“You don’t even know her.”
“She’s a girl. She lives with you. She wants you. I can feel it.”
“That’s crazy. You sound fucking crazy right now. I know Lindsey. Trust me, she won’t-”
“What about me?” Julie’s voice, quieter than usual. “I notice you’re not talking about me at all.”
Rob looked at her and didn’t say anything.
Julie scowled. “I don’t fit into this big plan at all, do I? I guess I’m supposed to slink back home and make with the big apologies to Mom and Dad.”
“I’ve heard worse ideas,” Rob said.
“Fuck that and fuck you.”
“Fuck me? Listen, girl-”
“Shut up!”
Roxie’s strident tone silenced them. She sighed. “Rob. Baby. I love you. You know that. But I’m not gonna settle down into some nice fairy-tale life. I need to move around. Constantly. That’ll never change. And Julie’s welcome to stay with us as long as she likes. End of story.”
“That’s that, huh?”
“Yes. What I say goes. Thought we’d already established that.”
Julie loudly cleared her throat. “A-hem. Besides, your plan isn’t a realistic option anymore.”
Rob looked at her. “What?”
Julie turned the laptop screen toward him. “Looks like you’re about to become as famous as me.”
Rob got up and walked over to the computer. The first thing he saw was a picture of the abandoned Galaxie. That was bad enough. It accompanied a story about his disappearance on a Nashville paper’s website. As he began to read it, a sense of dread took root deep within him.
“Oh, shit. Fuck. I am so fucked.”
“Okay, maybe not as famous as me, because I’m pretty fucking famous. I’m like a real deal movie star. You’re more of a B-lister.”
Julie grinned at him from the other side of the table. His life was falling apart and she was amused by it. Fucking snide little bitch.
“You think this is funny? Shut your face, you little cunt.”
Julie’s grin froze. “Don’t talk to me like that.”
Roxie hushed them again. “When was the last time you talked to Lindsey or your uncle?”
“Shit. Fucking shit. The day after you took me.”
Roxie came over to stand next to him. “Looks like you were reported as a missing person the next day.”
Rob scrolled down some more and groaned. “Goddamn. They found that guy you shot in the woods.”
“I see that.”
“They’ve connected me to that. I’m a fucking person of interest in a fucking murder, Roxie.”
Roxie laughed. “That’s wild.”
He turned on her, his features twisting in disbelief. “Wild? That’s all you’ve got to say? It’s fucking wild? I can’t believe this. What about this is fucking funny? Both of you are insane. Please tell me what it is about the end of my world that’s so hilarious. I’d really like to know.”
Roxie shrugged. “This is no big deal.”
“How can you say that? There’s nothing about you in this article. No hint of an accomplice at all. So maybe this isn’t a big deal to you. Hell, maybe it just makes it easier to ditch me later. I mean, that’s what you’re planning anyway, right? After you’re done having your fun with me?”
She shoved him against the table and got right up in his face, giving him a forceful reminder of how intimidating she could be. “It’s not a big deal because I’m used to dealing with shit like this. I’ve been in the news before, too. For stuff I’ve actually done. I killed my whole rotten family. Butchered them. People freaked the fuck out and it was all over the news. But I didn’t get caught and the press forgot about me after a while. Same thing’s gonna happen with you. I’ve gotten real good at figuring out how to stay free. When to lay low. When to move. How to look different. I can help you do the same. They’ll never catch up to you as long as you’re with me.”
Her face was little more than an inch from his own. He trembled. He was in awe of her. It was like being within grabbing distance of the twitching, exposed end of a live electrical wire. He was afraid to touch her. He cleared his throat. “You promise?”
She smiled and placed a hand on his shoulder, giving it a reassuring squeeze. “I fucking promise.” Then she squeezed harder, digging her fingers painfully into his flesh. “And if you ever accuse me of planning to ditch you again, I’ll fuck your shit up but good. That’s a promise, too. Understand?”
Rob nodded. “Jesus. Yeah. I understand.”
Roxie relaxed the pressure on his shoulder and looked at Julie. “How do you think my man would look as a blond?”
Julie tilted her head and narrowed her eyes, studying him. “Could work, maybe. Do that really bright blond thing and cut his hair, make it spiky.”
Rob shook his head. “No. No way.”
Roxie laughed. “Sorry, Rob. What I say goes, remember?”
Julie clapped her hands and hopped up and down in her chair. “It’s fugitive make over time!”
An emotional numbness came over him as he listened to them talk excitedly about look possibilities, and he excused himself to go to the bathroom. Once he was inside, he closed the door and locked it. Then he sat on the toilet seat and covered his face with his hands.
How do I get out of this?
He sighed.
He didn’t share Roxie’s confidence in her abilities to keep him beyond the reach of the law indefinitely. That would be a far easier thing for one person traveling alone to manage.
Face it, he thought. You’re fucked.
He was. He was sure of it.
And he had a sinking feeling they were just about at the end of the line.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
March 26
The rhythms of the tide were even more soothing at night. The ocean was a mass of shifting darkness out there beyond the pale slice of beach. There was something more suggestive of the primordial about the dark waters at night, a feeling that instilled her with a level of peace that was elusive in her regular life.
The door behind her opened and Annalisa stepped out on the balcony with a drink in hand. She wore shorts and a purple halter. Her mop of strawberry blonde curls was still wet from the ocean and hung almost straight, the lustrous tips brushing her shoulders. “Mind if I join you?”
Zoe forced a smile. “Of course not.”
She did mind. A little. The time alone had been nice. There had been precious little of it since their arrival in Myrtle Beach. And she felt a little weird around Annalisa in light of what Emily had told her about Sean. Still, Annalisa was her friend. She wasn’t to blame for Sean’s boorishness.
Annalisa sat in the rocking chair next to the one occupied by Zoe. “Nice out here.”
Zoe’s smile became genuine. “Mmm…yeah.”
Annalisa cleared her throat. “I sort of had sex with Emily.”
Zoe’s eyes became perfectly round for a moment and she twisted around in the chair to look fully at her friend. “What? Are you fucking serious?”
Annalisa winced. “Yeah.”
Zoe gaped at her. “How do you ‘sort of’ have sex with somebody? Either you did or you didn’t.”
Annalisa raised the glass to her mouth and took a sip. She licked her lips and stared out at the ocean. “Right. Okay. I did. I had sex with her.”
“I can’t believe this. Jesus.”
“Sorry. I know I’ve kind of blindsided you with this.”
“What about Sean?”
Annalisa grunted. “What about him? This doesn’t change anything. It was just a fun experiment.”
“I thought you hated her.”
“Still don’t like her. I’m not dumb. I know she’s just using me somehow, the way she does with everybody else.” Annalisa stared at her lap and rolled the glass between her hands. “But, shit, Zoe, she’s just so ridiculously hot. It’s like I was helpless. I knew better, but couldn’t stop myself.”
Tell me about it, Zoe thought.
“That face. That body. So exquisite.” She laughed and knocked back some more of her drink. “Plus…I was sort of sloshed. Had something like four or five margaritas before she cornered me.”