“What about the blog—April said there’s one you and your sister use to stay in touch.”
“Yeah, but we use nicknames, just in case. Candy’s at a mission in Daegu, that’s in South Korea, my folks—my dad, he sent her there after the—the abortion—to keep her out of temptation and make up for the life she’d taken. I’m not supposed to write her, but we post to this blog, it’s devoted to Oscar Romero, on account of he’s my—my spiritual hero. My dad doesn’t know about it, and when I write her I use my blog name, Gruff, but—”
The hair prickled on my neck. “For ‘Billy-the-Kid-Goat’s Gruff,’ no doubt. Did you tell her about Bron and your dad?”
He was looking at the linoleum, tracing a circle with his running shoe. “Sort of.”
“Carnifice could track your blog postings through your laptop, even if you’d used the world’s cleverest nicknames.”
“But—I told her about Bron through Coach McFarlane’s computer,” he objected.
I yelped so loudly it sent Scurry running down the hall for cover. “They have your nickname, so they can look for any new postings you make! And now they can trace Mary Ann’s machine. If you’re trying to lay low, you absolutely cannot be in touch with the outside world. Now I need to figure out where to park you two—it’s a question of hours before your dad’s detectives track down Mary Ann’s machine. We may need to move you, too,” I added to my old coach.
Mary Ann said she wasn’t budging from her home, tonight or any other time; she was staying here until they moved her to a cemetery.
I didn’t waste time arguing with her or trying to persuade the kids to move; my most urgent task was to find Marcena’s recorder before William’s Dobermans did. Since she seemed to carry it everywhere, she must have had it on Monday. Maybe she’d only read from a transcript because she was recording the meeting, or she was wary enough not to let them see her device.
Her big Prada bag, which she also took everywhere, hadn’t materialized after the assault, so William must have gotten that. He’d searched the remains of the Miata. If the pen wasn’t there, or at Morrell’s, or the Czernin house, then I was betting she’d lost it either at Fly the Flag or in the truck that took them to the landfill. Or at the landfill itself, I suppose. Since I didn’t know where the truck was and couldn’t look at the landfill until morning, I’d swing by the plant now, before William had the same idea.
I hoped Billy and Josie would continue to be safe if I left them behind. It was hard to live with so much uncertainty. I’d been trailed yesterday, but not today—as far as I knew. But I’d been using my phone this past hour, and Billy had been using Mary Ann’s computer. I went to the living room and peered through a slit in the drapes. I didn’t think anyone was watching, but you never know.
Josie had gotten them this far. She was four years younger than Billy, but a harder-headed urban survivor. It was she I coached to put the chain bolts on both doors and not to open them for anyone but me; if I didn’t come back tonight, then tomorrow they had to tell a reliable adult what was going on.
“You two have been smart about not speaking on Coach McFarlane’s phone, and you need to keep doing that, but you have to promise me that you will call Commander Rawlings in the Fourth District if you don’t hear from me by morning. Don’t talk to anyone but him.”
“We can’t go to the police,” Billy objected. “Too many of them owe favors to my family, they do what my father or—or grandfather tells them.”
I was about to say they could trust Conrad the way they trusted me, but how could I be sure of that? It might be true, but Conrad had superiors, he even had patrol officers who could be bribed or threatened. I gave them Morrell’s number instead.
“When I do come back, I’m going to take you home with me. I don’t like leaving you here with Coach McFarlane—you’re too exposed, and it puts her in danger.”
“Oh, Victoria, my life is too close to the end to worry about danger,” Mary Ann protested. “I like having young people in the place. It keeps me from brooding over my body. They’re looking after Scurry, and I’m teaching them Latin—we’re having a grand old time.”
I smiled weakly and said we could figure that part out later. I showed Josie the place in the curtains where she could see the street, and told her if she saw someone follow me she should call me. Otherwise, I’d see her in the morning.
I zipped up my parka, kissed Mary Ann on both cheeks, and let myself out the door. Billy came behind me and pulled briefly on my arm.
“I just wanted to say thank you for helping me out when I fell apart just now,” he muttered.
“Oh, honey, you’ve been carrying way too big a load. You didn’t fall apart—you just felt safe enough to let me know how hard it’s been.”