Silent Shadows

by Natalie Walters

  “Whoa!” Maceo hurried over. He stuck his foot in the suds, watching it cover his leg up to the calf. “Cool!”

  “Not cool.” Colton couldn’t find the power button beneath the mess, so he just opened the door. He groaned when a wave of fluffy soap spilled out onto the floor. “What did you put in the dishwasher?”

  “Soap,” Maceo said, stepping the rest of the way into the soapy wonderland. He reached down and gathered the fluff into his hands and then blew it so the bubbles flew into the air.

  “Don’t do that. It’s slippery.”

  As if on cue, Maceo’s feet began slipping and sliding, and before Colton could do anything Maceo dropped to the floor, buried in bubbles.

  “Are you okay?” Colton started toward Maceo, using the counter to hold him steady. “Maceo, you alright?”

  “Yes.” He giggled. Another spray of bubbles flew into the air. “What are we going to do?”

  “Clean it up before your mom gets home.”

  Maceo’s head popped up with a crown of bubbles covering his hair. “You’re in so much trouble.”

  Mom come quick. Bubbles everywhere. Colton’s in trouble.

  Pecca read the text message from Maceo over and over, trying to make sense of what it meant and keep her panic in check. She tried calling Colton’s cell phone, but it kept going to voicemail. Just like Maceo’s. By the time she arrived at her house, she was expecting the worst—just not this.

  “We tried cleaning it up,” Maceo said.

  Pecca couldn’t believe her eyes. She stood gawking at her kitchen and the layer of soap so thick it looked like snow covering the floor. Colton and Maceo both stood there, heads hung in guilt, their clothes wet, as bubbles clung to their hair—and pretty much everywhere.

  “What in the world happened?”

  “He made me do it.” Maceo looked up. A towel in one hand, the other pointed at Colton. “Said we had to do the dishes so you wouldn’t have to worry about it when you got home.”

  Colton looked at her, a mop in his left hand, his right hand clutched to his side. “I don’t know what happened. Maceo put the soap in, and it just started spewing everywhere.”

  Maceo slapped a palm to his forehead. “Throw me under the bus, why don’t you?”

  Pecca shot a look at her son. Where had he learned that phrase from? “Okay, you go get ready for bed.” She pushed up the sleeves of her sweater and took the towel from Maceo. “I’ll be there after I clean up.”

  “I’ll do it.” Colton shook his head. “This was my fault. I should’ve been watching better.”

  “And not done the dishes!” Maceo yelled from down the hall.

  Pecca rolled her eyes and gave a little laugh. “Serves me right for not teaching him how to do them in the first place, I suppose.”

  “I’m really sorry.”

  “Don’t be. I needed to deep clean this kitchen anyway.”

  “I mean for taking you away from your party or whatever.” Colton’s right arm twitched. “I hope David didn’t mind leaving early to bring you home.”

  “He didn’t. Leave, I mean.” Pecca took a step toward the mess. “I took an Uber home. And believe me, I’d rather deal with a foot of soap suds than decide what flavor snow cone has the least amount of red dye #5 in it.”

  Colton smirked. “Still, I insist on cleaning this up myself.”

  “No way, José.” Pecca stepped into the mess, and her foot slid out from under her. “Whoa!”

  “Be careful.” Colton held out a hand. “It’s slippery.”

  No sooner had the words left his mouth than Pecca’s foot slipped forward. She tried to regain her balance, but her back arched backward, arms pinwheeling in a wild, frantic attempt to right herself as she tumbled backward.

  Scrunching her eyes tight, she prepared to fall, but a strong hand reached out and grabbed one of her flailing arms. She peeked through her squinted eyes to see Colton smiling.

  “Gotcha.”

  Pecca latched onto his arm, feeling the bunching of his bicep beneath her grip. “Thanks. That really is sli—”

  Colton’s eyes went round, and they both did this jig of a dance. His legs scissored front and back until the momentum built and control was lost. Pecca started laughing, which was a huge mistake. Her legs began their own erratic movement, forcing her to hold on tighter to his arms, but they might as well have been a pair of newborn deer on a pond of ice for all the good it was doing.

