Never Go Home (17 page)

April pulled
onto the dirt shoulder. Blackness surrounded us. The coroner had come and gone.
At the end of the abandoned road the Tercel sat empty, wrapped in police tape.
We couldn’t see it, but we knew it was there.

“It’s almost
four, Jack. The funeral is at ten.”

I nodded,
said nothing.

“I have a
spare bedroom.” She looked away. “You can stay in there.”

“No, take me
back to Sean’s.”

She
hesitated, made eye contact with me. “You sure?”

“It’s for the
better. Trust me.”

And so she
took her foot off the brake and the cruiser rolled forward. We arrived at
Sean’s house after twenty silent minutes.

I opened the
door and stepped out. She said nothing. I ducked my head inside and leaned
forward. She stared at me, her eyes wide. They looked black in the dark.

“I…”

She shook her
head.

“Yeah.” I
rose and shut the door.

It didn’t take
long for Leon to find a car. He had cut through the woods for a few hundred
yards after someone came out guns blazing. Cops would be on the way, but he
knew he had time, so he crossed the field to the road and made his way south.

The
cloud-covered sky made it pitch black out. Optimal conditions for him. He
stayed close enough to the road to keep from sinking in the wet field. One car
passed. Leon ducked and lay down in the grass to his right while they passed.

The first
street he came across looked promising. The houses older. They were spaced far
apart from one another. As far as he could see, all the windows were dark.

He skipped the
first two and hit the third. There he found an F-150 prime for the taking.

Dumb luck, some
might think.

Country folk,
Leon thought. Always gullible enough to leave their keys in their vehicles.

And this was a
double down as far as luck was concerned. Not only were the keys in the
ignition, the truck was a five-speed.

Silent escape
into the dark night.

Leon didn’t
leave right away. He stayed back fifty feet. He took cover under a tarp strung
between three trees when the rains came. For a time, he watched the house, the
street, and the highway. Fifteen minutes of nothing was his plan. As long as
the house stayed dark, the street motionless, and the highway deserted for that
amount of time, he’d take the truck and go.

It took a
couple hours, but everything fell in place.

Leon left his
hiding spot. The ground crunched under his feet. Pine straw, dried out after a
hot summer. Not even the thunderstorm could do enough to soak it.

The truck door
creaked as he opened it. Leon paused, glanced back at the house. The lights
didn’t cut on. The curtains didn’t move.

He reached in,
released the emergency brake, put his right hand on the steering wheel, his
left on the door frame, and started pushing. His thighs burned as his feet dug
into the ground. The truck started rolling. He cut the wheel near the end of
the driveway. The turn wasn’t perfect, but he didn’t end up in the ditch
either.

With the truck
rolling at a couple miles per hour along the asphalt, Leon hopped inside,
pulled the door to the point where it was closed, but not fully latched, and
turned the key in the ignition. The big V-8 engine roared to life. He turned on
the highway and drove ten miles in ten minutes.

When he reached
the highway 19 and 98 junction, he veered to the left and stayed on 98, which
placed him on a path to I-75.

He pulled out
his cell and called Vera. It took a couple minutes to fill her in on how things
went down.

“Where are you
now?” she said.

“About twenty
minutes from 75, but this truck is hot. I imagine I got maybe two or three
hours before it’s reported missing.”

He heard her
tapping on her keyboard. “OK, in that time you could easily be in Fort
Lauderdale. I’ve got someone between there and Miami who can take you in.
They’ll be able to hide the truck until we can dispose of it.”

“What about
Jack?”

“Don’t worry
about him. I’ve got things in place that are going to take care of Noble.”

“OK. So where
exactly am I headed?”

“Get on 75 and
go south. It cuts across the state from west to east an hour or so away from
you. Call me when you get close to Fort Lauderdale.”

He was about to
hang up when she said something else.

“Leon, what’s
the license plate number.”

He pulled over,
got out and went to the back of the truck. He used his cell phone like a
flashlight and called out the sequence of letters and numbers to her.

“Thank you,”
she said. “I’ll keep monitoring for that. If it is reported sooner than we
expected, you’ll have to ditch it and hide until I get someone to you.”

“All right, you
make sure you…” It was pointless. She’d hung up.

He set the
phone down in the console and pulled back onto the road.

