The pair exchanged a worried look and finally, the guy raked his hands back through his long hair and settled his hands on top of his head, letting out an explosive breath.
“Sure,” he relented, and the girl gestured at me to have a seat. We migrated away from the front door and they both took a seat on the porch swing while I settled on the low wall railing thing.
“Where is she?” the girl asked and her face was pinched.
I said, “First thing’s first. I’m Mace.”
“Angelica,” she said.
“Robert,” the guy said, and I shook the man’s hand.
“I can’t answer your question, exactly. She’s hiding.”
“Son of a bitch,” the dude muttered.
“What happened?” I asked.
“She went on a date with some guy,” Angelica said. “She came back way late. Her clothes were ripped, and she wouldn’t talk about it.”
“Then a couple weeks later, we were at the park,” Robert said.
“Fire practice,” Angelica said.
“Some cops came, arrested her.”
“We couldn’t find her. We called everywhere. It was late.” Her voice was laden with something like guilt.
“When the rest of the Burners left, they found her out by the street.”
“She was beaten really bad. They brought her here. She wouldn’t let us take her to the hospital. Some of the Burner medics helped us do what we could.”
“As soon as she was able, she left. We found her phone smashed on her bedroom floor, some of her clothes gone, but that was it,” Robert said.
“She never came back…” Angelica looked hurt.
I shook my head.
“She couldn’t,” I told them.
“She’s safe?” Robert asked.
“Yeah, she’s about to get safer if I can help it,” I said.
“She’s a really good person, private though. Please tell me we didn’t make a huge mistake telling you any of this.” Angelica looked up at me and I pulled my proof out of my pocket, an envelope with my name on it in Raven’s writing. The letter I held in reserve and would only use it if I had to.
She told me things, a lot of things, private things that I didn’t want to share. Some of it skirted the big bad that haunted her. I was still trying to fill in the gaps.
“That’s your name, and that’s her writing,” Robert confirmed, looking over Angelica’s shoulder.
Angelica sniffed and tossed her dyed black dreads over her shoulder. She looked up at me, face pale, blue eyes glittering with tears as she handed me back the envelope. I cued up the video Sauley had taken of Raven reading one of my letters on my phone and handed that to Angelica. She covered her mouth with her hand and bit back a sound, starting to cry, studying every nuanced expression of Raven’s face as I had probably a thousand times before.
“You uh, happen to keep any of her stuff?” I asked, taking my phone back while Robert hugged what I presumed was his girlfriend.
“Yeah, we uh kept all of it. Boxed it all up in totes and put it in the basement.”
“I brought my truck; you trust me to take it to her?”
They exchanged a look. “Can we go with you?” Angelica asked.
I shook my head. “You want to write her a letter or something, I’ll make sure she gets it.”
“What happened to her?” Robert demanded and the fury in his dark eyes was one I harbored myself.
“That date didn’t go well,” I said. “I think you already know that. As far as the rest of it, Raven was right to get the fuck out of here. The less you know, the better off you are, but hey; I’m going to get it taken care of,” I vowed.
“How are you—” Robert gripped Angelica’s shoulder, and she looked up at him. He looked down at her and shook his head. Smart man.
“Your man’s right. Best not to ask any more questions,” I said. “I can’t say more.”
“I’ll give you a couple of totes of her favorite things,” Robert said. “If she wants the rest, she can come get them.”
“Robert!” Angelica protested. “She left money to keep us going until we could find a new roommate. She doesn’t owe us anything,” Angelica argued.
Robert gripped Angelica’s arm and towed her in the direction of the front door, and I shook my head. “See now, Bobby, that’s no way to treat your lady,” I said.
“Robert,” he said affronted, and I raised my eyebrows.
“Don’t give a fuck, let her go.”
He dropped her arm immediately.
“I’ll bring you Raven’s things,” Angelica said. “The stuff I can carry.”
“Alright, thanks. I hear any problems, I’ll come and help,” I said, giving her a pointed look.
Bobby, excuse me, Robert, slammed his way into the house like a petulant child.
“Sorry, he’s usually not like this,” Angelica said. “He’s upset.”
“A man knows when and how to control himself,” I replied and yeah, I know, I needed to learn to take my own lessons to heart.
In the end, I took two big totes – the things Angelica knew she had loved best and had left behind. The sentimental things. I could hear her and Bobby argue it out and I couldn’t fault him too much. He was worried. I gathered that clear enough.
I was worried too, only difference was, I was fixing to do something about it. Of course, I couldn’t fault him on that either. Most citizens didn’t have the know-how to fix something like this, and if they did, they damn sure didn’t have the balls. I had both – in spades – and I would use them.
I slid the first tote into the back of Vyking’s truck and turned. Bobby handed me the second one, and he’d earned points. For as upset as he was, he wouldn’t hear of making little Angelica carry the heavy thing up the block.
He handed it to me, and I said, “Hey, I know you’re upset and pissed off, believe me, I get it… but stop
