“You have been waiting patiently and I appreciate all that you have done for me tonight,” Amelia said speaking around the mouthful of sandwich. “I really do not think I deserve all of this.”
Zoe made a dismissive gesture that brought a brief smile to Amelia’s tired but clean face. “I still do not think my tale will be interesting to you but if you wish to hear it… I had a boyfriend who was studying at a university across the border in Germany. It was a program at a Dresden school that he hoped would lead to a teaching position. We had been seeing each other for a while and he wanted me to come with him so I quit my job and we moved here together. I was born in Germany but my parents moved with me to England when I was about ten – my father is English. John and I had not been living together before we left for Dresden – I had never lived with anyone except my parents.”
“How did you get all the way to Prague?” Zoe asked. “If you and John broke up, why didn’t you go home to England?”
Amelia flushed and looked down at the breadcrumbs on her plate. She licked her finger and pressed the crumbs onto the tip before bringing them to her mouth in a delay tactic while she decided exactly how much to reveal to Zoe. “John was never an easygoing bloke but he got worse after we got to Dresden. The pressure of school and trying to establish himself in the department for when the program ended got to him. He did not like that I had found a job and was taking the move so well.”
“What did he expect?” Zoe said in disbelief. “If you’d lived in Germany before, even if you were just a kid, of course it would be easier for you.”
Amelia smiled sympathetically but didn’t jump to agree and validate Zoe’s observations the way someone like Mason would. “He was stressed and did not know how to channel his frustration.”
“So he took it out on you?” Zoe could feel second-hand anger rising within her. There had to be a part of Amelia that was furious with John for what he’d clearly done to her. The reserve she displayed only made Zoe more frustrated on her behalf. “How long had it been going on?”
Amelia pulled the hem of the robe further down to cover a bruise on her thigh. “Too long. I should have left sooner – I tried to go away for a while, to give John some space. I visited my mother’s sister near Berlin for a week but John was worse when I returned. He did not like that I had left him alone for so long in a strange place. He relied on me too much. After that he was more… demanding. It did not take as much for him to…” she trailed off, her fingers still playing with the hem of the robe. “He would not let me have the money I needed to do basic things like go to the market or to take the bus to work. I thought to go to my aunt’s again but he would only come after me. I did not have enough money to get back to England and was too ashamed to ask my parents for help – they have never liked John.” She chuckled quietly and without much humor. “I guess they had him figured out. I do not know why it took me so long.”
“I didn’t figure it out until my ex left me at the altar in Vegas,” Zoe quipped trying to make Amelia feel a little better.
Amelia smiled but again, it was a hollow smile. “Another reason not to go home to England is that it is exactly where John would expect me to go. He has gotten far more… possessive in the last year and I did not think he would let me go easily. I took only what I could not bear to part with and what it cost for a few train tickets. When I got to the station, I bought tickets to a few places, shuffled them up, and pulled out one at random. Prague it was so here I am.”
“Have you called your parents to tell them you’re safe?”
“When I have something more to tell them I’ll try,” Amelia said but Zoe didn’t believe her.
“You’re going to call them now,” Zoe instructed and reached for the phone on the nightstand between the two beds.
“Do you call your parents every night to tell them where you are?” Amelia asked, her tone a mix of curiosity and condescension.
“My parents are dead,” Zoe admitted quietly, looking at her hands in her lap. “My mom when I was about ten, my dad a little over two months ago. But when he was alive, yes, I called my dad whenever something important happened. And leaving your abusive boyfriend in Dresden and heading to Prague counts.”
“I’m sorry about your parents,” Amelia said as she pulled the phone over and began dialing the number.
“It’s part of why I’m here,” Zoe said when Amelia had hung up the phone, picking up where she’d left off. “My dad. It was an accident so it was really unexpected and with everything else that was going on too… I thought I needed time away.”
“And has it helped?”
Zoe shrugged. “When I get back my dad will still be dead, the company will still be there waiting for me to take the reins, and I’m pretty sure the little relationship I had will be completely ruined. But the last one’s my fault.” She pulled up the covers to her bed and settled down within them. “He was… sick and I left anyway.”
“Sounds like a lot,” Amelia admitted, putting the empty plate back with the room service tray and turning out the light. “I think a lot of people would run if they had the choice.”
Zoe sighed and rolled over onto her stomach, her arms folded under the pillow. “Thanks. But it doesn’t make me feel any less of a coward.”
“You will figure out what to do,” Amelia assured her. “If you can help a complete stranger like me the way you have… things will work out for you as well.”
“I hope you’re right.”
Chapter 27
David had the tickets and the passports for him and Lucas but Lucas was running late. “Typical,” he muttered as he checked the clock above the terminal gate again.
