I Know Lucy (A Fugitive #1)(58)

At least I knew where she lived now. If she didn’t show at the pool tomorrow, I could drive straight here and make sure she hadn’t split…even though I promised her I wouldn’t do that.

I was such an idiot to agree to that.

I drove home slowly, soaking in the ups and downs of my day. I felt spent. I knew who Dani was now, but I didn’t. I knew her reasoning, but there was so much more to it. So many secrets. Could I handle them all? I felt emotionally beat up having listened to what she’d already told me. I needed her to have a better life. I wanted her to be able to walk a living truth, every day…no more secrets.

Mom and Dad were engrossed in a movie when I got home. I said a quick hi then headed up to my room. Flicking on the light, I spotted my phone straight away and out of habit, reached to check the screen. There were two missed calls from Elliot and one WTF message that made me swear.

Damn it! I’d totally forgotten about Halo 2! I never should have agreed to it. He was gonna kill me for bailing on him.

I winced, knowing I should call him at that moment and apologize, but I really didn’t want to. I was spent and having to deal with his anger while spinning some bullshit about what I’d really been doing was going to be a bigger effort than I could deal with. I placed my phone down, trying to ignore the guilt rounding over me.

“Just deal with it tomorrow,” I muttered, glaring at the phone.

Closing my eyes, I let out a disgusted sigh and reached for the phone.

It buzzed in my hand, making me jerk.

Looking at the screen, I breathed a quick sigh of relief before answering.

“Hey, Uncle Al.”

“What’s up, little bro. Just checking in. You doin’ okay after yesterday?”

“Yeah.” I cleared my throat. “Yeah I am.”

Uncle Alex scoffed. “You know if you hadn’t cleared your throat, I probably would have believed you.”

“What? I had a tickle!”

“Liar.”

I had to yield to my grin. It slowly spread across my face. “I spoke to her.”

Shit! I didn’t mean to say that!

I pressed my lips together, knowing I’d just jumped onto a very dangerous path. Uncle Alex would delve, that’s what he did. He figured stuff out…maybe that was a good thing.

I closed my eyes against the unbidden thought. A thought that was growing rapidly within me.

He could help.

“What’d she say?” Uncle Alex was surprised, I could tell by the way his voice tipped.

“Um.” I winced. “I kind of promised her I wouldn’t tell anyone.” My voice rose at the end of the sentence, making it completely obvious that I wanted to tell him. I let out a sigh. It wouldn’t hurt, would it? I mean if anyone could help, Uncle Alex could. He was a legend and justice was his main purpose for living. He might be able to work out who this killer cop was. Together we might be able to save others.

Justice.

The word was a sweet smelling strawberry in my head. I wanted it for Dani. If we could find this cop and bring him down, then she wouldn’t need to run anymore, right? I held my breath then let out a sigh. “Can we keep this between us?”

“You know we can. Whatever you say is off the record. You have my word.”

I licked my bottom lip, hesitating before I plunged in.

I shouldn’t be doing this, I had promised Dani.

But I had to. Logical argument said so.

“Her parents were murdered by a dirty cop. She saw it and has been on the run ever since.”

Uncle Alex whistled. “Man, that’s huge. Does she know who did it?”

“She’s pretty edgy about the whole thing. I think she’s still scared he might come after her. But it happened like five years ago. Do you think he still would?”

“If he knows she’s a witness he might.” Uncle Alex clucked. “So she’s been living under the radar for five years. I’m guessing the conning was a way to earn some cash.”

“Yeah, it’s kept her alive so far. I don’t think she’s telling me everything though. She didn’t mention her brother once. It’s like she’s trying to hide him from me. Do you think he’s controlling her somehow, like in the background…or someone else is forcing her? She was pretty nervous telling me this stuff. Nervous and guilty.”

“Was she conning you?”

“She wanted to.” I smiled. “But she couldn’t bring herself to do it.”

“And you’re sure she’s not just saying that?”

It was a good question, one I’d been trying to fob off all day. I squeezed my eyes shut. “I’ve got to believe she was telling me the truth. You didn’t see her face, those eyes. She doesn’t want to run anymore. She wants out and I want to give it to her.”

“And how are you planning on doing that?”

I tipped my head back. “I have no freaking idea.”

Uncle Alex was quiet for a minute. I let him think, not knowing how to fill the space anyway. My fingers gripped the phone as I waited. “You know maybe we can end this. Maybe we can find this guy and expose him. What’s her real name?”

“She won’t tell me. She’s petrified of the guy.”

“Something must have happened since her parents’ murder to make her so scared. Did you see her brother or anyone matching the lunatic description?”