A Longer Fall (Gunnie Rose #2)(42)

“We about there?” I was wondering how long it would be before I had to fight Rogelio, which would not be hard since I was behind him and armed. But we hadn’t had a chance to search him. That made me anxious.

“Yes, here we are.” Eli turned right onto a rutted driveway, very short, which ended in a ramshackle place that had once been—it was hard to say. Maybe a storage shed? Maybe a real small home? Whatever it had been, now it was leaning to the side like it had had too much to drink. There were big trees around it, and the grasses and weeds had had their way with the yard. Pretty much ideal as far as concealment for the car, and there wasn’t another building anywhere in sight.

Rogelio put up a fight when I told him to get out of the car, but Eli was able to give me a hand. “I don’t want to hurt him too bad before you ask him questions,” I said by way of explanation. It felt good to be back at work I understood, but very strange to be doing it wearing a dress. I was all too aware I was getting seeds and leaves and bits of stuff all over the skirt while I was maneuvering Rogelio to the back of the building.

To my relief, Eli had bought some rope. We secured our prisoner and sat him down at the base of a little tree. The high weeds closed in around him, and Rogelio looked like a small man.

I found a stump to sit on while Eli did his “questioning.” I knew it was part of this particular job, but I had no stomach for it.

Rogelio turned out to be a tougher nut to crack than I’d figured. I made myself stand witness. If Eli had seen me shoot many, many people, I could watch him practice pain magic on Rogelio. I tried to figure out what was different about the experience. Magic seemed more personal than a bullet, I guess.

Rogelio groaned and moaned and screamed. In the end he wept and talked. As I’d predicted, it was a threat to Rogelio’s handsome face that broke him.

Eli told him he was going to make all Rogelio’s teeth fall out, and his hair, too. “And every hair will hurt as it detaches from your scalp,” my “husband” promised. “Every tooth will ache and bleed.”

Since Rogelio was already aching and bleeding from a few points on his body, he could appreciate what was in store.

The next time Eli said “Who hired you?” Rogelio began talking.

“The lamb people,” he said. “I don’t know how they got my name, but after Jake took the job of guarding the crate, I got a visitor at my house.”

I didn’t know where Rogelio’s house was, but I assumed it was easier to get to than Segundo Mexia.

“What did your visitor tell you to do?” Eli sat back on his haunches, sweat trickling down his face and plastering a stray strand of hair to his cheek. It was hot, even under the trees, and the bugs and birds were making a ruckus. The country is not quiet, especially farm country.

“He told me that during the journey, someone would try to take the crate, and I should do everything I could to help it happen.” Rogelio was crying, tears and sweat blending on his cheeks in a salty wash.

I nodded at Eli to let him know this was true. I had suspected Rogelio had pretended to be hit worse than he was during the train wreck attack. And he hadn’t gotten in a shot in the earlier attempt, with the two men who’d charged into the car.

“What was the man’s name?” Eli said.

“He didn’t give me one. He wore one of those pins.”

“What did he look like?”

Rogelio’s nose was so runny by now that he had to snort for a moment before he could speak. “He was all dressed up. Good clothes and shoes. He looked rich. Maybe fifty years old.”

“He was on the train, wasn’t he?” It was the first time I’d spoken since we’d left the car.

Eli looked startled, like he’d forgotten I was there.

“Yes, he sat close to the doors.” It was hard to understand Rogelio, because blood and snot were bubbling out of his nose.

“I didn’t see him after the wreck. What did he do?” I bent closer.

“He left the cabin just before.” Rogelio gasped desperately because all the fluids were choking him.

Our enemy had been so close. I could have killed him, if only Rogelio had spoken up. Rogelio himself could have shot the man when he’d come to Rogelio’s house, and been true to his crew. I lost all sympathy for Rogelio in that moment. He’d sold us out. He’d let us be shot, would have let us die, for money. I didn’t understand it.

My eyes met Eli’s for a moment. We were of one mind on the subject of Rogelio. Then Eli looked back at his prey. He asked, “How were you supposed to contact him here?”

“He said he would find me in Sally. That’s why I’ve been out in the streets and cafés so much.”

“You idiot,” Eli said. “Mr. Well Dressed thought you would die too. He never planned to meet you after the wreck. He was sure the gunnies he sent in would kill you.”

Rogelio looked kind of confused and a little shocked, and then Eli snatched his life out of him.

I said some things in my head that people didn’t say out loud very much, and I felt a rush of relief that this episode was over.

Then, since Rogelio had fallen silent forever, I heard a car coming.

There was a good chance it would pass by; our car couldn’t be seen from the road, at least at a quick glance. But I had a bad feeling, maybe because I was half-grigori, maybe just from being cautious.