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She took a long sip of the coffee. It didn’t do a thing for soothing her nerves. “I’m listening.”
“I was doing a routine check of the outside of the house when I saw Kelly climbing out of her bedroom window. She didn’t see me, so I followed her out to the street, then joined her. I walked with her to the park, where she was supposed to meet a friend named Byron. He didn’t show, but I think he was there and ran away when he saw me.”
Janice dropped to the edge of the bed, not wanting to believe Vincent, but afraid to discount his story. Kelly had been so rebellious of late; Janice worried that she might be taking up with the wrong crowd at school. “I’ve never heard her mention anyone named Byron.”
“She met him through an Internet chat room.”
“I’ve forbidden her to ever talk to strangers on the Internet.” Fear and aggravation melded and made Janice’s voice a lot shakier than she’d intended. “She deliberately broke my rules.”
“She’s a teenager,” Vincent said. “It comes with the territory. You surely remember that.”
She ignored his last remark. “I’ll take care of it from here.”
“You can’t tell Kelly that I told you this.”
“Surely you don’t think you can tell me how to discipline my daughter.”
“I told her I wouldn’t squeal on her. It’s better if she thinks she can trust me in this.”
“I will not have her sneaking out to meet some boy she met on the Internet.”
“I think it could be a lot worse than that.”
“Worse?”
“I think Tyrone could be behind this. I’m not sure how or why, but the relationship sounds suspicious. It started just after Tyrone was released on parole. It could have been Tyrone’s way of locating her or of finding out about her schedule and habits. I’ll look into it, but you have to work with me and not go blowing Kelly’s trust in me.”
She raked her fingers through her hair, pushing the blunt ends behind her ears. The irony of his words grated on her nerves. He was a convicted felon, yet he talked about trust as if it were an integral part of his dealings.
“I’ll need some time alone in Kelly’s room to check some things on her computer. I’ll ask if I can check my e-mail, but you’ll need to keep her busy so that she doesn’t come in while I’m snooping.”
“I don’t want you in her room, and…” Her cell phone rang. She glanced at the caller ID. Ken. Could he possibly know Vincent was here?
“I have to answer that,” she said.
Vincent took the phone from her and checked the caller ID for himself. “The Justice Department?”
“It’s probably the marshal who’s handling my case,” she said, knowing he’d surely figured that out for himself.
“Answer it, but don’t say anything to let him know that I’m here.”
She took the call. “Hello.”
“I hope I didn’t wake you.”
“I’m awake.”
“I have a bit of bad news.”
“What is it?”
“They haven’t apprehended Vincent, and they suspect that he may have left the area. But they have Tyrone under surveillance just in case Vincent tries to see him. There’s been no change in Tyrone’s behavior. He’s reporting for work every day and staying close to home at night.”
“That’s good, I guess.”
“Damn good. We know Tyrone’s not a threat. I’m more concerned about Vincent, though.”
“Why is that?”
“I looked over his prison records. The last psychological evaluation of him indicates he’s delusional at times.”
“Meaning what?”
“He doesn’t have a firm grasp on reality. That’s all it said.”
Delusional, meaning all his fears about Tyrone could be groundless.
“Are you okay?”
Far from it, but she didn’t dare give that away, not with Vincent glaring at her and listening to every word she said. “I’m fine.”
“Call me if you need anything or if you hear from Vincent. Though like I said, there’s no reason to indicate he knows you’re alive.”
None, except that he was standing in her bedroom, telling her disturbing tales about Kelly.
“Later.”
“Yeah, later.”
She broke the connection and turned back to Vincent. She expected him to bombard her with questions about the call, but apparently he was satisfied that she hadn’t given his presence away.
“I’ll get out of here and leave you alone,” he said, picking up the tray. “But no funny stuff.”
“No funny stuff.”
“I mean it. I don’t care what your marshal friend says. Tyrone may have convinced him he’s gone straight, but I know him too well. He’s out for revenge. Turn me in, and you and Kelly don’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of getting out of this alive.”
