You Can't Catch Me(27)

I promise.

We make a tentative plan to connect in Philly in a couple of days. Will I be able to convince Jessie to come with me? If I were her, I wouldn’t be able to pass up the chance, based on curiosity alone, and I’m counting on that to overcome her natural hesitancy.

“Jess, what the hell are you doing over there?”

I lay my phone down flat on my chest and pull my headphones off.

“Sorry, did I wake you?”

He sits up and turns his back to me, putting his feet on the floor. He stands and walks to the bathroom, closing the door firmly behind him.

I put my phone on the bedside table and snuggle down into the covers. Liam comes out of the bathroom smelling like the cheap soap I used earlier. His bed creaks as he climbs back in.

“You got a pen pal or something?” he asks.

“I’ll tell you about it in the morning. Go back to sleep.”

“You sure?”

“Yes.”

I roll over onto my side for good measure. I’m finally feeling sleepy, and if I tell Liam about JJ now, it’ll be at least an hour of questions.

“Night,” I say.

“Sleep well, Jess.”

I listen to the thump of the music, and this time it starts to lull me away. I’m almost gone when my phone flashes on the nightstand, the light like a beam in my eye.

I pick it up.

Jessica Two has texted me back.

You can’t catch me, her text says.

There’s no more sleep after that.





Chapter 11

Don’t Go Chasing Waterfalls

Liam drives me to the High Falls Gorge after breakfast the next morning, where Jessie suggested we meet after I reached out to her. It’s a part of the Ausable River that’s been a pay-to-see attraction since the 1800s. Jessie didn’t say why she wants to meet here. There are only a couple of cars in the parking lot, and an old-timey buggy guarded by a placid-looking horse. One of the cars is Jessie’s Prius. I can see her sitting in the front seat, looking at her phone. There’s a chill this morning, and it was one of those winters followed by a cold spring, so there’s still snow on the ground deep in the woods where the sunlight doesn’t reach. I wouldn’t wait outside either.

“You sure about this?” Liam asks.

“I’m sure.”

He looks a bit tired. I’m tired, too, but I tried to hide that from him as I told him about the messages from JJ that I received last night. I didn’t tell him about the text I sent or received from Jessica Two, or tell him about JJ’s fears, but Liam’s uneasy anyway. He’s got a job lined up with a longtime client that he can’t skip and thinks I should postpone doing anything further until he can come with me. But I’ve reminded him that I’m nearly thirty years old and that it’s time for me to fix my own problems, and he’s reluctantly agreed so long as I promise to let him know the moment it gets dangerous.

“Why do you want Jessie to go with you?” he asks.

“I don’t think she’s told us everything she knows yet. Plus, there’s safety in numbers, right? That should make you feel better.”

He ignores my jab. “You think she’s holding back?”

“Not deliberately, but maybe something JJ tells us will jog her memory.”

“What if she doesn’t want to go?”

“Then I’ll ask her to drive me to Plattsburgh. Or I’ll take an Uber. We talked about this. It’ll be fine.”

“This doesn’t seem like a great place for Uber service.”

“I’ve figured out worse situations.”

“I know you have.”

I tap him on the nose. “It’s like you said yesterday. I’m all grown up now. You can let this little bird out of the nest.”

Liam crooks his index finger under my chin, making sure I’m looking him squarely in the eye. “You keep making jokes. But this, what you’re planning, it’s dangerous. Maybe she’s only a con artist, someone who’s never had to do anything violent. But that doesn’t mean she won’t if she’s pushed. The smart thing to do is to take what you know and go to the police.”

“They won’t do anything.”

“Perhaps not, but what are you going to do if you find her?”

“Get my money back.”

“And if she refuses?”

“Then I’ll turn her in.”

“So simple, huh?”

“That’s right. Keep it simple. You taught me that. And I know how to protect myself. How to fight.” That was part of Todd’s lessons too. Hand-to-hand combat. Liam added in the self-defense portion; he believed in walking away from the fight in an honorable way, but I knew how to do both.

He lets me go and turns away. “I tried to teach you a lot of things. Maybe I was wrong to get involved in the first place.”

My stomach drops. The last thing I want to do is make Liam question his role in my life. “Why do you think that?”

“A lot of you are struggling. Think of Daisy. Look at where you are right now. Aaron. Maybe you would’ve been better off if I left well enough alone.”

I’ve never seen him like this, full of doubts. “Hey.” I reach out and repeat his move, my finger under his chin so he’s looking me right in the eye. “Of course you shouldn’t have done that. Think of what would have happened to me if I’d stayed where I was.”