Among the Echoes(78)

For the next three hours, I read every single letter of the notes he has taken over the almost four years they have been on the run together. I wasn’t prepared for this. Erica’s life hasn’t just been stressful; it’s been damn near unimaginable at points. And now that I know the truth, her undeniable attachment to Leo is disturbing to say the least. However, as I turn page after page, it’s the very last paragraph that renders me completely speechless.





Oh God. What the hell is Leo up to? What drastic measure could he be taking to save her? I remember our conversation when he told me that Wilkes was searching for him and not Erica, and my stomach churns as I fear where he has gone. It never seemed right that Leo would just leave her unless he was planning to give himself up and set her free once and for all. Shit. What the f*ck did he do?

I can’t tell Erica about this. She’s already having a tough time with him being gone, but this little hypothesis I have now would destroy her. I quickly decide to give it a week before bringing this up to her. Who knows? I could be completely off the mark here. Leo could come prancing back in with a tan from vacation tomorrow. But I have a sick feeling in my gut that I’m right about this one.





"Erica," I call down the hall when I get out of the shower.

"In here," she says from the security room.

Before Leo left, I can’t remember her ever going in there, but now, she spends almost every night staring at the monitors. I can’t tell if she’s afraid someone will break in without him or if she’s just waiting for him to come home.

"Beautiful, you have to stop leaving this window open!" I tell her for the third time in three days.

"I need the air. I can’t breathe stuck in this apartment all the time. I need to get out of here, Slate. I haven’t been outside in weeks."

"It’s not safe, Erica. Open the windows on the far side. These connect to the breezeway, and Johnson is going to have a stroke if he finds it open. You want to go out on the balcony?"

"What?" she says, shocked and immediately excited. "Leo was worried they would take pictures of me."

Shit. I didn’t think about that.

"Yeah. He was probably right," I say, feeling like an ass as her face deflates. "Okay, how about this? What if I call the building and privately rent out the roof for the entire night. Johnson could clear it and block it off. I’ll bring up some chairs and we can just lie out under the stars for as long as you want."

Her smile immediately returns, bigger than I’ve seen in days. "Oh God, Slate. That sounds amazing."

"I’ll order some food too. Go get dressed. As soon as the sun goes down, we’ll go up." I pull her in for a kiss, taking full advantage of her sudden good mood.

Three hours later, we lie on a blanket on the building’s empty roof. We brought up chairs but quickly moved to the ground so we could be closer. Our legs are tangled together and she is squeezed tight against my side, using my chest as a pillow.

"Do you think he’s okay?" she asks out of the blue.

I let out a sigh, not sure how to answer. Do I honestly think Leo’s okay? No. But I can’t tell her that. "I don’t know, beautiful. I hope so."

"Me too," she says quietly.

Tonight is the perfect evening, and I’m seeing the first real flashes of Erica in days, but that only furthers my worries.

"Can I ask you something? Something you probably don’t want to talk about?"

She sits up, leaning on one elbow to look me in the eye. "You can ask me anything, Slate. I don’t have any secrets from you anymore."

I lean forward, kissing her on the forehead, feeling the pang of guilt for keeping my newest information about Leo from her. "I think you need more therapy."

She groans and lies back down next to me. "That’s not a question."

"Okay, let me rephrase. Why don’t you go to more therapy?"

"Because they told me I should leave Leo," she says honestly, shocking the hell out of me.

"Why’d they tell you to leave Leo?" I ask even though I know the answer.

"I saw the file in the safe, Slate."

"How’d you get into the safe?" I say, shocked.

"Leo gave me the combination in case of emergency."

"How the hell did Leo get the combination?" I shout while suddenly sitting up, forcing her to sit up with me.