I started as soon as she answered. “You don’t need to pick me up. Annie is going to drop me off at the library, and I’ll walk from there.”
“You finish your books already?” Mom asked.
“They go pretty fast.” I wasn’t done yet, but I had another reason to go by the library.
Mom sighed. “Okay, but don’t stay long. It looks like rain is on the way.”
“I won’t,” I assured her before getting off the line.
I walked into the library after Annie dropped me off and made a beeline to the romance section. After picking out the next two books in the series I was reading, I checked them out and went to the picnic table behind the building.
I opened my laptop, connected to the library Wi-Fi, and started the VPN program. I had this process down flawlessly now, as I’d already used it to make an anonymous call to the FBI tip line.
As soon as I’d started the last call, though, fear had consumed me. I’d thought it would be easy to turn in Dom and Mom, but then doubt had popped into my head. How could I trust the FBI?
Then, just as I was about to hang up and forget the whole thing, Rylie, the lady I’d been speaking with, suggested I name a family member I trusted. She said she’d let me talk to them to put me at ease. I’d blurted out Josh’s name. With my parents dead, he was the one who came to mind.
Hence my call today. I wasn’t ready to give up on this yet, so I’d decided to call back, as she’d suggested. I clicked the button to connect the call. Josh had saved me from the flood. He was the one who could save me now.
“You don’t recognize me?” I asked after he got on the line.
“No. It’s been a really long time.” We’d both been much younger the last time we were together.
“I don’t remember your voice either,” I admitted. It made sense that the man wouldn’t sound exactly like the boy.
“We were both kids,” he said.
A chill ran through me. “How do I know it’s you?”
“I was told you asked for me by name, so I’m here, just like I was for you before… You have a birthmark on the back of your neck.”
We’d thought it was a sign from the cosmos when we found out we both had small birthmarks on the back of our necks.
“What did you want to talk about?” he asked. “I hear you might be in a little trouble.”
I snorted a laugh. “A little?” That was an understatement. It couldn’t be much worse.
“Isn’t that why you’re calling?” he asked.
“I guess.”
“I want to help.”
“How can you help?”
I still wasn’t sure who I was talking to. And how had they found him if it was him? “But how do I know you’re Josh?”
“Ask me a question I should know.”
I sighed. “I don’t know. I thought I’d remember your voice.”
“You can reach out to me by email if that’s easier. My email’s listed on the Benson Corp. website.”
I didn’t know how email would be any easier. “Do you ever hear the roar at night?” I asked.
“Not in a long time,” he said.
I blew out a breath. Anybody could have given that answer. “I still do. I have to go now.”
“I remember the water,” he said.
“Me too,” I added.
“I have to go, Josh. Bye.”
“Email me,” he repeated.
I closed the connection and the laptop. My leg wouldn’t stop its jittering. This wouldn’t work. I didn’t recognize him. I couldn’t trust that it was him.
What had seemed simple now looked impossible. What proof did I have that Dom had forced me along? They’d lock me up right along with him. I had no way to prove my innocence. Escape was my only option.
Eventually Dom would screw up. They would catch him, and I’d have to be miles away.
I looked up at the sky and realized Mom had been right to be concerned about the weather. Angry clouds signaled rain wasn’t far off. Hefting the backpack, I started the jog home and was quickly back in my element. One foot in front of the other, focused only on avoiding a twisted ankle.
I couldn’t trust anyone. Escape was the only way.
Chapter 9
Debbie
When I got home, Dom was in an unusually good mood as I closed the door behind me and took off my backpack. He even asked how my day had gone. His team was ahead in the game, but that didn’t seem to account for it.
After our lamb-chop dinner, Mom joined Dom in front of the TV for Jeopardy! It sounded like she had more right answers than he did, but she knew better than to keep score.
I closed the door to my room and opened the browser on my phone, but I hid it behind my latest book in case one of them opened the door to check on me.
Every once in a while, Dom yelled at the TV.
I’d planned my escape a hundred times, but it was still fun to plan the route again. I could take Interstate 81 to 40 and follow that through Nashville and Memphis to Oklahoma City, or veer off on 30 to Dallas. Texas had a lot of space, and jobs were plentiful.
I’d never been to Disneyland, but Los Angeles was a much longer drive—and expensive, from what I’d heard. Texas was cheaper to live in, or maybe one of the plains states would be even cheaper.
My only experience was in food and retail, but pretty much every town had stores that needed help. If it was far away from here, it met the most important criteria.
A few hours later, I’d put away my phone and gone back to reading. I figured I still needed a few weeks to sock away a little more for my trip.
The TV went silent, and I heard them shuffle off to the kitchen.
“Hey, what are you going to do with that?” Mom yelled at Dom.
“I owe Jimmy for some bets.”
“You can’t be betting with that money. We need it.”
I opened my door a crack.
Dom headed for the door with one of the cookie tins under his arm. “It’s going to pay off, just you see. When I get lucky, it’s going to set us up for life.”
“And if it doesn’t? What do we do then?”
“We make another score,” he said.
I heard him gather his keys from the table, and the front door closed.
Mom was out of sight, but I could hear her crying.
I silently shut my door again.
The noise of Dom’s old pickup rumbled in through my window as he drove off. It was a miracle he hadn’t gotten pulled over and ticketed for the busted muffler on that old heap. The good side was that the noise always provided a warning before he made it to the front door—enough time for Mom to turn off the TV if she was watching one of the soaps Dom despised.
The cycle of robbing a bank and wasting the money had started, and a lot sooner than I’d thought it would.
A half hour later, the slamming of the front door and the jangle of keys announced Dom’s return.
I turned off my light and listened.
It didn’t take long to hear the refrigerator shut, followed by the sink running and their door closing.
If he was betting it all and losing, he’d need to rob another bank, and quickly. Dom wasn’t smart enough to quit when he was ahead.