Rolling my eyes, I walked out the door with Sinner scurrying behind me. With traffic, it took longer than expected to reach the outskirts of the city. When we pulled up to the house, I grimaced at the rundown shack and surrounding dilapidated houses.
It didn’t surprise me that she was hiding out here. The house looked abandoned, but this was where I tracked her to.
“Are you sure you want to do this? It’s not too late to turn back before you get hepatitis.”
“From a house?” I snapped.
“Hey, I’m just saying, there are things worth risking in life. Certain death is not one of them.”
The house was not certain death, but it was very possible I would blow my brains out if I had to spend too much more time with Sinner. Striding across the street, I marched straight up to the door and knocked, wincing when the movement actually pushed the door in a little.
It swung open on rickety hinges, and the woman on the other side of the door looked like she hadn’t seen fresh air in a year. And by the tartar on her teeth, she had been chain-smoking cigarettes since she was eleven.
“I’m looking for Alicia.”
“Not here,” she said, slamming the door in my face.
I stopped her at the last second, shoving my boot between the door and the frame. The irritation on her face was humorous at best, but there was also a hint of fear from what I expected was years of intimidation.
“I’m not here to turn her in. I need her help, and I have a way for her to get out of this mess in one piece.”
Her eyes narrowed in accusation. “What mess?”
“You know what mess. Now, let me in so I can talk to her.”
Her eyes flicked over my shoulder warily, but after a moment, she opened the door and gestured for me to come in. After a quick look around the room, taking in the couch that looked like it had been eaten by rats, the food littered on the table, and the garbage on the floor, I discerned that I would not be sitting down.
“I’ll go get her. Make yourselves at home.”
“Not likely,” I muttered under my breath.
She stumbled down the hall, calling out to Alicia while I did a little investigating. Not that there was much to find out. They lived like pigs, had nothing but cigarette butts on the table, and from what I could tell of the stack of paperwork, a shit ton of unpaid bills.
“Who lives like this?” Sinner muttered.
Something scurried across my foot, and I leaped back, terrified I was about to be eaten alive by a rat. There weren’t many things in life that scared me, but things that could chew your face off in your sleep was one of them.
A scratching sound from the other room drew my attention, and I wasn’t the only one who noticed. It sounded like?—
“She’s going out the back window,” Sinner said, dashing out the front door.
I ran after him, going the opposite direction from him around the house. Alicia was trying and failing to hop over the metal fence, instead, tearing her hooker tights on the wires.
Sinner grabbed her, pulling her to the ground. She landed with a shriek, her makeup smeared from tears as she covered her face.
“I’ll get you the money!” she cried out, curling into herself.
Sighing, I grabbed her arm and hauled her to her feet. “I don’t want money. I’m here to help you.”
Her tears instantly dried, but suspicion immediately replaced the terror. “Help me what?”
“You stole something from the Ratti family. And you just happen to look like my girlfriend.”
“Girlfriend?” Sinner piped up. “I didn’t know you guys were an item.”
“Not sure what else you would call her.”
“Wife?”