“Oh, my God. I’m getting out of this car—”
He grabs me by the arm and pulls me towards him. “No. You’re not. I’m not fucking around right now, Blue. We are in a lot of trouble, OK? This girl, the waitress who’s missing? I saw her the day JD and I met you. That’s where I went that day. I needed to get two more videos for Ray to complete that week’s contract, and when I’m short, I use Lanie. So I used her that day, and now I find out she’s been missing all this time. Do you really think it’s a coincidence?”
“I don’t get it.”
“Well, here’s the thing, baby.” He smiles at me and pulls me in for a quick kiss. “You don’t need to get it. You just need to trust me.”
“What about JD?”
“We’re done with him, OK?”
“No! He’s part of us, Ark. We can’t just throw him away. We need to get him help. We need to make sure he’s all right. We need—”
“He sold you out, Blue.”
“What?”
“You heard me. All those films he made with you? The violent ones? He sold them today when he left. And do you know who he sold them to?”
I have to swallow very hard as I shake my head.
“The people who were keeping you prisoner, Blue. He sold. You. OK? We’re fucking done with him.”
“But why?”
Ark takes a long breath. “We don’t have time right now. I need to go inside and see if she’s in there. Maybe I’m overreacting. Maybe she’s just quit her job. Maybe she’s fine and this shit isn’t about to blow up in my face. I don’t think that’s the case, but I need to go check. So we don’t have time right now. You need to come with me in case people are watching her house.”
I want to ask why. More and more whys. But he’s out of the Jeep again. And now it’s getting dark and there’s no way I can let him get away. Because if I lose him—
“Come on,” he says, opening my door and taking my hand again. He closes the door softly behind me, and then he leads me up the short driveway to a gate that surrounds the backyard.
He pulls the latch and we go through.
As soon as I open the door, the putrid smell of a decaying body hits me. I close it back up and turn to face Blue.
“Now what?” she asks.
I just shake my head and tug her along to the detached garage and open that door with the same key I used for the house. Inside is Lanie’s Toyota Camry. “Get in,” I tell Blue, as I walk around to the driver’s side.
“We’re stealing a car?”
“Blue,” I tell her calmly. “Get the fuck in the car. We’re not stealing it, but I don’t have time to explain what we’re doing. Once we get somewhere safe, I’ll fill you in. But right now, we’re on the run. Do you understand? People are looking for us. Bad people. People who will kill me and take you. And if you think you get second chances to escape the kind of people who took you, you’re wrong. So we need to stay focused. Now get in the fucking car.”
She inhales sharply, because my rant gets louder as I talk. But she walks over to the passenger side and gets in like she’s told. I get in the driver’s side, start the car up, and push the button for the garage door. It rises slowly and I almost expect an army of hitmen to be on the other side waiting. But our luck holds. I pull the car out and park it behind the Jeep. Then I turn to Blue. “Stay here. I’m gonna put the Jeep in the garage to hide our tracks if anyone comes by here looking for me.”
I don’t wait for an answer, I just get out and climb back in the Jeep. I look at Blue’s face when I pull up the drive, and she’s looking around like she’s expecting assassins too. She’s scared. And she should be, because this is it. After four years of waiting, this is it. The moment when it all comes crashing down.
I cut the engine, grab the prepaid phone and the bag I packed before we left, and leave the Jeep behind.
“Who’s after us?” Blue asks when I climb back in the Camry.
I press the button on the garage door remote and watch my Jeep disappear. I’ll probably never see it again. This hits me hard. Because this life I’ve built over the past four years wasn’t so bad as far as lives go.
“Ark,” she says, grabbing a hold of my upper arm as I pull away from the house. “Please.”
I turn back onto the main road, and then make a left into a bank parking lot. “Just please, Blue. In an hour we’ll be settled and I’ll tell you what I think. But I need to go into the bank and get something. I’ll be right back.”
“No,” she says, grabbing my arm with two hands this time. “No, I don’t want to stay out here alone.”
Her fear is real and I have to remind myself that she’s been locked up for a year and a half. No real outside contact at all. “OK. But don’t talk. Don’t ask me any questions. Don’t say anything.”
She nods and we both get out and walk inside the bank. I point to a sitting area near the entrance and she sits as I walk up to the bank manager’s office and knock on the open door.
“I need to access a safety deposit box.”
“Yes, sir, please have a seat and I’ll help you with that.”
I take a seat and give him all my information. He types away on his computer, frowning for several minutes, and then finally gives me his full attention. “I’m sorry, sir. But this box has special”—he squints his eyes at me as he searches for a word—“conditions attached to it.”
“I understand,” I tell him quickly. “I just need the box.” I hold up my key on my key chain. “Now.”