Lily whispered into Calvin’s ear, rocking him, telling him everything would be all right. Ellis prayed that wasn’t a lie.
He flipped the wiper to clear his view, but their breaths were fogging the glass.
Lily twisted to look back. “He’s following.”
In the side mirror were two pinpricks of lights, head lamps that would likely gain on them before long. Unless they figured out how to lose the guy. Found a place to hide away.
“The wrong turn we took earlier,” Ellis said, remembering an option. “Where was it?”
“Which one?”
“The last one.”
“It’s…to the right…another half mile maybe.”
“Tell me when you see it.”
She lowered her window, getting ready.
Ellis swiped fog from the windshield with his coat sleeve, but the damp fabric smeared his view. Shit. He rolled down his window and poked his head out, squinting and blinking to watch the road ahead. Rain pelted his face. He tried not to imagine a shot to the back of his skull.
“There it is!” Lily pointed. “Down there.”
He saw it. At the bottom of the hill, he swung a right. Almost immediately, he swerved into the graveled lot they’d passed on their last wrong turn. A feed store closed for the night. He came to a stop behind the building and killed the head lamps. Over his shoulder was a partial view of the main road.
Lily squeezed Ellis’s hand.
Seconds stretched and thinned like endless strings of taffy. Darkness amplified every sound. The rain splashing the roof. The idle motor ticking. The blood pumping in his ears.
And the engine of the truck. Its roar gained power and momentum, louder and louder, like a rocket preparing to launch.
But Ellis, too, was prepared. He’d face the man with his fists, if nothing else. Though Ellis was no Jack Dempsey in the flesh, he’d fight till the end to keep Lily and Calvin safe.
Finally, as if in slow motion, the shadowed truck rode into sight.
First the hood…the cab…the flatbed…
Then it passed them right on by.
Chapter 40
Decisions had to be made: where to take Calvin, how and what to tell Geraldine, when Lily would go back to Philadelphia.
Answering the last one, as far as Lily was concerned, was the easiest. She would leave only when both children were in the safety of their mother’s arms, and not a minute before. That would mean arriving late to the paper, but the chief would simply have to understand. If not, so be it. After the day she’d had, there were few challenges that would ever again make her cower.
Now settled at Ellis’s apartment, she should have been exhausted, but her mind was still buzzing. She had navigated their escape, keeping them off the main roads until they crossed the state line, and spent the rest of the drive holding Calvin while periodically looking back.
Ellis had been wise to assume the duty of phoning Geraldine. Given Lily’s state of mind, she’d have rambled on with far too many details. It would have been cruel to unload the full summary in a single dose. They could share more tomorrow in person when Geraldine arrived at nine, after Ruby was back in their care.
“How did she take it?” Lily inquired as Ellis hung up the phone. In the lamp’s soft glow, she couldn’t immediately read him.
“She’s pretty shaken.”
Lily nodded. Weren’t they all?
He gestured toward his bedroom. “Is Calvin asleep?”
“Out like a light.”
The child had been so groggy when she carried him in that they didn’t trouble him with food or a bath. All of that could wait—save for the shackle. Ellis’s first priority had been to remove that despicable cuff. He had carefully maneuvered with a screwdriver and pick, then flung the rusted links aside. On the boy’s ankle, the red, circular mark left from the band would undoubtedly fade faster than his memory of the ordeal.
Spurred now by the target of Lily’s gaze, Ellis gathered up the chain and stored it in the entry table, beside their drying coats. “Evidence,” he explained awkwardly as she watched. It went without saying that, at the moment, he might not be viewed as the most reliable witness.
“I’d be glad to speak with the police myself,” she offered. “The Gantrys should never be allowed to adopt again. Not ever.”
“They won’t. I’ll make sure of it.” Ellis’s tone said there was no alternative. “Let’s just get both kids where they belong. I’ll handle the rest later.”
She agreed. With such uncertainty in the days and weeks to come for Ellis, it was best to face one issue