Hannah was in the back room, exactly where we’d left her. As soon as I entered, her head whipped in my direction.
“Did you get him?”
“I did. Rich is dead. You’re free.”
Hannah’s body stiffened. She stared at me for a long moment, and then relief flooded her features, and tears fell down her cheeks.
“He’s really dead?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
“Really dead,” I confirmed.
She sat back slowly, her hands trembling as they fell into her lap.
I pulled a chair over and sat down across from her, studying her face. Fear wasn’t the first thing I saw in her anymore. There was something different in her eyes now, a hardness that hadn’t been there before, or maybe it had always been there, and fear had just buried it so deep I couldn’t see it.
“You know this wasn’t supposed to work the way it did,” Hannah said quietly.
I tilted my head. “What do you mean?”
“The plan. When I told you about it, I wasn’t sure you’d actually go through with it.” She looked up at me, and there was almost a smile on her face. “But you did. You did exactly what I asked.”
“Rich was obsessed with having a son,” she continued, her hands still trembling slightly. “It was all he talked about. He wanted someone to carry on his name. He didn’t care about our daughter the way he cared about the idea of a son. That was why I knew my plan would work.”
“Thank you. Now, I’m about to take a quick shower. When I’m done, we’ll drop y’all off at the train station like you asked.”
Hanna wrung her hands in the sheets. “I think I prefer to drive. If you don’t mind, I want to go home, so I can pack us some clothes, and get the stash I know you missed.” She grinned, and I couldn’t help but laugh.
“Aight. Give me thirty minutes, and we can go.”
“Okay,” Hannah replied as she pulled her daughter onto her lap, hugging her tightly.
I left the room and rushed to the bathroom. Showering quickly, I let the hot water run over my skin until it turned red.
Thirty minutes was a promise, and so I did what I needed to do.
I dressed in dark jeans, a fitted black tee, and my oversized hoodie was back in place with the twin eagles secured at mysides. My hair was still damp when I walked back out to find Hannah and her daughter waiting by the door.
“You ready?” I asked.
She nodded, and we headed out.
City Boy had the truck idling, and Booda was sitting in the backseat when we climbed into the car. We drove through the city in silence, the streets growing quieter as we moved away from downtown.
Hannah stared out the window, her daughter curled against her side, fast asleep. I watched them both, noting how different they looked now. They were at peace.
The drive to Rich’s house took about twenty minutes. City Boy pulled the truck into her driveway and hopped out to open the door.
Hannah unbuckled her daughter and climbed out slowly, like her body still wasn’t quite sure it belonged to her. I watched her pause at the truck door, her hand gripping the frame.
“Don’t leave yet,” she said, turning back to me. “I need to get something from inside. Something for you.” Hannah’s eyes met mine, and there was that hardness again. “Give me five minutes.”
I exchanged a look with Booda, but we waited. Hannah was back in less than five minutes, just like she’d promised. She climbed into the truck and settled back into her seat, but this time her hand was closed around a flash drive.
She held it out to me without a word, and I took it, turning it over in my palm.
“You really need to see what’s on this,” Hannah said. “Rich recorded everything. Everything he did, and everything he said. He said that was the only way he’d have leverage on people. He was paranoid about losing control, so he documented it all.”
“Everything?” I asked, my eyes still on the drive.
