The idea of wearing a wig and going totally hidden made her wrinkle her nose. No, she needed to think of a con where she could be as close to herself as possible, although she’d have to have at least one spare disguise. She had to have options…an out if necessary. She’d need a wealthy school. The pool for deceit was so much bigger in those. Not San Fran though. She needed to go small town. She needed to find a wealthy little pocket nearby that was ripe for the picking.
Pushing herself up, she brushed her pants off and straightened her sweater. She needed to get organized. A plan started forming in her head as she stepped over the pine needles and made her way to the road. She needed to get to a computer and do a little research, but first…she headed towards the main campground, she needed some new clothes.
Chapter 33
ZACH
May 2014
“I just don’t know what’s wrong with him. He’s been moping for days now. I’ve never seen him so depressed. Maybe we shouldn’t be going to Europe.”
I rolled my eyes at Mom’s whispered words and stepped into the room.
“Mom, you guys are going to Europe. You’ve been planning it for months.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to come with us?”
“Yes, I’m sure.” I walked to the toaster and fished out two slices of brown bread from the bag beside it.
“We’re just worried about you, Zach. That’s all.” My dad shoved his hands in his pockets, the way he always does when he’s nervous. He hates any form of conflict. “Jaeda called again. I told her you were sleeping in.”
“Thanks,” I mumbled. I hadn’t really spoken to my friends since going off at Elliot. I knew we had to make amends at some point, but like hell I was initiating. I didn’t have it in me.
“Is this…?” Mom flicked a glance at Dad. ‘This isn’t about that girl, is it? Dani?”
I sighed, leaning back against the counter. “I just miss her and I wish she’d stuck around to say goodbye.”
“Well, maybe she’ll be in touch once she’s settled. You did say her father’s job was very erratic. She must be so tired of moving around, the poor girl.”
“Yeah.” I ran my tongue over my bottom teeth and turned to deal with my toast.
Mom was hovering behind me, waiting to offer me any kind of assistance. It was an effort not to spin and tell her to get lost.
“Hey-ho!” Uncle Alex’s loud greeting was a pleasant relief. Mom spun to the door as Dad’s face bloomed into a wide grin.
“Well, hello there. What brings you to Danville?”
Uncle Alex lightly punched his older brother in the arm. “Just wondering if I can hang out with the Zach-man for a little while.”
I glanced over my shoulder and saw a manilla file in his hands. The day Dani left, I called him and told him to stop looking. He was disappointed with my decision, but I was adamant. Dani had gone. I couldn’t help her, so what was the point of looking into her past.
Taking my sweet time, I buttered my toast to the very edges before smearing it with Mom’s apple cinnamon jelly. I didn’t bother cutting it in half, just turned with the full piece of bread in my hand.
Uncle Alex was watching me as he spoke to my parents, eyeing up my reaction to his presence. I didn’t give him one. Eventually the conversation ebbed and he pointed at me.
“Let’s go, little bro. I’m taking you out for coffee.”
“Oh well that’s nice.” Mom squeezed his shoulder looking more than relieved.
I reluctantly followed him to the door and shoved on my shoes. I wasn’t in the mood to talk and so we stayed silent as he drove me to a diner just outside of town.
“Not this one.” I pointed at it.
“It’s perfect. There’s hardly anyone here.” Uncle Alex opened the door and got out before I could protest. I gazed at the glass windows, picturing myself inside, writing notes as I tried to figure out who Dani was. I still didn’t know. Not really.
With a sigh, I pushed the door with my shoulder and got out, scuffing my way over the parking lot and up the stairs.
Uncle Alex ordered two coffees and an apricot danish.
“Want anything?” He pointed his thumb at me.
I shook my head and walked to the corner booth.
“Nice choice.” Uncle Alex slid in opposite me and glanced out the window. We were practically the only ones here, but it was Saturday morning. It would likely fill up soon.
“So.” He slapped the folder down on the table. “It’s been two weeks. Any word from her?”
