You Can't Catch Me(82)

“I kept telling you she was dangerous,” Liam says.

This was a theme I was getting tired of, but I couldn’t lose my temper with him. “And I kept telling you I was with JJ. Plus, she wasn’t dangerous in the end, was she? She just left.”

“But did she? She didn’t take the flight.”

“You been hacking again?”

He coughs. He doesn’t like it when I say words like hacking on a cell phone. Who knows who was listening in?

“Didn’t the police tell you that?” he says.

“They might’ve mentioned something.”

“It’s odd, isn’t it?”

I reach the cone part of the ice cream and stop eating. It’s sweet and delicious, but I can’t handle those sharp edges; they make me want to vomit.

“Maybe she had other ID,” I say.

“I thought you searched her bag?”

“I did, but not that thoroughly. I didn’t have much time. Maybe there were secret compartments, or she had . . . what’s that called? A go-bag? She probably had one of those. Maybe she stashed it at the airport.”

“Have they confirmed that she went into the airport?”

“Her car was found there.”

“But did she go inside?”

“I don’t know, Liam. They don’t tell me everything. I assume she did at some point.”

A shadow crosses over me. It’s JJ. I mouth to her Liam, and she nods.

“What are you so worried about?” I ask.

“I think she’s still in Jackson.”

“Why would you think that?”

“Because there’s no sign of her leaving.”

“There’s a zillion ways she could have left. Maybe she took the town bus to the ski hill and stole a car. Maybe she stole one in Jackson. Maybe she hitched a ride. Or took a Greyhound, or . . .”

“Okay, okay, I got it. You know it’s only because—”

“You worry. I know.”

I look up at JJ and roll my eyes. I make a crazy motion with a finger next to my temple, then turn it into a gun and pull the trigger.

“JJ’s here. I’ve got to go.”

“You’re coming home tomorrow?”

“Yes, tomorrow. Will you pick me up?”

“Text me your flight info.”

“I will.”

“And be—”

“Careful, I know. I will, I promise.”

He sighs again and it feels like a transition. I’ve moved away from being his girlfriend and back to being his . . . daughter isn’t the right word, but sometimes it feels like that.

“See you tomorrow,” I say, and hang up before I say something I’ll regret. “You ready for the shoot-out?” I say to JJ. Every day at six, there’s a fake shoot-out in the town square. JJ’s become a little obsessed with it.

“You know it.”

She’s picked up a cowboy hat at one of the stores along Broadway. It’s sitting on her head at a jaunty angle. If I didn’t know better, I’d say she looked happy. And maybe she is.

“You’re turning into one of them,” I say.

“Who?”

“The tourists.”

“All part of the facade.”

“If you say so.”

She tips her hat at me. “You could start running up Snow King every morning. And wearing more fleece.”

“I’m already at maximum fleece, thank you.”

She smiles. “Liam going to be a problem?”

“He’ll let it go eventually.”

“Hope so.”

“Me too.”

We check in with Sergeant Johansson before we leave and make sure he has all our numbers and emails and that he’ll let us know if he finds anything.

“This is a puzzler you’ve left me,” he says, tapping a pencil on his desk in time to some rhythm I can’t make out.

“Sorry,” I say.

“Not at all, not at all. I suspect she’ll turn up in some other jurisdiction soon enough.”

“What, then?”

“That depends on what she’s done in the meantime, but I reckon she’s in for a long haul in prison. She’s committed dozens of crimes.”

“So, there’d be a trial?” JJ asks. “Or more than one?”

“That’s right. Unless she pleads guilty. But let’s not get ahead of yourself. We have to find her first.”

“Thank you for looking,” I say.

“No trouble at all. It’s my job.”

We shake hands all around, and then JJ and I leave and drive out to the airport. Despite everything that’s happened, I’ve grown pretty fond of the place. As we drive past the marsh and the vast expanse of the Elk Refuge, I try to take it all in. The big sky, the rolling hills covered in scrub pines, and that incredible view of the Tetons as we turn down the airport road. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to bring myself to come here again, but I wish I could. I wish I could show Liam Jackson Lake without thinking about what lies below its cold blue surface. Or climb up to the saddle of the Grand and take in the view of the valley and the dotted cars along the highway. I never made it to Yellowstone or saw half the wildlife there is to see; I mourn for these last things that Jessie took from me.