“Then what?”
“Then you stay put. I’ll get supplies and meet you there in about an hour.” I scoop an extra burner phone from my pocket and program my number in. “If anything happens or if you need help, call. I’ll only be about hundred yards behind you the entire time. Once you’re safely locked behind the door in your hotel room, call me immediately. You’re not safe out in the open here, so go.”
She walks out ahead of me, and I wait until she’s a safe distance away before I take a side street that will reconnect with hers. I know this city like the back of my hand—a lot of skips try hiding here in New Orleans because it’s such an easy place to blend in.
Once she makes it to the hotel, I wait for a good ten minutes before my phone rings.
“Are you in?”
“I’m in,” she says, out of breath. “Room 17.”
“Try to lay down. Even if you can’t sleep, you can rest. I’ll announce myself through the door when I get there.”
“Okay,” she says and we disconnect.
I hit a find anything store and put together everything I think we’ll need, go back for the rental car I had parked near the cemetery and get to the hotel.
“It’s me, you can open the door,” I call out.
A moment later Farrington is unlocking the locks. When she opens the door I ask, “You alright?”
She nods and turns away, not wanting to meet my eyes. But hers are red and bloodshot, and she’s crying but trying to get ahold of herself.
I put the bags on the bed and come up behind her, then I lay my hands over her tense shoulders.
“I messed up, Ryder.”
“No you didn’t—”
“You don’t understand. He’s going to kill me no matter what, but I sealed my fate, making sure my death will be long and torturous.” She groans and attempts to stifle a sob.
“What are you saying? Why would he want to torture you?”
“Because . . . do you remember when you found me? There was a man with a knife.”
“Yeah, I remember.”
“He came to cut me up.”
“You said they were going to sell—”
“Sell me, yes. So I lied. I told him I was friends with Drew and knew where he had hidden his missing drugs.”
“Oh, Farrington.”
“I thought it might buy me a little time.” She covers her face with her hands. “I told them I couldn’t give them directions, because the place he’d hidden them could only be accessed by a Tulane student. I thought they’d have to let me loose so I could show them where to go. I figured, at the very least, I was buying myself some time to come up with a better plan. That’s when the guy with the knife started to interrogate me, yelling at me to tell him where the drugs were that I helped Drew steal. He told me he was going to cut me up if I didn’t tell him.”
She pauses and silence permeates the room as she goes over and sits on the edge of the bed. “There are no drugs. I only knew who Drew was because he was in one of my classes. I’ve never even talked to him before.”
When she finally looks up at me, the horror in her eyes mixes with sheer determination and deep resignation. “They’re going to shred me—violently and mercilessly—because I don’t have what I said I did. But I have no other recourse, Ryder. I’m going to turn myself over to them to save my sister. You need to understand that, whatever strategies you’re devising, I won’t do anything, and I mean anything, to risk or jeopardize her.”
I nod before I come over and sit beside her. “I get it.”
“Now that you have that information, I’d completely understand if you pulled out. Because it comes down to the simple fact that I have a death sentence—and I can’t defy death forever.”
“I’m not going anywhere.” I stand resolute and empty the contents of the bags onto the small table. “I picked you up some new clothes since you were wearing that when you got away from your detail. You’ll put them on when we leave later. I also got us both masks.” I set the elegant masquerade masks onto the table. “We have to blend into the crowd and be unrecognizable to law enforcement.”
Farrington comes over and traces her delicate fingers over the edge of the purple mask. “It’s beautiful.” It is. It’s decorated with glitter flourishes and rhinestones of various colors. “I was supposed to come here for the party with a group of my friends, and now I’m never going to see them again.”
“Who are your friends?” I ask in an effort to distract her from her overwhelming fear.
“Tobi and Veronica. We’re roomies too. We went to the same high school together and have been best friends since grade school.” Her hand drops to her side. “That’s rare you know, to have such friendships. I’ve been lucky.”