Chapter Forty
Kayla was scared. It was almost suppertime, and she knew Charli wouldn’t accept her lies for much longer. Poppa John and Angie had left the house over two hours ago to buy Jorge’s gun, and they still hadn’t returned.
When the girls had brought up their idea to the old man, he hadn’t scoffed. He’d taken them seriously. “How much?”
Angie spoke, “I know a guy, Jorge, who can get us an unmarked one but it’s over five hundred.”
“Bucks?”
“Ahh… yeah. Like, I know it’s a lot of money, but me and Kayla, we want to be able to protect Charli if that asshole comes looking for us here. He’s done a lot of shit to get this close, who says he won’t keep killing people until he finds out about this place?”
“You want to protect Charli? Why not yourselves?”
Kayla answered without hesitation. “Because, when he gets here, she’ll be out in front of us, you know that.”
Pops had nodded. “You figure the killer’s that smart?”
Kayla spoke up. “Pops, the police in Seattle gave me a kind of report on him, and he’s one bad dude.”
“Okay then. Can you get a hold of this Jorge guy?” He turned to Angie.
“Yeah. I have his number. Look, I’ve thought this out carefully, and you both need to know that I’m the one who has to go and make the deal.”
“No. Not alone.” Kayla’s automatic response had Angie in her face.
“Yes, alone! You can’t leave the house, not with that rotten prick after you. At least while you’re inside, he’d have to come through Blake and Charli to get to you.”
“Blake left, he got called out for a while.” Poppa John’s deep voice cut through the squabbling.
“I’m going alone. Just give me the money and cover for me. I’ll be there and back in an hour.”
“Oh no you don’t, little girl. Either I go with you, or the deal is off.”
Angie’s shocked surprise didn’t quite cover the glimmer of relief hidden deep in her eyes. “You’re too old.”
“Screw that. I’m not too old to call an Uber. Nor am I too old to make sure the gun’s in working condition and not a piece of crap. And I’m definitely not too old to blab if you don’t take me with you.” His smirk enforced his comments. He meant business.
Kayla now regretted giving in. How in the world had she ever let herself be talked into this stunt? It seemed like such a brilliant idea at the start.
Having Charli’s gun, holding it for that little while, she’d chilled out, had control. It felt like no one could mess with her because she had protection… power. That ultimate high was the reason she’d started this disaster.
She checked her phone again and saw no new messages. The last text she’d received said they were approaching the house where they’d planned to meet Jorge to exchange the money for the gun. Angie had even sent a snapshot of the dump with the street sign showing in the background.
But that was more than an hour ago, and though she’d texted Angie at least a dozen times since, she’d gotten no answer.
She left the room and found Charli frantically swimming laps in the pool, as if driven by forces too hidden to understand.