Chapter 19

As soon as she spoke, the hotel door swung open, a breeze rushing through the dining room. Everybody ignored the new arrival except Eliza. She watched his slow entry into the lobby, watched him draw his gun, watched him approach the dining room. She couldn’t speak. Her chest ached with the breath she couldn’t exhale. She didn’t give any warning or indication of what she saw. Even when he targeted Ford.

“Put the gun down,” Ford said after calmly swallowing the last bite of food on his plate.

The man hesitated, surprised, but he didn’t comply.

“Put it down,” Ford warned without turning his head.

Eliza imagined the man blowing a hole through Ford’s head. She could see the blood…the brains…on the table, on her dress. What would stop the stranger from killing Ford? Nothing that she could see.

“Somebody said they saw you around here. But I thought that couldn’t be right,” the stranger said, “I thought you would be in Mexico by now. Unless you already killed him.”