“You fucking stole from Jose Escabar?”
I just sat there and nodded my head in confirmation of the giant jerk that I was. Even saying it aloud, I couldn’t believe what I had done. I couldn’t believe that I had thought it was a good idea, even for a second, to steal from Escabar.
There were people in the world who you could steal from, and there were people who you didn’t dare steal from. My stupid brain had obviously not registered that Jose Escabar was a person you absolutely shouldn’t steal from.
His reputation on the street was not just for hurting people who borrowed money and didn’t pay it back. Jose would go after people who turned against him. He would make them disappear, and only months later would parts of their bodies show up throughout the city.
My father had told me that Escabar kept his victims alive for as long as possible. He would sever things like their fingers, toes, and hands. Then, he would bandage them up so they wouldn’t bleed to death. Eventually, the person would die, and the remains of their body would be thrown into the river and found weeks later.
I didn’t want my body to be thrown into the river, and I certainly didn’t want anything bad to happen to Jordan.
“So, he’s the one who broke your ribs?”
“No, Marco and a couple of Escabar’s goons showed up at my house looking for it. I hid the book and Jordan in my safe room, and then wouldn’t open it for them.”
“Oh, yeah, I forgot you also decided to order a bride from overseas during all of this. It seems like a bad time to suddenly want a committed relationship.”
I knew he was right. My entire life was a total disaster, and I was a horrible person for dragging Jordan into the middle of it. But I couldn’t change things – she was here and things with Escabar were already out of control. All I could do at that point was make sure to keep her safe.
“I met her right away on the site. I invited her over before I stole the book from Escabar. Now, everything is going to shit. She met some random girl at the store and agreed to go hang out with her at Kings Bowling Alley. She should have been back a while ago, and she’s not answering the cell I gave her.”
Carlos sat quietly and just continued to drive us into town. I knew it was a lot for him to take in, so I didn’t want to keep talking until he had a chance to fully understand everything that I had said.
We sat in silence. The drive took us about twenty minutes and, for most of that, Carlos was totally silent. I couldn’t tell if he was angry or just thinking about everything. As Carlos pulled into the parking lot of Kings Bowling, we saw that there were police cars out front, and right away, I got worried. My adrenaline kicked in, and I got out of the car and walked into the building
.
There were tables turned over and food everywhere. I saw a worker talking with the police and went over to listen and see if I could figure out what had happened. I tried to be as inconspicuous as possible, as I stood next to a couple other people near the counter.
“The foreign woman threw herself on the ground and started knocking things over. I helped her up, and then I noticed that the other woman had a gun. The woman with the gun took the foreign woman with her and they got into a car out front. I tried to get the license plate, but they were gone before I got out there.”
“What did the victim look like?” the officer asked.
“She was very pretty. Like a model. Tall with brown hair. At first, the three of them seemed friendly. But then, everything turned bad. I wish I could have saved her,” the employee said to the police officer.
I walked over to Carlos who was standing by the front door. He didn’t look like he wanted to be there. His face was pale, and he looked angry as hell. But I needed to get Jordan back. I had to make sure she was safe.
“They have her. Someone took her. We need to find her. Take me to Escabar’s house,” I said rapidly as I walked past Carlos and toward his car.
“Oh, no, buddy. There is no way in hell I’m taking you over to Jose Escabar’s.”
“Carlos, I need to get over there. I have to make things right.”
“I’ll take you to the police station. You can work things out with them to go over to Escabar’s house. But there is no way on earth that you and I are showing up there looking for your girl from overseas.”
I knew it wasn’t worth arguing over the details. He obviously wasn’t going to take me over there, and I didn’t really want to put him in the middle of everything. I would just need to deal with things on my own.
Carlos needed to protect himself and his family, and I knew it. I couldn’t put his safety at risk, as well as mine and Jordan’s. He was probably right, though, I should have gone to the police at that very moment. I should have turned to one of the officers in the bowling alley and told them everything. But I couldn’t. I wasn’t ready to give up hope that I could fix everything.
“All right, drop me off downtown. I’ll go talk to the police,” I said as I closed my eyes in the passenger seat of his car.
I wasn’t about to talk with anyone from the police department, but there was a friend of mine downtown who I knew I could borrow a car from. He owned the Jeep dealership, and I sent him a text to see if he would meet me over there.
After swallowing one more pain pill, I hopped out of Carlos’ car and walked into the police station, pretending I was going to talk with them. I waited for Carlos to leave, and then walked right back out the door and down the street to the Jeep dealership.
The pain was almost unbearable. It took everything I had inside of me to pretend I wasn’t feeling it. I needed to sleep. I needed to lie in a soft bed and close my eyes with Jordan next to me. But sleep wasn’t about to happen anytime soon.
“Rick, how the heck are you?” I said as I shook his hand.