my arms around his back and soaked him in. I couldn’t imagine going through this without him. I’d grown so much stronger over the last ten months, but even though I could have done this on my own, that didn’t mean I had to.
I glanced up at him. “Thanks for coming to tell me.”
“Of course. Like I said, I didn’t want to do it over the phone, but I still feel bad that I didn’t realize what was goin’ on sooner.”
“Finding out five days ago versus today wouldn’t have changed anything,” I said. “If anything, it gave me a week to mourn Jerry before worrying about my own problems again.” And a week to dwell on the guilt of knowing that whoever had killed him had done it to warn me off.
Even if my father was arrested in the thick of the Hardshaw bust, I wasn’t leaving yet. I was going to find out who was responsible for Jerry’s death—both the man who’d run him off the road and whoever had ordered Jerry’s death.
Marco shot me a worried glance. “Let me walk you back to the library. You should still have a half hour or so left on your computer time.”
We walked silently, hand in hand, until we reached the library door. Marco started to lean in to kiss me, but I jutted my head back to look into his eyes. “I have no idea what’s going to happen with my father, Marco, or what it will mean for me. But whatever I do, it will be with you, okay? I’m not losing you.”
I wasn’t surprised to see the relief in his eyes.
“Thanks.” He kissed me then, and watched me walk into the library.
The middle computer was still open, so I sat down and booted up my screen, grinning and rolling my eyes when Carnita gave me an unabashed look of delight.
The first thing I needed to do was check the secret email account my friends had set up for me before I left Arkansas. I lived in constant paranoia that my father would track me down, so we used a sort of code in our emails, saying just enough to convey your meaning but avoiding the use of any identifying details. From Rose’s last email at the beginning of May, I’d gathered that her baby had been born at the end of April. Given that we were trying to keep our identities hidden, photos were out of the question, but I was dying to see one.
I always used a VPN connection when I signed in to hide my location, but I felt self-conscious doing that here at the public library, which meant I didn’t have much opportunity to check my account. I usually only pulled it up when I used the computer in Max’s office. Nevertheless, I signed in now, selecting a server location in Northern California. Sure enough, there was an email from last week with the title “Hardshaw is Dead.”
Marco had told me that very thing, but this evidence that my Arkansas friends agreed made it feel more real. Then I clicked through and saw the salutation: Carly.
Rose was usually the person who reached out, and she always used a term of endearment, like Dearest or Precious. She wouldn’t have used my name if she didn’t think it was safe.
Carly,
Hardshaw is gone. A bunch of federal agencies pulled off a big sting here, and they busted a South American drug cartel and Hardshaw. There’s a whole lot more to the story, but it’s better suited to a phone call—or, better yet, come back to us! We miss you terribly. You need to meet Baby Hope, and Neely Kate and Jed just adopted a newborn baby they named Daisy. Your old room is waiting for you here, or Neely Kate has offered you one at her place. We don’t care where you stay, we just want you back. In any case, please let us know you’re okay.
Love,
Rose (and everyone else)
I stared at the screen, trying to decide if I wanted to go back to Henryetta. It had been a safe haven for me, a blessing, after I ran from my father. Still, I’d only been there for two months, and while I’d grown quite close to my friends, I’d spent half of my time hiding at Rose’s farm. I’d been in Drum three times as long and grown attached to my new friends, especially my landlord turned stand-in father, Hank. I planned to go see Rose and everyone