Jailbird (18 page)

Charlie made brief appearances at breakfast,
the end of the school day and sometimes dinner. I missed him and
was just hormonal enough to be sinking into a pretty deep
depression. Waiting patiently wasn’t my best skill. And just when I
thought I would explode if I had to wait even one more second, the
waiting was over.

As is often the case, when a long-anticipated
event finally comes, there’s a sense of disbelief that it actually
did.

We’d just put the girls in bed and had
decided to curl up on the couch with a pint of ice cream to
vegetate in front of the television.

“I hate these exposé shows,” I went to snatch
the remote from his hand. “There’s gotta be a good nature show on
somewhere.”

“I can only watch camels mate so often,
Neena. Come on,” he held the remote just out of my reach.

“No fair… I don’t want to spill my ice
cream!” I tried to balance the ice cream and climb him to get the
remote.

“Nope, nope, nope,” he tickled my side. I
laughed and wriggled away. I was just about to go in for my counter
attack when a name from my past stilled me.

“Just what happened when Todd Winslow and
Kali Langston went into the woods on that warm spring night? Take a
walk with our own Rachel Cooper as we follow a story that began on
so innocently and ended so deadly.” The announcer finished his
sentence with a seriousness that normally would have made me roll
my eyes. I dropped to the couch, too shocked to even smart off
about the cheesy shot of a gator snapping its jaws.

“Oh wow.”

“I can change the channel,” Charlie hit the
guide button and started looking for the nearest nature show.

“No,” I laid a hand on his arm. “We need to
know what’s been said.”

Neither of us spoke. The ice cream sat
melting on the coffee table in front of us. Rachel had certainly
done her homework. She started by giving a brief bio of me and of
Todd. Tears sprang to my eyes when I saw my old friends being
interviewed. Had I aged as much as Benjamin Carter? Chills ran down
my spine when I saw Todd’s family. Pictures of both of us faded in
and out of the shots.

It was sickeningly surreal watching a
re-enactment of that night.

“According to court records, Kali Langston
lured young Winslow to this remote stretch of woods…,” Rachel
walked the viewer through the prosecuting attorney’s view of the
events. I couldn’t speak. I also couldn’t seem to stop shaking my
head no.

Charlie pulled me to his side. I wasn’t sure
if the human touch was comforting or somehow more disturbing. They
really painted me to be a monster. Maybe I was.

Next Rachel took her viewers on a journey
through the dark hallways of Dixon Correctional. She interviewed
inmates about me, including Mary. Brief mention was made that Mary
had been recently released, but it was obvious that wasn’t the
story of the day.

I felt oddly compelled to smile as they
reenacted my escape. It was pretty accurate, right down to the
actress running through the moonlight in her state-commissioned
underwear. Where the commercial break began was where my story had
really begun, but the only people who knew that were sitting on a
couch watching television. As for the show, it went to commercial
with a gator supposedly taking the actress down for a death
roll.

“Was the escape at all like the real thing?”
Charlie was staring at me incredulously.

“Amazingly close,” I nodded a little
sheepishly.

“You are the most amazing woman I’ve ever
met.”

“It wasn’t exactly planned.”

“Son of a… wow. Wow.”

“Yeah. Wow. Hey, do you need a refill on your
drink? I’m going to toss the ice cream in the trash.”

“It’s coming back on,” Charlie pulled me back
down when I started to rise.

With fifteen minutes to go, Rachel raised the
question—what if the story wasn’t as the prosecutor would have us
believe? There were rumors about Todd’s temper and his tendency to
hit his girlfriends. She’d even found a few sorority girls willing
to hide behind a shadow and voice masking to say he had hit them
while they dated at LSU. It wasn’t quite the smoking gun Charlie
had been looking for, but it raised the question he’d asked before.
What if I had been caught up in something much bigger than
myself?

Rachel’s final question still hung in the air
as the phone started to ring. The first was Anjelita.

