How to Save a Life(58)

“It doesn’t matter. Just so long as they can get the signal. Give it a half an hour, then call her.”

“I should call Patty. Tell her I’m sorry about Lee.”

“I’m sorry for Lee,” Evan said fiercely. “Not you. Never you.”

“I don’t know about that.”

Lee’s death hung heavy on me. Even if Evan had done the actual deed and it was an accident, I felt it weighing me down in a way that felt permanent.

“He wasn’t all bad to start. The drugs turned him rotten. He may have been a good kid. In any case, he was her son…”

My cell phone rang, and I let out a little cry. I pulled it from my bag like it was a snake.

Evan glanced at it. “Someone you know?”

“I don’t know this number, but it’s my parish area code. Do I answer?”

“It’s what we need right now.”

I hit answer. “Hello?”

“Josephine Clark?”

“Who’s this?”

“Ms. Clark, my name is Detective Toussaint. I’m with the Ouachita Parish Police Department.”

“Yes?” I covered the mouthpiece and mouthed to Evan, “Police.”

Evan made a motion with his hand to keep talking.

“Ms. Clark, are you available to meet at the precinct this afternoon? Answer some questions?”

“Not really.”

A pause. “Can I ask if you’re still within the boundaries of the State of Louisiana?”

“You can ask.”

“You sound a little hostile, Ms. Clark. Are you aware that your fiancé, Mr. Lee Stevenson, was found deceased in a house fire yesterday evening?”

“Is that so?”

“You don’t sound surprised.”

“He was a meth head. And not my fiancé.”

“I see,” Toussaint said. He sounded young. Overly friendly. “You’re not particularly saddened over his passing?”

“He was violent,” I said, lowering my voice and turning away from Evan. “If you’re any kind of halfway decent detective you would already know that.”

“Are you glad he is dead, Ms. Clark?”

“Are those my only two options?” I asked. “Glad or sad? How about conflicted? He beat the hell out of me, Mr. Toussaint. That doesn’t mean I want him dead but it also doesn’t mean I’m going to shed a tear that he’s gone.”

“Fair enough,” Det. Toussaint said. “I have another question for you, Ms. Clark. Are you acquainted with a man by the name of Evan Salinger?”

“What about him?” I glanced over at Evan, and saw his hands tighten around steering wheel.

“Is he with you now? Are you able to speak freely?”

I said nothing, as the enormity of what was happening struck me. To run from the police; it was a serious f*cking thing to do, with dire consequences. There was no going back. If Evan and I went north, we’d be fugitives. If we turned back, we had a shot. Lee’s death was an accident. Evan was protecting me. Or I could claim self-defense. We could rely on the system to do the right thing…

I knew what would happen if we turned back. Evan wouldn’t let me plead self-defense. He’d confess to Lee’s death, and given his history, they’d lock him up forever. It wouldn’t matter that it had been an accident, or that Lee had beat the shit out of me that night…They’d take Evan away from me. Again.

“Ms. Clark?” Toussaint’s voice in my ear. “Are you still there?”

This is what a second chance looks like. For both of us.

“Ms. Clark?” Detective Toussaint persisted. “Are you aware that—”

“Yes, I’m aware, detective,” I said, cutting him off. “I’m very aware of everything. Thanks for calling.”

I ended the call, rolled down the window, and chucked the phone out of the truck. In my side mirror, I watched it smash onto the highway behind us and break into a dozen pieces.

A smile spread over Evan’s face like a sunrise after a dark night. Then he burst out laughing, a hearty deep bellow that tapered away into a warm, affectionate expression of relief and joy and everything good.

I sat back against my seat and lay my head against the headrest, smiling lazily, feeling more heavy boulders of time and regret crack inside me and fall away.





After Jo ditched her cell phone, I hooked the truck back around onto Highway 35 north, which would take us around Dallas. Elation surged through my veins, pressing my foot to the gas. I wanted to get wherever we needed to go as fast as possible.

It was late afternoon when we hit Denton, Texas. I checked us into a small motel towards the center of town and paid cash again.

“We need supplies,” I said. “I’ll go. You stay here and rest.”

“I can go with you.”

I shook my head. “Police are sending out APB’s with our descriptions right about now. I can put on dark glasses and a hat but you…”

Her fingers touched the scar on her cheek. She nodded, wincing at the pain in her neck. “Can’t argue with that.” She started to climb into one of the two beds. “Hurry back, okay?”

I hurried. I hated being away from her, leaving her unprotected. I zipped through the local Walmart, tossing whatever I thought she might need into the cart. What did women need to travel? Lotions? Hygiene products? Makeup? It looked like Jo didn’t wear makeup anymore. Good. She didn’t need it. She was as hauntingly beautiful as I’d remembered—even more now that she was with me. Flesh and blood, not ghost and memory.