“Hey,” he said, standing beside her. “Seriously, thanks for what you did out there. I mean, you shouldn’t have, but I guess, if you hadn’t, things could have gone south in a hurry.”

He gently touched the side of her face. “You’re gonna have a hell of a bruise here. You’re pretty scratched up too. There’s some antiseptic spray in the medicine cabinet in the bathroom. Better get yourself cleaned up before you get cat scratch fever or something.”

Letty found herself suddenly tongue-tied. “I can’t believe I jumped that chick,” she said, laughing nervously. “I’ve never done anything like that in my life.”

“We found Bonnie and Clyde’s ID when we searched the room,” Joe said. “They’re both bad news. Multiple arrests for possession and manufacture of meth, burglary, auto theft, you name it. She was released last week, from a women’s prison in Georgia, and there’re warrants out for his arrest in Alabama and South Carolina.”

“Wonder what they were doing here?” Letty said.

“His story is that they were headed to her mom’s house, in Clearwater, to visit her kids. The court took ’em away from her after her last arrest. And here’s the kicker—she’s his ex-stepmother.”

“Wait. The dude she was having sex with in the pool out there last night was her stepson? Eeeeewww.”

“Ex-stepson. Wait. What? Sex in the pool? Who told you that?”

“Oh. Well, your mom did. They were out there partying pretty loud, disturbing the other guests. I even heard them. Ava told me this morning she went out to tell them to shut it down—and they were, naked and uh, in the act. That’s when she told them they needed to clear out first thing this morning.”

“Jesus!” he exclaimed. “She didn’t tell me any of that when she called. All she said was that they were supposed to be out by ten and if there was any trouble, you were supposed to reach out to me.”

“Maybe she didn’t want to worry you,” Letty said.

“And maybe she needs to stop renting rooms to lowlifes and fugitives from the law,” he said. He pointed out the window, where a tow truck was in the act of hitching up the Impala. “Shauna found a loaded thirty-eight under the driver’s seat of their car. I don’t want to think about what might have happened if…”

The chimes tinkled and Ava bustled in. “Hey, what’s going on out there? I’ve been calling and calling, but nobody answered.…” Her face paled when she saw the scrapes and scratches on the faces of Letty and Joe.

“Dear God!” she exclaimed, clutching at Letty’s arm. “Are you all right? Where’s Maya?”

“Letty!” A thin wail drifted from the storeroom.

“Maya’s fine,” Letty said. “She was asleep the whole time, back here.”