You Can't Catch Me(75)

“When do we have the fight?”

“When you get back.”

I breathe in and out slowly. I’m bone weary.

“You up for this?” JJ asks.

“I wish we could do this tomorrow.”

“I know. Too risky. Go now, you’ll feel better after a shower.”

I go into Jessie’s tent and riffle through her clothes until I find something that will fit me. I’m not going to wear her underwear or bra; that’s too gross. But there’s a sweatshirt and jeans that look like I can wear. And when I reach right to the bottom of her bag, I come up with something else.

I leave the tent.

“Hey, check this out.” I hold it up. It’s a black wig, probably the same one she wore when she met me.

“Perfect.”

“She has a ton of makeup in there too. And what looks like colored contacts.”

“Stands to reason.”

“I’m not going to fool anyone, though.”

“You don’t have to. You just have to look enough the part for the cursory look the tape from the airport cameras is going to get, if any.”

“Right.”

“We can do this.”

“We are doing this.”

JJ nods. I put everything I found in a pack and sling JJ’s laptop bag over my shoulder. I decide to drive to the showers, which are near the entrance to the park, a ten-minute walk away; they’re closing in twenty minutes and I don’t want to miss my shot.

When I get there, I hand the sleepy woman behind the counter six bucks and ask for two towels. There’s no one else in there except for a young girl watching her laundry spin in the laundry room.

I go into one of the shower stalls and peel my clothes off, then step into the spray. Everything stings, but I make sure to wash my cuts and bruises carefully with soap and shampoo my hair twice. I would love to stay in there forever, but we’re on the clock.

I get out and dry myself, then slip into Jessie’s clothes. I catch a whiff of her perfume, a distant echo of something expensive. I comb my hair and tie it back in a tight bun like a ballerina, then slip the wig on. When I emerge from the enclosure and check myself in the mirror, I look like someone else. Something about the cut of the wig transforms my face from its normal rounded proportions to one with angles. I’m not Jessie, but I’m not me either.

After checking for cameras, I stuff my clothes in the large garbage can in the bathroom, then sit on the bench outside so I can use the Wi-Fi on JJ’s computer. There’s a selection of morning flights with seats. One to LA. One to Salt Lake City. One to Minneapolis. I choose the last one. I enter her Molly information. I check her into her flight, then close everything up. When I pull back into our camping spot, JJ’s sitting at the picnic table. She’s packed Jessie’s suitcase and it’s sitting next to her. She’s changed into all black, including a knit cap. She’s almost invisible.

“Where’s the phone?” she asks.

“I’ve got it. She had two. That’s how she sent herself that text in the airport, pretending to be Jessica Two.”

“You should take the SIM card out now on the one with her banking info. Give the other one to the police.”

“I’ve got to back it up to my laptop first. So we don’t lose access.”

“How long will that take?”

“A few minutes.”

I get my computer out of my tent. One of Liam’s seminefarious contacts/friends showed me how to clone a phone’s contents a few years ago. You never know when you’re going to need to know how to do that, apparently.

I boot up the program he installed for me and connect her phone to the laptop. I put in her password to unlock it. The transfer happens quickly.

“We might as well fight while we do this,” JJ says.

I touch my hair. “How do you like the look?”

“It’ll do.”

“Well, fuck you!” I say loudly. JJ starts, then realizes I’ve slipped into character. “I don’t owe you any explanations for anything!”

“Don’t talk to me like that.”

“I can talk however I want. What I don’t have to do is sit around and listen to your baseless accusations!”

“Hey!” someone yells from a tent a few spaces over. “Some of us are trying to sleep here!”

“And some of us have young children!” comes from the other side of the road.

I try not to laugh.

“Aw, fuck off or I’ll make you regret it,” JJ says.

I shake my head and whisper, “We don’t want them coming out of the tent.”

“Don’t worry, they won’t.”

My computer beeps; the transfer’s complete. I untether it and take the SIM card out of the phone.

“You should just shut your mouth, JJ! And you, too, Jessica! I was better off before I met either of you!”

“That’s a laugh! You fucking thief.”

“I don’t need to stand around and take this.”

“Oh yeah? What are you going to do about it?”

“You’ll see.”

I stand and stomp over to the car, grabbing the suitcase from the table.

“Where are you going?”

“None of your business! Just leave me alone!”