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The trail of blood led to a small run-down establishment in the lower regions of the city–not exactly the safest place to be, but Jedediah figured his mark didn’t have too many options when his wanted poster was plastered along the walls and windows of every reputable business in the upper city. Jed wasn’t too concerned for his own wellbeing, given the set of skills that came along with being a bounty hunter. Still, he tread cautiously, keeping his stride casual but confident.
The shop, which appeared to be a beauty parlor of sorts, had its tatty curtains drawn, a nominal amount of light spilling from inside that could have been from any number of electronic appliances. Jed rapped the door three times and called out a simple “Hello?” hoping to sound as unintimidating as possible. Anything too forceful would draw outside attention, and even if Jed was confident he could fend off any danger that came his way, he would rather avoid conflict in this moment.
When no answer came, Jed tried the handle. The door was unlocked, so he tepidly stepped inside.
“ Hola, ” he called, loud enough to be heard, but not so loud as to be aggressive, “ ¿alguien aquí? ” His boots hit hardwood in a dim, sparsely decorated entryway. The parlor area itself was empty and darkened, but he could see lamplight and hints of activity coming from a room further back, which appeared to be a living quarters.
“Hands where I can see them, pendejo .” A voice to Jed’s left sounded off, along with the distinct ch-chak of a pump-action shotgun.
Jed raised his arms slowly in compliance. “Easy, señora , I’m not here to cause trouble.”
“Right,” the woman responded. “And this gun fires kittens.” She stalked a slow circle into Jed’s line of sight, just far enough out of reach that he’d be full of buckshot before he could get the gun away from her. The piercings along her ears, brow, nose, and bottom lip glinted in the low light, highlighting a vague facsimile of her face.
“I know you work with the sheriff,” she continued. “Our bills are paid and we have all the permits needed to run a business. You have no reason to be here, pig .” She spat the last word with such venom that it made Jed freeze for a fraction of a second.
“Ah,” Jed responded intelligently. “I’m not here for any of those things, correct. But I do have a reason,” he glanced pointedly at the small, dark smears on the floor, the crimson turning a ruddy brown where it soaked into the scuffed boards, “and I would very much appreciate your cooperation.”
She ignored his implication and pressed forward. “I will be happy to cooperate when you come back with a search warrant. Until then, you can turn right back around and–”
“Cindyyy, what’s goin’ on out there?” came a man’s hoarse and lilting voice from a room toward the back of the building. Rustling followed by uneven footsteps sounded across the floor, and the source of the voice appeared in the threshold, holding a red-stained rag to his torso and leaning on the wall for support. “You know Alina’s not very good with the needle yet–”
The instant the man saw Jed his eyes snapped into focus, and in a flash he’d drawn the pistol at his hip and readied to fire.
“ Sebastian! ” the woman barked, keeping her scrutiny on Jed, “You know the rules! The only one allowed to use a gun in here is me.”
“Extenuatin’ circumstances, Cindy.” the man called Sebastian hissed through gritted teeth, forcing each word out through shaky breaths. Despite his condition, his gun arm was steady and his eyes shone with a wild ferocity.
“Extenuating circumstances my ass. Alina! Mateo!” Two children no older than thirteen peered out from behind the injured man as he faltered and began to slump further down the wall, “Get him back on the couch before he passes out.” Reluctantly, Sebastian replaced his pistol in its holster and leaned heavily on the children as they wordlessly guided him back to the room he’d emerged from.
“And you,” the woman gestured to Jed with a jab of the shotgun, “This way. Keep your hands up.”
—
“So,” the woman said, now seated on a battered sofa across from Jed’s comparably stiff and rickety wooden chair, the barrel of the shotgun directed toward him as it laid across the table between them. “If you’re not here for collections, then why exactly are you here?”
Jed glanced at Sebastian, who was reclining at the edge of the sofa and somehow managing to appear relaxed despite the needlework taking place on his wound. “I’m hard pressed to believe you don’t know, señora .”
“Oh, I have my theories,” she spat, a flick of her head tossing aside loose black curls and revealing several additional piercings on her severe brow. “But I want to hear it from you. Why are you here?”
