Just one simple click that I hide by clearing my throat.
“You don’t think they’ll bring me some water if I ask, do you?”I joke softly.
If I’m right about this—and I’m hoping I’m not—I can’t spook him.
“I’d be more worried about them discovering your boyfriend out there,” he says.
Against my will, my face heats.“Not my boyfriend,” I correct.
Maybe I was imagining it earlier.Is there any chance it isn’t a response to the—oh, I don’t know—traumatic experience of being held hostage in the middle of a Monday?
I’m certainly not going to jeopardize my career to ask a boy if he likes me.
My spine pops when I stretch.“I definitely didn’t wake up this morning and expect this.”It’s the truth, but not the reason I’m bringing it up.
There’s something that’s been nagging away at me about Hal.It’s grown the longer we’ve been in here.It’s like what Sterling said about gut instinct.
There’s a story here; I simply need to uncover it.
Hal hasn’t responded.I’m not sure he even heard me.
I keep my tone light, conversational.“How old are your kids?”I ask, finally getting his attention.“You asked about family before,” I explain.
“Three and five.”
“Exciting ages.My ma said those were the best and worst years for her and pa.Apparently, my brother and I liked hide-and-seek so much that she considered getting us to wear bells.”
“Yeah, I’ve been there.”He chuckles.“Lola, my youngest, started coughing one night and wouldn’t stop.Scariest thing that’s ever happened to me.By the time we got to the hospital, she’d gone from red to purple to white.We thought we were going to lose her.”
My heart breaks, only saved by the phrasing.Were.“How is she now?”
As he blinks, his eyes shine with unshed tears.“Better.Hasn’t happened again since, but after, I spent six whole months sleeping on the floor of her room, listening to her breathe.And I still wake up in the middle of the night, terrified.”
“I’m glad she’s okay.”
Hal says nothing, staring into a distance I’m suddenly sure is dark and tormented.
“She has a good dad.”
He opens his mouth, but a quiet beep cuts through the silence, and he stills.
It came from the computer.
The same one he said wasn’t working.
I’m on my feet in seconds, but Hal is too.I barely have my fingers around the thumb drive before my head is slammed into the desk.It’s quick and dirty, and I slump to the floor in a heap.My head is pounding.
He ejects the thumb drive and pockets it, standing over me.
“What is that?”I ask.
“It’s my winning lottery ticket.”
The computer screen shows a customer profile.
“You’re taking … people’s information?”
“You’d be surprised what some people are willing to pay for a few letters and numbers.”
