“You pulled a gun on two police officers?” Laurel exclaimed. “My God, Lisa, you’re lucky they didn’t shoot you. You could have been killed.”
“They would have killed me anyway if I’d gone with them. And Purdue, too. At least I got away.”
“For now, but what happens when they find you again? The police are going to consider you dangerous.”
“That’s why I need to get out of town.”
“And go where?” Laurel asked.
“Anywhere. I don’t care. But I can’t use any of the main roads. They’ll be looking for me and my truck. I just need to get far away from Thief River Falls.”
“Why does that matter? TRF is already an hour away.”
Lisa got off the sofa. She found herself pacing again. Restless. “Because this all goes back to Thief River Falls! Those two cops—if they’re even cops at all—they’re from Pennington County. The truck where Purdue stowed away made its last stop at the hospital in Thief River Falls. Don’t you see? That’s where this all started.”
“Then we should go back there and get some answers,” Laurel said. “Together.”
Lisa shook her head. “And put Purdue in danger? No. I won’t do that.”
“So the boy is still with you?”
“He’s in your gazebo.” Lisa took a seat on the sofa again, going back to the middle seat by habit. She picked up her novel from the coffee table again, caressed it, and put it back. She took the mason jar and inhaled the scent. Then she gave her friend a little smile. “He doesn’t like you, by the way.”
“You mean Purdue? He doesn’t like me?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“He thinks you know more than you’re telling me. That you know who he is.” She tried to read the expression on her friend’s face, but Laurel was inscrutable. “I mean, that’s wrong, isn’t it? You don’t know anything about Purdue, do you? About why people are hunting for him?”
“No, I don’t.”
“Well, good,” Lisa replied.
“If you want to get away from here, you need to figure out where you’re going,” Laurel said.
“I told you it doesn’t matter where I go. Somewhere else, where we’ll be safe, where I can find people I can trust.”
“I can think of one place,” Laurel said.
“Where?”
Her friend pursed her lips, as if debating whether to say anything more. “Fargo.”
“Why there?”
“I’ve known something for a long time, Lisa. I haven’t told you before now, but I know where Noah is. I’ve known all along.”
“Noah? You’ve talked to him?”
“Not in some time. But I know he’s in Fargo. That’s not even three hours away by car, Lisa. If you need to get away from here, if you need to find someone you can trust, why not your brother?”
“Because I can’t trust him,” Lisa snapped. “Noah made that very clear. I can’t rely on him to be there when I need him.”
“Maybe it’s time to try.”
“And have him run away from me again? No, thanks.”
“Then what do you want to do?”
Lisa stared through the window at the fields stretching behind Laurel’s house. From where she was, she could see the red Cessna on the grassy runway. She made a decision. “I need a favor.”
“What is it?”
“I need Curtis,” Lisa said. “I need his help. I want him to fly me to Minneapolis.”
“Why there?”
“It’s far away. It’s a city. This is a small town, Laurel. Everybody knows everybody else around here. Not in Minneapolis. Purdue and I can disappear, blend in. I can go talk to Will at the FBI, and they can figure out who the boy is and why he’s in trouble.”
Laurel took a long time to answer. “Don’t you think it would be easier to stay here with me?”
“If I do that, they’ll find me. You know that. How long will it be before they show up here? People know we’re friends. And I’m not going to put you and Curtis at risk, too.”
Laurel got out of the chair. Her lips were pursed, and this time, she was the one who paced. “I’ll talk to Curtis,” she said. “But if he agrees, I also have one condition.”
“What is it?”
Laurel stopped in front of the sofa and held out her hand, palm upward. “No gun.”
“Excuse me?”
“You know how I feel about guns, Lisa. I don’t want you or anyone else getting hurt. Give me your gun. Otherwise, that plane isn’t going anywhere.”
Lisa debated with herself. She didn’t like the idea of being unarmed and defenseless. Part of her wanted to say no, to walk away, but if she did that, she was truly on her own.
“Okay,” she agreed. “Whatever you say. No gun.”
She reached into her jacket pocket and handed the Ruger to Laurel.
16
Lisa made sure her safety belt was buckled, and then she twisted around to check on Purdue in the back seat of the four-seater Cessna. The boy looked ready to head off on a grand adventure. His wavy blond hair flopped in front of his big eyes, which took in everything about the plane and its instruments. She gave him a thumbs-up, and he returned the gesture with an excited grin. He didn’t look scared at all. He had faith that she would protect him from whatever was out there, that she would find a way to fix everything. She wasn’t so sure. She studied the wet, grassy runway ahead of her, and the charcoal sky looming to the southeast, and she hoped that the boy’s faith in her wasn’t misplaced.
She waited for Curtis, who stood in the field with Laurel fifty yards away. From their demeanor, it was obvious that they were arguing. Laurel did most of the talking, and Curtis shook his head in firm opposition to whatever she was saying. He planted his feet in the ground and braced his hands on his hips. Lisa wished she could hear what they were saying. She knew they were both smart, stubborn people, and she’d seen them bump heads in the past, but this looked worse than usual.
Before she could climb out of the plane and talk to them, the fight ended. Laurel took both of Curtis’s hands, kissed him, and whispered something in his ear. Curtis shrugged her off and headed for the plane without looking back at his wife. Lisa wasn’t sure which of them had won, but if history was any indication, she thought that Curtis had finally surrendered to whatever Laurel wanted.
Curtis performed his final safety checks on the plane’s exterior. Then he got into the pilot’s seat without acknowledging his passengers. He ran through his cockpit checks, not saying a word to Lisa as he did, and he squinted at the clouds.
“Everything okay?” she asked him finally.
“Fine.” His voice was clipped, but that wasn’t unusual. Curtis never used two words when one was enough.
“What was that about?” she asked.
“Nothing. Don’t worry about it.”
But Lisa was worried anyway. She was certain they’d been arguing about her. And Purdue.
“Thank you for doing this,” she said.
“I do what I’m told,” he replied, which did nothing to ease Lisa’s concerns.