Kiyanna nodded, turned and ran.
He picked up the phone again and held it to his ear. ‘All right. Tell me everything I need to know.’
Lisa fiddled in her coat pocket.
‘You might as well take your coat off,’ said Hannah dully. Her voice was raspy from her bruised larynx. ‘They won’t be here anytime soon.’
‘How long will it take them? Where are they coming from, anyway?’
‘I told you, I don’t know,’ said Hannah. ‘I don’t know where they are.’
Lisa shook her head. ‘Lies,’ she said.
Hannah gazed at her daughter, feeling almost faint at the weight of her own failure. She was her only child and she had loved her so fiercely. ‘It’s not a lie. I know they were heading toward Chicago. I didn’t want to know exactly where. Your father didn’t tell me exactly where they are on purpose.’
‘Bastard,’ said Lisa.
‘I have to ask you something.’
‘What?’
‘Did you . . . set up the explosion that killed Troy Petty?’
Lisa looked at her mother in disbelief. ‘What are you doing? Working for the police? Recording me?’
Hannah shook her head. ‘I just want to know. I know you were angry at him because he wasn’t interested in . . . children.’
‘He certainly didn’t turn out to be the man I thought he was,’ Lisa said tartly.
‘He wasn’t like those creeps you were writing to. You thought he was but he wasn’t. I feel so sorry for his family. His sister. I’m so sorry that his name got dragged through the mud in court. He didn’t deserve that.’
Lisa shrugged. ‘Water under the bridge.’
‘But why didn’t you just walk away and leave him alone? He wasn’t hurting you. Why did you have to . . . ?’
Lisa looked at her disdainfully. ‘Kill him? You can say it, Mother. I had no choice about it. The fact is he was a threat. He thought that everyone at the medical school ought to know about me.’
Hannah shook her head.
‘What?’ Lisa demanded.
‘What did I do? I just keep asking myself, what kind of a mother I was. How did you turn out this way — to be so heartless? And don’t say that it was because your father molested you. We both know that’s just not true.’
Lisa burst out laughing. ‘Oh, Mom,’ she said.
The utter normalcy of it made Hannah’s heart do a sudden flip in her chest. It was as if the years had vanished and Lisa was twelve again, and amused by her mother’s efforts to name her favorite singer. For a second, Hannah thought it was over. That maybe it had all been a horrible joke, meant to undermine her, to make her doubt herself as a mother. But if it was over now, that would be all right. She could live with that. ‘What?’ she asked hopefully.
‘You look so stupid with that bandage around your head,’ she said. ‘How was that when you fell on the tracks? Were you scared?’
Hannah turned her head and looked out the window, wishing she could just fly away. Unhear what she just heard. Then she turned to face her child. ‘I talked to a shrink about you. She said you were probably a psychopath.’
‘Psycho-jargon,’ said Lisa. ‘She doesn’t even know me. Besides, shrinks are always trying to put people in little boxes. They don’t know how to cope with someone who knows what they want and won’t hesitate to get it. If they want to call me a psychopath, a sociopath, who cares? What does it really mean?’
‘Listen. I’ll tell you what it means,’ said Hannah evenly. ‘It means we are not giving Sydney back to you, Lisa. Not under any circumstances. Maybe your father already called the police. Maybe they’re on their way.’
‘Don’t be stupid, Mother,’ said Lisa. ‘He doesn’t dare call the police. He’s the criminal as far as the cops are concerned. Not me. And you are giving her back to me. She and I have adventures ahead.’
Hannah shook her head. ‘We won’t. Look, if you just walk away I won’t tell the cops about the subway. Just leave Sydney with us.’
Lisa stood up and glared down on her mother. ‘She’s mine. You can’t stop me. Nothing you can say will stop me.’
Hannah stared right back at her. ‘I swear, Lisa, as long as I’m breathing . . .’
‘Exactly,’ said Lisa. She reached into her coat pocket and slowly pulled out a gun. Its dull black finish reflected the light.
Hannah cried out. ‘Where did you get that?’
‘Mother, I’m not fourteen. I bought it. It’s all perfectly legal. I bought it and I’m going to use it on the people who kidnapped my child.’
Hannah felt as if she had been punched in the chest. She struggled to catch her breath. ‘Lisa. You can’t do that. You’ll end up in jail.’
‘For doing what I had to do to get my child back from her kidnappers?’ said Lisa. She shook her head. ‘I don’t think people are going to see it your way.’
Hannah stood up and started to approach her daughter.
Lisa brandished the gun at her. ‘Don’t take another step. Do you think I’m not serious? I was going to wait until Dad got here but I could kill you right now. Why not? When he gets here I’ll just show him the corpse. I’d rather do it in front of him but I’m flexible.’
Hannah looked at her only child, stunned. ‘Did you always hate us this much?’ she asked. ‘We did our best for you. We loved you so much.’
Lisa shook her head. ‘I don’t hate you.’
Hannah thought her ears were deceiving her. ‘You don’t?’
‘Well, I’m angry at you but I certainly don’t hate you. You were an OK mom. And Dad. Well, all right, I’ll
