I nod.
She frowns. “Why?”
“He thinks one of the brothers wants Becki.”
Her eyes widen. “The prisoner?”
“Yeah.”
“Does he?”
“Probably not,” I say. “He’s pushing her buttons, seeing what she’ll give up. Royal thinks it’s something else.”
“Like what?”
“Like maybe he’s soft.”
She blinks. “Royal? Soft?”
I almost laugh. “That’s the problem. He ain’t.”
I lean back against the opposite counter, arms crossed, eyes on the window even though it’s just dark glass. “Legend’s women is back,” I add.
Her expression shifts. “The one who disappeared?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s good, right?”
“In this town?” I shake my head. “Nothin’s just good.”
She swallows like she’s trying not to think about what that means. “And the girls?” she asks quiet.
The way she says it tells me she’s been thinking about it too, laying awake in that basement, hearing every little sound.
“We think it’s Pearly Gates,” I say. “Not officially. But the pattern’s there.”
Her fingers tighten around the glass. “Elijah says that church ain’t what people think.”
“Elijah says a lota things.”
Her eyes flash. “We fought about you.”
There it is.
“Yeah?” I keep my voice level.
“He said I don’t belong in your world.” She exhales like it hurts. “And Bethany told him she’s been seeing you around me.”
My jaw sets. “You told him the truth?”
“That there ain’t nothing going on?” She laughs once, soft and bitter. “Yeah. I told him that.”
“And?”
“And he looked at me like he didn’t believe me.”
Something ugly moves under my ribs.
