by Box Set
“You’re making me a little uncomfortable,” he said, smiling. “I’m an easy-going, typical high school guy and all of your intensity is overwhelming.”
“You look younger,” I said. “Healthier.”
“All American, boy next door?” he asked, gesturing to his white and blue baseball jersey and his blue jeans.
I nodded. “A little bit. Yeah.” Now I could see why his mother had aspirations of a modeling career for him. He was gorgeous as the dark, brooding goth. This apple pie and Fourth of July version of him was worthy of magazine covers. Rom coms. Billboards. His look had gone from Rock Band to Boy Band in a matter of hours. “If we can do for Sharon what you’ve done to your appearance, she will never be found.”
“Where are you going to change into your costume?”
“I guess at the drugstore. They should have a bathroom.”
“What did you go with today?” he asked. “Leopard? Cheetah?”
“What?”
“You know. Your Wild Kingdom panties.”
I finally understood the references to my zebra underwear. “Are you kidding me? We have the most important day ever ahead of us and you’re thinking about underwear?”
“Not really,” he said as he turned onto the interstate. “I was trying to show you that I’m still me. You seemed freaked out. And it’s just me, Hearst.”
“Yeah, well I didn’t remember Hearst being such a perv.”
He mumbled something under his breath. Then he said, “Drug store first. Then to her street?”
“Yes. I don’t think she’ll answer the door if both of us knock though.”
“I was going to stay in the car. Like any good boyfriend who’s being bossed around by his cheerleader girlfriend.”
“That will work.”
“You aren’t planning to go straight for her door though, are you? You’re going to have to go door-to-door.”
I frowned. I hadn’t thought it out that far. “It didn’t occur to me. I need a whole pile of pompoms.”
“You would have realized it.”
“Maybe. Maybe when I got to the street, but by then, it would have been too late to get the pompoms.” I could have kicked myself. Maybe I wasn’t as good at this as I thought.
“Don’t doubt yourself,” he said.
Was he reading my mind? “I’m trying not to.”
“Yesterday you doubted me. Look at me now. You should have had faith in me. I have faith in you.”
“You do?” That was about the sweetest thing anybody had ever said to me.
“I do.”
We pulled off at the exit and stopped at the drug store.
“I can come in here though, right?” he asked.
“Yes,” I said, with a grin. “I need to change and you can start digging through the school spirit merchandise.”
“I’m not the black hole of school spirit today?”
I laughed. “Not on the surface at least.” I took the cheerleader outfit out of the messenger bag and stuffed it into my purse.
We got out of the cute little car and walked to the doors of the store. There were three other people going in and out and every one of them stared at Hearst.
I glanced over at him. “Looks like the new you is a hit.”
He shook his head. “It’s creepy. Everybody staring at me. I dressed this way to avoid attention. I don’t mind them staring when I’m all goth, but this is awkward.”
With a laugh, I said, “I love you, you psycho freak.”
“I love you too, you brazen idiot.”
“Awww,” I said. “Giving me the warm fuzzies.”
“That’s what I’m all about. Picture perfect boyfriend Hearst, at your service.” He stood as the door opened and motioned for me to enter first.
I did and then headed for the back where I knew I could find the restrooms.
It only took a few minutes for me to change, put my hair up, and add the eye shadow, a little bit more blush than I normally wore, and some lip gloss. Then I headed out to find my eye-candy friend.
The Admiral High section was enormous. Hearst stood back from the display as he looked through the merchandise, almost as if he thought the blue and white could be somehow contagious.
“Boo,” I said, coming up behind him.
He straightened up and gave me a glare. “Not funny.”
“What are you doing?”
“I can’t believe people spend money on all this crap to look like they care about their school.”
I refrained from pointing out that he spent tons more money trying to look like he didn’t care about anything.
He pointed to some temporary tattoos “We should buy those and stick them on your cheeks.”
I had thought about it but now it seemed a waste of time. “Let’s get me a blue and white scrunchie, one of those gym bags, and maybe twenty pompoms?”
He went to count out the pompoms and I found the other things.
“Ready?” he asked. His arms were full of blue and white, and I’d never seen a stranger sight than normal-teen Hearst with an armload of pompoms.
“Yes,” I said.
We checked out and went to the car. I went ahead and put all the pompoms in the athletic bag. I put the scrunchie in my hair over the plain ponytail holder I’d used. Then I pulled the price tag off the gym bag.
“How do I look?” I asked.
“Perfect,” he said. “I checked her street. There are three houses on either side of her. So let’s start at one end of the street and go all the way down that side. You’ll hit her house and then do three more. Then you can get bored and give up before going to the other side of the street.”
“Good plan.” I took a deep breath. “Don’t go yet. I need to write a note to stick in this brochure.” I got the piece of letter head and the pen and used the notebook for support.
“What are you going to write?”
“How about ‘I’m from Paxton PI. Can you meet me at the closest McDonald’s in half an hour? I’m pretty sure you are being watched and your house is bugged?’”
“Works for me,” he said.
“Is it too abrupt?”