Jed eyed her with something bordering on pity. He couldn’t fathom why anyone would want to harbor, let alone protect the criminal seated across from him–and it seemed she was doing just that. This woman could clearly handle herself, and she could have easily driven the man out if she’d been so inclined, yet here he was not only being protected but cared for, and by people who knew his name. Jed silently hoped he hadn’t stumbled into yet another den of outlaws.
Jed let out a short huff and gestured toward Sebastian, “That man has a bounty on his head. I’m here to take him in.” Sebastian offered a lazy middle finger in acknowledgement.
“Like hell you are,” the woman snapped, grip tightening on the shotgun. “Even if I were willing to hand him over, you all would let him bleed to death in a cell.”
Jed shied slightly from her gaze, raising his hands in a placating motion. “I can understand your concerns, señora , but your…” he racked his brain for an explanation as to why she would be so preoccupied with with Sebastian’s safety, and he considered the two children briefly, “...husband is–”
Sebastian stuck a finger in his mouth and made an exaggerated gagging noise, which earned him a cuff upside the head from the woman. “Brother,” she said.
“Right,” Jed continued, relieved for the children that his guess had been wrong. “Your brother is a wanted man, and I am here to ensure that justice is carried out.”
“Justice, of course.” The woman scoffed, the rigid set of her jaw belying active restraint. “It’s always justice with you law types. If you want justice then you should start by putting the sheriff and all her minions behind bars.”
Jed couldn’t hide his distress at this statement. He’d known the sheriff for years and couldn’t imagine her being anything other than a paragon of honor and decency. Sure, the officers he’d worked with and grown close to could be a little rough around the edges, but he’d never deemed any one of them as capable of causing as much harm as this woman seemed to think.
“Now listen here–”
“No,” the woman snarled. “I am sick of listening to you people. I am sick of listening to idiots defend government sanctioned murderers and acting like their victims somehow had it coming. And,” she stood, readying her shotgun, “I am sick to fucking death of trying to explain to those idiots how wrong they are.”
Jed stood as well, slowly with his arms raised, unsure exactly where the situation was headed but electing to be prepared for a messy fight and possible retreat. The woman continued, “Give me a single good reason why I should let you leave.”
Jed figured saying “because you’d get in trouble with the law” would be the fastest way to get himself shot. He penitently looked down at the two children, who had finished their work and were staring wide-eyed at the scene from their place beside Sebastian. “I don’t think they need to see that,” he offered genuinely.
The woman gave him a measured stare. After a long, tense moment, she sighed and relaxed slightly, but did not lower her gun. “If you go tattling to your dogs, I will send him after you,” she said, motioning toward Sebastian, who grinned and gave an innocent wave. “Believe me when I say you do not want him hunting you down”
Jed considered this. Up until now, he’d been the one doing the hunting. He hadn’t contemplated what it would be like to be on the other end, and decided it wasn’t something he particularly wanted to find out–especially if the person hunting him would be someone as… unbalanced as Sebastian.
“She’s right, honey. I’ve been playing nice up ‘til now.” Sebastian said, his languid inflection doing wonders to disguise his discomfort, betrayed only by the gravelly quality of his voice and a slight wince as he shifted on the sofa. “I could be having so much more fun with you.”
Jed ignored the ridiculous comment and addressed the woman again, “I won’t tell them he’s here,” he conceded. “I’ll leave for now. But I’m not giving up.”
The woman narrowed her eyes at that. Sebastian piped in again, “ Ooooh , a man with tenacity , I like it.”
“Shut up, puta. ” the woman kicked at his leg, which sent him into a fit of strangled laughter that ended in grunts of pain and muttered curses that finally broke his nonchalant facade. She sighed again, clearly exasperated, “ Que cojones… I guess that’s the best I can hope for.” She motioned to the exit with her shotgun. “Now get out of here.”
“Right away,” Jed said a little too quickly. “It was nice meeting you, señora … Cindy?”
“Cinder,” she responded curtly. “And no, it wasn’t.”