Dead Man’s Hand by Giulia Lagomarsino
Antonio
Iwalked out of the bathroom, careful not to slam the door like I wanted. That damn woman was so infuriating. I was trying to do the right thing. I was trying to help her, but she didn’t look to me for help. She looked at me like a monster. And I was one, at least in a previous life.
I closed my eyes and leaned back against the doorframe, thinking back to that day with Carly.
“Do you forgive me?”
“You don’t need my forgiveness. We both did what we had to. We survived. Go make a new life for yourself and learn how to forgive yourself.”
My last surviving family member, and she couldn’t forgive me. I hadn’t forgiven myself either, and I knew I never would. What I had done would live with me until I drew my last breath. Still, knowing that my sister was alive and well out there, living life with someone she loved, should make me happy. Instead, I was resentful. She left me. She left all of us. She could have stayed with the family. Maybe she would have been able to see what I couldn’t, that I was being manipulated. Maybe things would have turned out differently, but now I would never know.
Pushing off the wall, I walked over to the front door, preparing to get wood, but then I glanced back at the suitcases on the living room floor. Opening the front door, I slammed it shut, then waited for a moment. Quietly, I walked over to the couch and sorted through all her things. Her purse was filled with typical things that women carry. I picked up her driver’s license and studied it. The plastic was a little thinner than it should be. There was a slight smudge on the ink, almost imperceptible, but I was used to looking at stuff like this. And the holographic symbol was just slightly off, not reflecting quite the way it should in the light. This was a fake, a very good fake, but still a fake.
I tapped it against my hand, trying to figure out why she would need a fake ID. I started rummaging through her suitcases, trying to find something that would tell me who this woman was or where she was headed, but I couldn’t find anything. Sighing, I sat back on my haunches and looked at the mess before me. There was absolutely nothing to give me any insight.
A small piece of the fabric on the inside of the suitcase was torn. I fingered the hole and felt velcro on the other side. Pulling at it, the fabric came away. Jackpot. A manilla envelope sat inside, but when I opened it up, it wasn’t what I expected. I dumped the contents of the envelope out, shocked to find another license with the name Ciara Murray. I inspected this one, bending it slightly, and checking the holograph, along with the ink. This one seemed legit. If it wasn’t, it was the best fake I’d ever seen. So, her name was really Ciara Murray.
Underneath the license was a bank account set up through one of the largest banks in the country. Her bank statement showed just under two-thousand dollars in it, with her last withdrawal in Vegas. She had taken out five hundred dollars. That would be just enough to get from one point to another without raising too much suspicion.
But none of that was all that interesting. The really good stuff was below all that. Pictures of backroom deals that I recognized all too well, along with pictures of Ciara on the arm of some man dressed in a very fancy suit. This man screamed money, but if she was with him, why wasn’t she now? I glanced back at the photos, studying them for a moment. I didn’t recognize anyone in the photos, but if I had to guess, she was dating the man in the picture. Either she saw or heard something she wasn’t supposed to, or she took something from him.
The sound of a thump tore through the cabin, muffled by the door to the bathroom. Frowning, I stuffed the papers back into the envelope, then resealed the fabric that had torn away. I’d have to keep an eye on her and see if she went after the hidden compartment. I quickly stuffed the clothes back in the suitcase and glanced around the living room, making sure everything was as I left it.
Walking over to the bathroom door, I knocked lightly, but she didn’t answer. “Fuck!” I groaned, staring up at the ceiling. Turning the knob, I opened the bathroom door and looked inside. Ciara was laying on the tile floor of the shower, her eyes barely cracked open. Shaking my head in irritation, I walked over and hoisted her up in my arms. She was dead weight, but fumbled to try and stand on her own.
“Would you fucking stop moving?” I growled. “If you had just let me help you in the first place, we wouldn’t be in this situation.”
“Asshole,” she muttered, resting her head against my chest. I could feel her burning up through my shirt. I had to get her to the hospital now. I couldn’t have her dying in my house. That would raise questions that I wasn’t prepared to answer.
Why didn’t you call for help?
Why didn’t you try and get her to the hospital sooner?
What’s your name?
How long have you lived here?