I managed to
keep my eyes shut for two hours. Whether I actually slept during that time is
up for debate. I tossed, turned and punched the cushions a few times. I was
still on London time, which meant it felt like eleven in the morning when I
rolled off the couch.

In reality, it
was only six a.m.

I called the
facility to check on Dad’s status. The woman that answered told me that Sean
had had him transported to the hotel last night.

One less thing
to worry about.

I figured that
the guy who killed Craig wouldn’t hang around, but couldn’t bank on it. The man
was there for me. Someone could argue otherwise, but the fact that the guy
showed up in three separate places at the same time as me left little doubt in
my mind. One of those places had been Dad’s facility. Presumably, he had my
father’s room number. I hoped that’s where it ended.

I called my
brother.

“How’d last
night go?” I said.

“OK,” he said.
“Kinda crowded in here, but other than that, we’re good. I slept with Dad. Deb
and Kelly slept in the other bed. Dad’s got a pretty loose digestive system.
Anything interesting on your end?”

“Too much.”

“What
happened?”

“I’ll tell you
later. You planning on going to the funeral today?”

“Yeah.”

“OK. I’ll pick
you up in Deb’s Suburban. Cool?”

“Sounds good,
baby brother.”

I hung up and
headed for the kitchen. The tile felt cool on my bare feet. I found the coffee,
popped the lid off the container and stuck my nose in the opening. Good start.
Hot coffee would be better, though. I knew from before that it took ten minutes
to brew. I opted to pour a cup once there was enough in the pot. The strongest
possible cup of the morning. I needed it.

My cell phone
buzzed and skated across the island. I set my mug down and scooped the phone
up. The country and city code combination indicated the call came from London.
I didn’t recognize the rest of the number.

“Yeah,” I said.

“Jack, this is
Marcia.”

“Hello, Ms.
Stanton.”

“You can call
me Marcia.”

“OK.”

She said
nothing. Was she waiting for me to say her first name?

“What can I do
for you, Marcia?”

“I need to know
when you are going to be back.”

“I don’t think
you need to know that at all.”

“I’m putting
off important campaign duties at the request of your boss. I think I deserve to
know when you’ll be here to take over my security.”

“Listen to me,
Marcia. I never agreed to anything like that. We’ve offered you an alternative
solution more than once. I can’t help it if you keep turning us down. I’ve said
multiple times now that I am not the one to handle your personal security.
That’s not what I do. I’ve never been in charge of such a thing. You’re at
greater risk if I’m out there with you.”

“If it weren’t
for you I wouldn’t have survived in that cafe.”

I said nothing.
The only response that came to mind was that I wouldn’t have let her go to the
cafe. That would only solidify her position.

“Jack, if you
ever tell anyone I said this, I’ll deny it. But I’m scared for my life. Every
time I step outside, I brace for a bullet to tear my head off. I study every
face that passes. I don’t even trust my closest associates anymore. This has
been going on so long, I don’t feel safe anymore.”

Her words
influenced me. I had to remind myself that she put herself in her current
position.

“You knew the
risks when you started taking down corrupt officials. Did you think their
associates would roll over and die?”

She forced a
laugh. “You think this is over a few bad cops and politicians?”

I said nothing.
I heard a door open in the background, close to Marcia. A woman said something.
Marcia replied, but she must’ve had her hand over the mouthpiece.

“Jack, I have
to go. Please don’t tell Sasha I called.”

“OK.”

“And please
consider this. OK? I’ll call you later.”

The line
disconnected. I dialed Sasha’s number.

“Are you
ready?” she said.

“Not quite,” I
said. “Funeral’s in a few hours. I have some things to take care of afterward.
Maybe tonight. Probably tomorrow.”

“Everything OK
there?”

“It’s a mess
down here, Sasha. But that’s everywhere I go it seems.”

She had no
response.

“I just got a
call from Marcia Stanton.”

There was a
long pause. Sasha spoke slowly. “Why? What did she want?”

“Me to hurry up
and get home.”

“I told her to
let me handle you.”

“I need you to
level with me. What is it that you aren’t telling me about Marcia?”

“I’m not
following.”

