“A cell phone sends out a radio-frequency signal to the towers within a radius of up to about twenty miles. Routing depends on topography and atmospheric conditions. There are too many variables and too many signals for the police to track anybody that way.”
“Okay, got it. Thanks so much for your willingness to help,” Natalie said. She was trying to rein in her emotions, thinking Sarah might find it odd if she looked as relieved as she felt. “Anything you need from me, please let me know.”
Sarah said she’d be in touch, then gathered her things and departed. Tina and Natalie stayed quiet. They’d debrief later, perhaps over margaritas at La Hacienda. Drinks or no drinks, Natalie could breathe easier for two reasons: the police wouldn’t be able to put her at the scene of the crime, and she’d no doubt that Tina, inadvertently or not, had found the right woman for the job.
CHAPTER 28
NATALIE
Natalie arrived at the Avis rental return in the Columbus, Ohio, airport five hours before sunset. She didn’t like the strategically positioned security cameras recording her every movement as she and the children completed the car return, but there wasn’t a damn thing she could do about it. Natalie paid her bill using the right credit card this time, so even if Michael had seen the transaction from the Fairfield Inn, he’d see no others.
She would have preferred to leave the car in Indianapolis, as she had told the trooper she would, and let her trail go cold from there. But that was a long drive, and Natalie was worried about getting pulled over again. As fatigued as she was, it simply wasn’t safe for her to be on the road. The safest thing to do after the drop off would be to get a room at the airport hotel, but that would mean more hours in Ohio, and more opportunity for Michael to find her. After ditching one car, she’d get another and hightail it out of here.
As she left the Avis facility, Natalie half expected to hear the employee behind the counter shouting after her, “Wait! Stop! You’re wanted by the police!” To her relief—sort of—the only shouting came from the kids, who were complaining in earnest now about being hungry.
In addition to his grumbling tummy, poor Bryce also bemoaned his missing teddy bear. The replacement offered him little comfort. “I want Teddy and I want Daddy now!” he said, stomping his way out the door en route to the shuttle bus area. Tears filled his downcast eyes. He was running on fumes. They all were. With his head bowed and shoulders stooped, Bryce reluctantly wheeled his luggage to the bus stop. According to the posted schedule, the shuttle that would ferry them to Hertz made a stop here every ten minutes. Airplanes rumbled overhead, streaking through the hints of blue that peeked out from behind a scattering of cloud cover.
Natalie shifted her focus from the sky to the road, keeping a lookout for the bus while trying to ignore her children’s ongoing complaints. Eventually (thank goodness!) a shuttle arrived, rumbling to a stop precisely at the scheduled time. The kids boarded first, moving nimbly up and in, finding seats in the back. Natalie struggled to get her heavy bag up those same stairs. Unsurprisingly, the surly driver wedged in her seat didn’t offer a smile or assistance.
After storing her luggage, Natalie settled herself behind the children, where it would be easier to keep an eye on them. She tried not to dwell on how the misfortune of others, the terrible accident that had called the trooper away, spared her a near disaster. Even so, her name was probably flagged in some system, and a database search could easily reveal that she’d returned her rental to the Avis location at the airport. From there, Michael would check with every rental company in and around Columbus to find her next ride out of town. Damn. How to get away?
Natalie’s anxiety felt like it sprouted wings and took flight. What would Michael do to her and the children if he found them?
She knew. In her heart, she knew.
It took thirty minutes in adult time—a thousand years, kid time—to get a new car from Hertz. Natalie ignored the steady grumbling and complaining of her charges as she loaded the luggage into the back of a blue Nissan Rogue. The kids cried out with delight when they drove by a Johnny Rockets located within the airport confines. Natalie made a U-turn. They had to eat.
A strong odor of grease greeted Natalie upon entering the restaurant. The smell made her pause. She knew strong odors could be an asthma trigger, but the kids were protesting too loudly for Natalie to make good on her suggestion they go elsewhere. She was also tired of fighting, so tired in general, that it was easy to ignore her better judgment. She allowed Addie to pick a booth in the back. At least they were away from the kitchen and that smell.
Both children ordered cheeseburgers from a chipper waitress with a welcoming smile that fit the Midwest stereotype. Natalie drank black coffee and later wolfed down a Snickers bar in a bathroom stall, hoping the sugar would give her a quick boost of energy. While the kids busied themselves with their iPads, Natalie desperately wanted to ditch the new rental and find some other way to get to Kate’s farm—a way that would make them harder to track. They still had some five hundred miles to go.
The food arrived minutes before the kids started eating each other. Both plates of burgers and fries looked dishwasher-clean in a flash. If Natalie hadn’t had to hunt down her waitress to get the check, she might not have seen the airport shuttle bus rumble on by. As she returned to the table, she realized that sometimes the most obvious answer was the easiest overlooked.
Natalie used her Tracfone to search the Greyhound website for one-way trips departing from Columbus. There was a bus leaving at 11:45 that night, which would get them to St. Louis at 6:30 the following morning. A second bus would take her to Wentzville, and from there they could catch a cab the rest of the way to Elsberry.
Good luck tracking that, Michael, she thought, smiling to herself.
Natalie’s smile vanished quickly when Addie glanced up at her mother, scowling.
“I want to see Daddy today,” she demanded.
Bryce got in on the action, nodding his vociferous agreement as if the two had planned a mutiny while she went for the check.
“Soon. I’ve told you that,” Natalie said.
“But when is soon? I miss Daddy and I want to see him now.”
Addie choked down a sob, her cheeks flushed with red.
“We have to do a little more traveling.”
“I’m tired of traveling,” Addie whined. She gulped down a breath, her chest heaving beneath her pink cardigan.
Natalie felt a familiar pang of anxiety inside her. The grease was bad enough, but now, agitated, Addie could easily suffer an attack. Addie tried again for a good breath, but coughed twice. Natalie shot to her feet and gripped her daughter’s bony wrists in her hand.