“That’s bullshit. He couldn’t wait to get rid of her.”
“That’s not true. He tried to make things work. He loved her, but sometimes love changes. People change.”
“You really believe that, lady? People don’t change, not for anyone.”
“Maybe not, but circumstances change. Gordon, in your heart of hearts, do you honestly believe Alex wanted to kill your sister?”
His eyes watered.
“I’ve gotten to know him. He doesn’t have a violent bone in his body.”
That would change if he ever caught up with them.
Whenhe caught up with them.
Alex would kill Gordon for doing this.
Mile after mile of road stretched before them. From this vantage point, it looked like the road to nowhere. The odd car or truck passed them on the other side of the road. Dana flirted with the idea of grabbing the wheel or banging on the horn but she doubted either option would serve either of them well. And with that gun between them, she dared not make any rash moves.
“Alex told me you waited for him in that alley with a crowbar.”
His laugh held no joy. “Yeah. I decided to upgrade my weapon.”
“You could have hurt him that day. No one would have known. No one would have seen. You could have gotten away with it. But you didn’t. You made the right choice that day.”
His knuckles tightened on the steering wheel, showing white tips.
“You can still make the right choice here, Gordon. You can just drop me off at the side of the road. I won’t tell a soul.”
“Bit late for that, don’t you think? Alex saw us.” He shook his head. “No. I need to see this through.”
“And what exactly does that mean?” Dana tried to hold her voice down, but now she was getting pissed. “What’s your end game? Shooting me in the desert? Is that how you want to hurt Alex? Or is this our Thelma and Louise moment? Because if you’re searching for a cliff, I can check Google Maps for you.”
“Shut up.”
“No, I willnotshut up. Do you even know where you’re going?”
“I said, shut the fuck up.”
Dana opened her mouth to speak again but another noise caught her attention.
From somewhere in the distance, she heard a faint wail. It was so far away she couldn’t tell if it was behind them or in front of them.
Sirens.
Help me, Jesus.
She could not allow this to turn into a stand off.
Forcing calm into her being with a series of quiet breaths, she brought the conversation back to the one thing that seemed to give Gordon pause.
Shannon.
The man was grieving.
“I lost my grandmother a while back. She was more like a second mother to me. There are days when I feel like everything is okay and I function like usual. But then, out of nowhere, I’ll get hit by a memory. It always seems to happen at the worst times, the inconvenient times. I’ll remember her smile or the way she used to sneak me extra desserts when we visited. She loved butterscotch ice cream and she knew I loved it too. When my parents weren’t looking, she’d always give me and my sister an extra scoop.” Her voice caught. “I can’t even look at butterscotch ice cream in the damn grocery store anymore.”
Gordon glanced at her, his eyes red and full of tears.
