and rain that hit me when I pushed open the building’s back door and stepped out into the alleyway. I ran past the building’s dumpsters and a few parked cars, searching for the right one.
“Hey!”
My feet skidded across the wet pavement as I spun. The interior light of a nondescript dark blue sedan flashed on, revealing Chubs in the driver’s seat. He was wearing a black turtleneck pulled up over his mouth and a black beanie that came down so low it almost covered his eyes.
I started toward the back door, only to remember again. It’s just the two of us. I moved to the front passenger seat, quietly shutting the door behind me. The heat from the vent warmed my face as I buckled up and Chubs reversed back out onto the street. He searched the street once more before finally pulling his turtleneck down enough to speak.
“Vi wanted to come,” he explained, “but we thought it would be too suspicious if the three of us suddenly disappeared.”
“I think it’s still going to be pretty suspicious that we’re gone,” I said.
His fingers drummed against the steering wheel as he leaned forward, squinting ahead at the dark street. The windshield wipers began to work harder, faster, as he finally picked up speed.
“Vi let Cate know today that you and I were going to take a trip together,” he explained. “Between the two of them, they’ll come up with a good reason for why we ditched Frank. In theory, I am supposed to have weekends off….”
“It’s Wednesday,” I reminded him.
“Wednesday can be my weekend when I haven’t taken a weekend in…” He trailed off.
“Never.” I shook my head. “You have never taken a weekend off. I probably should have asked this first, but whose car is this?”
“Vida got it for us from…well, I didn’t ask, because I know better,” he said. “She checked it herself. It’s totally clean of any sort of GPS or tracking system.”
Did she even have to really search it? The car looked like it was older than the three of us combined. It probably didn’t have hubcaps, let alone a GPS system.
“So…” he began after a while. “What did you think of the messages?”
There had been three altogether. Two from Liam and Ruby, and one from Chubs with instructions on meeting him later that morning. We are alive and safe will explain everything if you come to us, was the first message. The second, Blackstone mural write name on wall leave rock buy tea shop across from it, was slightly less comprehensible.
“I guess we should be grateful we’re allowed to know that they’re still alive. Still, this is so typical of Liam,” Chubs muttered. “It can’t just be a simple Go to this random location and I will come pick you up.”
“It’s not like they’re making us do a scavenger hunt,” I said. The instructions weren’t totally clear, but they were enough to get us started. Blackstone was a city a few hours south in Virginia. All we had to do was look for a mural and a coffee shop. “They’re just being careful.”
“You always side with Lee,” he said.
“No I don’t,” I insisted. “Sometimes I side with Vida.”
He didn’t laugh like I’d hoped. He didn’t switch on the radio, either, which bugged me less than I thought it would. Liam always had to have a song or news on in the background, like he couldn’t stand empty air.
Chubs leaned an elbow against the door, resting his head against his palm.
“It’ll never not be weird to see you behind the wheel,” I told him.
“If I’d been able to hang on to my real glasses I could have taken over for Liam in Betty at least part of the time,” Chubs said. “Though I doubt he would have let me. You know how he gets about driving.”
“You’re probably right,” I said. “See? That was me siding with you.”
Finally, a faint smile.
“I wish I could drive,” I told him. “It’s so stupid I have to wait.”
“Such impatience,” he said, reaching over to briefly drop a hand on my head. He hadn’t done it in years. “Do you know how many things can go wrong when you’re behind the wheel? And that’s not even factoring in other drivers—actually, let’s talk about something else that doesn’t involve vehicular manslaughter.”
His grip on the wheel tightened as we left the limits of DC and reached the beltway. Through the blur of rain pelting the windows, we could just make out the shapes of