Stealthy Steps (Nanostealth Book 1) by Vikki Kestell
Author:Vikki Kestell [Kestell, Vikki]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Faith-Filled Fiction(TM)
Published: 2015-05-31T23:00:00+00:00
Chapter 12
Zander called a few times and came by twice more, but I didnât answer the door or pick up his calls. I didnât hear from him after that and, while it smarted a little, I was also relieved. I turned my attention to my job instead.
I was late getting going the day of my next scheduled visit. Dawn was much too near when I packed groceries into my backpack and carried it out to my car. Emilio sat on my curb, his small blade carving through another scrap of wood.
âYou goinâ hiking again?â
I was so surprised by his unexpected question that I nearly dropped the backpackâwhich would have been rough on the eggs.
I turned toward him, face placid, framing an answer. âYeah. I try to get out for the whole day, couple of times a month.â It wasnât exactly a lie. Not exactly.
Emilio had never spoken to me. Heâd rebuffed every greeting Iâd offered when heâd moved in with his uncle, so Iâd stopped trying a while ago. And our last encounter had been, after all, in my kitchen over a sack of pilfered food.
âThat guy go with you?â
By âthat guy,â I assumed he meant Zander.
âNo.â
âHe coming âround soon?â
I sighed. âNo. Iâm sorry; I donât think heâs coming to see me anymore.â
He mumbled something, a curse word, I thought. I couldnât see his face. He was turned away from me and it was still dark.
âWhere you go?â he asked finally. His eyes never left the chunk of wood in his hand or the blade he plied to it.
âJust up in the foothills.â My response sounded natural enough to my own ears, but my heart thudded in my chest. âLots of trails to explore up there.â
âYeah. Iâd like to do that. Sometime.â
I placed the backpack on the floor of my back seat and closed the door. I was considering what heâd said, looking at it through my observations of his home life. The conclusions were distressing.
âWell, why donât you go, then?â
He mumbled a few more words under his breath. I was certain he was cussing this time. His response confirmed what Iâd guessed: He had no one to take him. His uncle would be more inclined to teach him how to cook meth than take himâGod forbidâon a hike.
From everything Iâd seen, Mateo didnât allow Emilio to leave the block, which would partly explain why the kid was always perched on the edge of the sidewalk. Come to think of it, Iâd never seen Mateoâs girlfriend Corazón leave the house either, except to walk to the little grocery a few blocks awayâunless, of course, Mateo took her somewhere else. Yeah, from what Iâd seen, Mateo ruled Corazón and Emilioâs every move, and he did so with an iron fist.
I shocked myself. âWant to go with me sometime?â
I wasnât offering to take him today, of course, but he and I could go any day I wasnât headed up to the tunnels. Not that I thought weâd ever go; I was certain he would turn me down.
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