Fort Lupton (28 page)

“
Full-moon snowshoeing,”
Blane said. “I’ve always wanted to do that.”

“
I know,” Heather said.
“Maybe we can take the kids next winter.”

“
I hope so,” Blane
said.

“
That leaves Tink and
Ivy,” Heather said. “Bestat told Sandy that Delphie would know what
to do, but Delphie just freaked out. She had no idea what to do. We
thought Val could take Ivy, but Val’s new movie already has a bunch
of press attention.”

“
Hiding in plain sight,”
Blane said.

“
Or advertising your
whereabouts to millions of people,” Heather said.

“
Ivy’s aunt?” Blane
asked.

“
She’s ‘in country,’ I
think that’s what they call it,” Heather said. “Delphie can’t even
get in touch with her. They told her that she could expect contact
sometime next month.”

Blane shook his head.

“
We’re avoiding talking
about Tink,” Heather said.

“
I think you should take
her and go,” Blane repeated what he’d said before.

“
I’m not leaving you,”
Heather repeated her argument. “You need me here.”

“
I’m just sitting here!”
Blane raised his voice.

Heather’s eyes scanned his face. He looked
angry, but she knew he was scared too.

“
Tink and Ivy are talking
about heading out,” Heather said.

Blane groaned.

“
I think Jill convinced
them that the streets are the worst place possible for them,”
Heather said. “But they’re scared too.”

“
They want to control
their situation.” Blane nodded. “Makes sense.”

“
Aden can’t leave Lipson,”
Heather said. “Jill has the twins. Tanesha has school.”

“
Sandy’s in danger too,”
Blane said.

“
How’d you know?” Heather
asked. “I wasn’t going to say anything.”

“
Just figures,” Blane
said.

“
My mom’s gone,” Heather
said. “Yvonne has Jabari. Jill’s mom said she’d take Ivy,
but . . .”

“
Ivy won’t go without
Tink,” Blane said. “Right?”

Heather nodded.

“
But it’s not safe to keep
them together,” Blane said.

“
That’s the problem,”
Heather said.

“
We need to make a
decision about Tink,” Blane said.

“
Right,” Heather said.
“If
we
decide
that
we’re
willing to take the risk, then Ivy and Tink can go
together.”

“
Way to shift the
responsibility,” Blane shook his head.

Heather nodded.

“
What are our options?”
Blane asked.

“
We have three, really,”
Heather said. “Delphie can take the girls to Sam’s cabin in
Delta.”

“
Isn’t Colin hiding out
with his family at Patrick’s cabin?” Blane asked. “Isn’t that
outside of Delta in the national forest?”

“
Less than a mile away.”
Heather nodded.

“
That’s not going to
work,” Blane said.

“
No one thinks Delphie can
keep the girls safe,” Heather said. “She’s no soldier. It’s too
much for her.”

“
Didn’t Doc Bumpy buy
Jeraine’s Aspen place?” Blane asked.

“
Rented for the year,”
Heather said.

“
And you won’t take them?”
Blane asked.

“
No way,” Heather said.
“If I leave you now . . .”

“
I know,” Blane said. “I
wish you were wrong, but as usual, you’re not. If you leave, I’ll
be so worried about you that I won’t get better.”

Heather nodded.

“
I need you,” Blane
said.

“
I need you to get well,”
Heather said.

They fell silent while they thought.

“
I have an idea,” Blane
said. He thought for a moment and then nodded. “Yeah, I think this
will work.”

“
What?” Heather
asked.

“
What if
you . . .”

“
No.” Heather shook her
head. “No.”

“
Hear me out,” Blane
said.

Heather crossed her arms over her chest.

“
What if you take Ivy and
Tink and move into Sandy’s condo?” Blane asked. “We just need them
to do something different. They’ll stop going to school and hanging
out at the Castle or whatever.”

“
Schmidty’s house,”
Heather said.

“
Schmidty’s
house?”

“
He has a big house in
Crestmoor,” Heather said. “He’s in LA with Lizzie. The girls and I
could live there and no one would ever notice. Mack could stay
too.”

“
Yeah, but you’d have to
call Schmidty, and we don’t know if everything is monitored,” Blane
said.

“
Your hospital room
isn’t,” Heather said. “It goes through the hospital
switchboard.”

Grinning, Blane pointed at Heather and
nodded at her brilliance. He got up from his chair and shuffled
over to the bed. Plopping down on the bed, he picked up the
phone.

“
What’s the number?” Blane
asked.

She gave him the number, and he dialed. She
bit the cuticle on her thumb while he talked to Schmidty. Blane
laughed and gave her the thumbs-up. She watched him thank Schmidty
and then hang up. He rested for a moment on the bed and then hefted
himself up. He shuffled over to her.

“
Turns out that one of his
step-mom’s is a deputy DA,” Blane said. “She’s talked to him about
this case. In fact, she called him after Charlie was hurt and said
that if he knew any of these girls, he should get them into hiding.
She thinks there’s something funny going on in her department or
maybe with the police.”

“
Funny?”

“
Something to do with why
the kids are in danger,” Blane said. “Anyway, he’s going to call
this step-mom. She’ll meet you and the kids at the house this
evening. He also said they haven’t been home in a while. He has a
service that cleans the house and fills the refrigerator. He’ll get
the house ready for you.”

“
Wow,” Heather
said.

“
He’s very wealthy,” Blane
said. “And very happy.”

“
You think it will work?”
Heather asked.

“
I think it’s a good
plan,” Blane said.

Heather nodded.

“
He said the house is
surrounded by high walls and has great security,” Blane said. “It
has to, since he often entertains the celebrities he represents.
Seth has the same security.”