  “Just . . . stop . . .” Colton’s face was red. Sweat lined his forehead. He was so determined not to fall and that only made Pecca giggle more. “Laughing.”

  “Arghhh!” Pecca slipped, landing hard on her backside and pulling Colton down with a loud oooph. A cloud of bubbles flew into the air and floated everywhere. She tried to roll over, but her legs kept slipping side to side. Another fit of laughter took hold of her as she put a hand on Colton’s arm. “Are you okay?”

  “I told you to stop laughing.” Colton remained on his back, his chest rising with heavy breaths and his face splattered with little poofs of soap.

  Pecca gasped between laughing. Was he being serious? Maybe he was hurt. She should stop laughing—only she couldn’t. She ran her hand along his arm to his chest, gripping his shirt to stabilize herself, when she felt the muscles in his stomach begin to bounce. A second later the low rumble of his laughter filled the kitchen.

  Soap soaking her jeans, she crawled on her knees and leaned over him. “Are you okay?”

  “Nothing hurts but my pride,” Colton said, blowing bubbles off his nose with a breath.

  “That’s—whoa!” She slipped again, her face smashing against his chest. The quick thumping of his heart pulsed against her cheek. “Sorry.”

  Colton maneuvered her around and gently tugged her away from his chest so that she rolled into the crook of his shoulder. She bit her lip, not wanting the laughter to return and alter the moment. So this is what it feels like to be snuggled up with Colton. It wasn’t exactly how she imagined it happening, but she couldn’t deny how good it felt.

  Too good.

  So good it made her forget her place.

  “Shall we try this again?” Colton asked, his voice vibrating softly beneath her head. “Or are you content to have your kitchen become a skating rink?”

  Pecca carefully rolled to her side, taking with her the soft scent of Colton’s cologne that had transferred to her sweater. “As much as Maceo would like it, I think I’ll stick with just one dangerous sport this season.”

  “Hey.” Colton rolled to his side and then, with one hand, pushed himself up to his knees. “Flag football isn’t dangerous.” His foot slipped an inch, but he remained steady. “This floor, on the other hand.” Slowly, he straightened and then, gripping the counter with his left hand, held out his right, the tremor shaking his fingers. “If you can catch it, I’ll help you up.”

  Pecca smiled and wrapped her fingers around Colton’s right hand. She looked up at him and held his gaze, feeling the strength in his muscles tighten as he helped her up. Standing, Pecca didn’t release his hand right away. Her fingers intertwined with his as they flexed almost like a pulse, and she took a careful step closer to him.

  Colton licked his lips. Closing what remained of the space separating them, he lifted his left hand and brushed a soap bubble from her nose. She batted her eyes and smiled. His lips separated and everything in her wanted him to kiss her. Like really kiss her. Toe-curling, mind-numbing, take-her-breath-away kiss that she believed was the only kind a man like Colton could give.

  His arm jerked, causing Colton to blink. When he looked back at her, Pecca could see the moment was gone. Pink tinged his cheeks, and he quickly pulled his fingers away from hers.

  “Colton—”

  “I think the, uh, best way to clean this might be to just use towels.” He looked anywhere but at her. “Soak it up.”

  Pecca was embarrassed. She’d crossed a line. So stupid. “Um, yeah.” She took slow, steady steps toward the hallway, usin
g the counter as an anchor. “I have some old towels out in the garage. I’ll just go get them.”

  Rounding the corner, Pecca stepped into the hallway and paused to catch her breath. She pressed her hands against her cheeks, feeling the warmth. What had she done? Colton was her patient. She muffled a groan and peeked her head into Maceo’s room. What if we had— Her thought stopped midway at the sight of Maceo draped over his bed, asleep.

  She lifted his comforter over him and then, brushing the hair from his forehead, she kissed him. Pecca closed her eyes, realizing how close she’d come to making another mistake. One that could cost her job. If keeping Maceo happy and stable was her priority, then she needed to stop letting her feelings get the better of her.

  A noise in the kitchen urged her back to her task. She shut Maceo’s bedroom door and walked to the front door. The only thing she didn’t like about her cottage-style home was the detached garage. She flipped on the porch light and stepped outside. She was halfway to the garage when the floodlight popped on, illuminating something on the ground near the door.