“Nope.” I accentuated the P, which just made me sound pissy, but I didn’t care. I was fluctuating between anger and despair. It was like being in one of those pirate ships at an amusement park, swinging up then down, up then down. My stomach was in constant knots that I couldn’t seem to loosen.
Uncle Alex waited for our coffee and his danish to be served before blowing out a slow breath. “I know you told me to leave it alone, but I couldn’t.” He flicked open the folder. “I did some subtle digging and when I mean subtle, I’ve done this on my own. Haven’t spoken to anyone about it.”
His intense gaze made me nod.
“You wanna hear this?”
“Nope.”
Uncle Alex tipped his head with a droll glare. “Well, tough shit.”
He pulled out three bundles of paper, all stapled at the top left corner.
“So I looked up every murder article that I could find taking place in L.A. during 2009 with a few months on either side of the year as well. There were plenty, but I scoured every local paper, looking specifically for murdered couples. I then went through those searching for all the unsolved crimes. I then looked at family history. About ten of them had daughters around Dani’s age, but only three of them had daughters with blonde hair and blue eyes who have not been seen since.” He spread the three bundles out. “Look, this is no guarantee. I’ve probably missed some, but these three looked the most like Dani’s picture. Do you think any of them could be her?”
He pushed them towards me.
I didn’t want to look, but my fingers snaffled up the pages anyway.
First I flicked to the back pages to look at the photos. They were all in black and white and quite grainy and all three girls could have been Dani. One of them was kind of chubby, in the other picture, the nose seemed a little wrong, but the last picture could definitely be her.
I turned back to the front page and read the article. “Harriet Marshall. This could be her. Parents stabbed to death.” I winced, hoping that’s not what Dani had witnessed. The three articles about the murder all assumed Harriet had been abducted by the killer, one of her shoes was found lying near the curb as if it’d been kicked off in a struggle.
“Do you think—” Uncle Alex pursed his lips. “I mean, the story she told you, she wouldn’t have been making it up, right? I mean, what if her abductor was the one forcing her to pull the cons?”
I shook my head. “She was telling me the truth. I know she was.”
I had to believe it.
Sipping at my coffee, I went through the last two. Michelle Carlson and Lucy Tate.
The one on Lucy said she was a possible murder suspect. I pushed that aside immediately. As if. Dani wasn’t capable of murder.
After an hour of shuffling back and forth through the articles, I gazed at the pictures again. Lucy Tate’s photo was pretty cute. She was kind of chubby, but her nose was right. Her eyes were beaming, carefree and happy. It was sad that her life had been torn apart by these murders. Whether she committed the crime or not, she certainly wouldn’t be this grinning girl in the photo anymore. I flicked the pages back and skimmed the article again. Lucy’s father was an analyst for the FBI. I squinted as I looked at the grainy picture of a blond man with pale eyes.
“William Tenner,” I read the caption aloud.
“Yeah, he was the lead investigator on that case. Seemed pretty determined to find out who killed one of his guys.”
“Dani said her parents were kille
d by a crooked cop, maybe Jack Tate found out something he shouldn’t have.”
“It’s a possibility.” Uncle Alex shrugged. “But that Harriet girl, her father had ties to Hells Angels, so a crooked cop could have easily been mixed up in that too.”
I sighed, slapping the folder shut and sliding it back across the table.
“So, what do you think? Any of the girls fit?”
I shrugged. “They all could.” I pulled the folders back and ran my finger over the articles, finally picking up the one on the left. “Maybe Harriet, although Dani didn’t seem the type to be raised by a gang member.”
“I didn’t say he was a gang member, I said he had ties.”
Scratching the side of my head, I glanced at Lucy’s folder again. “She’s not a killer,” I muttered. “She’s a runner. Maybe the crooked cop tried to abduct her and she got away. Maybe that’s why she’s always on the run. Maybe she thinks he’s coming after her.”
“Could be.” Uncle Alex nodded. “Do you want me to look into it a little more?”