They’d foregone crossing the border into Canada. It would have been crossing too close to where the authorities were sure to be looking for him. To be honest, it was risky to be traveling together at all. They were sure to be watching Lucas and maybe it was reckless to try but as careful as David had always been, he couldn’t deny there was something attractive about having someone know just how brilliant he was at what he did. It had been a long time since Diane had been around and as much as he missed her, he missed having someone who knew more.
The plan, so long as Lucas stuck to it, was to fly from Seattle to Chicago, Chicago to Dallas, and from Dallas to Rio. The tickets were booked for each flight under different names on different credit cards. It had been tempting to throw in a few extra diversionary flights, but David didn’t want to test Lucas too much. There was still a chance the boy would break before they made it to safety. They only needed passports for the last leg of the trip and David had picked them up only a few hours earlier.
Lucas was supposed to be securing some last minute funds, selling off his car and several other valuable things he’d acquired over the years, using the fact that the feds had frozen his accounts as part of their investigation of his father. He should have boarded a bus to Seattle the night before but David hadn’t heard whether he’d made it or not. Their first flight was supposed to leave in an hour and despite the disguise that he knew was enough to fool everyone with the exception of his ex-wife and probably their son, David was beginning to grow nervous.
****
Since making the plans with his father, Lucas had grown increasingly aware of the police and FBI agents that took turns watching him. It wasn’t always covert. Despite the time that had passed, officers would still turn up on his doorstep – he had rented a small, cheap apartment having been forced to give up the house that had been bought with money that had mostly been obtained illegally. They had reached the point where they ran through the same list of questions. Have you heard from your father? Have you thought of anything that could indicate his whereabouts? Any mysterious hang-ups, letters, or packages?
It was clear they didn’t expect David to reach out to anyone – he was too careful for that – and they certainly didn’t seem to suspect that contact had actually been made. Lucas had bought a burner cell phone th
at was used only for calls between him and his father. He never called near the house and later the apartment, afraid both had been bugged inside or that someone might be watching with a long-range microphone outside.
But there was something else, or rather someone else, who had begun to occupy Lucas’s thoughts with increasing frequency as he followed his father’s instructions and prepared for Rio. His mother.
He hadn’t seen her in person more than twice since his parents had divorced and rarely spoke with her. She had been to his high school and college graduations but only approached to say hello briefly and show she’d attended. David and Barbara hadn’t exactly been warm towards her – Barbara especially – and at that point, Lucas had at least partially blamed her for leaving, for fighting his father harder for some sort of joint custody.
Of course, now he understood better why she had kept her distance. In fact, he wasn’t sure where she was living or how to get in touch with her. He’d gone through the drawers of his desk and retrieved the birthday and Christmas cards she sent without fail, but there was only one envelope tucked into the pile and it didn’t show a return address. If he was really interested in finding her, all he had to go on was the postmark from Los Angeles.
He’d tried to force the thoughts of her away as he’d been able to set most of his thoughts of Zoe aside but she wouldn’t listen and continued to creep in at odd moments. As he went about everyday tasks, he’d recall watching his mother perform them when he was younger. He didn’t remember much of their life before moving to California but he did remember the small brownstone they left behind and the order his mother maintained within. Every toy had its place, every book had a shelf, and the frequently used cleaning supplies were weapons and monsters both.
As the day he’d agreed to join his father drew nearer, Lucas took the notion of seeing his mother one more time into his head. He searched for her online but only found an old address in Los Angeles from soon after his parents’ split. She’d probably changed her name after the divorce, but he wasn’t sure what she might have changed it too – surely not Peters. He’d called his father’s old lawyer who could only give him that same address. It seemed as good a place to start as any.
Lucas hopped into his new – though it was significantly older and more run down – car and headed for Los Angeles. Somewhere on the highway Lucas spotted the dark sedan a few cars back. He checked the rearview mirror periodically and the car was always there with two to three cars between them. As he switched lanes to get off the highway, the dark sedan threw its turn signal on as well. Lucas smiled as the car drew up behind him at the yield sign. He recognized the driver’s face as one of the agents from his weekly rotation of questioners.
Won’t he be disappointed, Lucas thought smugly as he turned up the volume on his GPS. It might be possible to lose the guy while weaving through the city streets – if the streetlights were on his side – but his primary concern was in reaching the right building.
After twenty minutes of “turn right here” and “in half a mile, make a left turn,” Lucas pulled up along a curb in front of a worn but respectable looking apartment building. It could use some refinishing on its stone façade and the sidewalk was in rough shape. Still, he could easily picture his mother living here for a while. He stepped out of the car and walked up to the front door, examining the occupant’s list and intercom.
He didn’t recognize anyone who might be his mother but there was an “office” button. There was no voice on the other end when he pressed it. A buzzer sounded along with a click and he found the door unlocked. If his mother wasn’t living here, he might be able to get her forwarding address from the main office.
