A Cry in the Dark (Carly Moore #1) - Denise Grover Swank Page 0,54
shoved it down. If I wanted to survive, I didn’t have the luxury of grieving.
Wyatt reached for his door handle. “If we’re lucky, Junior will have figured out an estimate for your car.”
I followed Wyatt into the small waiting room area, which was really two folding chairs under the windows overlooking the parking lot, facing a tall counter. As I got closer, I realized it was a two-tiered counter—a higher counter for the customers and a lower desk area, which held a desktop computer and keyboard, along with a mess of papers.
Wyatt walked around and booted up the computer, then opened the browser tab. “Have at it,” he said. “I’m goin’ to check with Junior to see how he’s makin’ out on your car.”
I sat down on the stool and dug into my purse, pulling out a small notebook that held my VPN login information as well as Charlene’s social media logins. I logged into the VPN site, which assigned me a VPN in California, then signed into Facebook. The number of unrecognizable people in my feed caught me off guard, but I told myself it didn’t matter. I was looking for Austin.
He wasn’t Charlene’s friend, but I found his profile easily enough. He hadn’t made his email address public, though, and he hadn’t posted in a while. I had better luck on Instagram—he’d posted a foodie pic at a restaurant the day before. Relief flooded me. Yesterday, Austin had been alive and well. That was a good sign.
Maybe the best way to keep him safe was to not contact him at all.
Maybe I could ask my friends in Arkansas to do it instead.
I signed into the email account that Jed had set up for me, unsure how to get my message across without just coming out and saying what I meant. I needed to be cryptic in case my father ever linked me to this account, but I couldn’t be too cryptic or they wouldn’t understand.
Hello, my darlings,
I hope you are well. I’ve gotten myself into a pickle, but I have no doubt that things will work out, so try not to worry.
It has come to my attention that my past is rearing its head again, and this time it has teeth. Can you let my friend in Texas know that dangers lurk, and he needs to protect himself? I worry for you as well. I’m sorry for any trouble I’ve brought you.
C
My heart panged with loneliness. I’d lived with Rose and her sister for two months, and Neely Kate had been around so much it felt like I’d lived with her too. I owed Jed more than I could ever repay. They were true friends, close friends, and there was every likelihood I’d never see them again. My father’s Dallas crime syndicate was moving into their small Arkansas county. Someone in his organization had discovered I was hiding there, and I’d been forced to flee. I’d already spent two weeks grieving the loss and knew I needed to find a way to move on, but at the moment, it all felt so hopeless.
“You upset because you found out you’re not gettin’ the reward?” Wyatt asked in the doorway.
I jumped, pressing a hand to my chest. “Do you always sneak up on people like that?”
“It is my office.”
I pressed send on the email and shut down the page, then made sure I’d signed out of Charlene’s social media accounts.
“Just having a moment,” I said, signing out of the VPN and closing that page too. “It’s been a rough twenty-four hours.” I closed my notebook and returned it to my purse.
He watched me for a second, as though scrutinizing my answer, but I didn’t owe him anything…other than what it cost to fix my car.
“Do you have an estimate yet?”
He leaned into the doorframe. “Not entirely. It looks like the oil pan was rusted out and something punctured it. The hole was small enough that it wouldn’t have leaked out all at once. If you’d been driving for a few hours, the puncture could have happened during the drive and the oil might have finished leaking out at the overlook.” He paused. “You could have checked the oil in the morning before you took off and your dipstick would have read fine, so it’s not a matter of you lettin’ the oil run too low.”
I gave a small nod. “Thank you for that. Believe it or not, it makes me feel better.” I grimaced. “So how much will it cost?”