Wade’s eyes light up, and the realtor takes a step closer. “Dumpster’s around back. I’ll get the lid.” Without waiting, he walks past me and turns the corner. “Come on, Nick. After what he’s done, being thrown into a dumpster is the least he deserves.”
And try as hard as I might, I can’t see any fault in Wade’s logic. “Looks like you’re going in the dumpster,” I mutter to the unconscious man. I crack a grin and hurry to catch up to my new favorite realtor. “Wade, has anyone ever told you how smart you are? Because this is the best idea I’ve ever heard.”
“Yeah, yeah. If I had my way, he’d get a lot worse than the dumpster treatment. Those days are long behind me, though. And besides, we’re too close to the cop shop to get away with anything else.”
The stench of sulfur burns my eyes as I flip the unconscious man into the dumpster, and I wonder to myself what Wade meant when he said those days were long behind him. Rumor has it he used to be in the mob, and with the way his eyes gleam as he slams the lid on the dumpster and threads the padlock through the loops to hold it closed, I believe it. It seems like he has a soft spot for Tina, though, which means no matter what he did in the past, he’s alright with me.
“Good work, kid,” Wade says as we walk back to the front of the building. “I better get back to bed. I have a showing first thing in the morning.” He waves to me before going back into his realty office next door. As I lose sight of him, my phone rings.
It’s Gloria. She never calls this late.
I press the answer call button and bring the phone to my ear, assuming she’s calling to talk about Jared’s parents. “Hi, Gloria. Did you find them?”
I Have A Plan
Tina
Nick didn’t make itback inside after disposing of that asshole, Milton. Instead, about twenty minutes after he carried the intruder out for me, Nick sent me a text.
Nick
Something’s come up. I’ll call you later.
Despite my immediate reply asking if everything was okay, I still haven’t heard from him. After cleaning up the broken pieces of my creepy teapot house collection, and getting madabout that idiot Milton all over again, I had nothing to do but wait. I’ve been sitting here freaking out for the last half hour, trying to work on a new teapot cemetery, while worrying that Milton somehow convinced Nick he was telling the truth, that I was supposed to go on a date with him. He probably showed Nick the dating app profile that’s been making all these random dates. What if Nick believed him? What if he thinks I was blowing him off when I said I don’t date? Maybe that’s why he didn’t bother coming back inside?
Before I can spiral any further, someone pounds on my door. Rather than throwing the door open like I normally would, I call out, “Who is it?”
“Valentina, it’s Wade. Open up.” What is my landlord doing here this late at night? It’s after eleven. There’s no way this is good.
I throw open the door to see Wade standing on my step in two-piece, pin-striped pajamas, looking like he’s been woken from a dead sleep, his hair sticking up at odd angles. He’s methodically cracking the knuckles on each hand, one after the other.Crack. Crack. Crack.
“I got a call. The kid’s house burned down earlier today. He’s okay, but his parents didn’t make it.”
My heart drops into my stomach as I fight back a sudden wave of nausea. Wade notices that I’m wavering on my feet, and takes my hand to lead me to the couch where I drop like a rock onto the closest cushion.
“They checked him over at the hospital already, and he’s fine. He suffered mild burns on his hands and some smoke inhalation, but they’re not concerned enough to keep him overnight.”
Confusion settles in, along with a healthy dose of worry. I don’t know what I would do if something happened to Carson. “He was at work tonight. H-how did he get hurt at all?”
Wade blows out a breath, looking more like Uncle Gianni from the old neighborhood than he ever has. “He went in after them.”
“Shit,” I mutter under my breath. Of course he went in after them. Carson is a good kid. The best kid. There’s no way he’d walk up to the smoking ruin of his house and not try to help his parents. A thought occurs to me. “How do you know all this?”
“I know a guy.” He shrugs and sits down beside me before continuing. “When I first figured out what Carson’s life was like at home, I told this guy to let me know if Carson ever needed help. When the kid showed up at the hospital tonight, the guy called me. I was helping Nick with your unwanted guest when he called the first time, so he left a message. When I didn’t show up at the hospital, he called me again after Carson left. He knew I’d want to know sooner rather than later.”
“He left? But where did he go?” Will he have to go live with family now? I never even got the chance to say goodbye. Or give him the sneakers I ordered for him.
Wade shrugs, anger darkening his face. “A social worker picked him up, but my guy couldn’t tell me who it was. Apparently, Carson’s going to stay at some emergency placement for the next couple of days until they figure out something more permanent. Now that his worthless parents are dead, he doesn’t have any living family. They’ll probably end up dumping him into the system to rot until he turns eighteen.”
My stomach turns to lead as an unknown fear races through me. “No way,” I say, my voice taking an edge. “He can stay with me. I’ll sleep on the couch until we find a bigger place. Where’s my phone? I’ll call him and tell him to come here.” I pat my pockets and come up empty-handed. Where did I leave that thing?
“I already tried,” Wade says, blowing out a breath. “It goes straight to voicemail.”
I can’t help but smile at the older man, despite the crisis we’re currently facing. I knew he had a soft spot for Carson, like he does for all kids, but I didn’t know how far he’d go to help when the shit hit the fan.
“Look at you, you old softie.” I tease, welcoming the distraction. “Who knew you had it in you?”
He scoffs, his lip turning up at the corner. “Never mind that. What are we going to do about this? We can’t let him get shipped off to some stranger’s house. There’s a chance he won’t even end up in Tuft Swallow.”