****
They were starting to board the passengers but they hadn’t called David and Lucas’s row. Unless Lucas had already reached the airport and was in the process of checking his bags, he wouldn’t make the flight. Should David go without him? Could Lucas have been found out and picked up by the authorities? Maybe his son had betrayed him and turned him in. It could all be a trick.
Even in his worry, David couldn’t help but smile at his own foolishness. It amazed him that he was even questioning what he should do. Whether he heard from Lucas or not, he had to get on that plane and follow through on the plan. If it were anyone else, he wouldn’t have hesitated – the thought wouldn’t even have crossed his mind. He was getting sloppy as he got older.
He pulled out his burner phone and checked again. Still no messages from Lucas. They’d planned to dump both phones in a trash bin in the men’s room before boarding but if Lucas wasn’t here, the phone was the only way he could reach him. Until David arrived in Rio and if Lucas thought to call him there. He did have the address and contact information for the beach house – safely stashed in a safety deposit box with everything else he had that linked back to David if the boy had listened to him.
There was a trash bin a few feet away and they’d just called the five rows behind his and Lucas’s. He stared at the screen, waiting.
****
Emerging from the apartment building with another address, this one in Sacramento, Lucas spotted the dark sedan parked a few cars away and on the opposite side of the street. He shook his head and started for his car but stopped with his hand paused over the door handle.
In a move that was bold, cocky, and probably stupid, Lucas headed straight for the sedan. The startled expression on the driver’s face as Lucas approached put a little extra swagger in Lucas’s hips and a sly grin on his face. He knocked on the window and waited politely while the agent visibly calculated the risk before pressing the button and opening the window.
“I know you think you’re going to catch me sneaking off to meet my dad one of these days, but it’s not gonna happen cause I don’t know where he is,” he said playfully. “If you want to know what I’m up to now, you don’t have to follow me, you just have to ask. I’m trying to get back in touch with my mother – not Barbara, she’s my stepmother, but Diane, my birthmother and Dad’s first wife – although, I guess she might not have been his first wife,” he chuckled at the thought. No, if David had been married before his mother, he would have told Lucas. They were through lying to each other. “Anyway, it occurred to me that you lot might have already tracked her down. If you have I’d really appreciate it if you would let me know where she is and how to reach her. It would save me a lot of trouble driving all over to find her myself.”
The agent made a decent effort at keeping his face straight while Lucas rambled. “I don’t believe we’ve been able to reach her, no,” he told Lucas who had crossed his arms along the top of the driver’s side door and was leaning on them, forehead pressed to forearm. “But I will let my supervisors know that you are interested in getting her contact information when we do get through to her.”
“Thanks so much,” Lucas said, straightening up and turning to go back to his car.
“Given how things tend to go when your father parts ways with people,” the agent’s voice called and Lucas’s steps slowed. “You might want to start preparing yourself for the worst.”
Lucas clenched his jaw and continued on at an even pace, refusing to look back. He refused to believe it. The way his father had spoken of his mother… there was no way that what the federal agent suggested was true. But the image planted in his mind only made him more determined to find his mother before disappearing to Rio. He was supposed to meet his father in Seattle the next day. He was supposed to be meeting the guy who would buy this car in a few hours and get a ride to the bus depot. He bit his lip as he pondered his options and typed the Sacramento address into the GPS to see how many miles the trip was and the estimated drive time.
As he pulled away from the curb, the dark sedan followed.
****
“Now boarding rows…”
The phone vibrated in David’ hand with the arrival of a new text message from Lucas.
“Things taking longer to wrap up than expec
ted. Go without me. I’ll see you when I get there. S.”
David picked up the trash from his cinnamon roll and coffee, crumpling the napkins in the same hand as the phone and tossing the lot casually into the trash. He shouldered his carry-on and headed for the gate, handing his ticket to the agent.
He tried not to worry about what Lucas was referring to that was taking so long. Lucas would be careful and make it to Rio in time or he wouldn’t. It was as simple as that. He would just have to trust that Lucas wouldn’t give up his own father under any circumstances. He hadn’t so far.
****
Lucas watched as the confirmation message popped up on the screen of the phone. He was resting his elbows on the railing of the bridge over the Sacramento River, the latest address for his mother in his pocket. He’d broken the rules and used the phone to dial the car guy and call off the sale having left his real cell phone back at his apartment with everything else that was traceable. Once his father got the message, he would toss his phone in the trash and continue on his zigzagging journey across the country south towards Rio.
Looking up towards the horizon, Lucas let the phone slip through his fingers and fall to the swift waters below. There was a different agent in the dark sedan today. He kept further back than some of his colleagues. It would have been impossible for Lucas to shake them the previous afternoon and meeting the guy about the car would have been too big a tip-off. Beyond simply wanting to find his mother, letting David leave without him was the practical option. It protected them both.
And as the agent from the previous day had pointed out, his mother was a loose end. Loose ends needed to either be reincorporated in the patter or safely tied off.
Promised Box Set Page 30