“If she reached out, then she will be ready for the contact. Unless she has given up. Either way, I think you should write it exactly like you just said.”
I wrote the note on the paper and stuck it inside the brochure.
As we pulled back out onto the street, the full weight of what I was about to do hit me hard. I struggled to breathe in and out.
“We’re four miles away,” Hearst said. “Freak out now and then when we get there, pull yourself together and do what you came to do.”
I nodded, but I wasn’t sure I could. I really wasn’t. Self-doubt had reared its ugly head and was smacking me around. My panic intensified.
Hearst pulled into the fancy neighborhood and stopped at the stop sign. He turned to me and said, “Townsey, look at me.”
I did, still feeling like I wasn’t getting enough oxygen.
“You can do this. I have faith in you.” His brown eyes penetrated my soul as he spoke. “I didn’t want you to take this risk, but your plan is good. I think you are the best shot this woman has of getting herself and her children away from this man.”
“You do?”
He nodded. “I do.”
“I can do this,” I said.
“You can.”
I turned back to face the road. “I’m ready.”
“That’s convenient because we are here,” he said. He pulled forward and took the next left onto Sharon’s street. “Her house is the Mediterranean style on the right. So start here with this glass house.”
I summoned all my courage and opened the door. Then I leaned over to give him a kiss on the cheek. He was the greatest friend ever.
As I stepped out of the car, he called after me, “Go get ‘em, babe.”
I slammed the door and made myself smile and walk with confidence to the front door of the first house. I’ve got spirit, yes
I do. I’ve got spirit. How about you? I repeated the cheer in my head all the way to the doorbell. I pressed it and the yipping of a small dog started immediately.
The front door opened after a minute, or two thousand yips, and a tired-looking woman in a bathrobe stared at me through the glass of the security door.
“Hi!” I said. “I’m Rory Callahan, and I’m on the cheerleading squad at Admiral High!” Smile. Smile. Smile.
She continued to look at me without saying anything.
“We’re selling pompoms door to door to raise money for new basketball uniforms.” My mouth hurt from smiling so wide.
I pulled one out of my bag and held it up for her to see. “They’re three dollars each.”
She moved, and I thought she might actually buy one. But instead, she closed the door and locked it. The woman had closed the door right in my face. Even though this was all a ruse, I was annoyed and insulted.
I turned away, grumbling, and headed across her lawn to the house next door. I rang the doorbell and started smiling in preparation for them answering.
No one came to the door.
Two down. One more to go and then I was going to be face-to-face with Sharon West.
I walked to the next house, a big white colonial. A little girl answered the door in a princess costume. She must have been six or seven.
“Hi!” I said. “I’m Rory Callahan and I cheer for Admiral High. Is your mom around? I’m selling pompoms for a fundraiser.”
The little girl rushed away with a squeal, leaving me standing at the open door.
She returned a few minutes later with another little girl and a man with a wallet in his hand.
“How much?” he asked.
“Um. If you want two each it will be twelve dollars.”
He handed me a twenty.
I stared at the bill. I hadn’t thought to bring any change.
“Keep the change,” he said.
“Thank you!” I said, and handed over four pompoms to the little girls.
I turned to go as the door shut behind me. I got the brochure out and clutched it tightly in my hand. I had the bag and two pompoms in the other hand. This was it. I was making contact with Sharon.
I strode to the Mediterranean-style house with the same perky confidence I’d used at the others. Only inside, I was a quivering mass of jelly. Not even jelly. Dead jellyfish baking on the sand. I was a mess.
I rang the doorbell, trying to keep everything straight in my head. Look like a cheerleader, act like a cheerleader, but let her see the note.
When she answered, she opened the door only a few inches and eyed me warily.
I took a deep breathe at seeing her for the first time. She was beautiful despite the haunted look in her green eyes. She was taller than me with blonde hair, and she was too thin.
“Hi!” I said. “My name is Rory Callahan and I cheer for Admiral High. I’m selling pompoms to raise money for new basketball uniforms.”
“Thanks, honey,” she said in a hollow voice. “But I’m not interested.”
“Please wait, Mrs. West,” I said, using her name in hopes of buying time.
She stopped and opened the door wider. She looked around me to the street where Hearst sat in the car.
“That’s just my boyfriend helping me out. We are also selling these candles and cookie dough as a fundraiser.” I held up the front of the brochure for her to get a look and then turned the page and handed it to her with the note on top.
She held the catalog and looked at me closely. Then she looked down at the note. She tensed as she read it.
I waited, nearly snapping from the tension.
She nodded. Then she looked up at me and handed back the brochure. “I’m not in the market for any candles or cookie dough right now.” Liquid pooled in the corner of her eyes. “Good luck to you though.” She closed the door.
Had that nod meant she was going to meet me? I wasn’t really sure. I pulled myself together, stuffed the brochure back in the gym bag, and headed to the next house with my pompoms.
Nobody was home at the next two houses. I decided to go ahead and skip the last one. It wouldn’t look odd after so many failed attempts. I went over to the Beetle and climbed in.
