“Here,” Theo said, shrugging out of the flannel.
“No, I’m fine. I just—it was a lot warmer at home, and then it felt like a nice day at the Sigma Sigma house. I should have—”
“Auggie, for the love of Christ, take it. I’m fine. I didn’t just fly in from the land of milk and honey and board shorts.”
Murmuring something, Auggie pulled on the flannel. It was too big for him, and he cuffed the sleeves, but as usual, somehow he made it look good.
“What was that?” Theo said.
“Nothing,” Auggie said with a sugary smile. “Just remembering your deep, unrequited love for California.”
Theo grunted and opened the door.
“Theo?”
When he looked back, he was unsurprised to see Auggie’s eyes were wet again. “Just, thanks.” Auggie plucked at the flannel and added, “For everything.”
“Will you please stay in the car until I tell you to come up to the house?” Theo raised his hands. “I’m not going to cut you out of this. You found her. But I want to check something first.”
Auggie nodded. Apparently being the single most difficult part of Theo’s life more than a dozen times in one day was exhausting; he slumped back in the seat, chewing the placket of the flannel shirt, face already lost in thought.
Instead of approaching the house directly, Theo followed the sidewalk to one end of the lot, and then he doubled back and followed it in the other direction. A few cars passed him, but the yards and sidewalks were empty; it was mid-afternoon, and most people were either at work or school. The sun moved behind clouds as Theo turned back for his third trip along the sidewalk, and goosebumps tightened the flesh on his arms when that wet, frozen-moss breeze picked up again.
On his three passes, Theo got good, long looks inside Sadie’s house. The windows didn’t have blinds or curtains, and he could see into a bedroom and the living room. A girl with short, dark hair sat on the couch watching TV. She was eating something out of a bowl, and she was wearing pajama pants and a tank top. Maybe she could borrow Slutbreaker, Theo thought, and he grinned at the indignation he imagined on Auggie’s face.
At the end of the lot, Theo turned and followed the property line, which was marked by a four-foot section of chain fence, the rest having either been ripped out at some point or never been installed. He passed a massive linden tree. Its berries carpeted the ground, most of them black and withered, some of them squishing under Theo’s boots with a slight whiff of rotten fruit. A tiny window marked this side of the house—the bathroom, Theo thought. The glass was frosted, so he couldn’t see inside, but it was dark. He assumed that meant it was unoccupied. The backyard was even worse than the front—big branches had fallen in several places, and a stake and a rusting chain marked where some poor animal had been kept at one point. Theo stretched up to peer into the kitchen on the other side of the glass. Nobody there either. He made his way back to the car and rapped on the trunk. When Auggie opened it, he took out the tire iron and carried it to the passenger window.
Auggie was chewing on the collar now; Theo was starting to think he’d need to buy puppy spray.
“I think she’s alone,” Theo said. “I want you to play nice at the front door. Be newspaper-subscription Auggie or door-to-door-vacuum-sales Auggie.”
“Gross. That sounds like work.”
“You just need to keep her occupied.”
“Yeah, but newspapers? It’s not the 90s, Theo. I might as well offer to sell her a Jurassic Park t-shirt and a Fraggle Rock nightlight.” Auggie’s eyes widened when Theo pointed the tire iron at him, and he hurried to say, “You know what? Newspaper subscription was a great idea. You’re so smart.”
“Too late.”
“And strong. Look at those guns you’re flexing.”
“Just keep her talking, please.”
“And wise,” Auggie called after him. “You’re so wise, Theo. Because of your years of life experience.”
Theo walked faster. At the back of the house, he grabbed a rock. Then he went up the three rotted-out steps to the back door and slid the end of the tire iron between the door and the jamb, right where the latch was set. When he heard Auggie’s voice at the front of the house, he hammered on the end of the iron with the rock, forcing the door a fraction of an inch to the side. The latch popped free of the jamb, and the door swung inwards. Discarding the rock, Theo went inside and adjusted his grip on the tire iron.
“Bitch, I told you,” Sadie was saying, her voice deeper than Theo had expected, “I don’t care if your car died. Walk to a fucking gas station.”
“My brother will pay you,” Auggie said. “Come on, I don’t want to walk. I just got these Jordans.”
“Fuck off,” Sadie said.
Theo took the last two yards at a sprint, crossing the spearmint-colored shag carpeting as Sadie reached for the door. He was as quiet as possible, but she must have heard something because she started to turn. He got the end of the tire iron between two ribs and said, “Uh uh.”
She froze.
“Hands up. This is long enough to go all the way to your heart.”
Sadie raised her hands, and her tank top slid up.
“Come inside,” Theo said to Auggie. “Shut the door. Then go get a chair from the kitchen and put it in the middle of the living room.”
Sadie smelled like milk and body odor, and her hair was lank, barely longer than Auggie’s but looking greasy and unwashed. The tank top revealed a scattering of acne on her back and shoulders.
“You guys are fucked,” she said with a tight laugh. “You guys have no idea who you’re fucking with.”
“When I want you to talk, I’ll tell you.”
“You think you can bust my stash and walk away from it? You motherfuckers are dead. Dead. When—”
Theo caught a handful of her hair and smashed her face against the door. The movement took her by surprise, and she never had a chance to resist. He was pretty sure he heard her nose break.
“I got a chair,” Auggie said, “what do I—Jesus, what happened?”
Still steering her by the hair, Theo propelled Sadie toward the straight-backed chair that Auggie had set in the middle of the room. “Go find something to tie her with,” Theo said.
“I don’t—”
“Now,” Theo shouted.
Auggie ran into the bedroom.
Staring up at Theo, her nose flattened and misshapen, blood covering her mouth and chin, Sadie said, “You are a fucking dead man.”
“I’ve heard it before,” Theo said. “Be quiet.”
“It’s not me. It’s my boss. And his boss. And his boss.”
“Yeah, the Ozark Volunteers, every goddamn one of them jerking off with his sister. I know. Shut up.”
Auggie came back with a belt and a bedsheet.
“She doesn’t have anything—”
“The belt is fine. Pull her arms back, put it above the elbows, and get it as tight as you can.”