“You’ll find out on the way. Do you have to go?”

“Yes.” Annoyed, Kayla shot her a look when she left the car. But when Kayla returned she couldn’t find her phone and began searching the SUV. “Do you have my phone?”

“We have to go.”

“Don’t go anywhere, Emma! I think someone stole my phone!”

Emma looked at her and started the car.

“Shut it off!” Kayla looked at vehicles at the pumps, then the store. “Someone stole my freakin’ phone!”

Emma moved the gearshift into Drive.

“Stop!”

She sped off, merging into traffic.

“Dammit, stop!” Kayla pounded the dash. “I have to find my phone!”

“I had to get rid of your phone, your laptop. I left mine at home.”

“Why? My life, my homework, everything’s in there!”

“It’s extreme, I know. I’m not an expert. I did think of removing the SIM card, but I had to take quick steps. So we can’t be tracked.”

“Can’t be tracked? What the hell’re you talking about?”

“I’m protecting you.”

“From what? Have you lost your mind? Go back!”

“We can’t go back. Kayla, I’m so sorry. Soon you’ll understand. Right now I need you to listen to me. Someone may want to hurt us. So we’re leaving home for a while. Remember our security alarm going off? Well, before that, there was a strange guy your dad and I encountered in the park. It’s all connected to your dad’s books.”

Emma checked her mirrors.

“We’re not going very far for now. We just need to leave the house. I’ll explain more when we stop.”

They accelerated onto an eastbound freeway only going a few miles before they exited and pulled into this sketchy motel. Kayla didn’t know exactly where they were, just that they’d only traveled a few miles from home. After that, Emma spent much of the evening attempting to explain why she was doing what she was doing.

“Do you know what extortion is?” Emma had asked her.

“Yes, blackmail.”

“It appears that someone is trying to extort your dad—something to do with one of his books. They’re claiming he knowingly published lies about someone.”

“Oh my God! Does Dad know? Shouldn’t we call the police?”

“Ben knows. And he thinks he knows who’s doing it. More important, that they’re completely wrong and just want money from him. He told me he can handle this without police, but that to be safe, you and I should leave town for a while. He’ll come home as soon as possible.”

Kayla took a few moments to process everything before accepting Emma’s explanation. And Kayla took solace in the fact she had backed up much of her phone and laptop on the cloud.

“I guess this makes sense now.”

“We think it happened after someone saw us on TV at the book sale.”