Status

CHAPTER 17

When I walked into the Missouri Department of Motor Vehicles, I felt the eyes of my co-workers fall on me. I’m sure they were wondering if I was coming in to work because the place was swamped. But I wasn’t here to start my shift.

In order to get behind the counter, employees had to be buzzed in. I didn’t want to wait so I hopped over the half door in one bound, my running shoes giving off a small squeak against the shiny tile as I landed firm on the other side.

William looked at me crazy when I took over his computer. I apologized to his customer and started typing.

“Tyesha, what are you doing?” William asked nervously.

“I’m trying to find my daughter.”

William gave me more space to type. “Well hurry up,” he said. “Ruth is here today but she’s out on lunch. If she catches you on my computer—”

“She’s gonna fire me,” I finished for him, as I continued typing. “I know. And I really don’t care right about now.”

He whispered to me, “Yeah, she’s gonna fire you. But that’s not the only thing. Unauthorized access to the system is a felony and you and I both know Ruth will make sure the State presses charges against you, after they give you the boot. You won’t be able to find your daughter while in prison.”

I stopped typing, but only for a moment. I had to keep going. When I decided last night to find Ladykiller’s address, I knew full well what I was doing. I knew there was a chance Ruth could catch me. Did I think about her pressing charges? No, I didn’t. But as long as the police didn’t catch me before I found Kylie, I didn’t care. I’d do my time knowing my daughter was safe with her grandmother. And if I ended up having to kill Ladykiller, I knew I’d be doing a lot of time. Those were the questions going through my head last night— Are you willing to take his life? Will you go to prison to find your daughter? Could you live your life without her, knowing you didn’t try your hardest to find her?

Yes, yes, and NO!

“Hurry,” William prompted. “She has an hour lunch and she left at eleven. If you know Ruth, you know she doesn’t get back late.”

I looked at the clock on the wall. It was ten till.

First, I found Gideon’s address under his full name, Gideon Byers. I had called him this morning to ask for a gun. It didn’t surprise me when he gave me an adamant “No.” I pleaded with him, even started crying desperately, but he told me he didn’t want me to go to jail in pursuit of Kylie. I understood, but I still was getting his gun. I was going to go to his house and take it. When I called him, he was at the grocery store. Hopefully I could get in and get out before he got back. And then it was on to Ladykiller’s.

I clicked a pen and scribbled down the address on a sticky note. The customer sighed impatiently, and William told him it wouldn’t be much longer. Then I looked up at the clock again.

I had seven minutes.

Typing in Landon Roby, Ladykiller’s real name, I came up with nothing. Then I realized that he probably didn’t own a car because he was only seventeen. But was he really just a teenager? I couldn’t be sure. He looked like a grown man in person and even older on his profile picture.

I started over with another search, glancing at the clock.

Four minutes.

My fingers moved like quick spider legs as I typed in the name the detective gave me of Ladykiller’s mother. Before I could finish, though, William tapped me on the shoulder. I looked at him and then followed his eyes— which were bulging like he’d seen a ghost—toward the entrance, where I saw Ruth coming in the door sipping a soft drink through a straw.

Dammit! She’s back three minutes early!

I typed faster and hit enter. Nothing came up! And then I saw that I misspelled her name. I typed it in again and then the address popped up.

“Tyesha Fenty!” Ruth called.

William buzzed her in as I finished writing down the street address. I didn’t need the city, state, and zip code. But I did write down what kind of car Ladykiller’s mother owned. A white BMW 325i.

As I stuffed the information in my pocket, Ruth tried to go in it when I pulled my hand out.

I slapped her hand down.

“What did you put in there?” she hissed.

“None of your fucking business,” I snapped. “Don’t ever put your hands on me again.”

“Whatever you put in your pocket is my business. You’re not even supposed to be here today. You’re on leave. So anything you did on that computer is in violation of policy—and the law.” She turned to William. “Did you let her on your computer?”

“No, ma’am,” he said, showing his palms in his innocence.

I didn’t have time for this. I tried to walk past her but she grabbed my wrist. When I tried to yank away, her frail body jumped forward but she still didn’t let go.

“Bitch, I will kill you!” I shouted. “Let me go!”

“No, I’m calling the police. You’re not going anywhere.” Then she shouted at the security guard for help. “Stuart Bradshaw, get over here and apprehend her!”

Stuart hopped the half door like I did earlier. I couldn’t let him arrest me so I pulled away harder, but now Ruth had both hands locked on my wrist. I cocked back with my free hand to knock her old ass out but Stuart caught my arm by the crook of my elbow. He pulled me back away from her.

“Call the police,” Ruth said to William, who immediately picked up his desk phone and started dialing. I wasn’t mad at him for having loyalty to his job. But I was mad at Stuart for not letting me go.

“I have to get out of here!” I screamed at him, as I tried to wriggle out of his hold on my waist with no luck.

“Take her to the back, Stuart, and keep her there,” Ruth commanded. “William, give me the phone and take care of this customer.”

I kicked and screamed as Stuart drug me to the back of the building inside the break room. He closed the door and let me go. When I tried to go around him and back out, he pushed me back.

“Stuart, don’t do this! Please! I have to find my daughter!”

Then he did the strangest thing. He extended his arm and pointed behind me.

I turned and saw the emergency exit.

“You got away from me and you escaped,” he said. “I couldn’t catch you.”

I threw my arms around him and gave him a hug. “Thank you.”

“Go find your daughter,” he said.

I sprinted towards the exit and barged into the door with my shoulder, the alarm wailing as it flung open and I stumbled out into the shade of the building’s rear.

CHAPTER 18

This was my first time laying eyes on Gideon’s house. It was just like the rest of the houses in this neighborhood—gable to gable roof, two stories high, no garage. Modest living. It reminded me of the sort of homey house my grandmother lived in. But to my knowledge, Gideon lived alone and didn’t need this much house.

Unless he was planning to start a family.

As I walked across the grass, I looked around to find the best place to break in. I couldn’t do the windows because all the ones on the first level had bars on them. Gideon would be back by the time I figured out how to get those off.