Vincent’s words ricocheted around in her brain like stray bullets, hitting old and new fears at random and making her blood run icy cold.
STRANGE THAT BEING on the run didn’t make Vincent feel nearly as vulnerable as finally meeting his daughter did. He didn’t know what he’d expected, but it hadn’t been this. Meeting her was like waking up on Christmas morning and finding this present so fantastic that you’d never even imagined it existed sitting under the tree.
Even though she was pouting about missing out on her trip to New Orleans, she was still amazing. Smart. Spunky. And he hadn’t lied when he’d said she had his eyes. She did, but the rest of her was all Candy, or Janice as she went by now. She wasn’t as pretty as her mother, but she would be in time.
Time that he had to make sure she got.
He opened the door to her bedroom and went inside. He skimmed the items on her bulletin board, then picked up a picture of Kelly and Janice, heads together, both laughing. He tensed, as if he were gearing up for a fight.
It wasn’t as if he felt anything for Janice anymore. He didn’t. How could he be attracted to a woman who hadn’t even looked him in the eye when she’d sat on the witness stand and testified for the prosecutor? But that was behind him. It was Kelly he was here for, her safety that was all important.
He sat down at the computer and brought up her e-mail. Thankfully he didn’t have to worry with trying to figure out her password. She had left it so that it came up automatically when he went to her Internet access. Kelly’s mailbox was full of new and previously read messages.
He read the most recent ones and found a few Byron had written under the pseudonym of Ringman. He scrolled down, reading earlier messages from Byron. Nothing gave him away as working for Tyrone, but nothing cleared him, either. He’d have to find out more about the kid. He’d start by visiting the chat room where Kelly and Byron had met.
But he’d also get the address of Byron’s computer and see what information he could get online. He had learned a few helpful things in prison.
KELLY WAS sprawled out on the sofa skimming the latest issue of Seventeen magazine with the earphones to her radio firmly planted in her ears. Vincent was in Kelly’s room with the door closed. Janice was in the laundry room folding shorts and shirts still warm from the dryer and considering her plan of action.
Vincent had taken her by surprise last night. His argument that she needed him to protect Kelly had struck such fear in her heart that she’d gone along with him.
But Ken’s call had started her seeing things a bit differently. She still thought that Vincent actually believed Tyrone was a real and imminent danger. But if he were delusional, that would explain his intensity and fears. And it might mean that he could turn dangerous himself, especially if she ordered him out of the house.
She had to get Kelly away from him. She could do it. Kelly’s clothes from the beach were here in the laundry room; so was their luggage. Janice’s clothes, makeup and the charger for her cell phone had never been unpacked.
All she had to do was add a few things to the luggage, and they could get in the car and drive away before Vincent even realized they were gone. Then she could contact Ken and he would take over from there.
But she had to do this just right. If Kelly made a scene in any way, Vincent would hear her in the back of the house and come running in to see what was up.
She repacked Kelly’s clothes and carried both pieces of luggage to the SUV, careful to make as little noise as possible when she opened the back door and set them inside. So far, so good, but the real challenge was yet to come.
Trying to appear as calm as possible, she walked to the den and sat down on the arm of the sofa. When Kelly looked up she motioned for her to take the earphones off.
“What’s up?”
This was it. One yell of protest from Kelly, one untimely appearance by Vincent, one wrong move, and her plan could prove to be fatal. It was a risk, but one she had to take.
She had to make this work.
Chapter Four
Janice backed the car out of the garage slowly, rounding the corner before she threw the gear into Drive and rammed the pedal to the metal.
“Way to go, Mom! What’s the rush?”
She ignored the question. She’d left Vincent a note that they’d had to pick up something at her office and would be back soon. She doubted he’d buy that, but it might slow him down in looking for them.
The light in front of them flashed to yellow, and she hit the accelerator, clearing it just as it turned red.
“Mom! You’re going to get us killed for some stupid old files.”
Getting them killed was what she was afraid of, but not because of her driving or stupid files. There were no files, of course. Having Kelly run into Janice’s office to pick up files while she circled the block was the only excuse she could think of that required Kelly to go with her.
