“Yes, it’s money.He told me that he was going to get it, and I was going to hand it over to him.I’d like to see him try that.”Conri asked how he’d gotten to the airport.“I never thought to ask.No doubt he would have told me and blamed me for—he’s pissed off that I didn’t have a car sitting there waiting for him when he arrived.I, like you, never dreamed that he’d get this far after only one day.I wonder who he had to rob to get a ticket here?I’m sure that’s what he did.Stole someone’s credit card to get a ticket.”
“Maybe that’s what he did to get himself in trouble at the airport.He either got away with it once and was counting on the second time to come through, or he got caught nearly stealing a wallet off someone, and they put up a fuss.That’s probably more like it.They found that he didn’t have any money on him, and no one was waiting to bring him here, and he got caught.”Kendrick had to agree.“You don’t have to worry about any of us helping him.But I do appreciate you giving us the heads up.But I have a feeling that he’s going to be coming here by hell or high water sooner rather than later.He’ll have some story, no doubt, that will have someone feeling sorry for him, and they’ll bring the bastard here because they felt sorry for him.Just our luck, some nice people will be conned out of something to help the bastard.”
After closing the connection to his family, he called home to talk to Sharon.Telling her that her father was at the airport didn’t surprise her as much as it did him.She’d been talking to her mother again about her father, and she said that he had an iron will that would get him what he wanted.Well, he was going to be shit out of luck when it came to getting money when he got to their home.He was better at a lot of things than Dick was when it came to telling people no.
“I’m worried that he’ll hurt someone to get here.Like steal a car or something.”He said thathe’d been trespassed at the airport, so they’d be keeping an eye on him until he was gone from the area.“From what Mother said, it would be just like him to steal from someone and mess up their vacation plans.I wonder who he stole the money from to get from his place to Columbus.”
“I never thought to ask.I’m sure by the time I hung up on him, he would have been just pissed off enough to tell me anything.He said that it was our fault he was in trouble at the airport because we didn’t have a car waiting for him.Also, he thinks your name is Rachel.I doubt if he cares enough to figure out your real name before he gets here.”She asked if he thought he’d get here.“Yes.He’s gotten to Columbus already.It’ll be nothing for him to get to you the rest of the way.Just be careful when you go out and remember what I told you.You’re immortal now; he can’t hurt you.”
“He can’t hurt you either, right?”He said that it was right that they were both safe from him harming them, as was his entire family.“I hate that he’s gotten this far.I was hoping he’d be too stupid to try and get to me after all this time.”
“When there’s money involved, people will go to great lengths to get what they want.Or what they deserve.I have a feeling that he’s going to think that just because you have money, and you do, then by extension, he has it as well.I’ve no doubt that he’s going to get himself into big trouble when he gets here.”She asked if she’d hand over the money.“No.Not for any reason.”
“He might try to take me and hold me for ransom.What would you do then?”He told her.“Just like that?You’d kill him?”
“That’ll be the only way to deal with him, is to kill him.Because paying him for you would take everything I have, and I’d not care, but he’ll never stop.He’ll be coming back again and again for more until there’s nothing left, and blame that on us as well.”Sharon said that she loved him.“And I love you so much.Nothing will happen so long as we stick together.You stick close to me, and nothing will get through me to get to you.”
“I’m so glad to hear that.”He said it was the truth.“I’m glad too that we’ve got the pack at our backs.Conri said they’d die for me simply because of who you are to him.I don’t want anyone dying for me, but I’m glad to know that they’ll protect me at all costs.”
After he got off the phone with her, he told his brothers that Sharon knew what was going on.Conri said he’d send more patrols out to keep the house safe.He’d put nothing past the man.Thanking his brother, Conri repeated what he’d said to Sharon.The pack would die for her, and that was the way that it should be.
Chapter 5
Richard wasn’t happy.He wasn’t even a little pissed off, but so powerfully angry that his head hurt.Rubbing his forehead while he tried to talk someone into taking him home, he thought for sure that people were more of a bastard than they used to be.Back before he’d been to prison, he’d have been able to bum a fiver off of someone for a call or two.Now, everyone was keeping their money around where he couldn’t get to it.No more free handouts for him today.
It didn’t help that the airport police were watching his every move.All he had to do was get out of the airport, and he’d be just fine with them.But he couldn’t get a ride if he was hanging around the door like a homeless man.Damn it, but he just wanted to get to his money and fuck the rest of them.