I wanted to nod a yes, but something Dani said made me pause. “She was scared, you know. Before she left she told me that telling you was starting something dangerous. Do you think asking these questions could put our lives at risk?”
Uncle Alex looked away from me, picking up his coffee and taking a slow sip before responding. “Questions can get you killed, especially if you ask the wrong ones to the wrong people.”
“So she ran to protect us then.”
His blue gaze met mine, his eyes lighting at the edges. “Little bro, I think that’s exactly what she did.”
I knew those words should comfort me. It proved that Dani’s feelings for me hadn’t been fake, but I just felt sick. Sure, I might be safe, but she wasn’t. She was alone somewhere out there, on the run from an evil that haunts her…and I wasn’t there to stop it.
“You want me to keep going with this?” Uncle Alex watched me carefully as he awaited my response.
I met his gaze and finally shook my head. “What’s the point? Even if we can track this guy down, we can’t find her. Don’t we need her testimony to make it stick?”
“Maybe we can find some other dirt on him.”
“I don’t want you getting hurt.”
He grinned. “I know how to be careful. I’ve brought down some pretty big fish in my time.”
“Yeah, I know.” I pushed my tongue against the side of my mouth and looked out the window.
“Look.” Uncle Alex eventually sighed, resting his elbows on the table. “I know you’re hurting right now. This is why I don’t fall in love. But, I can’t just let this rest. Some crooked cop is out there and he might be hurting more than just your girl. I can’t sit on that.”
My jaw clenched. I couldn’t look at him as I nodded. “I don’t have time to make it my main story right now. I have a couple of tight deadlines I have to meet, but once they’re over, I want to be all over this. You understand?”
“Yep.”
It did make me feel better, knowing that at least someone would be doing something, but it didn’t change that fact that the person I wanted to protect had fled in order to protect me and that just felt wrong.
Chapter 34
ZACH
May 2014
“Hey.”
I held tight to the door, my lips slightly ajar as I took in my friend. His hands were in his pockets, his checkered shirt rolled at the sleeves like always.
“What are you doing here, Elliot?”
He kicked the doorstep. “Gimme a break. I’m here, aren’t I?”
“Why?” I stood my ground, still not letting him in.
“Because you’re my friend, you moron and I miss your dumb face.”
A smile erupted over my lips before I could stop it and I pulled the door wide.
He sauntered towards the kitchen. “Where are your olds?”
“Out getting stuff for their big trip.”
“Cool.”
I pushed past Elliot and gathered up the stuff on the dining room table, shoving it into the manilla folder so he couldn’t read it. He leaned against one of the chairs with a sigh.
“You know, dude, I’m willing to concede that I was a little harsh on the Dani thing.” His lips pinched tight. “I could see how much you liked her and it was obvious she was into you too. Maybe I was jealous, I don’t know, but…” He pointed at the messy pile of papers in my hand. “You have to concede that you’re keeping stuff from me and you’ve never done that before.”
The hurt look in his eye made me drop the pages back on the table. “I know.”
“Still not ready to tell me?”
“What if I never am?” I crossed my arms and looked at him.
His big nose scrunched, his frown pulling tight for a second, but then he relaxed with a shrug. “I guess I’ll just have to get over it…as long as my friend isn’t suffering, I don’t need to know.”
My arms dropped to my sides, matching the defeated look I could feel etched onto my face. “I don’t just miss her, I’m really worried about her.”
“Why?”
Pulling in a breath, I slid the folder towards him.
*****
“Holy shit,” Elliot whispered twenty minutes later. His eyes were locked on the details of the article and then he dropped it on top of the rest. “You think she’s one of these girls?”
I nodded, flicking the pages with my thumb. “I don’t know which one, but what the articles don’t say is that the murderer was a crooked cop.”
“How do you know?”
“She told me.” I swallowed. “That weekend I went to San Fran to hang out with Uncle Al. I found out that she’d been assuming all these different identities. I called her on it and she spilled the truth.”
