Nora and Charlie stumbled down the main street of Virgo Bay, passing the still-shuttered general store and curtain-drawn houses as they ran. Across from the little church with no graves sat Charles’s house, a beacon in the haze of panic, fear, and the early-morning light.
They bolted up the squat steps to the perpetually unlocked front door and spilled in. As soon as they were both inside, Nora slammed the door shut and twisted a lock that had clearly gone its whole life never serving its purpose. Inside, the house was dim; misty tendrils of weak dawn light playing in the gaps of closed shutters.
“Charles,” Nora whispered into the space, the stillness echoing her voice back to her. Jessica grew restless in her arms, squirming for liberation. Nora obliged without much thought, her focus locked on the closed bedroom door at the other end of the little house. A clang of metal distracted her. She looked over to the source of the noise and saw Jessica perched on top of the metal birdcage Nora had noticed during her first visit. She was right; Jessica had brought the twins home. Nora called for Charles again.
This time the bedroom door opened and a very groggy Charles emerged, still in his blue-striped pajama set.
“Heavens, is everything all right?” he said through a yawn.
“We need your help,” Nora said. From beyond the kitchen window she could see Richard and Ruby racing down the road, heading in the direction of Patty’s house. Soon it would be too late for them to get away. Soon everyone involved in this sordid plot would be after them. “We’re going to do what Dad tried to do,” she continued quickly. “What you brought us here for.”
Charles stopped yawning and straightened. “You are?”
Nora nodded, her eyes flicking between him and Patty’s house. Charles followed her gaze. “Well, then, we ought to hurry,” he said. “Or else I fear you’ll no longer have a chance.”
He led them back into the front hall, shoving his bare feet into a pair of sleek boots and tossing a coat over his pajamas. He grabbed the car keys from where they sat in the bowl by the door and held an arm out for Jessica, who took it with the swiftness of a bird who’d done so many times before.
They piled out of the house and raced to the driveway. “There’s a pay phone at a gas station a few miles out of town,” said Charles as he made his way over to the driver’s-side door. Nora hopped into the passenger seat and Charlie climbed in behind them. Just as they were about to pull out of the driveway, Patty appeared at the front of the van, her hands on the hood. She gave a sharp look to Charles, then shifted her attention to the twins.
“Stop this. You need to come out of there,” she shouted into the van. “Right now.”
Nora just shook her head, unable to speak. Richard and Ruby were making their way over to the driveway, their faces as set and severe as their daughter’s. From the rearview mirror, Nora could see the silhouette of someone with a rifle racing onto the scene.Phil. She recognized the rugged shoulders immediately. They were all closing in around the van, trapping them like prey rounded up to be slaughtered. Nora’s breath caught in her throat, her face tingling from the restricted oxygen supply. She could feel herself slipping, her fear gripping her, its hands around her neck, squeezing.
“Hey, Uncle Chuck,” said Charlie from the back seat. “Any way you can swerve onto the grass and get us out of here?”
Charles looked across his perfectly manicured lawn with consideration, then seemed to come to a resolution.
“Nora,” Patty called from the driveway. “Please. You don’t know what you’re doing. Charles!”
Charles set the van into drive and plowed onto the lawn, tires pulling up clumps of grass and mud as he peeled out, off his property and onto the grassy path out of town. Nora watched the crowd scramble in the rearview. Phil inexplicably seemed to be trying to chase after them, rifle raised. Richard and Ruby stared at each other with something heavy settling between them. Patty, meanwhile, had turned and begun to run in the opposite direction for reasons that didn’t matter now. All that mattered was that they were on the road, or what passed for a road in this forgotten place. And soon this would all be over.
27
“I’m happy you kids came to me,” Charles said as they reached the rickety old Virgo Bay welcome sign. “It’s what Martin would have wanted. He was crazy about you kids, you know. Though I suppose you do know. You must have found the letters.”
Nora nodded. “They were hanging up in your old room with Dad’s sketches all over them.”
A small smile brushed Charles’s lips at this. “Martin never could get a handle on proportions. He’d always doodle something on the front of every note just to make me laugh. That was your father. I guess Mom and Dad must have hung them up after he died. I was so sure they’d have gotten rid of them.”
“I don’t get why Ruby would even want to display them after what she did,” Nora said, her voice tight.
“People do difficult things when their backs are against the wall, I suppose,” Charles said.
“And you knew, all this time?”
Charles shook his head. “I’ve been putting the pieces together very slowly, I’m afraid. I didn’t know anything for certain until you confirmed it just now.”
They passed the carcass of Nora’s Honda Civic, though to her surprise it appeared some work had actually been done on it. The hood and bumper looked almost like they belonged to a car again, and the windshield had been fully removed, a tarp laid across it until a new one could take its place. Nora blinked as it passed. Why on earth would Phil waste his time working on her car if he was trying to cause her and Charlie harm? It was an odd move. She supposed he could have intended to keep the Civic for himself. That seemed like something a murderer’s accomplice might do, though she had to admit she didn’t know many offhand.
The road bent around, sending them deeper into the tunnel of boulders and trees. They should be back in civilization soon; the gas station and its pay phone must be coming up. She felt through the pockets of her pants and jacket, suddenly frantic at the realization that she didn’t have any coins on her, and even if she did have one tucked away somewhere, it would be American. She didn’t think a Canadian pay phone would take too kindly to that.
“Do you have change?” she asked her uncle, panic rising. Without money there was no way she could make the call she needed to make. The call Charlie needed her to make. She didn’t even have her purse, which meant she couldn’t get change from any cash she may have had on hand.
Charles kept his eyes on the road, but one hand left the wheel and fidgeted around in an empty cup holder between them. Nora could hear the telltale sound of coins jangling together. She exhaled her worry.
“I like to prepare for any eventuality,” Charles said with a smile.
“Me too,” said Nora. “Usually. Things have just been…unusual lately.”
