fluffy pillows and, most important of all, the television remote. When I leave her, she’s holding up her newly painted nails and admiring them in the blue light of the TV.
She’s uploaded a very short clip to a password-protected server on the dark web, and she assures me that her face isn’t visible but Roy Morris’s is. I’ve left that decision up to her. Despite what she thinks, I don’t want to be anyone’s mom. More to the point, I’m not capable of it.
We’ve decided to write the IP address and password on a little card and hand it off to the lieutenant governor as entrée into his office. That will give him less time to come up with a counter-scheme to cut us off at the knees. I imagine he’ll be quite interested in seeing me as soon as he spots his brother in flagrante. I chuckle softly at the thought. I can’t wait to see his face.
After shutting the bedroom door behind me, I climb onto my big bed to call Luke. I can manipulate him into accepting Kayla’s relocation, but there’s no urgency, really. If he doesn’t say yes now, he will eventually. I’m more than willing to use intense persuasion and the very shallow well of patience I possess. And honestly, Luke is too kind to say no.
You up? I text to Luke.
When he sends back an excited little smiley face, I hit the call button and listen to barely one full ring before he answers. “Hey there, sexy,” I drawl.
“Hey, yourself. What’s going on? I’ve been dying to talk to you all day. Is Kayla doing okay? Are you?”
“Yes, we’re both great, to be honest. I took her shopping. Got her hair cut. That kind of thing. She was in pretty rough shape.” I mean, she was fine, but let’s face it, her cuticles were a mess.
“Oh, wow. Is she . . . Jeez, Jane. Is she all right?”
“I think she’ll be all right with a lot of care and a little security, but it will take time, you know?”
“Yeah. I do. She needs peace and support. Did you figure out what happened to her? Where she’s been?”
I sigh and stretch out on the huge pile of brocade pillows. They’re a little scratchy, but I still feel like a beautiful princess. “This has all been so crazy, Luke. A whirlwind. Pathologically independent as I am, I almost wish you were here.”
“Aw, that’s the sweetest thing you’ve ever said to me.” We both laugh at that. He knows I’ll never be a sweet girlfriend, and he doesn’t care. He likes that I don’t demand much. I don’t need anything from him. Not really. I just want.
In some ways, Luke is as damaged as I am, but the jagged edges of our broken parts fit together nicely. He wants icy calm, and I’m incapable of providing much else. Except, of course, when I’m ready to stir things up.
“She’s a lot like me,” I say on a sigh. “Same family, of course. Same issues. And she’s very smart. Very capable.”
“I bet.”
“But no one is looking out for her here.” I toe off my boots and let them thump onto the floor. “She got mixed up with that pimp, an older guy, and he got into trouble, and he basically took off with her. She’s been sitting in an empty house, doing whatever he told her to do.”
“That’s where you found her?”
“Yeah. I tracked down the guy and offered to just . . . buy her back from him.”
“Jesus.”
“It gets worse.”
“Oh no. Is she hurt? Is she pregnant?”
“No.” I hope not. “No, it’s not that. The guy. Her pimp . . .”
“Little Dog?”
“Yeah. He took off after I called. We think he meant to strike a better deal with a third party, sell Kayla out to someone else. These men trade girls like they’re cars. Except he never made it back to Kayla. He was killed. Stabbed to death.”
“Okay, Jane. You need to get the hell out of there right now. I’m serious. This is dangerous. Come home now.”
“I know it’s dangerous. I’m fine, I promise. We left Tulsa this morning. We’re in a hotel in Oklahoma City now. No one knows we’re here. We’re completely safe.”
“Maybe I should come down there, then.”
I smile at his words, because he really does want to take care of me—and he’ll want to take care of Kayla too, because that’s the kind of man he is. That’s good news. Really good news.
“We’re