Chapter 189
1063 Words
“Leanne.”
“Is that her real name?” Dallas said, totally on to her.
“…No.”
“It’ll do,” Dallas said. “So what did Leanne say?”
“She was horrified, but not at all surprised. Turns out her boyfriend had known… him… really well back in high school. They’d been on the football team together, and Leanne’s boyfriend had told her more than once that he didn’t want her going anywhere alone with… him.”
“Why not?” Chris asked.
“Her boyfriend said that he had a nasty temper and twisted personality behind that good-guy persona. Said that he wasn’t to be trusted, especially if you were a woman.” She shrugged. “Seems that his mask had slipped a few too many times in practice or at some drunken parties, and Leanne’s boyfriend had this guy’s number.”
“So she believed you.”
“Totally. No question. She hustled me the hell out of there, though, took me home with her. Told me that I couldn’t be seen at the station, and no way I could file an official report.”
“Why?” Dean said.
“She said he’d make sure it disappeared. And then I would, too.”
“So what did you and Leanne do?”
“We started to plan my escape. Her boyfriend, let’s call him Bobby, helped. We stockpiled my money a bit at a time, and we picked a day when she’d drive me out of the state. Bobby would be her alibi. And he started picking me up from work, and staying at my place overnight.”
“He what?”
“Yeah.” Kat smiled. “The three of us decided to make it look like Bobby and I were having an affair, and that Leanne was upset about it. We staged a few public cat-fights in the local bar, and Leanne would sometimes go to the bathroom at work and pretend to bawl.”
The guys laughed.
“I know, right? That way, it wasn’t weird that Bobby was always hanging around me, and when Leanne looked stressed or freaked out around the cop, there was a good reason for it.”
“Smart,” Dallas said approvingly.
“Yeah. It worked for a while. Then…” She stopped.
“Then?” Dean prompted.
“Then he got me alone. Behind the hair salon.” She looked away from their eyes, not able to handle the anger she saw there. “I was throwing out the garbage before meeting Bobby out front after my shift. He – he beat me bad enough to almost kill me, shouting the whole time that I was his, and no other man had any right to what was his. I think – I think he really meant for me to die out there.”
She took a deep breath. “I lived, but the baby didn’t.”
The men were totally still now.
“At the hospital, they found out that I’d miscarried, and that went into my medical record… the record that was shown to the cops when they came to question me about the assault. He – he found out that I’d been pregnant, and that was when I knew that I had to get away once and for all.” She swallowed. “He assumed that the baby was his, not Bobby’s, and he told me I’d killed his baby by being such a f*****g slut. He said I’d pay for that. That he’d kill me for that. I – I believed him.”
“So Leanne and Bobby got you away?” Chris said.
“Yeah. The second I was strong enough, I checked myself out of the hospital. Leanne and Bobby both took that day off work, and the story was that they were staying home to ‘patch up’ their relationship after his affair with me. Bobby was actually at home, but Leanne picked me up on a corner far from the hospital. And we drove to the state line.” Kat shrugged. “She dropped me about two miles from the bus station in Ontario, and I took the first bus east to Idaho. And I just – I disappeared.”
A long silence followed her story. Now it was Kat who waited.
Finally Jim spoke. “And you’re sure he’s still looking for you? Leanne’s positive?”
“Yes. She has a prepaid phone too, and we talk once a month or so, really fast. She told me that he takes time off a lot, and Leanne and Bobby followed him once. He goes to bus stations and asks questions, checks security footage from street corners. And whenever she can, Leanne checks his computer search history, and she reads all his e-mails.”
Dallas looked impressed. “She spies on him?”
“Yeah. She set up something on his computer so she has full access. Anyway, he still sends off e-mails requesting tax declaration information about me, and he checks to see if my social insurance number has popped up anywhere, and he checks social media constantly. I know the second I get back on the grid in any way, he’s going to find me. I can’t afford to poke my head up even once… with his badge, he can get any information he wants.” She stared at them, hard. “I have to keep going, don’t you see? I can’t get lazy or too secure. If I do, it’s just a matter of time before he catches up to me.”
“Kat,” Dallas said gently. “You have good and disappeared. I promise you.”
Kat glared at him. “You don’t know that, Dallas.”
“It’s part of my job to find people, remember,” Dallas said. “To find people who don’t want to be found. And hon, you’ve hidden damn well. I’d struggle to find you.”
“Not good enough.” She shuffled her feet. “What if he has cop friends in every state looking for me? What if he hires a professional? I need a guarantee that he’ll never, ever show up at my door. Until I get that, I keep moving.”
“You want us to kill him?” Jim said, only half-joking.
- Writer