“Sasha, this
woman has at least three groups targeting her. And that’s what you’re aware of.
From what she told me, she’s not scared of anyone we know about. I mentioned
corrupt politicians and cops, and she laughed. She’s not afraid of them getting
to her. There’s a reason she wants me close by, but she won’t tell me what it
is. There’s something else at work here. I’ve got a ton on my mind, and it’s
making it difficult to piece this together. Can you dig a little deeper for me
and find out who the hell else she pissed off?”

Sasha sighed.
“We’ve been through it a couple times already, Jack.” She paused a beat.
“There’s nothing under the surface.”

“I get the
feeling you’re withholding something. Before I go holding hands on a walk
through the park with her, I want to know who the hell has me in their sights.”

I hung up
without waiting for Sasha’s response. My phone lit up ten seconds later. I left
it buzzing on the counter and walked out with my coffee. The floor transitioned
from cool tile to plush carpet. I cut through the living room, past the couch I
had slept on, and went out back.

A wooden deck
stretched twenty feet into the yard. It was at least forty feet wide. I dragged
a seat to the far edge. The sun crested over the house and hit the back of my
head. It was still cool out, and the humidity hadn’t started its steep climb.
The rains the night before had left the ground wet. Water drops clung to blades
of grass and sparkled in the morning light.

I finished my
coffee and remained outside for another fifteen minutes. I felt like a sitting
duck out there, surrounded by woods on three sides. Maybe it wasn’t safe. I
didn’t care. In fact, I closed my eyes for five minutes and dumped everything
cluttering my head.

Finally, I left
the serenity of the porch and the sun and the sparkling grass and went back
inside. My phone beeped from the kitchen. I left it there and went upstairs. I
needed a suit to wear to the funeral.

Sean’s room
looked the same as it did the night before. Clothes and linens covered the
floor. I stepped around them and went into Sean’s closet. I found a dark blue
suit, white button up shirt, and a conservative blue tie hanging in his closet.
I didn’t need to try them on first. They’d fit. The shoes would be a different
story. Sean’s feet had always been a size and a half smaller than mine. I would
have no choice but to curl my toes, or wear the beat up pair I owned.

I chose
comfort.

I showered,
shaved and got dressed. Unsure whether or not I’d return to the house, I
grabbed a pair of khaki shorts and a pull-over shirt off the floor. They
smelled clean. I headed downstairs and back to the kitchen. My phone continued
to beep. I ignored it. I needed a boost. A second cup of coffee did the trick.
After I drained the mug, I was ready to face the day.

Leon’s cell
phone buzzed inside the center console. He grabbed it and double-checked the
incoming number.
Blocked
. Considering only one person blocked their
number when calling, and that same person was the only one with this number, he
answered.

“You’re hot,”
Vera said.

Leon cursed
under his breath as he glanced at the green sign on his right. It said he had
twenty miles until he reached I-95. “I’m close to Fort Lauderdale. Twenty miles
or so now.”

“Get off the
road. I’ll have someone meet you.”

She hung up. Leon
pulled into a shopping center. He drove around back and left the truck behind
the Payless. He found a rag in the glove box and used it to wipe down the dash,
seat, steering wheel, shifter, and the door handles.

He glanced in
the direction he had come from. The back lot was deserted. He turned and walked
in the opposite direction.

He tried
calling Vera, but there was no answer.

The strip mall
stretched on for a half-mile before he found a covered walkway between two
sections of a building. It led from the back lot to the front. The walkway was
one big puddle. His shoes and socks became soaked. He saw a sporting goods
store three doors down. It was early, though, and they might not be open. He
jogged along the sidewalk. The sign said he had to wait thirty minutes.

He found a
bench nearby. It was in full view of the sun. Leon sat down. He pulled off his
shoes and stripped his socks off.

Half an hour
later, Leon went into the store, barefoot. He found a pair of Teva’s that were
fifty percent off. They were a size too big, but the adjustable straps meant
they fit well enough. He made his way to the checkout line. The girl behind the
register looked like she’d spent as much time sleeping last night as Leon had.
Although, he figured she’d had more fun than he’d had.

He handed her a
fifty. She gave him five back. Leon exited the store with a new pair of sandals
on his feet.

Outside, he
called Vera again. This time he got through. She let him know that she already
had his location and a man was on the way to pick him up. He’d be there in
fifteen minutes, no later.