Chapter 3 - RUN
“Thomas!”
He turned.
Margaret saw his face.
He knew she had seen him.
The motorcycle accelerated and disappeared into traffic.
For half a second, nobody moved.
Then Thomas walked back toward them.
Calm.
Too calm.
Daniel pushed Emily behind him.
“Don’t come any closer.”
Thomas looked at the broken restaurant window.
“You’re all overreacting.”
Margaret stared at him.
“You handed that person something.”
“A business envelope.”
“After they shot at us?”
“I didn’t know they were the shooter.”
Daniel laughed bitterly.
“You’ve always been a terrible liar.”
Thomas’s gaze shifted to Daniel.
“You should have stayed gone.”
“And you should have left that baby alone.”
Emily’s voice cracked.
“Stop calling me that.”
Everyone looked at her.
She was shaking.
“I am not a baby. I’m not somebody’s evidence. I’m not some secret all of you get to fight over.”
Margaret softened.
“Emily—”
“Don’t.”
The word hit Margaret hard.
Emily backed away.
“I have a mother.”
Margaret’s eyes filled.
Emily immediately looked guilty, but she kept going.
“My foster mother raised me. She worked two jobs. She sat next to me all night when I had pneumonia. She taught me how to drive. She came to every school play even when I had one line.”
“I’m not trying to take that away.”
“Then what are you trying to do?”
Margaret could barely breathe.
“Find out if someone took you away from me.”
Police sirens sounded in the distance.
Daniel grabbed Emily’s shoulder.
“We need to go.”
Margaret frowned.
“The police are coming.”
“That’s why we need to go.”
Thomas smiled faintly.
Daniel saw it.
“So that’s your plan?”
Thomas shrugged.
“What plan?”
Daniel turned to Margaret.
“Your husband owns half the private security contracts in this county. Two deputy chiefs play golf at his club. If we wait here, he controls what happens next.”
Margaret looked at Thomas.
He didn’t deny it.
Emily whispered, “Where do we go?”
Daniel pointed across the street.
“My car.”
“No,” Margaret said. “Not until you tell me everything.”
“I’ll tell you in the car.”
Thomas stepped forward.
“If you leave with him, Margaret, don’t come home.”
She looked at the man she had shared a bed with for thirty years.
The man who had held her while she cried for a dead daughter.
The man who had attended therapy with her.
The man who had watched her put flowers on an empty grave every birthday.
Margaret felt something inside her break.
“You knew I was grieving a child who was alive.”
Thomas’s face changed.
Just slightly.
That was enough.
Margaret walked away.
Emily followed Daniel.
They crossed the street and climbed into an old blue SUV.
As Daniel started the engine, Margaret looked through the rear window.
Thomas stood alone outside the restaurant.
Watching them.
He pulled out his phone.
Thirty seconds later, Daniel’s phone rang.
He looked at the screen.
“No.”
“What?” Emily asked.
Daniel answered.
He didn’t speak.
A woman’s voice came through the speaker.
Weak.
Terrified.
“Daniel?”
His face went white.
“Ruth?”
Margaret grabbed his arm.
Thomas’s sister.
The woman continued.
“He found me.”
Daniel slammed the SUV into drive.
Then a man’s voice took over the call.
“Bring Margaret and the girl to St. Catherine’s.”
Thomas.
May you like
“Come alone,” he said.
“Or Ruth dies.”
