Page 120 of Angel

I picked one, and locked it in.

It would suffice; I could stash Evangeline in it while she worked out what to do with her miserable life.

I started my Defender and backed down the driveway as a late-night storm was lashing the trees.

The storm transformed the Forest Hills neighborhood into a murky vista, the ancient oaks thrashing against a charcoal sky.

A sickening knot formed in my gut.

Why did heading into the dark feel like I was cheating on my wife?

Still, I’d made my promise to Evangeline, so I made my way toward the address she’d given me.

The highway was a desolate, slick ribbon of black asphalt, with empty semi-trucks spraying walls of dirty water onto my windshield.

I exited onto a gritty commercial strip near the airport, where neon signs buzzed and flickered through the downpour.

The motel was a depressing two-story concrete block, its parking lot marred by deep potholes and overgrown weeds flattening under the rain.

I strode inside a tiny lobby reeking of stale cigarettes and urine.

A pale-faced, spotty-skinned man sat behind the counter smoking.

He knifed up on my approach, eyeing me with wariness.

I was about to ask him about my ex when a voice sounded out to my rear.

‘Angel?’

I swiveled and got hit with a gut punch.

‘Eva?’

I raked her from head to toe, shocked at how much she’d deteriorated in just a few weeks.

Her hair hung in oily, stringy clumps about her shoulders.

Her face appeared blotchy under the harsh fluorescent ceiling lights, and her frame was skinnier than before, in a lopsided jacket, torn tee, distressed jeans, and high heels.

She resembled a textbook junkie.

The second she spotted me, she launched forward and hugged me, taking a little jump to wrap her legs around my waist the way she always used to do.

Years ago, that move used to fire me up.

Tonight, it filled me with pure disgust.

I peeled her off me with a curse, setting her back onto the linoleum floor.

‘Eva,’ I growled, stepping back to establish my boundaries. ‘The hell?’

‘I missed you, Angel,’ she whispered, her eyes flicking from me to the bored motel clerk behind the bulletproof glass.

‘Fuck that shit, Eva. Focus on what’s important here. Is this Maurice after you just because you’re the only witness to his crime?’

She shrugged.

‘I might have also stolen cash straight from his wallet to buy my ticket.’