“You’re sure cashing in a lot of favors.”
“I’ll pay you back someday.”
Cole huffed like it was all a big inconvenience to him. It was. “Where do you need to get to?”
I thought it over for a minute. The plan had been swirling since we left New Jersey. Now it was time to put it in motion. “Vegas. Both of us. Something discreet. No planes. Minimal security and surveillance.”
“I’ll see what I can do.”
“What’s on the TV?” I asked.
“You’ve been at the top of the news cycle since you faked her abduction.”
“What about on the ground?”
“Night and day roadblocks. Every police force on the East Coast is looking for you. Looking for her and for the pain in my ass that I’ve got stashed. Constant media coverage. Media doesn’t do that for just anyone. Especially not for some math professor. The girl you got is an orphan. No family to keep boosting the story. No one’s putting up a reward for her. You’ve been gone more than forty-eight hours. Cops should’ve been called off by now.”
“But they’re still out.”
“Someone’s keeping the story hot,” he said. “The money’s gotta be flowing from somewhere. I think it’s coming from the same place the cops got the surveillance footage of you taking her.”
“Valentine.”
“I’d put money on it,” Cole said. “Him releasing that footage was a warning shot. He knows you ran off with her.”
“And he’s sending a message that he doesn’t have to get his hands dirty to get me. He can pay off every police department in the country to do it for him.”
Cole let out a deep hum as he thought it over. “But if you’re right and your visitors weren’t hikers, that means he’s got guys out your way on foot . . .”
“There’s a mole,” I said. I’d had the hunch for a while, but this was the first time I could put the pieces together. “He shouldn’t have a fucking clue that I’ve got ties to this area. How else would he know to come out here?”
“You been in touch with anyone?”
“No one but you,” I said. “I’ve been trying to figure out how to get her out of here without incriminating her in anything.” Amelia had to look like my victim, not my accomplice. It was the only way she’d make it out. The problem was, I needed her help if we were going to bring down the house for good.
“Good fucking luck. You planning on going dark permanently?”
I could. Frankly, I’d be completely fine living the rest of my days off the grid. I quite liked the thought of that. But what kind of life was that for her?
“I don’t want that for her.”
Cole didn’t argue because he understood. “I’ll see what I can get you. Lay low. Holler if you’re on the move.”
“Copy that,” I said, then ended the call and stared at the broken bed.
I waited.I paced. But no one ever came circling back to check out the cabin again. I let hours pass before I dared to unbar the cabin door and do a perimeter check.
Amelia hadn’t spoken to me since I knocked on the trapdoor to the cellar to see if she was still there or if she had taken the go-bag and bolted down the tunnel like she was supposed to.
But she didn’t. Amelia hadn’t run, even though I told her to. Even though it was her golden opportunity to get away from me.
When she climbed out of the cellar, she was silent. She never asked if the danger was gone.
She didn’t ask what the plan was.
She didn’t make a peep.
She simply dressed, sat on the couch, pulled out the playing cards, and started one of her card-counting drills.
