“Sorry.”
“I want my SIG Sauer back.”
She frowned and didn’t answer. She got up stiffly. She might as well disarm the traps. It was time to go.
Daniel was standing in the middle of the tent, staring down at the silver table; he had one hand wrapped around the IV pole as if for support. He seemed to be in a daze. She went hesitantly to stand beside him.
“Are you going to be okay?” she asked.
“I have no idea. I can’t understand what I’m supposed to do next.”
“Your brother will have a plan. He’s been living somewhere, he’ll have a place for you.”
He looked down at her. “Is it hard?”
“What?”
“Running? Hiding?”
She opened her mouth to say something soothing, then thought better of it. “Yeah, it’s pretty hard. You get used to it. The worst part is the loneliness, and you won’t have to deal with that. So that’s one minor plus.” She kept to herself the thought that loneliness might be a better companion than Kevin Beach.
“Are you lonely a lot?”
She tried to laugh it off. “Only when I’m not scared. So, no, not too often.”
“Have you decided yet what you’re going to do next?”
“No… The face is a problem. I can’t walk around like this. People will remember me, and that’s not safe. I’ll have to hide somewhere until the swelling goes down and the bruises fade enough to cover with makeup.”
“Where do you hide? I don’t understand how this works.”
“I may have to camp out for a while. I’ve got a bunch of subsistence food and plenty of water—by the way, don’t drink the water in the fridge without checking with me first, the left side is poisoned. Anyway, I may just find someplace remote and sleep in the car until I’ve recuperated enough.”
He blinked a couple of times, probably thrown by the poison thing.
“Maybe we can do something about your problem with conspicuousness,” she said more lightly, touching his blanket with one finger. “I think there might be some clothes up at the house. I doubt they’ll fit you, but they’re better than what you’ve got.”
A wave of relief passed over his face. “I know it’s a small thing, but I think that would actually help quite a bit.”
“Okay. Let me go turn off the lethal-gas trap.”
? ? ?
IN THE END, she did surrender the SIG Sauer, although with some regret. She liked its weight. She’d have to find her own.
The farmhouse owners’ belongings were stashed in the attic, in a set of dressers from six or seven decades back. The man was obviously a lot shorter and wider than Daniel. She left Daniel to sort that out while she went back to the barn to pack up the car.
Kevin was there when she entered, tightly rolling a big swath of black fabric into a manageable armload; it took her a moment to realize the fabric was a parachute. She kept her distance as he worked, but the truce felt solid. For some reason, Daniel had put himself between her and his brother’s animosity. Neither she nor Kevin understood why he was doing it, but Kevin cared too much about Daniel to violate his trust today. Not when he was still reeling over years of lies.
Or that’s what she told herself to muster up the courage needed to walk past the dog to her car.