Page 28 of Property of Fang
“Well, I get the feeling you won’t be the only one happy to stay here for a bit.” Darla stares pointedly toward the ceiling to indicate our missing team member: Kathy. “I worry about her,” she continues. “She’s so easily spooked. Somebody’s going to take advantage of her if we don’t keep an eye on things.”
“Like someone didn’t already,” Nandi mutters, arm tossed over her eyes.
“She’s too trusting in her current state,” Darla argues.
“And who made you an expert on everyone’s headspace?”
“Girls,” I warn. “Quit it.”
“What?” Nandi bites. “All I’m saying is that pretty soon we’re all going to go our separate ways. We can’t shoulder the responsibility for her forever. She’s a grown woman. She needs to make her own decisions.”
“Not everyone’s headspace is as seemingly robust as yours,” I challenge.
She lifts her arm slightly to peer at me.
I shift focus to Mila. “Are you excited to see your mom?”
She tries to hide a smile. “I am. But I’m worried what she’ll think when she sees me.”
“Why?” Darla asks. “We all heard how relieved she was when the deputy said you were here. She loves you.”
“But she also hasn’t seen me since I left her house a year ago.” Mila shrugs. “I’ve changed a lot since then and not in a goodway.” She frowns at the red lines on her arm from where she’s absently scratched at the skin all morning.
I’m proud of her. What she goes through isn’t easy. And yet, while she quietly crumbles inside, she outwardly shows grace and humility.
She’s more resilient than she realizes.
“Anyone know what they’re doing with The Kid?” Darla asks, turning to look at the archway to the dining room.
“Probably just checking her over more thoroughly than us due to her age.”
“They won’t leave her here, will they?” Mila states more than asks.
“I don’t know.” I tuck my hands into the sleeves of Fang’s sweater again. “I guess it depends on if they manage to find out where she came from.”
“Even if they don’t,” Nandi says, “they’ll take her to a home to be cared for until they work it out. They won’t leave her with strangers. Especially people like this.”
I glance to the opening again, only the back half of one of the officers seated at the table visible.
“Shouldn’t someone be in there with her?” Mila asks.
“Like who?” Nandi quips. “She doesn’t have family or a legal guardian here. They assume those roles.”
“It still seems wrong.”
“It’s more right than where she was,” Darla mutters.
“The mess with Mary-Beth better not keep dragging us back here,” Nandi muses. She exhales heavily. “What even the fuck happened with her?”
“Who’d know?” Darla mutters at the same time as Mila shrugs. “I’m more worried about what’s happened to Eleanor,” she adds. “Where did they take her?”
“If they even took her anywhere.”
I glare at Nandi.
A collective quiet falls over our group while we all ruminate on the possibilities. My gut tells me Eleanor’s okay, but without any evidence, I can’t say more. Did she get shipped off to her final destination? Is she now captive in somebody’s home? Business? Or did the worst come from her defense of The Kid?
I’m not sure we’ll ever know.
