– Ouch. That looks painful.

I touched the bandage on my forehead.

– And if thats what it feels like to look at it, imagine how it feels to actually have it happen to you.

The half of her face that I could see in the chained gap at the edge of the door nodded.

– Yeah, Id imagine that sucks.

Cars whipped past on the highway across the parking lot, taking full advantage of the few hours in any given Los Angeles county twenty-four-hour period when you might get the needle on the high side of sixty. I watched a couple of them attempting to set a new land speed record.

I looked back at Soledads face, bisected by the door.

– So?

– Uh-huh?

I hefted the plastic carrier full of cleaning supplies Id brought from the van.

– Someone called for maid service?

– Yeah. That was me.

– I know.

She fingered the slack in the door chain, set it swinging back and forth.

– I didnt really think youd come.

– Well, I like to surprise.

She stopped playing with the chain.

– Terrible habit. Dont you know most people dont like surprises?

I looked over at the highway and watched a couple more cars.

– Can I ask a silly question?

– Sure.

I looked back at her.

– What the fuck am I doing here?

She ran a hand through her hair, let it fall back over her forehead.

– You sure you want to do this, Web?

That being the kind of question that tips most people off to a fucked up situation, I could very easily have taken it as my cue to go downstairs, get back in the van and get the hell gone. But its not like I hadnt already been clued in to things being fucked up when she called in the middle of the night and asked me to come to a motel to clean a room. And there I was anyway. So who was I fooling?