The Arrival | The House of Voices #3

Twenty Four - Inside

Inside

 

October:

They dressed up as detectives.

And the worst part about it all was that it looked like it wasn’t their first time doing it.

Ace walked into the den first, dressed in a white button down shirt, black pants and boots, shrugging into a dark blue leather jacket as she walked.

“Detective Conrad, at your service,” she said with a wink, brown eyes smiling.

“Let me guess,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest. “You and your partner,” I nodded towards Spade, who’d walked into the room dressed similarly to Ace, except with a brown jacket instead of a blue one. “Were looking out for me on the Warden’s orders, and need to take me to him right away?”

Spade and Ace raised their eyebrows, both looking mildly impressed.

“That’s the plan in a nutshell,” Spade said, turning to look at Ace. It was a little strange to see him not doing that little head tilt he did when he wanted to look into her face. He wasn’t tall enough for that anymore. “Ready to go?”

“You’re under arrest,” Ace whipping out a badge and flashing it in his face.

The corner of his mouth quirked slightly as he quickly looked her up and down. “Cute,” he said.

Ace fluttered her eyelashes and lifted a shoulder. “Aren’t I?” 

“Is that a real badge?” I asked, squinting at the badge in Ace’s hand.

“It’s… a very good knock-off,” Ace answered. “We all set?”

Spade looked around the room. “Have we got everything we need?” he asked. Ace nodded. “Alright then, let’s go.”

I followed them out the kitchen door and over to the back of the house, where, to the side of the carport, was a garage door that I’d never noticed before. Pulling a little remote from his jacket pocket, Spade used it to open the garage door.

Inside sat a beautiful little Mercedes sedan that, from the wicked gleam in Ace’s eyes, I could tell belonged to Gomez. She looked like a little kid about to try on one of her mother’s dresses.

“He’s going to kill us,” she whispered, glancing sideways at Spade.

He ran a hand through his hair. “I can’t believe I’m actually saying this,” he said, “but what Gomez doesn’t know won’t hurt him.”

“You and I both know he’s going to find out about this,” She rolled her eyes at him and walked over to the car. Spade gave her a conceding little head tilt. “Who’s driving, you or me?”

“Whatever you want.”

She sucked in her bottom lip, looking thoughtful. A moment later, she walked over to the passenger side and opened the door.

“You drive,” she answered, getting into the car and shutting the door.

A minute later, I sat in the backseat of the Mercedes, trying to keep my nerves under control.

We were finally doing it. We were finally going to break into St. Elizabeth’s and free Parish. And the thought of finally getting him out of there was exciting me to the point where I thought I was going to be sick.

I couldn’t help but feel a little worried as well. What if he hated me now, after how long it took for me to get to him? What if something happened and the voices attacked me and I messed up so bad that I wound up getting all four of us captured?