Deceit

flashlight. And you need water.”

He nodded, no argument left in him.

Melissa headed back into the kitchen. She returned with the flashlight, water bottle, and the plastic bag full of bloody paper towels. Baxter was standing beside his Mercedes, the door open. “We’ll take both cars,” he said. “Leave Linda’s somewhere on the way back.”

Great. Melissa got to drive the one full of incriminating evidence. “What’s our story?”

“She went out and never came back. I’ll work out details on the way.”

“You know where you’re going?”

“Yeah.”

“Should we take cell phones in case we get separated?”

“No. Cell calls leave evidence. Just don’t lose me.”

“What about a shovel?”

“I put two in your trunk.”

Melissa licked her lips, thinking. “Shouldn’t we take her cell phone and purse? If she went somewhere, she’d have them with her.”

Fear flicked across Baxter’s face, as if he gazed down the long gauntlet of the future and knew he could not foresee all the possible dangers. “Go get them. On her dresser.”

Melissa gave Baxter the water bottle and put the flashlight and plastic bag in the back seat of the BMW. She scurried out of the garage, through the kitchen, and up the stairs. Spotting Linda’s tote Coach handbag in the master bedroom, she ran to it and peered inside. The cell phone sat in a side pocket. Melissa hurried into the bathroom and snatched two washcloths from the floor-to-ceiling cabinet. Back at the dresser, she used one of the washcloths to pull out the cell without touching it. The phone was off. Melissa slid it back into the pocket, then laid the cloth across the handles of the purse to pick it up.

In the garage Baxter was leaning against the hood of his car, deep in thought. Melissa could see his shock had once more passed. Cunning had returned.

She put Linda’s purse on the floor of the BMW’s passenger seat. Placed the washcloths beside it. She pointed to them. “To wipe down the car.”

Baxter grunted.

Melissa took a deep breath. “Anything else we’ve forgotten?”

“Sanity.”

Their eyes locked. Baxter’s were flat and dark. Unreadable.

Melissa lifted her hands. “Let’s go.”

She slid inside the BMW. The keys lay in the center console, where Linda always kept them. Melissa started the engine. The clock read 2:05 a.m. Could that be possible? Only half an hour ago she and Baxter had been in her bed. Linda had been alive.

Dread curled through Melissa’s stomach. She turned her head toward Baxter, thinking, Now what? Her life here, her plans had just disintegrated. When Linda didn’t return, Melissa couldn’t imagine social services letting her stay in this house alone with Baxter.

What then?

She couldn’t leave Baxter. Couldn’t leave her job. And she sure wasn’t about to go to some other foster home.

Maybe Baxter would find her a place to live in town. She could still work with him. She could steal over at night to be with him…

The grating sound of Baxter’s garage door opening jerked Melissa from her thoughts.

Melissa blinked. She would be okay. She would survive this. Do whatever needed to be done.

She hit the remote button. Her garage door jolted into an upward slide.

Baxter pulled out first. Bearing Linda’s body in the trunk, Melissa followed him into the tenuous night.

FIFTY-NINE

FEBRUARY 2010

Five feet away from me, Melissa stood with her feet apart, back straight. Her gun aimed at my head.

My heart skidded. All I could do right now was meet her demand. Buy some time. I would think of… something.

A voice at the very core of me whispered I was fooling myself.

In grim succession I saw the future play out. Melissa pulling the trigger. Getting away, staying hidden with the information she’d yanked from me. With the loss of both potential victims as witnesses, Baxter’s high-priced lawyer would somehow manage to get the solicitation of murder charges dropped.

And Baxter Jackson would never be prosecuted for Linda’s death.

I brought up Word. It opened a new document.

Ironic, wasn’t it? I had lived to find people. Now I would die helping one disappear.

Melissa’s breaths came short and quick. I could feel the angst rolling off her. She wanted to be gone. “Tell me as you type,” she demanded.

My throat had run dry. I thought of Perry, wondered how he could work all day without sleep. Of Dineen and Jimmy. Baxter now in jail. Was he talking to Dan and Slater? Or had he already called an attorney?

The world was revolving around me. While I sat with a gun to my head.

Dan’s words echoed. “I’ll get a court order for her cell records. If she uses that phone we’ll locate her.”

If I did one last thing on this earth, it would be to ensure that Melissa would be found.

“You can’t maintain a regular address or phone number.” I keyed in the words as I spoke. My voice sounded hoarse. “Those are things we use to track people.”

“So I move all the time?”

“You keep virtual, even as you live in one place. You leave no correct trail. You leave many false ones. That will send your pursuers looking in all the wrong directions.”

I glanced at Melissa—and saw the gleam in her eyes. Already she pictured herself with $300,000, living as she wanted, doing what she wanted. Disgust and revenge bit my nerves. “You love this, don’t you?”

She gave me a smile that turned my stomach.

Just wait till you learn that money will never come.

I typed “Bills” as the first heading. “Rent post office boxes in numerous states. Spread your bills out between them. Then call the companies every month for your balances and pay them. Tell each biller they have the wrong Social Security number on file and give them a wrong one. Give them new phone numbers.”

“For false trails?”

“Yes.”

I labeled another heading “Internet.” “Make sure your only email address is a Yahoo or Hotmail. Don’t search the Internet from your home computer. Go to an Internet cafe or library.”

I could feel sweat pop out on my forehead. My arms started to shake. Fear and lack of sleep turned my body to wax.

“What else?” Her voice edged, her eyes flicking to my clock.

Long minutes ticked by until I lost track of time. I told Melissa how to open a corporation in the state of her choice, using a certain kind of address. Then open a bank account using the corporation information. Following that, open a corporation in Canada. I typed out the details, my insides churning into jelly. My fingers slipped on keys, and my eyes began to burn.

“Come on!” Melissa stomped closer, menacing with her weapon.

I swallowed hard. Tried to collect my melting thoughts.

“Don’t continue anything like magazine subscriptions. Pay for all plane tickets with cash. Don’t get any type of service, like cable, under your name. Use your foreign corporation.”

“What about phone calls?”

“Once you leave don’t call people you know from here. Cut your ties.”