“Honestly, I don’t remember.”

“Try.”

“Friday, Friday…I was practicing from like…ten to four.” A sigh. “We ate dinner at the hotel. What did we do after that?” He paused. “I went swimming. It was a warm night. When I came back to the room, she wasn’t there. She returned an hour later in her gym clothes, so I guess she went to the fitness room. We watched TV and then went to bed. Really swinging time. Why are you asking about the car over the weekend?”

Decker was taking notes. “Because the owner of the junkyard said that the car came in on Saturday.”

“So…that means it’s not my mother’s car since she disappeared on Sunday, right?”

“She disappeared on Sunday. It doesn’t mean she drove off in her car on Sunday. No one remembers seeing her leave. She could have sneaked out.”

“Why would she do that?”

“Maybe the meeting with Chris didn’t go as well as I thought it did. Maybe she felt threatened by your father and took the opportunity to leave once and for all.”

“She told me she was renting a house in Beverly Hills.”

“That’s what she told your father. But we’ve checked with most of the real estate agents in Beverly Hills. None of them had ever heard of your mother.”

“I don’t understand…” The boy was confused as well as saddened. “Why would she lie?”

“If she did lie, I’m sure she had her reasons.”

“You think she left without me on purpose?”

“I don’t know, Gabe, but if she did, she must have felt very threatened.”

His words were little solace to the boy. He looked devastated…dejected.

“It could be that things didn’t go well with your father…that your mom jumped right after Chris left, figuring now or never.”

Gabe shrugged. “Is that what you think?”

“It’s a possibility.”

Or, Decker thought, she had planned the whole thing long before Donatti’s arrival…which is why she junked the car on Saturday. She knew she wouldn’t need it again. Figuring that if she made Donatti feel secure, he’d go back home.

After he left, she jumped ship.

Meaning she knew she’d be leaving without her son.

So maybe that’s why she’d called him up in the first place. Her ultimate purpose was not hiring Decker for protection, but rather giving her son a safe haven after she left for good.

If that were the case, Gabe wasn’t the only one who had been duped.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

WE’RE ZERO FOR two.” Oliver disconnected the line. “Mandy’s not picking up her phone and neither is Crystal.”

“Crystal’s a party girl,” Marge said. “I’m not surprised that she’s not answering her landline, but she should be answering her cell.”

“Maybe she’s in a crowded bar and can’t hear it.”