I turn to face him. “You think he did?”
“If he was worried about keeping his job, then yeah. Brock would do anything to protect his celebrity status.”
I look out the windows at the dark sky. “All this time he knew. But he wouldn’t tell me. It’s all making sense now. Why I’m here. Why he insisted on taking me in instead of letting me live with his brother. Insisting I go to private school.” I pause. “It’s almost like he was giving me clues. Either that or he just slipped and said stuff he didn’t mean to say.”
“Like what?”
“When we first met, I told him I wanted to go to public school and he said celebrities send their kids to private school, like it wasn’t even up for debate. I told him he wasn’t my dad so it shouldn’t matter. I didn’t think anything about it at the time but now I think he said it because in his head, he thinks of me as his daughter. Then the other day, he signed the paperwork for Driver’s Ed and signed on the parent line. It’s almost like he was trying to tell me the truth.”
“I doubt it. I think it’s like you said and he sees you as a daughter and unconsciously does stuff a dad would do or say without even thinking about it.”
“How would he have threatened my mom? What do you think he did?”
“I don’t know. And if you asked, he wouldn’t tell you.”
“What about Devon? Would he know?”
“Probably. I’m sure Brock threatened Devon too. How else would he convince him to go along with this?”
“You’re right. He had to have threatened him. Or bribed him.” I toss the blanket off me and turn to Jackson. “We have to ask him.”
“Brock’s not going to tell you. No way in hell that’s happening. He’ll deny the whole thing.”
“I’m not talking about Brock. I’m talking about Devon. We need to find him and talk to him. He’s the only person who knows what was going on.”
“He’s not going to tell us. Even if he did, you said he left town.”
“We’ll find him. You could hire that guy who was looking for him before.”
“He was only searching rehab places. He doesn’t have the resources to search the whole country for him. Maybe Devon’s not even in the country anymore.”
“I don’t think so. He made it sound like he’d just left California.”
“He didn’t give you any clues about where he might be going?”
“No, but I could hear someone talking on a speaker. It sounded like he was at a train station, or bus station.”
“Did they say a location?”
“I think so, but I don’t remember what she said. I should’ve been paying more attention. My dad kept talking over her, but I swear I heard her say the name of a town. I just don’t remember what it was. Even if I did, it doesn’t mean my dad’s going there.”
The doorbell rings.
I look at Jackson. “It’s Brock. I bet he saw me on the cameras.”
“The cameras can’t see that far.” Jackson gets up.
“Then who is it? It’s almost midnight. Who would be here this late?”
We hear the door opening.
“Shit,” Jackson mutters.
“What?” I ask, searching his face. “Who is it?”
“The only person who has a key,” he says with a sigh.
“Kristen.”