“Are you sure? It wasn’t just an act?”
I shook my head, adamant. “It was the truth, man. I know she told me the truth that day…and I promised her I wouldn’t say anything.” I wrapped my knuckles on the table. “But me being Mr. Fixit couldn’t keep my mouth shut and I asked my uncle if he could look into it for me.”
“Dude, this is heavy stuff.” Elliot pointed at it.
“I know.”
“So she ran because you blabbed?”
I leaned forward and rested my elbows on my knees. “You know what, I actually think she ran to keep us safe.”
Elliot looked skeptical.
“I know you didn’t trust her. I know she lied to us, but she was scared. She still thinks that cop is out to get her and she took off because she didn’t want us in the cross fire.”
Pursing his lips, Elliot picked up Lucy Tate’s notes. “Are you sure she’s not just a killer who wanted to flee before she got caught?” He swung the pages between his thumb and forefinger.
I snatched it out of his hand and dumped it on the table. “She’s not Lucy. I refuse to believe she killed her own parents.”
“Maybe they were bad people. Maybe they deserved it.”
“She’s not a killer, Elliot!” I whacked the table.
“Okay, okay.” He raised his hands in surrender and then gave me that sympathetic look. The one he saved up for when he knew I was really hurting. “Whatever or whoever she is, it doesn’t change the fact she’s gone. You have to get over it, man.”
I jerked out of my seat and paced into the kitchen. “How the hell am I supposed to do that when I know she’s out there facing who knows what?”
“Hey, if she made it here on her own, she’ll be okay. She was a strong, independent chick.”
“Yeah, I know.” I closed my eyes, leaning against the counter and dipping my head. I wanted her to need me. Was that stupid? I just hated the idea of her fending for herself. It was killing me.
I listened to Elliot rise from his seat and quietly approach me. “I know this sucks, dude. I know you want her back, but you can’t let Dani rob you of your year. You still have SATs to pass. You can’t flunk out now.” He slapped his hand on my shou
lder and squeezed. “You need to focus on graduating. Maybe once the summer rolls around, you and I can go on a Dani-hunt or something. But for now…you have to let her go.”
Elliot was right. I didn’t want him to be, but that didn’t change the facts.
I gave him a stiff nod.
“I’m here if you need anything. You know that, right?”
“Yeah.” I flicked his hand off my shoulder and playfully shoved him away from me.
He grinned back and took a swipe at my head.
“You tell anyone about this conversation, you’re a dead man.” I pointed at him.
“Absolutely! I don’t want people finding out about my soft side. My whole rep will go up in flames. You better not blab, Schultz or your ass is grass.” He pointed at me.
My chuckle was stolen by a touch of sincerity. “Thanks, man. Thanks for being there for me.”
“I always will. Even if you did stand me up for a girl.”
“Never again.” I shook my head, my resolve strengthening. Elliot was right. I needed to get over myself…and Dani. Wallowing was not helping me. I had to let it go.
I knew it wasn’t that simple. It would take time, but with friends like mine, I had a much better chance of making it.
Chapter 35
ZACH
June 2014
Graduation had come and gone. I’d passed with flying colors as everyone expected me to. The final few weeks of the year had flown by in a blur. Life had been too busy to mope and the files that had lived on the floor beneath my bed, the files I had pulled out on a nightly basis, were now stashed away on a top shelf of my closet. I knew myself well enough to know I’d pull them out again sometime, but for now they had been laid to rest.
Uncle Alex hadn’t contacted me again. I assumed his deadlines were still looming and he hadn’t gotten back to the files. It was actually a relief.
I still thought about Dani every day. The way her blue eyes would study me, the way her soft lips would curve at the corners and how deliciously warm her tongue felt against mine. I didn’t think I’d ever get over her completely. I’d never stop thinking about our time together, about how I could have fallen in love with her…or how I probably had, but never thought to admit it.
I Know Lucy (The Fugitive Series) Page 21