Page 155 of Life and Death

“Does anyone want to hear my idea?” I asked.

“No,” Edythe snapped. Archie glared at her.

“Listen,” I said. “You take me back.”

“No!”

“Yes! You take me back. I tell my dad I want to go home to Phoenix. I pack my bags. We wait till this tracker is watching, andthenwe run. She’ll follow us and leave Charlie alone. Then you can take me any damned place you want.”

They stared at me with wide eyes.

“It’s not a bad idea, really.” Eleanor sounded so surprised, it was an insult.

“It might work—and we can’t just leave his father unprotected,” Archie said. “You know that, Edythe.”

Everyone looked at Edythe.

“It’s too dangerous—I don’t want her within a hundred miles of Beau.”

“She’s not getting through us.” Eleanor was very confident.

Archie closed his eyes for a second. “I don’t see her attacking. She’s the kind that goes around, not through. She’ll wait for us to leave him unprotected.”

“It won’t take long for her to realize that’s not going to happen,” Edythe said.

“Ihaveto go home, Edythe.”

She pressed her fingers to her temples and squeezed her eyes shut for a second. Then she was glaring at me.

“Your plan takes too long. We’ve got no time for the packing charade.”

“If I don’t give him some kind of excuse, he’ll make trouble for your family. Maybe call the FBI or something if he thinks you’ve . . . I don’t know, kidnapped me.”

“That doesn’t matter.”

“Yes. It does. There’s a way to keep everyone safe, and that’s what we’re going to do.”

The Jeep rumbled to life, and she spun us around, the tires squealing. The needle on the speedometer started to race up the dial.

“You’re leaving tonight,” Edythe said, and her voice sounded worn. “Whether the tracker sees or not. Tell Charlie whatever you want—as long as it’s quick. Pack the first things your hands touch, then get in your truck. I don’t care what Charlie says. You have fifteen minutes. Fifteen minutes from the time you cross the doorstep or I carry you out.”

A few minutes passed in silence, other than the roar of the engine.

“Eleanor?” I asked, looking at my hands.

“Oh, sorry.” She let me loose.

“This is how it’s going to happen,” Edythe said. “When we get to the house, if the tracker is not there, I will walk Beau to the door. Then he has fifteen minutes.” She glared at me in the rearview mirror. “Eleanor, you take the outside of the house. Archie, you get the truck. I’ll be inside as long as he is. After he’s out, you two can take the Jeep home and tell Carine.”

“No way,” Eleanor broke in. “I’m with you.”

“Think it through, El. I don’t know how long I’ll be gone.”

“Until we know how far this is going to go, I’m with you.”

Edythe sighed. “If the trackeristhere,” she continued grimly, “we keep driving.”

“We’re going to make it there before him,” Archie said confidently.