Page 29 of Wayward

Of everything there, it looked the best.

I used to drive a— I didn’t go any further with that thought. It wasn’t helpful, and though the creature comforts of my old life, the things I used to have, were amazing, the rest was not. Better to drive an older, dependable Jeep and not have to worry about killing anyone or being killed in the course of a day.

Alvarez joined us then as well and handed me paperwork in an envelope and two keys on a carnation-pink ring with a picture of a palm tree and a surfer. My gaze met hers in a question.

“I got it in Hawai’i when I was there on vacation. It looks vintage, right? Like an old hotel-room key. It’s cute.”

“Okay,” I agreed. “These are house keys, then, front door and deadbolt?”

“That’s right. We pay for a year of rent. Next year it’s on you.”

“Got it.”

“And the Jeep is a great choice,” she told me. “When it snows, the fact that it’s a four-wheel drive is going to be a huge help.”

“Sounds good.”

Byers went to the locked key box and returned with a bedazzled letter K with the Jeep key on it. Of the two, the K was better, so I gave Alvarez back her pink thing.

“Really?”

“This way you get to keep it,” I said cheerfully.

She shook her head at me. “There’s no accounting for taste.”

“Or not,” I teased her.

“I like you, but listen,” she said softly, serious now. “If anything happens, from a traffic stop to some small altercation when you’re out to dinner somewhere, your first call is to us.”

“You already told me this inside.”

“I know.”

“And all the other marshals have told me the same thing.”

“I’m aware.”

“So really, I’ve got it.”

“Okay.”

But from the skeptical look on her face, I was thinking she didn’t believe me. “You sure?”

“I just— If you see anyone who looks out of place, you—”

“Call you. Yes. I got it.”

“I read your file, so I can’t imagine anyone is looking for you away from any large city, figuring you’d never make it anywhere else—”

“Really?”

“Oh, absolutely,” she replied sincerely. “Most witnesses like yourself do not do well in an environment so dramatically different—like night-and-day different—from their original one.”

“So you’re setting me up for failure?”

“Not at all. The chief deputy of the Southern District of New York believes you will thrive here—she says in your file that you need a brand-new start.”

I squinted at her.