“Yes, we saw it too,” Charlie answered
patiently as I slipped away to check on the girls. “I know; it did
look a lot like Neena. Yeah, the thought occurred to us, too…”

If Anjelita saw the show and made the
connection, others with less noble intentions probably had as well.
It was one of the major networks. If I’d been smart, I probably
would have gotten the hour head start instead of watching
television. I changed out of my pajamas and put on jeans and a
sweater. I knew this was it. I jotted a quick note to Charlie and
slid it under my pillow.

The phone rang again as I tiptoed over to
Cara’s room and shook Gabrielle’s shoulder. I motioned for her to
be quiet and to follow me.

“They’ve found you, haven’t they?” her eyes
were wide but her voice steady as we tiptoed down the back
staircase.

“Do you really want to stay with me?” I
paused and met her gaze. “Because if you stay here, Charlie will
protect you.”

“I’m going with you,” there wasn’t an ounce
of hesitation in her.

“Okay,” I cupped her face in my hand for the
briefest of seconds before handing her the pack I’d filled for the
journey. I swung my own pack on my back as the doorbell rang. I
could see Sheriff Taylor’s cruiser through my lacey kitchen
curtains. That hadn’t taken long at all.

Charlie was getting off the phone. I listened
to him cross the room as I looked to see if Jim brought
back-up.

“Hey-a Sheriff Taylor,” my throat tightened
as I remembered the last time I’d left Charlie to greet a uniformed
man for me. Tears blurred my vision as Gabrielle and I slid
noiselessly out the back door and across the lawn.

I slung saddles on the horses while Gabrielle
bridled them. Between the two of us, we had them tacked and out the
back gate before Charlie had finished pouring Jim Taylor a glass of
sweet tea.

We rode in silence through the crisp night,
both of us pretending we didn’t hear the sirens wailing by on the
distant road. I came to a halt at the crossroads in our path and
turned in my saddle to look at Gabrielle in the light of the half
moon.

“We have a choice and I want you to help me
make it.”

“Okay,” she seemed so much older than
not-quite-ten.

“We can swing south and hide out in the
bayou. I can keep us safe and hidden there.”

“Or?”

“We can head north and spy on Julie
Russell.”

“Cara’s mom?”

“Yes.”

“Cara really doesn’t want to live with her
mom.”

“No one wants that. Probably not even Julie.
She’s just trying to hurt Charlie.”

“That’s sick.”

“Some people are.”

Sirens headed the other way on the road. It
was just a matter of time until they brought out the dogs. We had
to move.

“Which is it?” I prompted.

“North, of course,” Gabrielle looked at me as
if I were crazy.

“If they find us, they’ll take you away from
me, and maybe even from your uncle….”

“Then we’d better not let them find us,
huh?”

“Fair enough,” I nodded once and clucked my
horse into action. Gabrielle was right on my heels. I knew I didn’t
need to worry about her keeping up. She could probably outpace me—I
was the one out of practice and off balance. Even if I wasn’t
showing yet, my waist was certainly thicker than I was used to and
it was making it harder for me to find my seat in the saddle.

We headed due south until we found a creek
then headed east for a few miles before swinging north again. Once
we were north of Hampton, we found another creek and headed west
before reemerging and striking a path northward again. I was fairly
certain the dogs would follow us south and then lose the trail.
Hopefully they wouldn’t pick it up again and if they did, I hoped
we’d at least gained enough of a lead to get a safe night’s sleep.
Gabrielle was leaning heavily in her saddle and the moon was high
in the sky by the time I reigned in and set up camp.

Our home for the night consisted of sleeping
bags in a cave with a small fire at the mouth. The horses were
tethered close enough for me to keep an eye on them. I dozed in and
out of sleep. It was enough for me to feel somewhat rested as the
sun peeked over the horizon, but I knew I’d be exhausted after too
many days of this.

Once we were far enough away I didn’t feel
quite so threatened, we were taking time to sleep—really sleep.
Today was not that day, however. So I rolled up my bag and nudged
Gabrielle awake. We ate a breakfast of beef jerky as we rode. The
air was crisp but dry. We pushed our little pasture ponies as far
as we dared for the day before stopping and building another
campsite.

I slept a little more soundly that night.
Odds were good people would assume I’d gone south. Even Charlie and
Conrad thought I’d headed back to the bayou. My note to Charlie
mentioned home. I hoped Sheriff Taylor found the note. Maybe it
would be enough to convince him that I’d duped Charlie. Better to
be thought a fool than to be in prison.

