*Chapter 10:Room 8*
450 Words
*Chapter 10: Room 8*
The motel sign buzzed. _VACANCY_.
Room 8 was at the end, paint peeling, window covered with a towel.
Clover’s hands shook as she knocked.
The door opened 2 inches. Chain still on.
Eli.
No jacket. Wet shirt clinging to him. He looked worse up close.
“You came,” he said.
She stepped in before she could change her mind.
The room smelled like bleach and old cigarettes. One bed. One lamp.
Eli locked the door. Three locks.
“You have 10 minutes to leave before I assume you’re here to arrest me,” he said.
“I’m not FBI.”
“Could’ve fooled me.” He turned. “You ran with me.”
Clover wrapped her arms around herself. Still soaking.
“Why Room 8?”
“Because my brother and I hid here when we were kids.” Eli’s voice dropped. “When our dad got drunk. No cameras. No one asks questions.”
He pulled a folded paper from his wallet. It was soft from being handled too much.
A photo.
Her brother, Mateo. 19. Arm around a 17-year-old Eli. Both grinning, stupid, in front of this exact motel.
Clover’s breath caught.
“You lied,” she whispered. “You said you barely knew him.”
“I said a lot of things in interrogation.” Eli put the photo on the table. “Mateo found something. 3 weeks before he died. Bank records. Fake IDs. He said it was bigger than both of us.”
“What was it?”
“I don’t know. He hid it. Told me ‘If anything happens to me, give this to Clover. Room 8.’”
The lamp flickered.
Clover stared at the photo. Mateo looked happy. Safe.
“Then why did they arrest you?”
“Because I was the last person he texted. Because I was covered in his blood when I found him.” Eli finally looked at her. “And because the real killer wanted me to take the fall.”
Her phone buzzed on the nightstand.
`Nolan: Clover. Please. The FBI thinks you’re with him. You’re in danger.`
Eli saw it. His jaw ticked.
“You should answer him.”
“I should?”
“Yeah.” He walked to the window, pulled the towel back an inch. “Because if you stay here, and he finds us, one of us is going to jail. And it won’t be me this time.”
He dropped the towel.
Outside, a black SUV was parking.
FBI.
Eli turned back to her.
“10 minutes are up, Clover. So what’s it gonna be? Run with me, or call him?”
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*End Chapter 10*
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