Holly Lin Box Set | Books 1-3 by Swartwood Robert

Author:Swartwood, Robert [Swartwood, Robert]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Crime | Thriller
Publisher: RMS Press
Published: 2018-08-04T04:00:00+00:00

Twenty-Seven

The old woman doesn’t move as we climb down from the roof. She just watches, leaning on her cane. Occasionally she’ll look up and down the street to ensure nobody is coming, but besides that she watches us with an almost bored expression. Then, once I’ve helped Gabriela to the ground, the old woman motions at us.

“Follow me.”

She turns and starts shuffling down the street and only goes several paces before she realizes we’re not following and turns back.

“Is there a problem?”

I survey the street to make sure it’s empty as I step forward.

“Why should we come with you?”

The woman leans all her weight on the cane, pursuing her lips.

“I’m trying to help you.”

“How so?”

“Did you not hear me tell those men to leave this town? Now they have left—I saw it with my own eyes—but there are other police still in town. They are already loading the bodies into trucks. I should be in the town square right now with everybody else mourning, but something tells me you two could use my help. So will you let me help you?”

I glance at Gabriela, who stands there uncertain, and I turn back to the woman and nod.

“Lead the way.”

Because of the cane, the woman doesn’t move very fast. She veers off the street at one point and takes us between houses to the next street, then between more houses to another street. I have Gabriela walk between us, keeping the gun in my hand just in case. At one point the old woman glances back, notices the gun, and chuckles.

Then we finally come to yet another house and the old woman opens the back door and motions us inside.

We enter a kitchen. The smell of food lingers, causing my stomach to growl.

The old woman lets the door close behind her as she walks past us through the kitchen and deeper into the house.

“You should be safe here. I don’t imagine those men who chased you will come back, but if they do, I guess we will just have to run them off again.”

She smiles at us, but then all at once her expression turns solemn. In the light it’s easier now to see the scars on her face. From her forehead to her chin, they streak her face like chasms.

“My name is Yolanda. What are your names?”

Neither Gabriela nor I say anything.

Yolanda nods as if she understands the reason for our reticence. She motions us to sit on a couch as she lowers herself down onto a chair.

Gabriela and I sit on the couch. Neither one of us speaks.

A brown cat pads into the room. It pauses to look at us, then slinks over to the chair and jumps up onto Yolanda’s lap.

Yolanda smiles down at the cat as she strokes its back.

“This is Dorado.”

Still Gabriela and I don’t speak. The house is silent, but we must not be too far away from the town square, because even inside we can hear the distant sobbing.

The silence in the house starts to become almost too unnerving, so I decide to break it.

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