My head whipped away from the view to Paisley, unsure I’d heard her correctly. “Wait. What? Crews?”
“Hmm. I bet you didn’t expect that. There are two key crews in Elmwood. We live in the Ravens’ territory. You cross Logan Boulevard into the north side of Elmwood, and you’re in Viper borders.”
“You’re not kidding?”
She shook her head. “Wish I was.”
“They mostly keep to themselves, and unless you have a gambling problem, you should be safe,” Atlas said. “The Ravens own and operate the casino and strip club in town. It’s how they keep all their illegal operations legal,” he explained at my confused expression.
“As a girl, we don’t have the luxury of walking around at night. Especially here. I think it’s important to know places to avoid. Over the last year, there has been a string of missing girls. I don’t want to see your face on the news.”
Holy fuck!
Maybe Elmwood wasn’t the safest place for Mom and me after all. Not because I thought we might be kidnapped, but if Mom got wind that there were predators in town, she might feel the need to clean house…or town in this instance. If I were going to live here, then she would need to make sure it was safe, hence painting the roads with their blood.
Shit.
Chewing on my lip, I gazed out the window. I didn’t know what to do. Did I press them for details? The more I knew aboutthese disappearances, the better I’d be able to gauge how high the risk was of Mom breaking her promise.
“Shit, sorry.” Paisley’s tone softened as she glanced at me. “I didn’t mean to freak you out.”
I squinted against the setting sun. “What do you mean by missing? Like they ran away?”
“That’s one theory.” She didn’t sound convinced.
I studied her profile. “But not what you think happened.”
Paisley shook her head, taking a right at the intersection. She glanced in the rearview mirror at Atlas. “Do we tell her?”
“Sure, why not,” he agreed. “Matcha seems cool. Maybe she’ll be into it.”
My brows drew together. “Into what?”
Paisley shrugged. “It’s nothing, just something we’ve been following. The missing girls, we’ve been trying to piece together what they might have in common, where they were taken from, things like that.”
I blinked. “You’re investigating their disappearances?”
“Sort of. Investigating sounds too formal. We’re interested in finding the truth.”
Wonderful. I finally have the potential to make friends, and I go and get myself involved in a pair of crime busters. If they only knew what my mom did after hours.
I shifted in my seat.
“Rumors have been circling at school for the last year, and sure, some of them are complete bullshit,” Paisley continued, her voice growing thoughtful. “But more than a few have actually turned up promising information.”
My curiosity pushed past my hesitation. “This is crazy. What have you found?” I was genuinely interested. I’d always been on the other side of crime, the one hiding and keeping secrets, always afraid someone would find out.
Paisley smirked. “That is a conversation that requires pasta.”
Atlas nodded solemnly. “A lot of pasta.”
I huffed out a small laugh despite myself.
“And your vow of secrecy. Whatever we tell you doesn’t leave this circle. No one knows about our hobby, and we want to keep it that way,” Paisley explained, growing serious.
“First, I love pasta. And second, I’m incredibly good at keeping secrets.” They had no idea.
That got a grin out of Atlas. “I had a feeling about you.”
