“Won’t it be worth a thousand bucks to be able to live in Arizona, like you wanted to begin with?”
She thought about that for a moment. “I-I guess,” she said at length. “But...what about the Camry? Will we leave without it?”
“Of course. Either the cops will find it, or the insurance will replace it. That’s no reason to stay.”
“It’s just...this is so sudden. And we haven’t been here very long.”
He taped another box closed. “I know. It was a mistake to come. I really thought I’d get that job, that I’d be able to make our lives better. Then I didn’t, and you’ve been so disappointed that I haven’t been able to find something else. Maybe we’ll have better luck in Phoenix. At least we’ll have a mild winter, right?” He grinned at her. “I want to give you what you want for a change. You deserve it. Think about it...if we bail now, it won’t affect the kids half as much as if we wait. It’ll just be like we had a...a six-week vacation in Boston one summer.”
Her eyes filled with tears. “So we can really go where I want to go? By my family?”
“Of course. Since you’ve been gone, I’ve realized how much you do every day. I don’t support you enough, Hill. I need to pitch in more, make sure you’re happy. And getting you out of here is the first step.”
She dashed a hand across her cheeks. “So you still love me.”
The disbelief in her voice prompted him to put his arms around her. He didn’t love her—sometimes he even wondered what love was—but he knew she’d expect such physical comfort. “Of course I do. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”
“You’ve been so remote lately. So...moody and...and angry. I didn’t know what you were thinking. I assumed...I assumed you were tired of me, or bored, or—”
“I’ve just been depressed,” he said. “Who wouldn’t be? I haven’t been able to get a job. That makes me feel worthless. But I’ll find something in Arizona. I’m going to make you proud. I promise.”
Her arms slid around his neck, and she buried her face in his shoulder.
It irritated him how gullible she was. If he really cared about her, she wouldn’t have to wonder. That seemed obvious to him. But she was reacting exactly as he’d hoped, so he played into it, as if he felt far more than he really did. “Are you okay?”
She sniffed. “I’m fine. Just...happy that everything’s still good between us, I guess. And that I’ll soon be living close to my mom and sister.”
“Every couple has their hard times,” he said. “But that doesn’t mean there isn’t something that draws us inexplicably together.” Take him and Evelyn, for example. She infuriated him, so much that he was tempted to go after her again right away. But he knew that wouldn’t be wise; she’d be ready for him this time. So he’d sit back for a year or two, until she began to feel comfortable again. Maybe she didn’t realize it, but he knew where she was going. He even knew the specific house where she would soon live. So he’d keep an eye on the news, follow developments in her career and what went on at Hanover House. Then, when the time was right, he’d pay her another visit.
And this time, she wouldn’t get away.
“Inexplicably?” Hillary echoed. The confusion on her face told him he’d used the wrong word, a word she didn’t find as reassuring as she would’ve liked.
“Undeniably,” he corrected. “I couldn’t live without you.” At least not for free. “We’re going to make it,” he promised and gestured at all the boxes. “So are you in? Should we get out of here?”
“As soon as we can,” she replied.
He smiled. “I don’t see any reason we can’t drive off by tomorrow night.”
***
Since she’d been abducted the night before, Amarok had stayed in close contact with the police. They told Evelyn he’d been so worried that he’d booked a flight to Boston so he could look for her himself. It was only that he’d heard word she’d been found that stopped him.
She was glad he’d decided to stay. She’d be returning to Alaska soon enough; it wasn’t necessary for him to leave Hilltop. That he’d even considered coming to Boston surprised her. This city would be so foreign to him. And they hadn’t been friends for long enough to warrant such an expense.
But she knew he was worried about her. So, after letting her parents know she was safe, she called Amarok.
“They’re not going to catch him,” she said into the phone, after explaining exactly what’d happened and assuring him that she was just fine.
“He’s smart,” Amarok said. “Bold, too.”
“He’s been out there killing for twenty years. As far as I’m concerned, the body they found proves it. Surely, that’s not the only one. He’s still active, and he’ll remain active until someone stops him.”
“It must be hard to know that.”
She pulled the blankets higher. “It is. It was easier to think he’d mysteriously disappeared—or killed himself, as his parents suggested.”