Page 52

Claire

Now

“Ready to go?” Josh’s question hits my back, a note of impatience in his voice.

The shock of Phoebe’s video radiates through me. “Just a minute,” I say without turning around, hoping Josh doesn’t recognize the spasms of fear in my voice.

I pretend to casually peruse the store’s limited beverage options, while fumbling to free Phoebe’s phone from the charger.

I shove it in my pocket as I bend down, ostensibly to grab a drink from the bottom shelf, and drop the charging cord to the floor, kicking it lightly in the hope that Josh won’t see it.

“Got us water and a Coke,” I explain, as I finally turn to face him, holding up the bottle and can. “Figured we could share.”

I know there’s no possible way his features could have changed in the few minutes since I left him in the parking lot, but when I take him in now, he looks like a different person, someone I don’t know.

Dark circles line his eyes, which seem more narrowed than usual.

The fine lines I’ve barely noticed in all the times our faces have been pressed together are now deep, craven, lending his face a worn, villainous quality.

When his lips lift upwards, the result is closer to a grimace than a smile.

“Great. Well, we should probably hit the road,” he says. I nod, clenching both hands tightly around the drinks to hide my nerves as I follow him to the front counter.

The cashier looks at me as I place the purchases in front of me, a slight glint in his eyes as if we’re sharing an inside joke, and I cringe. If he decides to say anything, to mention the charger, I’ll have no explanation for Josh. He’ll know instantly what I’m up to. To guess what I know.

And then he’ll kill me.

For some reason, this result hasn’t yet occurred to me. I’ve been so absorbed in what Josh has already done, that I haven’t considered what he’s prepared to do.

I watch as the cashier opens his mouth and I level all my panic towards him in one look, a last-ditch effort to get him to help me. To do something.

Something resembling surprise washes over the cashier’s face, and his mouth flops closed, before he hands me back the drinks. “G’day,” he mumbles as we turn to leave, no longer willing—or daring—to make eye contact.

I eye the car as we approach, the keys already in the engine, ready to take me somewhere no one will ever find me. And then I scan my surroundings. But everywhere is the same. Red dirt, spotted with the odd bush and eucalyptus tree. Empty flatness for as far as the eye can see.

I won’t get far, that’s for certain. If I try to run, Josh will be on me in a minute. And even if I do manage to get away, where would I go? There’s no one for miles and miles. Hell, we didn’t even pass a single car in all the time we’ve been driving this morning.

I have no choice but to get in the car with him. To play along with this facade he’s created.

And hope that I’ll somehow be able to escape.