“Fuck the flashlight.”
“But… but my fingerprints…”
“Trust me, Roe. That’s not something we have to worry about.”
“Okay. Alright,” she said, talking to her own nerves.
“Tell me what happened.”
“I went in to, you know, get the information. I think the flashlight worked. At least I hope it did. And I started going through drawers. I took pictures of documents, and—”
I resisted the urge to ask her what was inside of those files. There would be time for that once I knew what had her so freaked out.
“Did Frank come back?” I asked.
“No. No, it wasn’t Frank.”
But it was someone.
Fuck.
“One of his guys?”
Roe shook her head once, snuffled, then glanced up at me.
“It was the pit boss.”
“The pit boss,” I repeated, straightening. “The woman?”
“She’s the only pit boss I know of.”
“What happened? What did she say?”
“She came running in. She didn’t actually catch medoinganything. Aside from blinding the camera. She… she told me to run. To get out of there. That I had two minutes at best. Then she ran to get away too.”
That was… an interesting development.
From my understanding, the pit boss was one of the most respected in the area. Someone was always trying to poach her. Why she stayed with Frank was a mystery.
Helping Roe made me wonder if it had nothing to do with loyalty to her boss.
Or maybe she simply knew what would happen to Roe if she was caught and decided she didn’t want another woman to go through that.
“That was weird, right?” Roe asked.
“Yeah, that was weird. She was probably watching the pit cameras but caught sight of the white-out on that one and came to investigate.”
“Then why let me go?”
“My working theory is because she knew what Frank would do to you, in particular, if he found you. It’s no secret around there that Frank thinks of you as his pet. But anyone with eyes would know you keep him at arm’s length.”
“Point one for sisterhood, I guess,” she said, exhaling hard and leaning back to look at the ceiling.
“Do you think you were seen?”
“Not by that camera. And she made me turn right out of the hallway because there were cameras to the left. I hid out in my dressing room while security ran past, then tried to casually make my way out.”
“You must have been terrified,” I said, reaching up to run my fingers through her hair. The movement loosened her curls. She turned her head into my chest again, soaking up the sensation, the comfort she badly needed.