  It was a piece of paper. No, wait. She walked closer, squinted. A photo? Squatting, she reached down and grabbed the picture. She brought it up into the light. It was a picture from the flag football practice. The kids on the field—her eyes shot to the red X. Fear pulsed loudly in her ears. It was Maceo.

  Her fingers trembled. Where did this come from? Pecca covered her mouth, stifling a gasp. The picture she was holding drifted to the ground like a dead leaf, landing on a dozen more photos. A big red X covered the faces of her parents. Siblings. Her. Maceo. She wanted to scream, but it was lodged against the fear stealing her breath when she saw a single photo standing out among the rest.

  “Pecca, do you need help?” Colton stopped. From the corner of her eye, she could see him taking in the scene as she had. “You need to call the police right now.”

  Tears pooled in her eyes as she gasped for air. She couldn’t deny it now. The South Side Barrio had found her. Her eyes locked on the image of a handprint with the letters SSB carved in red into the palm. It was a clear message—everyone she loved had a target on their head.

  SIXTEEN

  “I NEED TO LEAVE. We need to leave. How could I be so stupid to stay here?”

  “Pecca, honey, you need to take a breath.”

  Sheriff Huggins put a warm hand over her trembling ones and squeezed just enough to pull her out of her panic. Sitting inside the conference room at the sheriff’s station made the situation feel all too real. As did the photos lined up in front of her. She’d spent the last half hour identifying the faces of her family members that had been marked out with an ugly red X.

  If she wasn’t sure before, she saw clearly now that the SSB had found her. She bit down on her lip to keep it from quivering, her eyes moving to Colton.

  Ever since he’d called the sheriff, he hadn’t been able to sit or stand still. His arm was moving more than she had ever seen before, and she was worried. The features of his face that she’d longed to kiss earlier this evening had turned rigid. Standing tall, he narrowed his gaze on the conversation between her and Sheriff Huggins like he was trying to assess the situation and make a decision. He was in soldier mode and looked like he was ready for war.

  “You don’t remember seeing anything out of the ordinary when you got home from work today?”

  “No.” She closed her eyes, trying to remember, but all she could see were the faces of her parents, Adrian, Claudia, Luis, and Maceo with red X’s marked over them. “I didn’t even park my car in the garage because I was running late and needed to change before the PTO meeting at Kristen’s. I don’t think I even looked at the garage.”

  “What about before tonight?”

  Pecca’s thoughts went to the family photo that was missing from the shelf. “It’s probably nothing, but ever since the shooting I’ve had this feeling that something was off inside my house. I thought it was just anxiety. A photo of my family had been moved from where I normally keep it, and Maceo swears he didn’t touch it and I know I didn’t move it.”

  Sheriff Huggins’s forehead creased. “You keep your doors and windows locked?”

  “After the shooting, yes.” Pecca’s eyes landed on Sheriff Huggins’s blue ones. She wanted to cry. All those days when she felt like something was off. The feeling that someone was watching her. “Do you think someone’s been in my house?”

  Charlie came into the conference room carrying a cup of hot tea, which he put in front of her.

  “We’re not going to jump to any conclusions.” Sheriff Huggins wrote something down in his notebook. “But I think it would be a good idea if you had the locks changed, and Charlie’s got a state-of-the-art security system in his house that I believe Ryan Frost helped him install. Maybe we could get you one of those as well.”

  “It comes with a panic button that calls straight here to the station,” Charlie said with a nod. “I’ll get one tomorrow. Doesn’t take much to install it.”

  “That’ll work for now until I can make arrangements.”

  “Arrangements?” Colton paused. Pecca had found the rhythm of his steps soothing to her rattled nerves, but now she shifted under the pressure of his questioning gaze. “You aren’t planning on leaving, are you?”

  “I don’t think that’s wise,” Sheriff Huggins added before she could respond. “Running puts you on your own. Away from help.”

  “And that might be exactly what he’s driving you to do,” Charlie said. “Run.”

  “We don’t know what he’s doing.” Pecca’s thigh bounced against the metal table leg. “Why would Javier do this? He was never like this.”