Kelly slouched in the seat and pulled her earphones back in place. She stayed that way until Janice passed the exit she should have taken to go to her office. Kelly pushed the earphones off and let them hang haphazardly around her neck while she made a face. “You’re not going to drag me on a hundred errands, are you?”
“Not quite.”
“I knew it.” This time, she left the earphones off. She propped her feet on the dashboard and fingered the chipped red paint on her toenails, then turned back to Janice. “Did you know my dad was a big baseball fan?”
“Who told you that?”
“Vincent. He said my father went to see the Yankees play every year when he was growing up.”
If that was true, she hadn’t known that about Vincent. All she’d known of him was that he had burst into her life in an explosion of passion and she’d fallen for him instantly and hard.
“I told Vincent I’d never even been to New York, and he said he’d take me sometime. I told him you’d never let me go. I never get to go anywhere.”
And Vincent was the reason for that, though she was certain he hadn’t mentioned that. Her fingers wrapped around the wheel so tightly she could feel bursts of pain.
Kelly put her earphones back on and nodded her head up and down to the beat of the music. Janice tried to think how best to explain to Kelly that everything she’d been told about her father was a lie—that he was not a dead hero, but a live escaped convict. She’d have to tell her. She couldn’t take her on the run and not tell her why they were running or from whom.
They rode in silence until she took the airport exit, and Janice knew she had to say something. She reached over and tugged the earphones from Kelly’s head. “We need to talk.”
“Let me guess. We’re picking up another guest I’ve never heard of.”
“No. We’re going on a trip.”
“Sure we are, Mom. We’re always just hopping a plane to somewhere.”
“I know it’s unusual, but we are going on a trip.”
“Without luggage?”
“I packed a few things for us. They’re in the back.”
Kelly unbuckled her seat belt, turned around and pulled her knees into the seat so that she could see if Janice was telling the truth. When she saw the luggage, she started squealing and wiggling her bottom like crazy.
“We’re going to New Orleans! You changed you mind and we’re going.” She did a few wild swings of her arm as if she were dancing, then reached across the seat and gave Janice a hug.
“I’ve got to call Gayle and tell her. She’s going to flip. Or is she in on this?”
Janice shook her head in exasperation. She’d done this all wrong. They couldn’t possibly go to New Orleans.
Or could she? Vincent certainly wouldn’t look there. Neither would Tyrone, even if Vincent was right and he was out to get them. They could join Kelly’s group, just another bunch of high school kids touring the famed, historic city. It would give the police time to apprehend Vincent, and they were already tailing Tyrone.
Did she dare risk it? Or did she tell Kelly this was all a mistake and totally crush her?
Kelly already had Gayle on the phone and was babbling on and on about the fact that Janice had given in, and that they’d be in New Orleans in a few hours.
Kelly was ecstatic. Janice felt as if her insides had been coated with acid. But it just might work. Except she wouldn’t do it without Ken’s approval. She’d call him as soon as they got to the airport and she could get just far enough away from Kelly that her daughter couldn’t hear her conversation.
VINCENT STRETCHED HIS long legs under Kelly’s short desk until his toes bumped against the wall. Everything he’d found pointed to the fact that Byron’s relationship with Kelly had started just before Tyrone’s release from prison, and there was no record of Ringman being a member of any chat group other than the one where he’d linked with Kelly.
His online profile listed his name as Byron Hasselback, age seventeen. A check with the local high school indicated there was no Byron Hasselback registered. And there were no Hasselbacks listed in the phone book with addresses anywhere near the park where he’d walked with Kelly.
Might as well go down and share that bit of news with Janice. He closed Kelly’s e-mail and was about to exit the Internet when a message appeared on the screen. Ringman, a member of Kelly’s buddy group, had just signed on to the Internet. A second later, the instant message box appeared with a typed message from Byron.
Guess you’re still bummed about not going to New Orleans.
Vincent’s fingers went to the keyboard. For a second, he felt almost guilty about assuming his daughter’s identity, but one thought of Tyrone changed that.
