“Okay, sounds good,” I replied. “I’ll see you soon, friend.”
“I can’t wait,” she said, a smile in her voice.
“Okay, bye.” She returned the departing remark and we hung up.
I turned the ignition to my grey 2009 Saturn Aura and, once again, I was grateful it started. Now, it wasn’t as if it was on its last leg or anything, but my money was hard-earned, and I didn’t squander it. Once it occurred to me that I might really have to spend my life moving from place to place, I made sure to save as much money as I could. Seriously. Scrooge would be proud.
I pulled out of the motel parking lot and merged onto the road, ready to move on. Since this was the first time I’ve ever left California, my only hope was that my idea to drive to Indiana would work.
I couldn’t say how long it took him to find me, but I’d usually be settled in for a few months before the oddities begin. For all I know, he might know where I’m at the day I move into a new place, and he just bides his time because he’s a sick fuck. Who knows?
I drove the rest of the way to North Dakota going back and forth between lip-syncing to different varieties of music or listening to an audiobook. It wasn’t until I checked my phone that I saw a text from Karla giving me something else to consider. I texted her back letting her know I was going to keep driving until my eyes couldn’t stay open anymore. I didn’t mention stopping in Brant at all.
I made it ten more hours before I pulled into the next motel.
Chapter 4
Xander~
Istared at my best friend’s beautiful wife, with her strawberry blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail and her face free of bangs, showing off her sweet face. Those beautiful hazel eyes giving no hint to the crazy lurking inside her mind.
How could Karla be crazy, and I not have picked up on it until now?
And worse?
Trevor was sitting next to her, completely unfazed by the fact that his wife was crazy. I mean, looking at the guy, you could see that her insanity really wasn’t fazing him in the least.
“I’m sorry, come again?” I asked as politely as I could. It always helps to deal with crazy people as politely as possible. I mean…granted, I haven’t dealt with a lot of certifiable crazy people in my life before now, but it felt like sound advice anyway. Karla let out a soft sigh and her smile was timid, but I didn’t think my reaction was unwarranted after sitting here listening to a story that had Hollywood written all over it.
No wonder she had made all my favorites.
“I know it’s a lot to ask, Xander, but…you are the only person I could think of to ask,” she sighed.
Karla and Trevor had refused to discuss the favor until after we had eaten, and now, I suspect it was because I’d be too stuffed and fat to make a run for it. “You want me to purchase a house inmyname, utilities included, for a friend of yours who’s driving all the way over here from California, because she’s being stalked?”
“She would put up the money and pay the mortgage. She just can’t have the house and stuff in her name,” Karla clarified. “We don’t know how he finds her and, for all we know, he could be a cop or someone good with computers. Fallon has no social media accounts and keeps to herself. The only way he can find her-after moving six times, might I add-is through her work or rental information.”
I ran my hands through my brown hair, making it stand on end no doubt, while I leaned back in the kitchen chair. Resting my arms back on the table I looked at Trevor. “Have you ever met this woman?”
He shook his head. “No,” he answered. “She’s a childhood friend of Karla’s.”
I gave him an understanding nod. I knew Karla was a foster kid, and she moved to Brant after graduating from college, where she met Trevor. His home was Brant, and this is where she followed him. Her only family was an uncle who lived in South Dakota. Trevor was all she had here in Brant, but she seemed perfectly happy with that. This Fallon woman must really mean a lot to her.
I looked back at Karla and hated the words that were going to come out of my mouth because they were going to make it sound as if I didn’t trust Karla, and that wasn’t true. I trusted her almost as much as I trusted Trevor. Only difference was Trevor had childhood friendship seniority on her. “So, you’re asking me to take on a debt of hundreds of thousands of dollars on a…promisethat she’ll pay it? Are you really asking me to...risk my credit and financial reputation to…help out a stranger?”
Karla’s back snapped and I could see her bristle a bit. “No,” she contended. “I’m asking you to do me a favor, Xander.”
My eye flicked towards Trevor before landing on Karla again. “If she’s putting up all the money, why can’t you guys purchase the home in your names?” I asked.
Karla let out another quiet sigh and her shoulders drooped, all offense evaporating. “The only thing Fallon’s certain of is that it’s someone from our childhood. She thinks it’s someone who grew up with us in foster care.”
“Because of the rabbit,” I deduced.
Karla nodded. “Because of the rabbit,” she confirmed. “It would be too easy to link my name to hers. Again, we don’t know who it is, but it wasn’t a secret I was her best friend back then. And it’s not a secret that I’m her only friend now.”
I grabbed for the beer next to my empty dinner plate and took a good, long drink. It was hard to wrap my mind around her words. I mean, I knew people got stalked all the time. I wasn’t a complete moron. But to stalk someone for years without making a move? That seemed…odd.
“Then why move here if she can be connected to you? Why not move to…Florida or New York? Hell, if a person really wanted to get lost, New York would be the place to do it.”