  At least not the Javier she knew when they were younger, but it had been eight years and he was in prison. That changed people. But coming after her and Maceo? Threatening her family?

  “Can you tell us a little bit about Javier, Pecca?” Sheriff Huggins’s voice was tender. “What makes you think he wouldn’t go to such extreme lengths to get your attention?”

  Pecca stared at the steam rising from her tea. She wasn’t proud of her past with Javier, but after Maceo was born she’d worked really hard to forgive herself and move on from her mistakes. It seemed those very same mistakes were now coming back to haunt her. If—and that was a big if—Javier was behind all of this. But was he?

  “The Javier I remember, the one I met when I was sixteen, was kind and compassionate. He had a good heart and never wanted a life in the gang, but he grew up in a rough neighborhood and made choices so he could survive.”

  “Is that why he was part of the robbery?”

  “He was trying to stop Felix. His cousin.” Pecca met Charlie’s eyes. Her shoulders slumped. “I’m not making excuses for him, but Javier wanted to help his cousin. It just . . .” She glanced over to Colton and Sheriff Huggins. Both looked at her like they were trying to understand, and she appreciated it, but unless someone grew up in the Barrio it was hard to explain and even harder to understand. “Something went wrong.”

  Charlie walked over and pulled his phone from his pocket. “Is this Felix?”

  She leaned over the table and cringed. Under the harsh glow of the fluorescent light, Felix looked as scary as he had when she’d first met him. It hadn’t mattered what Javier had said, nothing could’ve stopped the shiver that danced down her spine at the look in his eyes. She rubbed her arms. “That’s him.”

  Charlie twisted the phone around so Colton could see. “I spoke with Adrian while you were getting Maceo settled at the house.” Charlie scratched the side of his face. “Your brother said Felix Garcia is missing.”

  A rush of breath escaped through Pecca’s lips. “What do you mean he’s missing?”

  “After the shooting.” Charlie put his phone away. “I talked with Adrian. He agreed to reach out to the gang unit in El Paso and they’ve put out a BOLO, but they’re coming up empty.”

  “El Paso’s a pretty big city,” Colton said. “How long has he been missing?�
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  “Felix ‘the Spider’ Garcia is a ranking member of the SSB. According to Adrian’s contact at the police department, his power is in his presence. They’ve checked all his regular spots and have a unit outside of his home, but so far he’s AWOL.”

  “Do we think this Felix fella found out Pecca’s here in Walton?” Sheriff Huggins tapped the photos on the table. “That he’s responsible for tonight?”

  The muscles in Pecca’s stomach grew tight, making her feel sick. It wasn’t hard to imagine Felix going to extreme lengths. He was always trying to prove himself, and that chip on his shoulder had ended up becoming a yoke over Javier’s neck.

  “Wait.” Colton ran a hand over his face. “If Javier was trying to stop Felix, how did he end up behind bars while Felix walked free?”

  “Felix never showed up,” Pecca said, her voice monotone. “When Javier arrived, the other gang members thought he was there as backup. Javier told me he was going to leave but saw the store owner reaching for a gun behind the counter. He ran inside to stop him before someone got hurt, but it was too late. Another member of the SSB started shooting.”

  The weight of those days came rushing back, and Pecca wrapped her arms around her stomach. After Javier was arrested, her life felt like it was spinning out of control. And it was. She’d missed her period and thought it was due to stress, but a pregnancy test confirmed that it was not. It was the consequence of a bad decision that, by the grace of God—

  Her mind went to Maceo.

  Pecca turned her wrist to check the time. She’d missed another one of Claudia’s messages. A pang of homesickness blossomed in her chest. She wanted to go home. Wanted her family near her. Tears burned the back of her eyes.

  “Do you know how much longer I need to be here?” She sniffled and forced the tears to remain where they were. “I’d like to check on Maceo again.”

  Sheriff Huggins collected the photos of her family. They were now protected in clear plastic baggies wrapped in bright red tape with the word EVIDENCE stamped across it. “Okay, honey. We can get you home, but first I want to discuss your and Maceo’s safety.”