“Because I don’t want you here. I don’t want you anywhere near this guy or this situation. You’re only here because I don’t have anywhere safe to stash you. Doesn’t mean that you should have argued with me over this. I’m in charge of safety.”
Sheesh.
So bossy.
But she also knew that he was worried. She’d show him that everything was going to be all right after.
Grabbing hold of her hand, he walked her into the shipping container and left her with her sisters.
“All of you stay out here,” Cash ordered them. “Don’t come in there, and don’t open that door. Understand?”
They all nodded.
“I still want to talk to him,” Monroe said.
“Maybe after,” Ralen said.
After?
Cash and Ralen walked into the room without another word, and now all they could do was wait.
Addie hadn’t realized how long it might take, but after twenty minutes, she was getting antsy. They couldn’t hear a thing. They had no idea what was going on.
“I want to go in there,” Monroe said.
“We should have just taken him to the police,” Dotty said. “They might have got the answers out of him.”
Addie and Monroe shared a look. They weren’t so sure. But she knew why Dotty was getting cold feet. Part of her wondered why she was so relaxed about this. Well, maybe not relaxed. But she knew what needed to be done and she was okay with it. Maybe it was because he’d had his hands around Monroe’s throat. He’d had a knife and had been about to stab her. Yeah, that was probably it.
Dotty hadn’t been there when those things had happened. She hadn’t felt the fear of wondering if she was going to die or if her sister was going to get hurt.
She wished Dotty wasn’t involved, though. This could get her into real trouble. Well, it could get them all into trouble.
The door opened and she jumped. Cash stepped out. He glanced over the three of them.
“What’s going on? Has he told you why he came after us?” Dotty demanded.
Cash nodded. “He’s ready to talk, but I’m not sure you’re ready to see him. We had to knock him around a bit.”
“We know that,” Monroe told him, thrusting her shoulders back. “We’re under no illusions about what you were doing in there. I need to hear this from him.”
They all stepped into the room and Addie winced, but tried to hide it. Cash was standing off to one side. He hadn’t come near her, hadn’t even really looked at her. But part of her wondered if it was just because he was in a certain headspace.
Also, there was blood on his hands, literally. She could see it.
Limpy was slumped over in the chair that he was tied to. He didn’t actually look as bad as she thought he might. There was blood on his face and under his nose, and both of his eyes were swollen.
Perhaps they hadn’t had to do much to him, or maybe she couldn’t see what they had done. She studied Cash and Ralen, looking them both over. Ralen was missing his normal charismatic grin, while Cash just looked dark and angry.
She really hoped that this hadn’t hurt either of them. It couldn’t have been easy.
“Right, talk,” Ralen said, kicking Limpy’s leg.
Monroe jumped slightly, but then seemed to steady herself.
Addie really wished she could hug Cash, but the closed-off look he was giving her had told her that wouldn’t be a good idea right now.
“Fine, fine,” Limpy said in a nasally sounding voice. “I’ll tell you.”