Talking to that person on the phone, he couldn’t remember his name, he’d been hung up on, and that hadn’t gone over well.He’d broken the phone when he’d slammed it into the receiver.The police were pissed off about that, too, but since they knew that he didn’t have any money, they’d let it slide.All he’d done was brush up against someone, and they’d yelled that he was trying to take their wallet.He’d almost had it, too, but for the screaming.
He’d seen the man in line at the coffee shop.He’d had a fistful of money that would have choked a horse.Noticing where he’d kept it, inside the jacket pocket, he nearly had it out when the man went crazy, saying that he was stealing from him.Of course, the police didn’t believe him, a man with nothing but twelve dollars in his wallet that he’d stolen in New York.So they’d been following him around since then in pairs.Like he was going to be able to get home with them tagging around him all the time.
Then he just started begging people for a ride to Dresden or something close so that he could get home to his daughter’s wedding.That’s what he’d been telling them since he started out, and so far, he’d had no takers.People were just too untrusting, is all it was, and he didn’t know how to overcome that.His first plan of action when he got the money was to come back here and flip it around in everyone’s face who dared disbelieve him when he’d told them that his daughter was wealthy and that she’d make sure that he was all right from now on.
The first thing he was going to do after killing her supposed husband was to make sure that he never had less than a thousand dollars in his pockets at all times.And he was going to carry them around in twenties, so he could tell people to keep the change.He’d only do that to people who had treated him poorly, and so far, that was just about every person in the fucking airport that he’d come in contact with.
But in order to do any of that, he had to get to Dresden and figure out how the hell that was going to happen, which was costing him all his patience.He looked over at the cops who were still following him around like they had nothing better to do.
“Will one of you call my daughter up and tell her where I am?”The first guy said no, but the second guy said he’d do it.“She’s got a husband as a doctor, so you know I’m good for the call.”
“I don’t care if her husband is a homeless man.The less I have to follow you around and your sad attempts at getting home, the better off I’ll be.What’s the number?”He didn’t know it.“What do you expect me to do?Dial every Valley in the phone book?That’s not going to work.”
“I called the doctor, and he said he was her husband.That’s all I remember because we got disconnected somehow.”Sure, he did, and his mother was a saint, he thought.The fucker had hung up on him, is what happened, and he wasn’t going to let that slide either.“There are a bunch of them in that little town.They all have the same last name.I don’t know that they’re all in the phone book, but the doctor is.”
Just as he was making some headway in getting her on the phone, some guy walked up to themand smiled.It wasn’t one that he’d be friendly with, but he found himself smiling back.
“Are you the guy who’s heading to Dresden?I’m headed to Zanesville, and I can make it so I go through Dresden on my way home.”He asked him if he knew the Valley men.“Everyone knows the Valley men.You’d have to be stupid not to.I can take you as far as the main drag, then I’m headed home.Won’t be too far out of my way.”
“I’ll take it.”He was ready to get there when the cop found the number.There was a service on when he called, so he left a message.“Tell them that I’ve got a ride and I’ll be there in a couple of hours.They’d better be waiting dinner on me because I’m powerfully hungry.”
He thought about other things he could say to them, but there were too many people around.What he had to say to them was private like and something that would get him into trouble with the people around him if he were to let go that they didn’t want him there.He was coming by god, and they’d better be ready for him.Richard was about as pissed off as he’d ever been in his life after this, and they were going to pay for it.
He’d not realized how late it was when he got into the man’s car.He had a woman with him who was fat and ugly, but he told him that she was going to have a baby and had come home to meet his family.Whatever.He just wanted to be in Dresden, where he could take his shoes off and be comfortable.He’d already walked more miles today than he had in a couple of years.His feet were burning to be set free.
Richard didn’t know what to do with himself in the car with the couple.He was sleepy, that was for sure, and found himself dozing off once in a while to the quiet rumble of the road beneath him.As soon as he got comfortable, he made sure that he had his bag close at hand, he curled up into a ball, and closed his eyes.They were driving, and he had no reason to make sure that they knew where they were going.
“We’re here.”He nearly cursed at the man for waking him up.“Hey, mister.We’re here.It’s time to wake up.”
He got out of the car and stretched.There was the main drag just like he remembered it, with cars in the yards and pizza joints all over the place.Of course, he couldn’t see much, not with it being as dark as it was, but he knew that come morning, everything would come back to him and he’d be able to find his daughter.Right now, all he wanted was a good meal and a bed to lie down in.