Hearst put the car in drive and then took my hand in his. Neither of us spoke until he pulled into the McDonald’s lot and parked.
“Are you okay?” he asked. “You did great.”
I nodded, struggling not to cry from the adrenaline and the impact of meeting Sharon.
“Hug, or no hug?”
“No hug,” I said. “I would cry for sure.”
“Then let’s go inside and get some food. I’m going to sit alone and play with my phone and eat a Big Mac. I’ll make sure you are safe and try to get pictures of anybody who might be following Sharon and the kids.”
I got the messenger bag and made sure the bug finders and the burner phones were still in there. “I’m ready,” I said. I pulled a twenty from my purse to buy some food.
He pulled a jacket from the backseat. “I brought this so you would have something to cover up with in there.” He blushed. “I know you said you weren’t comfortable and we don’t know for sure that there aren’t Admiral High kids hanging out in there.”
“Thank you,” I said, taking the jacket and struggling to put it on in the car. It hung long on me and covered the uniform. “Between the two of us, we might actually get this right.”
“We will get this right,” he said. “Go in first. I’ll come in after you.”
I got out of the car, zipping up the jacket, and grabbing the messenger bag. I wanted Sharon to show up so badly. It hadn’t occurred to me that she might not come, and if she didn’t, I had no idea how to try a second time to make contact.
After going through the door, I saw that the place was as crowded as I’d hoped. I got in line and eventually placed my order for a drink and some fries. I didn’t know if I could eat, but I could at least move the fries around and make it look like I was eating.
I got my drink and fries and sat at a table for four.
Hearst got through the line too and sat at a two-seater where he could watch me from halfway across the restaurant.
Since I would normally have my phone out if I were eating alone, I went ahead and got out my burner phone and pretended to mess with it as I sipped my soda.
A gaunt woman with blonde hair, a sweater set and skirt, and sunglasses walked over with one boy on her hip and another little guy holding her hand. “Sorry I’m late,” Sharon said, as if we talked all the time. She let go of the little hand to set a diaper bag on the table and pull out her wallet. Then she stuck the wallet in the pocket of her cardigan and took his hand again. “Let me get them some happy meals, and we’ll join you.”
“I’m so glad you came,” I said.
She gave me a small smile and took the kids up to the counter.
I glanced over at Hearst who was grinning to himself as he “played” on his phone. I took the opportunity to get the bug sweepers out and check the bag as inconspicuously as possible. The bag was clean, which surprised me. I glanced around and no one seemed to pay any attention, so I slipped a burner phone into one of the pockets designed for bottles so she could see it when she came back to the table.
She was still getting her food, so I took a moment to study her little boys. They were adorable. Unlike their mother, they looked well fed and well cared for. I thought Hearst’s idea of making the little one dress like a girl temporarily would work. Just for a month or two maybe, at her first stop on their trip into hiding.
I glanced over at Hearst. I’d been trying not to look at him, but now I realized every female in the place was ogling him. He still looked like a stranger to me. A beautiful stranger.
Sharon came over to the table with the older boy trailing behind her, sipping on some orange drink from a tiny little cup. She set down the tray and put the little one on her lap and the older one in the chair next to her.
“Hi,” I said as the older boy looked up at me. “You are a cutie-pie.”
He looked over at his mother and then down at his fries and chicken nuggets.
“How old is he?” I asked. I hadn’t paid close attention, and it was a perfectly normal question to ask.
“He’s three,” she said. “And this little guy is not quite two.”
I pulled out the detectors and aimed them at the kids and their mom. The older boy had a bug on him, probably in his jacket or shoe.
I picked up my burner phone and texted. “The older one has a bug on him. That’s the only one I found.”
The phone in the diaper bag vibrated and caught her attention. She glanced at me and then picked it up. She read the text. Then she started typing.
Sharon: You believe me.
Me: Yes.
Sharon: Thank God. We don’t have much time. There is a custody hearing in two weeks.
Me: You have six cameras inside your house. Family room, play room, your bedroom, front and back door, and kitchen.
She read the text and her breath caught.
Me: He’s also watching the kids through your baby monitors. There are many listening devices as well. Don’t let on to knowing any of this.
She nodded.
Sharon: I have a GPS tracker implanted behind my ear. I will dig it out myself when it is time to run.
I gasped as I read the text.
Me: Running is what you want to do?
Sharon: No choice. I need money though. I can get you some jewelry.
Me: No need. Hacker friend will steal it from Doug.
She actually giggled when she read it.
Sharon: When?
Me: Tomorrow night I can come over to see the house as if I am babysitting for you soon. We can try to communicate more then. After, in a day or two, when things are ready, I will babysit for you while you go out to dinner. You can run with the kids then.
She pressed her fist to her mouth as if afraid a cry would escape. She nodded at me.
Then she typed again.
Sharon: ID, papers?
Me: We’ll get them. Kids sizes? Your size?
Sharon: 24 months. 2T. 8, no 6 now for me. Size 7 shoe.
Me: Can you power off the phone and sneak it into your house? Don’t use in the bedrooms or the other rooms with cameras.
