Page 98 of Hunter's Hidden Camera
“I’ll text you.”
I hang up. As I follow Blanca back to my car, I text Patricia.
Blanca and I approach Carlos, who’s leaning against the hood of my car. I hand him his phone back.
Carlos says, “Manny’s down that street over there. He said for us to come right now.”
“Okay,” I say, “hang on a second.”
I reach into my car and open the glove compartment. I pull out a pair of eyeglasses and put them on. I rejoin Blanca and Carlos.
“I didn’t know you wore glasses,” says Blanca.
“They help me see better at night,” I say.
The three of us walk briskly. We turn a corner onto a dead-end street that we haven’t explored yet tonight.
At the end of the street is a large house. I can’t really make out any of the details of the house because it is completely covered in Christmas lights and decorations. It looks like almost every inch of the house is covered in flashing, colorful lights. In the middle of the front lawn is a tall Christmas tree, also brightly lit and donning a variety of ornaments. At the base of the tree is an elaborate, life-sized nativity scene. And on the roof of the house are plastic reindeer figures pulling a sled with a plastic Santa. It’s all so over-the-top. And in the middle of October.
But this is it. I know this is it. This is where Oscar is.
42
Punish
“Idon’t want any of you to have to get involved unless absolutely necessary,” I say, keeping my eyes on the ridiculous Christmas-themed house. “So why don’t you all hang back in my car while I go check out the house?”
Enough people have gotten hurt. Manny, Carlos, and Blanca need to be a last resort.
Manny nods. “Carlos, turn off the password feature on your phone and give it to Hunter so he can use it.”
Carlos follows Manny’s instructions.
“Me and Blanca are in Carlos’s texts,” Manny says. “Let us know what’s up.”
The three of them start walking back towards the car.
“Thanks, guys,” I say.
They don’t say anything back.
I hurry through the chilly night air. The closer I get to the house, the brighter everything becomes. I see how illuminated Iam, how exposed. So I run to the side of the house, keeping low and hugging bushes.
From what I can tell, most of the lights inside the house are off.
I duck and move towards the back of the house. I see that the kitchen lights are on, and there are people standing inside.
I carefully move across the backyard and hide under one of the kitchen windows, which is slightly open. The aroma of food, garlic mostly, wafts into my nose.
I hear voices, but I can’t make out what they’re saying. So I lift my head up ever so slightly and peek inside. I see Nash, all cleaned up now and wearing new clothes, talking to a muscular man, who looks like one of the guys who took Oscar. Nash calls him Tate.
Tate: “You’re in deep shit, Nash.”
Nash: “I know. But once Nikolai is feeling better, I’ll make him understand that it wasn’t my fault.”
Tate: “Nikolai won’t see it that way. He’ll see it as, you brought these little boys into his life. And one of these little boys tried to kill him.”
Nash: “I had nothing to do with Nikolai getting stabbed. He’s got to see that. And I’m trying to make it right. I got him the guy whodidstab him. If anyone should get punished, it’s not me. It’s Oscar.”
