Nancy Geronimo was gazing blankly at her. “I don’t pay much attention to boots.”
Kendra shrugged. “Not many people do. Sometimes it strikes a bell.” She turned to Joe. “Wait, do you have a photo?”
“I thought you’d never ask,” Joe said dryly. He pulled up a photo on his phone. “This is Drogan.”
The woman looked at the photo. “Maybe I’ve seen him.”
“Yes or no?” Joe added softly, “If you lie, I’ll make your life hell.”
“I’ve seen hell before. But I’m not going to stick my neck out for someone who doesn’t mean a damn to me.” She looked again at the photo. “Yeah, I’ve sold oil to him. Several canisters in the last month. Surly son of a bitch.”
“Does he live near here? Or does he drive in from another state?”
“He’s local, I think. I was driving out in the desert gathering supplies a few weeks ago, and I saw his truck. It was near a beat-up old shack with a broken door.”
He straightened. “What color was the truck? Where? Which direction?”
“Red truck. Sort of rust red. The shack is … East.” She waved a vague hand. “And I don’t know where. I told you, I was driving around, trying to locate some of my ingredients.”
“Eye of newt?” Newell murmured.
The woman gave him an ugly glance. “I think maybe it was southeast. That’s all I can tell you.” She started to close the door, then stopped. “He’s … kind of creepy. He carries a snake around with him. I’ve heard it rattle in the cage.”
“And you’re not accustomed to creepy clients?” Kendra asked her, as Joe turned and headed back to the car.
“Yeah, but he’s in a class by himself. Don’t tell him I told you where to find him.”
She slammed the door.
“But she didn’t tell us,” Joe said tightly. “It’s going to be like looking for a needle in a haystack.” He started the car. “Southeast. Dammit, but where?”
CHAPTER
18
THE MOONLIGHT WAS BRIGHT and the ground soft and giving beneath Eve’s feet as she went ahead of Drogan out the back door of the shack and across the sand.
“Here,” Drogan said roughly.
She had almost stumbled into the grave Drogan had dug. She stared down at the open coffin in the three-foot-deep hole.
“Are you afraid?” Drogan asked.
“No.”
“You’re lying.”
“No, I’m not afraid of facing what’s beyond. There are times when I’d welcome it.” Because Bonnie was there and would welcome her. “But you should be afraid, Drogan. I think you are. I think that’s what all this voodoo business is all about.”
He was cursing beneath his breath. “Jump down in the coffin and lie down.”
Should she do it? The death he had planned for her was hideous. She could make a move on him now and she might get lucky.
And she might not.
Joe could be near. God, she hoped he was near.
She jumped down into the coffin and lay down. It was narrow and barely held her slender frame. She tensed, waiting.
She didn’t have long to wait.
Drogan dropped the snake on her chest. The rattler was striking in all directions.
Don’t move. Don’t breathe. Don’t give the snake any reason to strike at her body.
Darkness.
Drogan had dragged the lid over the coffin.
She could feel the snake slowly move up her body toward her throat.
* * *
BARREN DESERT, CACTUS, MOONLIGHT stark on shadowy dunes.
No shack.
No truck.
No Drogan.
“Try farther east,” Newell said. “It’s got to be near here somewhere.”
“No, it doesn’t.” Joe’s hands gripped the steering wheel with a white-knuckled grip. “Not if she lied.”
“She wouldn’t have a reason to lie,” Kendra said quietly. “She didn’t like the idea of being involved. You’re not thinking clearly.”
That was without question, Joe thought. The only clarity to his thinking was of Eve with Drogan. It was making him sick to his stomach with fear.
“East,” Newell said.
Joe nodded jerkily. “I’m changing direction. For God’s sake, keep an eye out for that truck.”
* * *
THE SNAKE WAS LYING across her throat, and Eve was afraid that the pounding pulse beat in the hollow would cause the rattler to strike out. There was nothing but darkness and the heavy scent of the oil coating the snake’s body.
Don’t swallow.
Breathe shallow so that her neck would not move.
The triangular head of the rattler was in her hair, and it was still.
Why wasn’t it moving?
* * *
BECAUSE IT’S AS SCARED as you are, Mama.
Bonnie?
Yes, I’m with you.
Eve could not see her, but she could feel her there in the darkness. Why? Is this the end, baby?
I don’t know, you’re doing all the right things, but sometimes that’s not enough. I didn’t want you to be alone.
I’m not really afraid. I’d be happy to be with you. It’s just that it’s a natural instinct to feel like this. And Joe …
Yes, Joe.
And I don’t like snakes.
They’re just creatures like the rest of us. It’s afraid, too.
Drogan thinks the snake’s a she and may be his mother. Isn’t that crazy?
Pretty silly. Bonnie was silent. Mama, I’m going to leave you for a little while. That snake is too terrified for me to reach, but I may be able to do something inside the shack. Don’t move. Just keep on doing what you’re doing. I’ll be back soon.
* * *
BONNIE WAS GONE.
Eve felt a ripple of panic, and she must have swallowed, because the snake draped across her throat suddenly stirred.
She froze.
Keep on doing what you’re doing.
Which was absolutely nothing, dammit. If she was going to die, she desperately wanted Bonnie back with her for these final minutes. What was she doing in that shack anyway?
* * *
“I THINK WE’RE GOING AROUND in circles,” Newell said.
“No, we’re not,” Joe said. “That much I know. It just seems as if—”
“Smoke.” Kendra grabbed Joe’s arm. “I smell smoke.”
“I don’t smell anything.”
“You will soon. It’s faint. The wind is blowing it from that hollow over there to the west.”
It was over a minute before Joe caught a whiff of the smoke. “Yes.”
“It could be nothing,” Newell said.
“Or something.” He could only pray it was something. They had come up with zilch, and time was running out. Joe was already gunning the car toward the hollow. He inhaled sharply as they crested the hollow.
A shack, flames blazing, fire devouring it.
“Truck?” He bit out.
“There. To the left of the shack,” Newell said. “I can’t tell what color. It’s dark … could be red.”
“Close enough. We’re going in.”
“There’s someone near that stand of trees,” Kendra said. “Do you see him, Joe?”
Just a vague shadow, but the man was tall and slim.
Drogan was said to be tall and slim.
Joe stomped on the accelerator for the remaining distance separating them from the shack. He screeched to a stop as they came near the burning house. “Both of you get out. See if you can get into the shack and check and see if there’s anyone inside.”