My heart skips a beat. “Are you injured? I’m not at work but I can get the ambulance–”
“No, I’m not injured, but I think Mackenzie Whitlock might be.”
Mackenzie? My mouth dries as my stomach drops to my feet. Jake said she was skittish, but Chad is in jail and so is her stepfather.
But they have friends. Don’t forget about the other assholes that lick their boots to get their approval.
“Why do you think Mackenzie needs help?”
“It’s just a–what do you call it–a gut thing?” He sounds more panicked with each passing second. “I called her a couple of times, and she hasn’t answered.”
“Is this Lucas?”
There’s a quick pause and then, the boy says, “Yes, I’m Lucas.”
“She’s probably asleep.” My shoulders sag with relief while placing my cell phone in the phone mount, listening for sounds from the backseat. Nothing. There’s not been a peep since I answered the call. I wasn’t expecting Grace to go back to sleep.
“She has insomnia from…,” he trails off for a moment and then says, “The reason doesn’t matter but she has problems sleeping, and she never misses a call.”
The library door opens as two boys run inside. Their blond curls fly in their own breeze as they fly past the window.
Shit. Is she back there? I unfasten my seatbelt, shift in my seat until I’m perched on one knee, and glance over the headrest. Grace is right where she’s supposed to be, eyes closed and chest lightly rising and falling. Thank God. I slump back into the cushions as my heartrate slows enough that it doesn’t feel like it’s bursting out of my chest.
“Could she be out with friends?” I pause for a second, not wanting to hurt the kid’s feelings but needing to determine why he’s so worried about her. So far, he’s not said anything alarming. “Boyfriend?
“She doesn’t have friends. Except for me. Chad doesn’t let her have friends. He’s an asshole. She used to have a handful of friends but a couple of years ago when her stepfather wentto prison, leaving Chad in charge of her upbringing, everything went from bad to worse.”
“That’s not good.”
“No, it’s not. He controls everything she does. The only reason we remained friends is because I moved from the next town over to the city, and he doesn’t know where I live. I gave her a burner phone so we could stay in contact. We don’t get together much, but I try and help her when I can. If Chad is out of town. I don’t want nothing to do with that man.”
I grip the steering wheel. It’s not that I didn’t expect to find out that Chad was a manipulative, controlling asshole, but it still makes my stomach roll, nonetheless. “Now that he’s in jail, why doesn’t she take the opportunity to get away from them all? Jake, my boyfriend, talked to her the other day about that but she refused.”
“It’s never that easy with Chad. He has eyes everywhere. That’s how he found out I saw her the day….” The hair on the back of my neck stands as I glance at the rearview mirror.
She’s fine. She’s asleep. Everything’s okay. No, it’s not. I need to know.
“Who’s the baby’s father, you?”
“No.” The line is silent as if he realized he said more than he intended to. “Forget I said anything. That’s not something we should mess with, but do you think you could go and check on her? I hate to ask but I’m grounded and can’t leave town.”
“Sure. I’ll check on her.” I don’t have the heart to tell him that she’s probably hooking up with the baby’s father and is toobusy to say hi to a friend. Even though he’s the one that helped her with the baby when Grace was born.
But now is the perfect time for her to get out of town. Her brother is out of the house. She’s not under intense scrutiny. Just because Jake didn’t have any luck, it doesn’t mean that I can’t convince her to skip town.
I squeeze the steering wheel. Maybe she’s ready to tell us who the father is. Right after she confirms what we already know. She’s the mother.
“But I need you to do your best to try and convince her to go to a shelter. This is the time to leave. Jake knows a man who runs a women’s shelter. They can get her off the street and into a safe location in minutes.”
“I’ll try.” The line goes dead in my ear.
Chapter Seventy-Six
Emily
As I’m idling at the intersection of Main and Second Street, I consider dropping Grace off at my mom’s house. I’m not concerned about Grace’s safety around Mackenzie, but I don’t want to cause her any undue distress if she’s struggling emotionally. It’s not like I’ve spoken with her more than a handful of times.
I drum my fingertips on the steering wheel. My mom’s house is on the other side of town but it’s only ten minutes roundtrip. I flip on the blinker and ease my foot off the brake. Mackenzie has a crappy enough life without me shoving it in her face that I’m able to care for her daughter when she isn’t.
