reason I have to look over my shoulder. He’s good at what he does, but he’s never been quite good enough.” Tears filled her eyes. “Not yet, anyway.”
“You poor thing.” Wanda patted her hand. “But have you seen him? Do you really know he’s still after you and Lizzie? I mean, from what we can tell, the man disappeared off the face of the earth. Maybe he’s dead. Maybe you’re running for no good reason.”
“I didn’t kill him. You have to believe that. But if he’s dead? The world is a better place.”
“You have reason to think he’s still after you?” Tracy asked.
“Enough.” Dana looked into the distance. “People asking questions that shouldn’t need answers. Cars driving slowly past our apartments at night, shining lights in our windows. Lizzie talking about a man who hangs around her school playground and watches….” She gave a bitter laugh. “All the things you would never notice because they don’t seem to matter, but they’re painfully clear to me. Not because they’re true, but because they might be.”
“You have not seen him?” Janya asked.
Dana hesitated. “I think maybe I have. Twice last year. Once from the back at a park near our house, watching children playing soccer. Once in a shopping mall when I went to buy Lizzie shoes. He was sitting by a fountain, close enough to get wet, but he was so intent on watching people passing by, he didn’t even notice. I wasn’t completely sure it was him. Time’s passed. But that was why we moved here. We left in the dead of night. I drove as far as I could without falling asleep at the wheel. This is where we stopped.”
Tracy tried to imagine what that was like. Trusting nobody. Always looking over her shoulder.
“You can’t go home and let the police…” Alice hesitated, to find the right words “…sort this out?”
Dana shook her head. “No one understands. It’s not possible to protect us if he knows where we are.”
“And here?” Tracy asked. “Are you safe here?”
Dana looked stricken. “I thought I was until tonight.”
“No one on this key is going to harm you,” Wanda said.
“Your husband is a cop!”
Wanda looked hurt. “Do you think Kenny knows about this? I haven’t said a word to him. Not one word, and I don’t plan to. Because at the least, he’d have to do something about the identity theft. There has to be a law against getting documents under somebody else’s name.”
“Then how did you discover all this?” Dana demanded.
Tracy felt guilty. “It’s my fault. I asked a friend to run some names through a database. He’s the one who put this together.”
“And now who will he tell?”
“Not a soul. He has no interest in telling anybody, I promise. He did it as a favor to me. I’m sure he’s already forgotten the whole thing.”
Dana put her head in her hands. “How can I know that for sure?”
Tracy couldn’t answer that. Wanda, too, looked unsure. But Janya rose to the occasion.
“Dana,” she said in her musical voice, “you can run again. This is true. Tonight. But here, you’re not alone. There are many eyes to watch over you. We can be certain no questions are asked that should not be. We can watch for men who are too interested in the things that happen at Happiness Key. We can spot cars driving slowly past your house. You will not be alone here. We are careful. We are…observant. We will help you keep Lizzie safe.”
Wanda put her arm around Dana. “She’s right. Not only won’t we report you, we’ll watch out for you. You’ve got a good place to live here. A job where you’re valued. Friends for you and Lizzie. If you take off again, you’ll end up in another cheap motel. No job, nothing for Lizzie to do. And she’s so happy here. We’re so happy to have her. Don’t do that to her.”
Dana sat back at last. “I am so tired of running.”
“I can only imagine,” Alice said.
“Maybe you’ll have to run again,” Tracy said. “But not, I promise you, from us. We’ll just try to make sure you’re safe. Stay. At least until you think he’s found you again.”
“He could be watching right now.”
“He’d better not be,” Wanda said. “Kenny’s got a gun, and I’m not afraid to use it.”
“Oh, great,” Tracy said. “There’s something that’ll make us all sleep better. Leave the guns to Ken, okay? Just keep your eyes open. We’re all agreed?”