Scared Money by Jenna Bennett

Author:Jenna Bennett [Bennett, Jenna]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Magpie Ink

* * *

It was another mostly silent trip. I think we were both in shock, both by the scene in the cabin, like something out of an Appalachian horror story from a hundred years ago, and by the fact that while we’d found Carmen and she was dead, her baby—maybe Rafe’s baby—was still out there.

Part of me had no desire to go with Rafe to do the notifications. I understood why he felt he had to, but I wasn’t sure I did. At the same time, I wanted to give him what support I could. And finally, there was a part of me that couldn’t wait to get home and go to bed. Both because it had been a long day, and the baby was tired, and so was I, and because oblivion sounded really good. Hopefully the image of Carmen and all the blood would go away eventually, but right now it was all I could see, and I really wanted some peace from it. Selfish of me, no doubt, but there it was.

“I didn’t want her dead,” I said.

Rafe glanced at me, and I added, “I had a problem with her. For obvious reasons. And I wanted her back behind bars. She belonged in prison. But I didn’t want what happened to her to happen.”

Rafe nodded.

We ended up around the corner from Bianca’s house in Antioch, where all three of Rafe’s boys were still on guard. We pulled to a stop across the street from Clayton and Jamal, and waited a minute for José to join us from the next block.

The three of them crowded around the Volvo. “What up?” Jamal wanted to know.

Rafe’s voice was heavy. “You’re off duty. Go home and get some rest.”

They exchanged a look. “What happened, boss?”

“Police found her,” Rafe said.

There was a beat, then— “She dead?”

Rafe nodded.

“You gonna do the notification?”

Rafe said he was.

“You want some company?”

“I’ve got Savannah,” Rafe said, and the boys all peered in at me. I smiled and wiggled my fingers.

They straightened. “How ‘bout the other lady?” Jamal wanted to know. “The baby dead too?”

“No. The other lady—” Rafe’s voice had a fine undertone of irony, “took it and left.”

“Man.” The boys exchanged another look. “That’s cold.”

Yes, it was.

Usually, it was Jamal doing the talking for all of them. But now Clayton spoke. “You going home and getting some rest after this, too, boss?”

Rafe looked at him for a second before he answered. “No. I gotta do the notification. And then I’m gonna keep looking for that baby. Not like I can sleep while it’s out there.”

I had been afraid of that.

The boys looked at one another. Jamal spoke for all of them again. “You want some help?”

Rafe hesitated. I could sense the struggle between doing the responsible thing, telling them to go home and crash for the night, and the desire to have their company. He needed them more than he needed me tonight, I thought.

“I ain’t gonna tell you what to do,” he said eventually. “This is personal.

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