Of course, my name and how long I’d lived here could easily be found, but I worried it would draw deeper questions. I lifted her soaking body in my arms and carried her to my bed. She was shaking furiously, her cheeks flushed with fever. I should have tried to take her to the hospital earlier. Grabbing some clothes from the other room, I began the difficult task of dressing an unconscious person. The gash on her leg looked worse by the minute, and when I pressed my hand to her forehead, I knew that I couldn’t wait until morning to get her to the hospital.
After getting her dressed, I carried her into the living room, pulling some socks on her. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to get a coat on her. She was flopping around like a rag doll in my arms. I could drape her coat over her to keep her warm. Running out to the truck, I started it up, getting it warmed up as I finished getting her ready to go.
Grabbing some medicine out of the cabinet, I filled a glass of water and brought it over to her. I had no idea how long it would take us to get to the hospital, but I needed to try and at least get her fever down in the meantime. I slapped her cheek several times, trying to rouse her. Her eyes drifted open slightly, but she was still out of it.
“Come on,” I said sternly. “Wake up. I need you to take some medicine.”
Her head lolled to the side. I couldn’t believe she had gone downhill so fast. It wasn’t even a half hour ago she was sassing me. Now she looked like she was on the verge of death. Her flushed cheeks and burning skin had me worried. Me. I couldn’t remember the last time that I cared about anyone or worried about whether or not they would live or die. I had lived a hard life, one that everyone knew was full of uncertainty. But this woman, this pain in the ass, had me actually thinking about someone other than myself for a change.
Deep down, I knew there was more to her story, but I could figure that out later. It wouldn’t matter what her story was if she ended up dead.
“Ciara, listen to me!”
“So grouchy,” she grumbled, but peeled her eyes open. “So sexy,” she muttered.
I rolled my eyes. Now wasn’t the time for her to start telling me things like that. It wasn’t like I could fuck her like this.
“I don’t feel so good,” she mumbled, closing her eyes again.
“I know. That’s why I’m going to take you to the hospital, but I need you to take some medicine first.”
“Is it poison?”
“What?”
“Are you going to kill me?”
I frowned, wondering why she suddenly thought I would kill her when I had let her stay this long. “If I was going to kill you, I wouldn’t have rescued you from the damn car.”
I grabbed her chin and forced her to take a sip of water. She choked on it at first, spitting water all over me. But the second time, she was able to drink some.
“Good, now take the pills.”
I placed the pills on her tongue and lifted the glass to her lips again. She choked a few times, but finally swallowed the pills. Her head wobbled again, her eyes drifting closed. It was time to go. I grabbed her coat and draped it over her body. It should really be on her, but I wasn’t sure I could wrangle her into her coat as well. I put her boots on her, not bothering with the laces. It wouldn’t matter at this point. I hauled her up in my arms, her dead weight making it nearly impossible to carry her around efficiently.
Carrying her out to the truck, I tucked her into the front seat, watching as she flopped over before I was able to get her buckled. I wrapped the seatbelt underneath her and clicked it in place. The shoulder strap would be useless, but at least she had some protection. I ran back to the house and shut the door, not bothering to lock it. There was nothing to steal anyway.
The cold wind bit into my cheeks as I ran back to the truck. I dreaded making this drive down the mountain in the dark, but I didn’t have a choice at this point. I shouldn’t care. She was nobody to me. So what if she died? No one even knew she was here. I could toss her body out in the woods for the bears to feast on. If she was ever found, at some point, her car would be too. They would assume that she wandered off after the crash and was eaten by a bear.
But as I looked over at the woman beside me, I just couldn’t do that. I knew it was wrong. I knew I would draw attention to myself in one way or another. The cops might look into me a little more than they already had. The townspeople would whisper about me. All around, it wasn’t a good position to put myself in. But as I pulled onto the road, I knew there was no going back.
* * *
Drivingdown the mountain road was hell. Slipping and sliding all over the place, I wasn’t sure we were going to make it. At some point, Ciara wiggled over next to me, burying her head in my lap. I almost shoved her off, but the way she nuzzled into my leg, I thought maybe it was bringing her some comfort, and I just couldn’t deny her that. As we got closer to Denver, I took one hand off the wheel, most of the roads cleared by now, and rested it on her forehead. I could already feel the heat coming off her head through my pants, but when I touched her, she was burning up.
