"It seems so long ago I can hardly remember."
I looked in the mirror. She'd slumped back down, too tired to pursue it.
I wanted to have one last look at Kev's place to see what he had, and I wanted to do it at last light tonight. I knew there'd be a secure area somewhere in the house--exactly where, we'd have to find out. Then I wanted to be out of the D.C. area again before first light. Big Al didn't know it yet, but he was going to get his ass into gear and help us get out of the US. If he didn't do it voluntarily, I'd be giving him a jump-start.
By midmorning Kelly was wide awake, reading a comic book I'd gotten her at the last stop. She was lying in the back, shoes off, totally absorbed. We hadn't talked. We were in a world of empty candy wrappers, Styrofoam coffee cups, potato chip bags, and cans of Coke with bits of chip floating in them.
"Kelly?"
"Mm?"
"You know in your house, Daddy had the hidey-holes for you and Aida?"
"Uh-huh."
"Well, do you know if Daddy had any hidey-holes for important things like money, or where Mommy would keep her rings? Did he have a special place where they'd put stuff?"
"Sure."
Busying myself with the cruise control, I said, "Oh, and where is that then?"
"In his study."
Which made sense. But that was the room that had been torn apart already.
"Where is it exactly?"
"In the wall."
"Whereabouts?"
"In the wall! I just saw Daddy doing it once. We're not allowed in there, but the door was open and we'd just come in from school and we saw Daddy putting something in there.
We were standing right by the door and he didn't know."
"Is it behind the picture?" I asked, though there was no way he'd be that obvious.
"No, it's behind the wood."
"The wood?"
"Yeah."
"Would you be able to show me?"
"Is that where we're going?" She suddenly sat bolt upright.
"I want Jenny and Ricky!"
"We can't see them when we get there because they'll be busy."
She looked at me as if I was nuts.
"They're my teddies, I told you! They're in my bedroom. Can I get them? They need me."
I felt like a right dickhead.
"Of course you can. As long as you're quiet." I knew there was more to come.
"Can I tell Melissa I'm sorry I missed the sleepover?"
"We won't have time" She sat back in her seat, brooding.
"But you're going to phone her mother?"
I nodded.
I started to see signs for Washington, D.C. We'd been on the road for nearly eighteen hours. My eyes were smarting worse than ever, despite the air conditioner being on full blast. We'd get there in two hours, but we'd still have most of the afternoon to kill before last light. I pulled in at a rest area and tried to sleep. It could be a busy night.
It was about six in the evening as we approached the Lorton exit. For once it wasn't raining, just overcast. Only about forty-five minutes to go.
I couldn't see Kelly in the mirror. She was hunkered down in the seat again.
"Are you awake?"
"I'm tired, Nick. Are we there yet?"
"I'm not going to tell you. It's going to be a surprise. Just keep down; I don't want you to sit up."
I drove onto Hunting Bear Path, negotiating the speed bumps ultra cautiously so I could have a good look around.
Everything seemed quite normal. I could see the back of Kev's garage, but I couldn't see the front of the house yet. When I got up level, the driveway was finally exposed.
Parked outside the front door was a cop car. No problem; just look ahead, act normal.
I drove on, checking in the rearview mirror. The car's sidelights were on and there were two cops inside. The house hadn't been boarded up yet, but it was cordoned off with yellow tape.
I drove straight on; I couldn't tell if they were looking at me. Even if they did a plate check as I drove past, it wouldn't matter. They'd come up with only Big Al. If I was compromised, I'd run for it and leave Kelly here. Maybe the police would be good guys and look after her. At least that would be the logical thing to do, but there was a conflict. I'd promised that I wouldn't leave her; that promise shouldn't mean much, but it did.
I went down to the bottom of the road and turned right to get out of sight as quickly as possible, then drove a big square to get back in behind them. I reached the small parade of shops. The parking lot was about a quarter full, so we could pull in without attracting attention.
Kelly shrieked, "We're at the stores!"
"That's right, but we can't buy anything because I haven't much money left. But we can go to the house."
"Yesss! Can I get my Pollypockets and Yak-backs from my bedroom, too?"
"Of course you can." I didn't have any idea what she was going on about.
I went around to the back, opened up the trunk and got out the bag, then opened her door. I threw the bag beside her and leaned in.
"Are we going to my house now?"
I started to sort out the kit I'd be needing.
"Yes. I want you to help me because I want you to show me Daddy's hidey-hole. Can you do that? It's important; he wanted me to check something. We've got to sneak in because the cops are outside. Are you going to do everything that I say?"
"Yeah, I'll do that! Can I get Pocahontas, too?"
"Yep."
I didn't give a fuck; I'd have nodded and agreed to anything as long as she showed me the cache.
"You ready? Let's put your hood up." It was dark and cloudy, and thankfully the road wasn't exactly built for pedestrians. We shouldn't encounter any Melissas enroute.
With the bag slung over my shoulder, I held her hand and we set off toward the house. It was nearly seven o'clock, and the street lights were on. My plan was to work our way to the back of the house so I could have a look at it and prepare to go in.
We started to walk over the vacant lot to the rear of the house, past trailers and stockpiles of girders and building materials. The mud was so treacherous in places I thought we'd lose our shoes.
Kelly was almost beside herself with excitement but fighting it hard.
"That's where my friend Candice lives!" She pointed to a house.
"I helped her with their yard sale. We got twenty whole dollars!"
"Shhh!" Smiling, I said slowly, "We've got to be very, very quiet or the policemen will get us."
There was a look of confusion on her face.
"Nick?"
What now?
"Yes, Kelly." "Why are we hiding from the police? Aren't they good guys?"
I suppose I should have anticipated that one. What could I say? She wouldn't have understood any of the 101 reasons why we'd be up to our necks in shit if the police caught us.
Even if I did have a spare couple of hours to explain them to her. Nor did I want to undermine forever her confidence in the authorities at this early stage in her life. So I lied.
"I don't think they're real cops; I think they're just dressed up like cops. They might be friends of the men who came to see Daddy." It didn't take long for that to register.
Finally we were standing in the shadow of the neighbor's garage. I put the bag down and watched and listened. The engine of the cruiser was idling. They were less than twenty yards away on the other side of the target. I could hear a little of their radio traffic, but I couldn't make out what was being said. Now and again a car drove past, braked for the speed bumps, rattled over them, and accelerated away.
Lights were on in some of the houses, so I could see into the rooms. It had always given me a strange sort of kick doing this, like my own private viewing of a nature documentary:
human beings in their natural habitat. As young soldiers in the late seventies in Northern Ireland, part of our job was to "lurk" hang around in the shadows, watching and listening, hoping to catch a glimpse of someone with a weapon. It was amazing what you'd see people doing in their cars or living rooms, and slightly less amazing what they'd be up to in their bedrooms. Sometimes we'd watch for hours on end, all in the line of duty. I really enjoyed it. Here, people were just doing dishes or watching TV, probably worrying about the effect of multiple murders on real estate prices.