She started to say something but he put a finger on her swollen lips. She couldn't help herself wincing.

'Shush. You've got just one chance to make things right here.'

She nodded dumbly.

'I want my money back—'

She kept on nodding like her life depended on it, which it probably did.

'—and I want Dixie's head on a spike.'

Her mouth dropped open in surprise. Had she heard him right? He carried on before she could find the words to say anything.

'Not literally, of course.' He chuckled. Chuckled, after what he'd just done. 'I might do that later. But I want you to bring him to me.'

He thought for a second and smiled at her.

‘You know, I really like you, so I’m going to make it even easier for you. If you think it’s going to be a problem getting him back here’—he gave a soft, you’re only a woman after all shrug—‘you can kill him yourself.’ He held up a finger. ‘But I want proof.’

'Why can't you—'

Chico shook his head. 'I think he's in the wind now. And if I'm right, I won't be able to get close to him.'

'But—'

He put his finger on her lips again. She shuddered at his touch. 'I'll let you know when I want to hear ifs and buts. I’m already cutting you a lot of slack here. I know you two had something going. You can get close to him. I can't. He trusts you.'

Ellie started coughing again and covered her face with her hands. If only you knew.

'I don't know what the situation is between you two now, and I don't care. You've got a straight choice. It's him or you. And remember, I found you once, I'll find you again and next time we'll do this for real.'

He turned to Juan and José. 'Get her cleaned up and bring her upstairs. And get that stupid phone out of my face.'

Chapter 20

Ellie sat in a chair in Chico's office in a silky, pink robe. She felt ridiculous. Juan and José had been sent back to her hotel to pick up the rest of her stuff and somebody had found this stupid pink robe lying around for her to wear. She couldn't even start to wonder why on earth they had something like this lying around. She was just thankful to be out of the basement and covered up. Her whole face throbbed from the slap Juan had given her, she was sure her foot was broken and the cut under her breast stung like hell. Apart from that everything was just fine. Opposite her Chico looked relaxed and at ease. He had a drink at his elbow and was studying her phone. He'd taken off his roman collar which she thought must be a good sign. Evan's business card was sitting on his desk between them along with a piece of paper on which she'd written down the money's location.

'Looks like you got two missed calls from Evan while we were downstairs having our little chat,' Chico said, looking up suddenly. She dropped her eyes and pulled the robe closer around herself. She needed a shower. Their idea of cleaning her up was a pack of wet wipes and she was sure she could smell dried piss rising up from her lap. She'd seen his nose wrinkle a minute ago although he tried to hide it, pretend he had an itch.

He took a sip of his drink and picked Evan's card up from the table and compared the numbers. He nodded to himself.

'So what's going on here?, he said, pinching the skin between his eyes and the bridge of his nose. 'We've got this guy Evan Buckley looking for Dixie in Kelly's Tavern. He leaves his business card with the bartender. Juan and José try to have a word with him but he gets a lucky break and gets away. They go back to the bar and pick up the card and—surprise, surprise—they find you sitting outside waiting for something. Or somebody. You tell them you've never heard of the guy and now, the next thing we know, we've got two missed calls from him on your phone.'

He shook his head as if in amazement at the strange ways of the world. He waited a second but then carried on before she could think what to say.

'Maybe when Juan and José get back we need to go back downstairs and carry on from where we left off.'

It was as if she was back already. She could feel the cold metal of the secateurs against her nipple, imagine the razor sharp blade slicing easily through soft flesh, imagine the little lump of bloody tissue that used to be her nipple dropping into her lap, blood spurting everywhere—she knew it would spurt for Christ's sake, even if they didn't. She felt sick and dizzy. She swallowed and reached for his drink without thinking and stopped, her hand hovering above the desk. He pushed it towards her. She hesitated a moment before picking it up and draining it in one gulp.

'I can explain.' She put her hand over her mouth and coughed as the spirit hit her chest. 'At least I can explain some of it.' Her mind was racing. What the hell was she going to say? 'I don't know what's going on one hundred per cent either, but I'll tell you what I do know.'

Chico leaned back in his chair and opened his hands wide towards her. She noticed he had a number of fresh cuts on his palm. Served the bastard right. 'Please do,' he said, 'and it better be good.'

She swallowed thickly; she could do with some more of that Tequila. 'I used to know the guy from years ago, a friend of a friend.'

Chico nodded like it sounded reasonable so far.

'Then I ran into him by chance just the other day. And we got talking about old times and then he told me he was a private investigator now and I asked him if he was doing anything exciting and he said no, just looking for some guy.'

Chico nodded some more but the look on his face said that it was already starting to sound suspect.

Ellie leaned forward, angling her body towards him. 'I said really? Anyone I might know? Just making conversation. You can imagine my surprise when he said it was Dixie.' She put her hand to her mouth, her lips parted behind it.

Chico had stopped nodding and she wondered if she'd overdone it with the non-verbal stuff. His dark eyes drilled into her. She shifted in her seat but held his gaze. Do not look away.

'And what did you say?'

'I told him I'd never heard of him.'

A frown creased Chico's forehead. 'Really? Why was that?'

'Because I didn't know what Evan wanted with him. I wasn't going to say anything that might drop Dixie in trouble. I didn't want to end up being a snitch without knowing it.'

Chico stiffened at the mention of snitch, his eyes narrowing to slits. It probably wasn't the best choice of words, but it was too late to do anything about it now.

'He didn't say why he wanted to find him?'

Ellie shook her head. 'No. I asked him but he wouldn't say. Some BS about client confidentiality.'

He nodded in a whatcha gonna do? way

'So what happened next?'

'We said our goodbyes and went our own ways. Except I was curious what he was up to, so I followed him. That's why I was outside Kelly's bar.'

Chico was quiet for a moment while he gave her story some thought. Ellie hoped he couldn't see how nervous she was. Sweat was running down the middle of her back and had already soaked into the ridiculous pink robe.

'Why did you tell Juan and José you'd never heard of the guy?'

She shrugged. 'I don't know—I panicked, I suppose. I couldn't tell them anything they didn't already know, so I didn't say anything at all.' She shrugged again. 'It was a mistake. I'm sorry.'

Chico smiled at her. 'That's okay, everybody makes mistakes. But why's he calling you now? That's what I want to know.'

Ellie shook her head helplessly. 'I don't know. I told you I don't know exactly what's going on.' She paused a second and then took a gamble. 'Do you want me to ring him back?'

She held her breath and prayed she'd read him right. If he said yes, call him back, she was finished. He'd overhear the conversation and know that she'd twisted everything round. Then it would be straight back downstairs for her. Down to the naughty basement until she could be trusted again. Sayonara left breast.