Chapters (68)
- Dedication
- Title Page
- Contents
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-Three
- Thirty-Four
- Thirty-Five
- Thirty-Six
- Thirty-Seven
- Thirty-Eight
- Thirty-Nine
- Forty
- Forty-One
- Forty-Two
- Forty-Three
- Forty-Four
- Forty-Five
- Forty-Six
- Forty-Seven
- Forty-Eight
- Forty-Nine
- Fifty
- Fifty-One
- Fifty-Two
- Fifty-Three
- Fifty-Four
- Fifty-Five
- Fifty-Six
- Fifty-Seven
- Fifty-Eight
- Fifty-Nine
- Sixty
- Sixty-One
- Sixty-Two
- Sixty-Three
- Sixty-Four
- Sixty-Five
- Copyright
In the time it had taken for me to get to the first floor, Jeremy could be in that car with Charlene Wilson and halfway to the interstate by now.
I went back to the lobby and out the main doors. I needed half a second to get my bearings. Our window hadn’t faced out the front of the building. The lot where I’d seen the Miata would be around the side of the hotel.
I ran.
As the other parking lot came into view, I saw the Miata, this time with the top down. Jeremy was in the passenger seat, Charlene was behind the wheel, but they were turned toward each other, and it looked like they were kissing.
The car was not running.
As I came up to Jeremy’s door, winded, he looked at me sheepishly. “I was coming right back in,” he said to me. “We’re not going anywhere.”
I wanted to blow my stack.
“Yeah, Mr. Weaver,” Charlene said. “It’s just a visit. Honest. I’m not taking him anywhere.”
“How?” I asked him.
“What?”
“How did you get in touch?” The first thing I thought of was the phone in the room, but I was pretty sure Jeremy had never used it.
He couldn’t look me in the eye. “It’s no big deal. It was only for a little while.”
“What was only for a little while?”
His head dropped as if the tendons in his neck had been severed. Then, slowly, he dug into the front pocket of his jeans and drew out a cell phone.
“Jesus,” I said.
It had a pale pink cover with tiny white polka dots. I recognized it instantly as Gloria’s phone, the one she had surrendered to Bob. Evidently, not for long.
“How’d you get this?” I asked.
“Mom stole it back from Bob and gave it to me when we were leaving the house,” he admitted. Probably, I thought, when she came running out to give him one last hug before he got in the car.
“So when your mom called last night, that was all for show?” I asked.
Jeremy nodded.
“And I guess you weren’t in the bathroom forever last night because you had a stomach ache?”
Another sheepish nod. “I gave my mom another call, and got in touch with Charlene.”
“I’m an idiot,” I said. “I should have guessed.”
“Can Charlene come in and have breakfast with us?” he asked, oblivious to the fact that I was close to a meltdown.