Tapping my thumb on the steering wheel, I fought down the need to protect her. She wasn’t mine, and it didn’t matter what happened to her when I dropped her off. She wouldn’t be my concern anymore. I rubbed my eyes as sleep threatened to take over. I was so close to the hospital.
Pulling up to the emergency room, I picked her up and took her inside, setting her on the gurney they quickly brought over. I watched as they wheeled her down the hall, not sure what to do now. Then a nurse came over and started asking me all these questions, and not long after, the police showed up. I groaned, rubbing at my face.
“Do we have a problem?” the officer asked.
“No, I’ve just been up all fucking night and I’m tired,” I spat.
“Sir, you brought a woman in that you claim you found on the side of the road. I need answers.”
“I don’t know what answers you fucking want,” I said, suddenly angry at being wrapped up in all this. I should have left her body outside. “Her car swerved off the road the other night and I brought her back to my place.”
“If she was injured, why didn’t you bring her to the hospital?”
“Because we were in the middle of a fucking snow storm,” I growled. “It was faster to get her back to my place, and less dangerous. I brought her as soon as I could get down the mountain.”
“Any idea what she’s doing in the area?”
“No,” I said, my voice pure steel.
He looked at me incredulously. “You’ve been with her for days and you haven’t bothered to ask her why she was driving through?”
“She doesn’t remember anything. I went back for her things, but she still doesn’t know who she is.”
His eyebrows popped up in surprise. “Well, isn’t that convenient.”
“For who exactly?”
He shrugged. “Maybe for both of you.”
The threat in his tone pissed me off. If I could get away with it, I would kill him on the spot, but without any contacts or anyone to cover up the crime, I was left to dealing with this like a normal person.
“Her car went off the road just about ten miles from my house. When the storm clears, you’ll be able to see where she went off the road. There’s quite a bit of damage. Her car’s at the bottom of a cliff.”
“Well, I’ll be sure to look out for it.” He tipped his hat at me, turning to go, but then stopped. “Maybe you want to hang around until she wakes up.”
It wasn’t a suggestion, as much as he was trying to make it sound like one. Gritting my teeth, I nodded and took my seat in the waiting room. With nothing better to do, I pulled out my phone and googled both of the names on Ciara’s IDs. Plenty came up, but none that matched her description. There were no social media accounts that matched her, nor any headlines about a missing person. Then again, I knew both were fake IDs, so the names were useless. If this was another time, I would have snapped my fingers and had the best hacker in the family searching for her. But those days were gone. Now all I had to rely on was myself.
I fell asleep at some point, my neck cricking painfully to the side when I sat up. A nurse was standing in front of me with a smile on her face.
“I just wanted to give you an update on Ciara. She’s doing much better. We’ve given her some antibiotics and her fever is starting to drop, but she’ll need to be here another night.” I nodded, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. “Is there anyone else we can contact for her?”
“I have no idea. Like I said, she skidded off the road in front of me.”
She nodded sadly. “Well, hopefully she’ll be awake soon. You can go in and see her if you want.”
I almost told her that I didn’t give a shit if I never saw the woman again, but part of me was curious. I nodded and stood to follow her down the hall to the room Ciara had been transferred to. Stepping in, the woman lying in bed was nothing like the fierce woman I had been dealing with the past few days. Granted, she was asleep, but it was obvious that the accident had taken it out of her.
“You should sit and talk to her.”
I looked up at the nurse like she was insane. “Is she in a coma?”
“Well, no…”
“Then why the fuck would I talk to her?”
The nurse gasped and hurried out of the room. Sighing, I leaned back in the chair and closed my eyes. I was exhausted, and frankly, I wasn’t sure why I was staying. There was nothing more I could do, and until she woke up, it wasn’t like me being here would help in any way.
But I was just too damn tired to drive home in this shit. The snow had stopped falling, but the roads were still terrible. Trying to drive on the mountain roads right now would be asking for a death sentence. I stared at the woman, trying to figure out who she really was as I drifted off to sleep.