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I LEANED FORWARD FROM the back seat of Billy’s car and rested my hand on Alex’s shoulder. “Are you okay?” I’d be lying if I’d said I wasn’t worried about her. Or that I didn’t feel guilty for what had happened. I said, “If you want me to stay with you, I can...”
She turned her head and cracked a slight smile. After a few seconds, she turned and looked out the window to her right. “I think we should’ve told Mike a little more.”
I saw Billy glance up at me through the rearview mirror.
“What’d I leave out?” I said.
“At least tell him we were on our way to Losco Park to investigate John Thompson’s death.”
“What good would that do?” I said.
Billy glanced back at me. “I hate to say it, but maybe Alex is right. Would it really hurt to have him on your side...at least to help find the person who just tried to kill you?”
I leaned against the back seat. “I just don’t want the friction. I know Mike. He doesn’t make things easier...not when it comes to proving the JSO wrong.”
Billy had his eyes back on the road. “Don’t forget, I got a personal invite to go see him at headquarters. What am I supposed to say when he starts digging...asks me what else I know?” And why you were down that way in the first place...”
Alex looked back at me then nodded toward Billy. “You’re right, you know. He’ll ask you...because he knows how close you are to Henry.”
I leaned forward between their seats. “I bet that’s why he asked you to meet him. He knew I wasn’t giving him the whole story.” I thought for a moment. “Just play dumb. It’s not like you’ll be under oath.”
Alex turned over her shoulder, gave me a look. “Be careful. Mike’ll see right through it. He’s got a pretty powerful B.S. detector built-in.”
The three of us were quiet for the last couple of miles until Billy drove into Alex’s driveway. I pushed open the door before he’d fully stopped and jumped out to help Alex from the front seat. I held out my hand for her to hold onto.
“I’m not crippled,” she said as she ignored my hand and walked toward her porch. She stopped and turned to me and Billy. “I don’t hear Raz.” She looked in her Jeep as she walked past it then stopped again. “Who has my keys?”
I reached into my pocket and followed after her, the keys in my hand.
She stopped on the porch steps and took them from me. “My Glock?”
I pointed with my thumb over my shoulder. “I’ll grab it. It’s in the glove box.” I turned to walk back to the car.
Alex said my name. “Henry?”
I pulled open the passenger door, reached into the glove box for her Glock, and walked toward Alex.
She’d stopped at the top step and started to slowly back down as she turned to me and Billy. “My door,” she said in a hushed voice. “It’s open.” I ran up the steps holding her Glock but she took it from my hand.
The door was slightly open. And there was no sign of Raz.
I turned to Billy, but he was already at his trunk. He slammed the lid and held up the old Sig Sauer .45 he’d kept in his trunk for as long as I’d know him.
I walked past and Billy said, “Shouldn’t someone with a gun go in first?”
But Alex had a baseball bat on her porch. I picked it up and walked right in the open door.
I heard Alex walk behind me. “Oh, Raz....please be all right.”
We walked together down the hall, careful and quiet with each step. I turned first, gripping the bat with both hands, and turned into the room to the right, with the TV.
“Oh shit,” I said as I looked around the room.
Both couches were tipped over. Alex’s desk was smashed on the floor. Her TV screen was still on the wall but the screen was shattered. The coffee table was spray painted in red, as were the walls.
Then, as if at the same time, we all turned to the far end of the room. Someone had written on the wall with big letters, in red paint:
YOU WILL NOT SURVIVE NEXT TIME
Alex pushed passed me and stared at the wall. Without another word she ran from the room and up the stairs.
Billy held his Sig Sauer .45 by his side as he pulled open a closet door. But it was locked.
“That’s her gun safe,” I said. “Nobody can get in there.” I turned from Billy and left the room, headed up the stairs after Alex.
She stood at the top of the stairs and put her finger up in front of her lips for me to be quiet. Then she pointed toward the door to her bedroom.
I tried to be quiet going up the stairs after her, but hurried when she walked into her bedroom. I walked through the next door and into the bathroom. With the bat up over my shoulder I pulled back the shower curtain.
There was nobody there.
I walked out and opened another door—a closet—and closed it as I heard Alex yell. “Raz!”
I ran into her bedroom.
Alex was crouched down on the floor, her head under the bed. “You okay boy? Come on Raz...it’s okay.”
I stepped past her and pulled open another closet door.
Again, it was empty.
Alex was down on her stomach as she tried to coax Raz out from hiding. “Come on out, Raz. It’s okay now.” She turned to me and had tears in her eyes. “He’s shaking like a leaf.”
I crouched down next to her and saw Raz’s glowing eyes under the bed. “Is he okay?”
“If he’s not, somebody’s going to pay.”
Raz crawled out from under the bed and put his head into Alex’s chest. You could see his body shake as he tried to get as close to her as he could. Alex cried as she wrapped her arms around his thick, furry neck. She rubbed behind his head.
Billy stepped into the room. “I looked everywhere. Whoever it was is long gone.”
I stood up and turned to Billy. He nodded toward the floor. “Is he hurt?”
Alex looked up, the tears still running down her cheeks. “I think he’s okay.”
I crouched down again to pet him. “You’re a good boy, Raz.” I put my hand around Alex’s shoulder. She’d already had a day...and it’d just gone from bad to worse.