Luis bent down and cut the tape from the girl’s ankles. When she was free, she kicked him hard in the shins with her free feet. He fell backward, and she popped up on her feet and tried to kick him again. Jimmy grabbed her from behind and held her while Scarlett wrapped more tape around her legs.
“I’m going to get a lawyer and sue the bunch of you for brutality,” Shaggy screamed.
I crossed the room and leaned down until my nose was only an inch from his. “You do that. When you do, I’ll gladly be in court to testify that you held my friends at gunpoint and threatened to kill them.”
He leaned as far back as possible in the chair. I figured he was either going to headbutt me or spit in my face, so I moved to the side. He was nothing more than a blur when he shot forward, but since I had moved, he couldn’t stop the momentum and fell out onto the floor in a heap—screaming and wiggling like a two-year-old having a tantrum.
“Looks to me like we’re going to have to carry them out rather than let them walk,” Jimmy said.
Lisa started screeching, too, so Scarlett taped her mouth shut and then bent down and did the same with Shaggy Stanley. “They might try to chew through each other’s tape or bite one of you. Then you’d have to go all the way to El Paso for a rabies test. It might not be a bad idea, when you get them over there, for the Feds to go ahead and have both checked.”
“She’s right.” Rosalie stood up from her chair. “Something has made themmurciélago mierda loco.”
“What does that mean, Luis?” Jimmy asked.
Luis picked up the guy’s feet. “It means they are bat-shit crazy, and I’m surprised that Rosie said something like that.”
Rosalie shrugged. “The words ain’t nice, but that’s the only ones that work on these two feral children. Get them out of here and in your car.”
“We’ll be locking them up in our jail, but they won’t be there long. There are two agents coming to take custody of them in a few hours. I can’t believe that y’all caught them,” Luis said.
“You can give Carla the credit. She was the one who really caught them,” Rosalie said.
I draped an arm around Scarlett’s shoulders. “It was a team effort.”
Jimmy got the skinny Shaggy kid by the shoulders, and he and Luis carried him out. The way he tried to wiggle free reminded me of a worm in hot ashes. The same thing happened with the girl. The two policemen waved from the car when they finally had them secured in the back seat and drove away.
The adrenaline rush inside my body bottomed out so fast that I either had to sit down or fall on the floor in a heap. I laid my gun on the table. Scarlett shoved the shotgun under the bar and slid into the chair closest to me. Rosalie sat down beside me and draped an arm over my shoulders.
“I was scared out of my mind,” Scarlett whispered. “Matilda always told us to never go to the back room with anyone, because nine times out of ten that meant they would kill you.”
“I thought you were both very brave,” I said.
“So were you, Carla,” Rosalie said. “I didn’t know if you would get my message or not, but you did.”
“Did you know I had a gun in my purse?” I asked.
“I moved it to one side this morning when I grabbed a bag of flour,” she answered between deep breaths. “It seemed heavy, and then I saw the zipper on the side. I figured you carried a weapon for protection. I’m glad it was there. I worried that you wouldn’t get my message and they would kill us once I opened the safe.”
I patted her on the arm. “Me and Jesus took care of things.”
She gave my shoulder a gentle squeeze. “I want that recording put on my phone.”
“Me too,” Scarlett said. “And if I ever get a dog, I’m naming him Jesus.”
“Don’t you dare!” Rosalie had clearly found her second wind. “That is sacrilegious.”
Scarlett slapped her hand over her mouth.
“What?” I asked.
“If they need someone from here to testify in a trial, you will have to go, Carla. Neither Rosalie nor I can do that.”
“I will be more than glad to tell the jury what happened,” I said. “But why can’t you go?”
Why can’t they go to court? Does it have something to do with why they are so content to stay in this remote area of the state?I wondered, but I didn’t ask.
Scarlett glanced over at Rosalie.
