She pressed the green button, hoping she hadn’t missed the call. “Hannah? Hannah, are you still there?”
“Of course I’m still here. Vermont’s the other end of the world. I can’t travel far without money or a car.” Her sister’s annoyed voice sounded over the phone lines.
“That’s not what I meant.” Kendall ran a hand through her morning-messy hair. “We need to talk.”
“Yeah we do.”
Kendall narrowed her gaze. Hannah had been avoiding her phone calls for days and now she was suddenly being agreeable? “What’s going on?”
“Like you care.”
Kendall ignored that comment. “I spoke to Mr. Vancouver—”
“He hates me.”
“Apparently you’re giving him good reason.” Her sister snorted.
“He said you’re on probation.”
“Uh, not anymore.”
Kendall blinked. “You’re off probation? How’d you manage that? Did you apologize or—”
“I left.”
“What do you mean you left?” Kendall shrieked and Rick jumped out of bed, coming up behind her and leading her back so she could sit down on the mattress. “Where are you? And how are you?” She willed herself not to panic. Yet.
“What do you think I mean? I left. It’s not like they wanted me there anyway. I’m sure I saved him the job of kicking me out.”
“Kicking you out?” Though Mr. Vancouver had intimated such consequences were possible, Kendall had thought for sure he’d sit down with Hannah and her parents, or Hannah and Kendall, and talk first. And she’d never thought her sister would do anything to lead to such drastic consequences.
“Would you quit repeating everything I say? It’s no big deal. This school sucks.”
“Watch your mouth.”
“Don’t tell me what to do. You’re not my mother.” Kendall cringed at Hannah’s nasty tone. What happened to her sweet sister and what had caused her to run from school? “Look, I happen to be the only adult relative listed on your emergency card at school. That gives me some rights. And the first right I’ve got is to get a straight answer.” To the most important question, Kendall thought. “How are you?”
“Like you care,” Hannah shot back with that snotty tone again.
“I do.”
“Whatever. I’m fine and I’m at the bus station near school. I need a ticket and I need to know where you are. Between Mom, Dad, and you, it’s like having no relatives at all.”
Hannah’s words were like a knife in Kendall’s heart. She’d lived the very life Hannah just described and it hadn’t been fun, nor filled with warm, fuzzy moments. Their parents had chosen boarding school for Hannah as a means of providing more stability than Kendall had had. But could stability replace family, a chiding voice inside Kendall asked. “Hannah—”
“Don’t get all mushy on me. Just get me out of here, okay?”
Kendall blinked. Her sister’s animosity and hurt obviously ran deep. And Kendall hadn’t even realized it existed. She’d been so caught up in caring for Aunt Crystal and dealing with her own problems, she’d merely assumed Hannah was safe and happy in boarding school. An assumption that would obviously cost her now.
But first, she needed to get Hannah home. As if either of them had a home. Kendall glanced at her watch. It was eight A.M. already. She rubbed at her eyes. “Give me the information about where you are and I’ll call and buy a bus ticket. You have your ID on you?” She gestured to Rick for a pencil and paper.
“Yeah.”
Rick handed her the things she’d asked for. “Thanks,” she mouthed at him. “Go ahead, Hannah.” Kendall scribbled down the Vermont bus terminal name and area code, then asked and got the pay phone number. “I’ll make the arrangements and there’ll be a ticket waiting for you. I’ll meet you on the other end.”
“Whatever.”
Kendall saw past the bravado to the scared girl alone at a bus station, or perhaps Kendall just needed to believe her sister wasn’t as hardened and uncaring as she sounded. After all, she’d been in touch with Hannah lately and she’d sounded fine. But when was the last time you really made time to listen to her, that same accusing voice asked. Not wanting to face the answers or the guilt, Kendall turned her attention to the here and now. “Be careful, Hannah.”
“I’m not going back to that place.” Hannah’s voice cracked and Kendall knew she hadn’t imagined it this time.
Kendall swallowed over the lump in her throat. “We’ll talk when you get here, okay?”
“Just promise me you won’t send me back there.” She’d have to reach her parents somehow, but no child should have to stay where they were that unhappy. “I promise.”
A loud exhale of relief sounded over the other end of the phone.
“I’ll call Mr. Vancouver and explain you’re on your way to me. I don’t want him calling the police or reporting you missing.”
“Don’t take anything he says too seriously. The cue ball—”
“That would be Mr. Vancouver?” Kendall hazarded a guess.
Hannah snorted in reply. “He has no sense of humor.”
“I wouldn’t either if you were calling me a cue ball,” Kendall said wryly. She wasn’t sure she wanted to hear Hannah’s latest prank either.
“I only did it to his face once.”
She shook her head, realizing she had her work cut out for her when Hannah arrived. “Let me go buy the ticket. I want you here safe and sound. I’ll call you back with the details.”
Kendall spent the next five minutes on the phone, purchasing the ticket, making certain the clerk would watch out for Hannah until she got on the bus, and then she called her sister back.
Finally, she hung up the phone and turned to Rick. “She’s on a 10:45. I have to pick her up in Harrington at 2:55 this afternoon.”
“What happened?” Rick eased the cell phone out of her hand and placed it on the nightstand.
Kendall ran a shaking hand through her hair, then began to pace. “I can’t believe this.”
“Come sit down.” He patted the mattress where they’d made love and then slept in a blissful state of oblivion—while her sister was so unhappy.
And Kendall hadn’t a clue. Hadn’t seen it coming. She shook her head, her thoughts reeling. “Hannah must be distraught. I mean how could she just leave school? How could she do something as stupid as arrive at a bus station, no real destination in mind. Who does something that impulsive?”
Rick winced. “Excuse me for stating the obvious, but you do.”
Kendall opened her mouth to argue, then realized she couldn’t. “Okay, so it runs in the family. But do you know what can happen to a fourteen-year-old girl alone at a bus terminal?” She shuddered to think about it. “That clerk better watch out for her.”
Rick picked up the paper she’d written her notes on earlier, then grabbed for the phone and dialed. “Hello?”
“What are you—”
He held a hand up to silence her. “This is Officer Rick Chandler from the Yorkshire Falls Police Department. Yorkshire Falls, New York. You have a minor child there named Hannah Sutton?” He waited for an answer, then nodded at Kendall. “Good. I’d appreciate it if you made certain she got on the proper bus and wasn’t bothered by strangers while she waits. I can give you my badge number for an ID if you need—” He remained silent again, listening. “Won’t be necessary? Thank you. I appreciate that. Bye.” He set the phone back down and grinned at her.