“Hey mom,” Gabrielle stared into the fire on
our third evening on the trail. “Who was my father?”

“A very rich and powerful man who hurt me
very badly,” I answered honestly. I knew that question would come
eventually. It was better I answer it than let her hear speculation
from others.

“He was the guy you killed, wasn’t he?” there
was no accusation in her voice, but I winced anyway.

“Yeah,” no sense skirting that one.

“Okay.”

“What? No, it’s not okay, kid. You deserve
better than this messed up life. I’m so sorry. It’s not fair to
you.”

“Conrad always told me not to worry about
what’s fair. Just focus on what is.”

“Wise words,” I smiled a little sadly. Our
mama used to tell us that. I was suddenly very overwhelmed by all
of the hatred in the world. Why had so much of it been focused on
me and mine? It was exhausting. “Get some sleep baby girl. We’ll
see if we can get thirty miles out of these horses tomorrow.”

“Sure, mom…hey, I love you.”

“I love you too, sweetie.” I blinked back the
tears. There was a beautiful irony in the fact that the first time
I heard those words from my daughter was the very time I felt I
deserved them the least.

Chapter Eighteen

We moved due north through the Ouachita
National Forest and then to the Ozark National Forest. We were cold
and sick of beef jerky and apples. I really wanted a milkshake.

The topography changed the further north we
moved. The temperature dropped, too. By the time we reached the
Mark Twain National Forest in Missouri, we had both reached the end
of our patience. We came upon a string of nearly-abandoned lake
towns, the tourists all having gone home for the season.

As a belated Christmas present to us, I broke
into someone’s lake cabin. The horses were content to graze on
scrub in the front lawn. They hadn’t had much grain or hay along
the way and both were much closer to the weight they should be than
they had been at the start of the journey.

We helped ourselves to our host’s firewood
and were soon happily holding our fingers and toes close to the
blazing fire. It was such a peaceful, happy moment I nearly jumped
out of my skin when my cell phone rang.

I recognized the number. It was home.

“Hello?”

“Neena, thank God you’re okay,” Charlie’s
relief was evident. “I’ve been trying to call for days.”

“We were probably out of cell range.”

“Where are you?”

“I don’t think I should tell you.”

“Please just tell me you’re okay.”

“We’re okay,” I promised. “We’ve made it
through the worst of the journey. How are you?”

“Worried sick about you.”

“I mean it. Are you in trouble?”

“I’m under suspicion, but most people just
think you tricked me.”

“Good.”

“Not good. It’s killing me to not shout the
truth from the street corners.”

“Try to refrain,” I smiled. “That would
totally negate all of my careful planning. How’s Cara?”

“Julie’s parents are asking me to relinquish
custody.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“I haven’t. I don’t know how much longer I
can hold them off, though. I’m a little surprised Julie hasn’t
shown up.”

“She’s giving you enough rope to hang
yourself.”

“Thanks.”

“You know what I mean.”

“I miss you,” he said suddenly.

“I miss you, too.”

“We missed our first Christmas and New Years
together.”

“I know,” I brushed tears from my eyes.
Stupid hormones. “Hey, don’t let Conrad forget to give you your
gift.”

“I won’t. Don’t let Gabrielle forget to give
you yours.”

The tears really did flow then. “Hey, is
Conrad around? I bet Gabrielle would like to say hi.”

“Yeah, sure.”

It was so good to hear Conrad’s voice; I
passed Gabrielle the phone a little reluctantly. I missed them all
so much.

I looked at the girl sitting beside me. She’d
endured a lot without complaint. Maybe there would come a day when
I could start atoning for the trials she’d been through instead of
adding to them.

Charlie had ended the phone call with the
promise of another one soon. Almost as much as I longed to hear his
voice, I looked forward to an update on the happenings back home.
Charlie wanted to try to file an appeal, but with me now suspected
to be alive, he knew the court would want me to turn myself in
before they’d hear my case. Neither Charlie nor I were ready to
take that chance until we were sure our case was solid.