“Is that what it is for you, Elaine? A compulsion?”
It took her a few seconds to look back over at him. “What? For me? What are you talking about?”
“Stealing things. I’m a little slow to put the pieces together but I just figured out why you don’t want to call the police. Where’d the money come from?”
She rolled her eyes in an Oscar-worthy performance, as if his accusation was the most ridiculous suggestion imaginable. She was a better performer than Blake Rockstone.
“Are we back to that again? It’s my money. God, I told you that. You still don’t trust me?” She huffed in frustration, real or otherwise.
“Why would I trust you? I can’t even trust my own mother, and you haven’t been very forthcoming with information in the few days we’ve known each other.”
Her cheeks went pink. “Fine. What do you want to know?”
His phone vibrated on the dashboard, and Elaine jumped in her seat before grabbing it and tapping at the screen. “It’s my sister.”
She put the phone to her ear. “Mel? Thank goodness. What took you so long to call back?”
There was a murmur from the other end so all he could hear was Elaine’s side of the conversation.
“Well, just because you don’t recognize the number, don’t you think you should listen to your messages? I left you, like, five of them.”
Murmur. Murmur.
“Fine. Whatever, but here’s the deal. I need you to use the location finder on your phone to find mine. Somebody stole it and we’re trying to track them down.”
Murmur, murmur, murmur. Grant saw Elaine’s cheeks go pinker still.
“Just me and a friend. We think my phone may be on its way to Memphis.”
Murmur, murmur.
“A friend, I said.”
Murmur, murmur, murmur, murmur. Pause. Murmur.
Elaine sighed and glanced his way. “His name is Grant and we live in the same apartment . . . building. Now will you tell me where my phone is?”
Murmur, pause, murmur.
“Kankakee, Illinois?” She looked at Grant. “Does that sound right?”
“I’ve never heard of it but Illinois is the direction we’re headed,” he said. “Now at least we know they’re going south.”
Elaine nodded. “That’s really helpful, Mel. Thanks, but I need you to do me another favor. This is important. I need you to keep an eye on that phone’s location. If it stops or changes directions or something, we need to know, like, immediately, but don’t tell Mom or Dad, OK? I don’t want them to worry.”
Murmur, murmur.
Grant watched her from the corner of his eye, talking earnestly to her sister, her face animated. What kind of thief would be so concerned about worrying her parents? After a few more minutes, and a bit more vague but very nonfelonious-like discussion, she hung up and put the phone back on the dashboard.
“She’s going to check in every half an hour. So as long as my battery doesn’t die, we’re in good shape.”
They drove on for another mile or so, the scrape of the windshield wipers and the soft ka-thunk, ka-thunk of the tires rolling over snowy highway the only sounds.
“I told you my family had a soap business, right?” Her voice was soft, her words hesitant, but relief pulsed through him. Finally, she was going to give him some solid answers.
“Yes,” Grant answered. He looked straight ahead but she could tell she had his full attention. His curiosity was obvious, and logical, and she didn’t want to lie. It just wasn’t in her nature, but if she told him her real story, he’d think she was nothing more than a poor little rich girl who’d run away from home. Which, technically, she was. And try as she might, she knew she couldn’t bring herself to tell him about Boyd. It was just too mortifying. She liked Grant. She liked the way he looked at her as if she were sweet and innocent, but all of that would change the minute he knew about her sex video. So for her sake, and his own, she had to keep the falsehoods to a minimum.
“Well, we do have a little soap business, but it doesn’t bring in much money. My dad used to work, but then he had a long dry spell where he didn’t do much of anything at all. Bills piled up.”
All of that was true. Not even an exaggeration. Once the record label dropped her dad, her parents kept on spending, trying to keep up with the illusion of success as if money was still coming in, and they fell further and further into debt. Delaney and her sisters worked as celebrity stylists, but it wasn’t until Pop Rocks came along that things began to improve.