up his other hand. “I’ll call him.” He pushed the button on his radio. “You guys know of a Ricky Lopez? Said he’s a friend of Roman’s.”
A long pause followed beeps from his radio. The wind blew Hank’s comb-over the wrong direction. I leaned back against the tailgate and crossed my hands over my chest.
A minute later, Roman’s voice came through the radio. “Ricky, what the hell are you doing breaking into the ranch?”
Hank unclipped the radio and handed it to me.
“I didn’t break in.” I shook my head. “Y’all haven’t change the code on the southeast gate in fifteen years.”
That got a chuckled out of Hank. He’d put his hands down.
“Is Ciara still with you?” Roman’s voice sounded hollow.
I handed the radio to Ciara.
“Hi, Roman,” she spoke into the radio.
I gathered our stuff and threw it in the cab of the truck.
“You okay, Little Tree?” he asked.
“I don’t know how to answer that question.” She shrugged. “I’m better than I was yesterday.”
“Good enough,” he grunted. “For now. We’re heading to Spruce Gardens. I brought you some clothes. See you guys in a few.”
“Okay.”
She handed the radio back to Hank.