“
Sounds secure,” Heather
said.

“
It has cable and great
snacks.” Blane smiled. “My guess is that you’ll love
it.”

Heather nodded and looked down at her
hands.

“
I should
probably . . .” She gestured to the door.

“
Yeah,” Blane
said.

She looked up at him. His face wore a bright
smile but his eyes looked as scared as she felt. She smiled, told
him she loved him, and left the room. With practiced determination,
she walked out of the hospital. She was in her car before she let
out a tiny sob.

“
I can do this,” she
said.

Nodding to herself, she drove to the Castle
to get Tink and Ivy.

In motion

Saturday evening — 5:37 p.m.

Noelle looked up from the book she was
reading. Her arm had started to hurt again and it was time for her
medication. The medication made her throw up, so she didn’t want to
take it. Sandy wasn’t there to convince her to take it. Her dad
wasn’t there to get it for her. Delphie wasn’t there either. Even
Nash wasn’t there to bully her into taking her medicine.

For the first time ever, Noelle was on her
own.

Noelle sniffed back a tear and looked down
at her novel. She could take her own medication. She could make her
own way in the world. Her dad had been only a little older than she
was right now when he returned home from school to find his parents
gone.

Noelle swallowed hard and nodded to no one.
She was on her own now.

The thought, combined with the air on the
private jet, made her feel cold. Pulling the blanket around her,
she managed to bump her arm wound. She gasped with pain. Sissy, who
was asleep in a chair across the aisle from her, moved in her sleep
but didn’t wake up.

“
Are you all right?” Seth
O’Malley asked.

Noelle nodded. She was more than a little
intimidated by this man. Technically, since Sandy had become her
mom, he was her grandfather.

“
I’m okay, Mr. O’Malley,”
Noelle said.

Mostly, he seemed like a scary old man.
Noelle swallowed hard. He smiled, and Noelle realized he was
actually movie-star handsome. She blushed at her thought.

“
My arm hurts,” Noelle
said.

“
I bet it does,” Seth
said. He took a pill bottle from his pocket. “I believe you’re due
two of these.”

“
Oh, are you
sure?”

Noelle wasn’t sure why she asked that
question. She felt kind of dumb. He smiled.

“
I’m sure,” he said. He
looked at the bottle. “I bet these are making you sick to your
stomach.”

“
Makes my stomach hurt.”
Noelle nodded.

“
I know just the thing,”
Seth said.

He walked down the aisle and talked to the
woman at the front of the plane. She glanced at Noelle and went
into the galley. In a few minutes, Seth came back with a couple of
pieces of buttered toast and a cup of strawberry preserves.

“
Try this,” Seth
said.

Noelle smiled because she liked toast and
strawberry preserves. She tried to put the preserves on the toast,
but her arm ached at the effort. He sat down in the chair in front
of her and swiveled around to put the preserves on for her. She
took a bite of her toast to try it. Finding it good, she ate
quickly.

“
Are you hungry?” Seth
asked.

Noelle nodded.

“
I guess you just got out
of the hospital,” Seth said.

“
The food there is gross,”
Noelle said. “I gave it to my brother.”

At the mention of Nash, an errant tear ran
down Noelle’s face. She looked out the window of the plane to
steady herself. She looked up when Seth got up. He went to the
front and talked to the woman again. She nodded and looked at
Noelle. He came back down the aisle.

“
I’ll tell you a secret,”
Seth said.

“
Okay,” Noelle
said.

“
I hate planes,” Seth
said.

“
You do?” Noelle asked.
She was surprised because she knew he traveled a lot.

“
I do,” Seth
said.

“
But why?” Noelle
asked.

“
I can’t explain it,” Seth
said. “When I was a kid, regular people didn’t fly on
planes.”

“
You’re not really regular
people,” Noelle said.

Embarrassed by her own sassy response,
Noelle blushed.

“
I’m not,” Seth said.
“You’re right.”

“
Are you doing this
because you’re my grandfather now?” Noelle asked.

“
No,” Seth said. “I’m
doing this because I know what it’s like to be talented and on your
own at a young age.”

“
You don’t have to worry
about me,” Noelle said. “My dad was only a little older than me
when he was on his own.”

Noelle’s voice cracked on the words “his
own.” She looked down to keep from crying.

“
I was packed off to music
school when I was ten,” Seth said.

Noelle looked up at him.

“
One moment I was fishing
at City Park with my brothers and the next, my father was putting
me on a non-stop bus,” Seth said. “I had no idea where I was going
or why. I cried the entire way to New York. There are parts of that
highway that are burned into my memory. I still can’t drive there
and not remember being a little guy and on my own.”

“
I was at the hospital,
and then suddenly I’m on this plane!” Noelle said.

“
Like me,” Seth
said.

Noelle sniffed at her sorrow. He held out
his handkerchief and she looked at it.

“
What do I do with that?”
Noelle asked

“
You wipe your tears, blow
your nose, and thank me for the handkerchief,” Seth
said.

“
I’ll get it ooky,” Noelle
said.

“
That’s what they’re for,”
Seth said. “I’ll get it laundered and it will be perfect
again.”

“
Won’t Maresol complain?”
Noelle asked.

“
Sure,” Seth smiled. “But
not about cleaning a handkerchief.”

“
Oh,” Noelle
said.

She took the handkerchief and wiped her
eyes. She looked at him and he touched his nose. She blew her
nose.

“
I’m really scared,”
Noelle said.

“
I’ll bet!” Seth said. “I
was so scared I didn’t get up to pee the entire bus trip. In fact,
I didn’t want to leave my seat. I was hoping the bus driver
wouldn’t notice me there and I could go home.”