I touch her hand. “Why? What’s wrong? I’m doing well, right?”
“Yes, you are.” She places my hand in both of hers. “You’re doing much better than I’d hoped and you seem like you’re happy here, which is why it pains me to tell you that you might have to leave.”
“Leave?” I feel terribly confused.
But I only arrived a few days ago.
“Did Ra… Mr. Brewster complain about me?” I ask, that reason the first thing that comes to mind. How could they have possibly known? “Have I done something wrong?”
“No.” Carol shakes her head. “Mr. Brewster hasn’t called me at all, and I’m sure he has no reason to. You’ve done everything you should as you should.”
“Then why?”
I can’t think of any other reason.
“Because I have some bad news.”
I stiffen, my confusion instantly turning into fear. “What bad news?”
“You know my brother works at the Houston PD, don’t you?”
“Yes. You told me.”
“Well, he told me that yesterday, someone dropped by looking for Savannah Brown.”
I tense all the more, my heart pounding.
She lowers her voice. “That was the name you were using when you were singing, right?”
I nod.
“Of course, it could be another Savannah Brown but something tells me this man was looking for you.”
I swallow the lump in my throat. “What did the man say about me?”
“Just that you had ran away. Benny’s colleague asked the man if he wanted to file a missing persons report but he didn’t. He said he’d find Savannah Brown himself.”
I suppress a shudder. “He’s here. One of Vince’s men is here, which means Vince knows I’m here.” The walls start to close in around me. “He could be anywhere.”
“Nonsense,” Carol says. “He’s not superhuman.”
Maybe, but that isn’t as comforting as she thinks it is.
“Something happened this morning,” Carol adds. .”
“Oh?”
Carol takes a deep breath. “My computer was hacked just a while ago. I came here to tell you as soon as I could.”
“What?”
“I don’t know what information the person was able to get but you know your current address is in my files.”
I clasp my hand over my mouth. “Shit.”
“I know your name on my files isn’t Savannah Brown and your photo is different. Even so…”
“He knows.” I stand up and start pacing. “He knows I’m here, and he’s coming to get me. He…”
“Sabrina.” Carol grabs my hand. “We’re not sure what he got, okay? We’re not sure it’s the same guy.”
“Oh, come on, Carol,” I snap. “You know Vince! Of course it’s the same guy!”
Carol nods sadly. “It’s a possibility.”
No. It’s not a possibility. It’s very likely.
“I can’t stay here.”
“Yes, you can. You’re safe here. If they come after you here, Mr. Brewster can have them arrested.”
“Or they can harm Mr. Brewster and David,” I tell her. “You don’t know what Vince is capable of. I have to leave. Isn’t that what you came to tell me?”
“I told you that you might have to leave but that’s up to you. I only came to warn you.”
“I’m warned and I’m leaving.”
“Now? I can’t bring you to my house since they already know I might know you, but I can drop you off somewhere. I can talk to Mr. Brewster if you like.”
“What will you tell him?” I ask out of curiosity.
She shrugs. “That you have a really sick relative?”
Something tells me Randall isn’t going to believe that. In fact, something tells me he’s not going to let me leave, which means I have to leave in secret.
“So are you leaving with me?” Carol asks.
“No,” I tell Carol. “I’ll sneak out tonight. If Vince knows I’m here, he’ll come and get me himself. That gives me a bit of time.”
She nods. “Okay. You do that. Don’t worry about Mr. Brewster. I’ll explain things to him tomorrow and get him a new nanny immediately.”
A new nanny? The thought makes my heart sink.
David and I have only just begun to get to know each other. We’ve already begun. And now I have to leave.
But I have no choice. Maybe I should never have come here. I should never have hoped I could be safe or happy.
My time here was just a dream, a dream I didn’t deserve to have. Now, I have to wake up and face reality once more, even though it’s a nightmare.
That’s all there is to it.
Suspicion
Randall
“That’s all?” I stare at the report on my screen in dismay as I speak to Gil.
I’m looking at the background check he made on Sabrina and it doesn’t say much. All it says is that Sabrina was born in Akron, Ohio, but after her parents died in a car accident when she was two, she was taken in by her aunt and uncle who lived in West Farmington, then she went to the Bristol local school district from kindergarten to high school. It also says she got into Youngstown State on a scholarship and had good grades during her first year but dropped out. The report doesn’t say anything about what happened after, which is what I’m interested in.
“Do you want me to dig deeper?” Gil asks. “Because I still can.”
“Yes,” I tell him without hesitation. “I’m particularly interested in finding out what she’s been doing for the past three years.”
“Well, you could have told me that at the start.”
“Sorry. I just thought it would come up.”
I guess I should have known it wouldn’t. Whatever Sabrina’s hiding, she’s hiding it well and I’m just as interested in finding out what as I am in finding out why.
“What? You think your new nanny is hiding something?” Gil asks.
“I don’t think it. I know it.”
“Okay. You know, if she’s hiding something and I’m guessing you think it’s something bad, you can just ask the agency for a replacement.”
“No. I’m not going to do that. I don’t want to replace her.”
“I see. Then you’re asking because you want to keep her?”
I lean back in my chair and frown. “Just get me the information, Gil.”
“All right, all right.”
“Thanks.”
“You know, if you’re desperate, and you sound it, you can send me a DNA sample.”
A DNA sample?
“I’ve already lifted the thumbprint off the file in the agency’s database. That can get a hit in a lot of databases but a DNA sample can get more hits, especially when there’s crime involved.”
“I didn’t say there was crime involved,” I tell him.
“Well, you don’t know, do you? That’s why you want me to find out.”
Unfortunately, he’s right.
“I didn’t know you were into these things. What? Do you have a crime lab now?”
“No. But we did design the latest software for the country’s crime labs and, of course, we have some of the equipment. We could easily process the sample and get the data and then run that through a number of databases. All we need is the sample.”
I sigh, leaning over my desk. “Fine. Tell me how I’m supposed to get a sample.”
“Saliva,” Gil says. “You could get her to spit in a cup.”
I frown, unable to imagine that.
“Or you could prick her finger and get the blood.”
That seems even worse.