Chapter Twelve
Axe spotted the blue Oldsmobile parked on the street across from Ana and Eduardo’s place and asked the taxi driver to stop. After paying, he went over and tugged at the door handle.
Locked.
At least Leanna couldn’t have gone far.
How could he have effed up so badly? She was supposed to go home after finding a dead end, but now, she was out and about, putting herself in danger.
Axe knocked on the door next to Ana and Eduardo’s house, and an elderly woman answered. She was dressed in a housecoat and slippers, and she was one of the neighbors Pablo had bribed to lie to Leanna.
“I’m Pablo’s friend, Axe. Did you do what Pablo asked?” He wasn’t going to ask her for information about Leanna and play the game of paying for lies and half-truths.
“Of course I did,” she said.
“You were paid to tell her there was no girl living next door.”
Her head bobbed up and down once, but her lips twisted to one side, indicating she knew something she’d only tell if paid.
“Did she believe you?”
The elderly woman raised her sparse eyebrows and pursed her lips so tightly, they turned white.
Axe withdrew his wallet and pulled out a ten-dollar bill.
“She didn’t believe me because she found an envelope in the mailbox.” The woman snatched the bill and tucked it under her armpit. She held out her hand for another payment. “And?”
“You were supposed to convince her,” Axe growled. “Pablo vouched for you.”
“I’m a watcher, that’s all,” she said. “I can’t help it if she didn’t believe me. I told her the letter was for a friend, an old woman, but it’s obvious your lady wasn’t buying it.”
Axe put his wallet away and turned to leave. He moved slowly in case she’d seen anything else she wanted to share.
“Wait,” she said. “I might have seen who else she spoke to.”
He waited a split second, not giving her the satisfaction of interest. Good thing, too, because Leanna and a teenage boy came around the corner.
Ignoring the woman, Axe ambled over her weed-infested lawn and marched toward Leanna and the kid. There was no use hiding his presence since there were other watchers and snitchers in the neighborhood. Might as well play to the theatrics and drama to show who was boss.
In any case, Leanna had nowhere to run because he was closer to the Oldsmobile than she was.
She spotted him and crossed her arms. Her chest heaved, and her bounteous bosom lifted like delicious twin volcanos. Even the kid noticed, because he gawked at her, mouth open, taking a step back in preparation for escape.
Axe crossed the street briskly and headed straight for Leanna. “Woman, get in that car. Now.”
He was going to act the big, macho asshole for all it took. It would keep Leanna safe because word would get around that she had a tough guy ruling her roost.
She charged him, jiggling and bouncing every part of her body, including her hair. “How dare you lie to me, you sleaze.”
He grabbed her by both wrists, and she crashed into his chest. “Home. Now.”
“You lied to me.” She struggled against his grip and kicked his shin. “I found Carmelita. She’s—”
He clamped a hand over her mouth and lifted her so only the tips of her sneakers touched the sidewalk. “Don’t backtalk me. Get in the car. Stop embarrassing me.”
She elbowed, wiggled, and reverse headbutted him, but to no avail. The kid stared slack-jawed at the scene, and no doubt, half a dozen people watched behind their curtains.
As he shoved Leanna into the car, he heard the kid laugh. “Can’t keep your wife under control.”
