bullshit, Ridley.”
“They’re coming for you right now.” I was putting on my tennis shoes and tying the laces. I could hear the sirens growing louder now. I put on my coat.
“No,” he said, shaking his head. “That’s not my gun. And there’s no way they can prove it is.”
What can I tell you about how I was feeling at that moment? I could hear that odd rushing sound in my right ear; my hands were shaking a little. I wasn’t sure what I believed about Jake. I guess mostly I was just in shock. I had no frame of reference for this kind of situation, so I was flying blind.
“That shot. They say it came from the trees where you were hiding, not from the rooftop,” I said.
He looked down at the floor and then back at me. “I don’t know where the shot came from, Ridley. But it didn’t come from me.”
Jake looked scared, as scared as I felt. He grabbed his jacket and started moving toward the door.
“Ridley, I want you to get yourself someplace safe. Right now.”
His words made me go cold inside. “What are you saying?”
I moved to follow him. His face was pale as he came close to me, put his hand gently on my arms.
“Listen to me carefully, Ridley. I want you to go back to your apartment, get some things, and check into a hotel. Don’t tell anyone where you are. No one. Not your parents, not your friend Zack. Do you understand me?”
“I’m coming with you.” I couldn’t even believe the words had left my mouth. Was I really considering joining him in his flight from the authorities? The answer is yes. I was so unrooted from my life, so disconnected from my former version of reality, that it seemed like an actual option.
The sound of the sirens was louder still. I could start to see the flashing red lights reflecting on the building across the street. He kissed me lightly on the lips and looked at me with that expression I couldn’t read.
“I won’t do that to your life, Ridley.”
“Jake…”
“Just
“Why, Jake?” I wasn’t sure what was happening, but I was realizing, maybe since I’d talked to Linda McNaughton, that there was something much darker, much bigger, at work here than the manipulations of Christian Luna.
“You’re in danger, Ridley. We both are. So promise me.”
“Jake, I don’t understand. What are you talking about?”
“Ridley, I’ll explain everything. You have no reason to trust me, but I’m asking you to do that now. Just tell me you’re going to do what I say.”
I could hear the banging on the metal door downstairs. “I promise,” I said.
“I’ll find you. Don’t worry.”
I nodded and he moved toward the door. I felt my stomach twist with the fear that I was never going to see him again.
“I didn’t kill Christian Luna. I want you to know that, Ridley.”
And then he was gone. I waited a second and listened to the police shaking the door downstairs. When I entered the hallway, I could hear Zelda yelling downstairs and Jake was nowhere in sight.
“Hold on, hold on!” Zelda’s voice carried up the stairs. I heard the creaking of the door and pounding footsteps on the stairs. I ran up one more flight and pushed out onto the roof. The cold air hit me hard and I stood in the dark, wondering what the hell I was going to do up here. I half expected to see Jake racing across the rooftops. But I didn’t see him anywhere. I wasn’t sure how, or if, he’d made it out of the building.
I threw my leg over the back ledge and stepped down onto the fire escape. The dogs were going crazy below me, barking their heads off as I climbed down to my floor. With a little bit of rattling, the window opened and I climbed into my apartment. It was dark and I tried to be as quiet as possible.
I heard loud voices in the hallway, the sound of police radios crackling and beeping, the heavy footsteps of big men wearing hard boots. I heard Zelda yelling, “Hey, you gotta warrant to come in here? Are you listening to me?” I looked out of my peephole and didn’t see anyone on my floor, so I opened the door a crack. I wondered briefly if I could just walk down the stairs and exit through the rear of the building. But I’d seen enough cop shows to know they’d be crazy not to have covered both the front and back entrance. As I was about to retreat, I noticed Victoria’s door was ajar and I could see her eye, wide with terror, peering back at me. I felt bad for her, thinking how terrified she must be, but I also wasn’t in any position to help her. I closed the door quickly and quietly, sat with my back against it. I was breathing hard, thinking, I’m hiding from the police right now. I have officially walked off the edge of my life. I am falling, limbs flailing, into the dark unknown.
I heard footsteps on the stairs. “She’s not here. I told you. She went out before and she didn’t come back.” It was Zelda barking at someone.
“Where’d she go?” Detective Salvo. I could hear their footfalls on the tiles outside my door, their voices getting closer.
“Hey, whatdoIlooklike, her mother?”
Detective Salvo banged hard on the door and I braced myself because I was still leaning against it. “Whatareyou, deaf?” yelled Zelda. I held my breath in the silence that followed and then he banged again.
“Ridley. Do yourself a favor if you’re in there and come out. Talk to me. Don’t make me issue a warrant for your arrest. Aiding and abetting, failure to cooperate with a police investigation. I don’t want to fuck up your life, Ridley. But I will.”
I sat as still and solid as a stone. I couldn’t go out there now. I’d tipped off Jake; I’d fled the apartment and I’d been hiding from the police. I had no choice but to hold my ground. The phone in my apartment started ringing and I held my breath. The machine picked up after two rings and I heard my father’s voice.
“Ridley,” he said, sounding stern and worried. “Your mother and I have had a disturbing call from Alexander Harriman. We’re extremely concerned and need to speak with you right away. Call us.” The line went dead.
So much for attorney-client privilege. He couldn’t do that, could he? Call my parents? How much had he told them? I wondered. Shit.
“You got a key for this apartment?” Detective Salvo asked Zelda outside. I closed my eyes and said a prayer.
“You got a warrant?”
“Don’t make this difficult for yourself, Mrs. Impecciate.”
“You got a warrant?” she repeated levelly. I loved her so much right then.
“No, I don’t.”
“Then I don’t got a key.” Zelda was lying for me and protecting me. She knew I was in the building. I think she knew I was sitting behind that door. For someone who’d barely spoken a civil word to me, she was really going to the mat for me. I wondered if it was because she’d secretly really liked me all these years, or because she really hated the police.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m calling her cell phone,” he said. “I just talked to her.”
I fumbled in my pocket for the phone. I heard the long beep as he pressed
“Voice mail,” he said, half to himself. “Goddammit, Ridley.” They walked off without any further conversation. I’m not sure how much longer I sat there. I just listened until the chaos upstairs melted away, listened as heavy footfalls disappeared down the stairs and out onto the street, until I didn’t hear the police radios and the booming voices. I sat there for so long that after a while, I think I might have dozed a bit. My phone kept ringing, but whoever was calling hung up on the machine. I still hadn’t moved from my crouch by the door when I heard the softest knock.
“Ridley,” came a whisper at the doorjamb. I jumped slightly and became aware that both of my legs were painfully asleep. I held my breath, not sure what to do. “Ridley,” the whisper came again. “It’s Zelda.”
“Zelda?”
I opened the door a bit. “Come on,” she said. “I show you the way out of here so the police don’t see. They’re waiting outside for you to come back. That cop said he was getting a warrant for your apartment.”
I didn’t know why Zelda was helping me and there wasn’t time to ask. I followed her down the three flights
