“How do you know about the cat?”

Bonnie chuckled. “I’ve seen where she lives. It was important to me to know she turned out okay and she has.”

“No thanks to you.”

“Baby, she wouldn’t have the life she did if not for me. Putting her on the side of that road was the best thing I could have done for her. You know how she hated the traveling. Elena’s the same. She hates the travel. She wants a real family, too.”

“That kid is nothing like Melina.”

“Not true. Elena’s mother died just like your mama. Stuck a needle in her arm. I begged her to kick the habit. You remember how hard it was for Lizzie to stay away from it. She wanted to but loved the dope more than her little kids.”

“Shut up.”

“I don’t want to hurt you, baby. I want to give you a chance to get back what we had before. This time it will be you, me, and Elena.”

“You can’t do that.”

“Of course, I can.”

“How?”

“Don’t worry about how, baby. I’ll get Elena, you can get the key, and then we’ll get the money that will set us all up for life.”

Silence, and then, “Call me when you have her. Then we’ll talk.”

The light turned green and she drove past the interstate exit. “Will do, doll.”

A smirk tugged at Bonnie’s lips. She turned the car around and headed back to the Shepards’. On the way, she stopped at a drugstore and bought a few things for Elena, as well as a blue gift bag. Putting the toys in the bag, she drove to the Shepards’. She parked in front of the neat little suburban house. Time to test the waters and see what these folks were made of.

Out of the car, she picked up the gift bag and, squaring her shoulders, walked up the sidewalk to the front porch.

She rang the bell and widened her smile. When the door opened, the woman stared back at her with open suspicion.

“I’m here to see Elena,” Bonnie said.

“Who are you?”

“I’m Bonnie,” she said. “I’m like a grandmother to her.” Inside she heard a television playing a cartoon. “Elena loves the Magic Tree House. She likes the idea of traveling through time.”

The woman blocked Bonnie’s view with her body. “How did you find my address?”

“I’d like to see her,” Bonnie said. “I want to tell her how sorry I am.”

“It’ll take more than an apology to make amends for leaving her in a wrecked car, Bonnie.” The woman tightened her hand on the door as if ready to close it.

Bonnie could feel her temper rising. “Call Melina and tell her I’m here. She’ll want to talk to me.”

The woman reached for her phone in her back jeans pocket and texted a message.

“Molly?” Elena’s voice drew Bonnie’s attention back to the hallway behind Mrs. Shepard, and she saw Elena for the first time in a few days.

Bonnie realized how much she really had missed her. She liked the kid. She was quiet, and she listened when Bonnie needed her to distract a mark.

“BB?” Elena asked.

Bonnie heard the excitement mingled with trepidation in the girl’s voice. She understood both emotions. People naturally craved the familiar, even when it was not so perfect, and the fear was justified. “Hey, kiddo? How are you doing?”

Mrs. Shepard shifted her stance, blocking Bonnie’s view of the girl. “She’s doing fine.”

Bonnie’s smile faltered. “I’d like to see her.”

“Over my dead body,” Mrs. Shepard said. “Now get off my property.”

This wasn’t over between them. It couldn’t be. She owed it to Elena and Sonny.

A car pulled up in front of the house and she heard a car door slam. She turned. Melina strode toward the house, her face as pale and tight with anger as it had been when she was a little girl.

This was going to be fun.

The summer sun was dimming as Sonny walked to the back of the house, where he knew a sliding door fed into a small patio. He had been by the house several times and was familiar enough now with the patterns of the neighborhood to know that after midnight he would not be bothered.

With Bonnie’s promises still clattering in his head, he knew he needed to relax. Calm his rattled thoughts and nerves. Bonnie was promising him a family. A sister and a mother he could love.

He glanced down at his trembling hand before he curled it tightly into a fist. He wanted that family so badly. And he wanted to believe Bonnie. But she had burned him so many times. Her promises were always too good to be true.

He hurried up to the back door and was pleased to see she had not fixed the light he had broken a few days ago. He removed a small screwdriver from his pocket, popped the lock, slid open the door, and quickly stepped inside. He did not need a light to make his way through her house. This was not the first time he had inspected the interior. He knew the small kitchen was to the right, living room to the left, and down the hallway was the bathroom equipped with a large claw-foot tub.

He walked down the hallway and entered the bathroom. He switched on the water, running his hand under the hot tap. Steam rose up, fogging his glasses and the mirror. He checked his watch, noting it was almost 8:00 p.m. and she would be home soon.

He had meant to meet up with her last night, but he had been dealing with the bail bondsman. By the time he’d made all the necessary arrangements for Bonnie, his window of opportunity had closed. Maybe it was better that they had not hooked up last night.

He removed the sharp garden shears from his pocket and set them carefully on the counter beside the sink. As he scrolled through his playlist on his phone, he tried to imagine the perfect song for them. All his girls had a song, and Sandra would be no exception.

A car pulled into the driveway. He shut off the water and pocketed the phone. As a precaution, he made sure the small window in the bathroom could be opened. Had not Bonnie always taught him to have an exit strategy?

Bonnie. Fuck. Was there never a time when she was not in his head?

As the night air, thick with humidity, blew in the cracked window, anticipation surged in him. He flexed his fingers, anxious to hold her neck in his hands and watch the panic flare in her gaze and slowly trickle away.

Sandra’s laughter, ripe with desire, echoed from the hallway, and he thought for a moment she might be on the phone. And then he heard a man’s deep, low voice.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

Who the hell was the guy?

He could stick around. Maybe he could get the drop on the guy and Sandra, but an extra unplanned person created a risk he did not want to assume, especially with Bonnie running around capable of shooting her mouth off.

Moving swiftly, he climbed up on the toilet seat and hauled his leg over the side of the windowsill. He swung the second leg over and dropped five feet to the ground below. But his foot landed wrong and his ankle rolled. He felt a sharp pain and prayed he had not screwed himself. A couple of tentative steps proved it was a serious strain at best. Figuring out how bad would have to come later.

The lights in the house clicked on, and he hobbled toward the small grouping of houses that backed up to Sandra’s. Fifty paces ahead, he knew there was another street that fed into the public parking lot of the grocery store where he had left his car.

“Shit. Shit. Shit.”

This was all Bonnie’s fault. He had been on his game until she came to town. Like all the shit that had happened to him, Bonnie was at the root of it. Until she was dead, he would have no peace.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Thursday, August 27, 7:00 p.m.

Melina’s nerves were wound tight as Ramsey drove toward her parents’ home. They were two houses away when she spotted Bonnie standing on the porch.

Melina unlocked her seat belt and reached for the door handle before the car had stopped. “I still can’t believe she had the guts to come here.”

“Hold on. Let me stop the car,” Ramsey barked as he angled the car near the curb.

“How does she know where my mother lives? Where I grew up.” Tension tangled with anger and rippled through Melina’s growl.

“Remember, this is about Elena, not you,” Ramsey cautioned.

“I get that.” Her fingers pulled up on the door handle as the tires came to a stop. “Making Bonnie suffer is just going to be a bonus.”

Out of the car, Melina marched across the lawn with a hand on her weapon. “What are you doing here?” she demanded.

Bonnie smiled. “I just came by to see Elena. The girl is like a granddaughter to me. Now that my head is better and I’m processing better, I wanted her to know I love her. But your mother wouldn’t let me get close to her.”

“Good for her.”

“I have every right to see the girl. I’m all the family that poor little baby has,” Bonnie said.

“You have no right,” Melina said. “You do not have custody of Elena, and if you did, I would be standing in front of a judge right now getting your rights revoked.”