The Last Invitation (81)
“Here’s another cup of tea. The other one has gone cold.” Faith sat next to Jessa with an arm wrapped around her. “I think we should call that Detective Schone. She knows about Darren, and—”
“No!” Jessa couldn’t slow down her pulse or control the jumping inside of her. She knew Faith was scared for her and trying to help, but Faith didn’t understand. “I told you. We can’t trust her. This is so much bigger than you think.”
“Okay.” Faith squeezed Jessa even tighter. “You’ve been through a horrible thing. Your mind is racing. Those neurons are firing. I need you to breathe.”
The comfort suffocated her. Jessa jumped up from the couch. She needed to move, to burn off the frenzy of emotions bombarding her. “This isn’t really about Darren. It’s about a group of women.”
“That doesn’t make sense.”
“A vigilante group.”
“Jessa, sit.” The trace of pain in Faith’s voice was hard to miss. “Please.”
“No, no.” Jessa sat down with her hand on Faith’s leg then shot up again. She couldn’t afford to be at ease. She needed this energy. She had to store it up and get to Gabby. “They found me here. I’m so sorry. I should have warned you, but I wasn’t allowed.”
“I don’t understand.”
Of course she didn’t. She couldn’t. “Someone knows I’m staying with you, and that person told Darren.”
Faith winced. “Was it a secret? I think I told—”
“You didn’t do anything wrong. This is . . .” Jessa ran through her memories, trying to spot someone following her. She didn’t see how a camera could have been planted in here, but she looked around anyway. Her gaze fell on her bag, and it all made sense. “They have some sort of tracker on me.”
“We need to get you to a hospital. I’m worried about a head injury.” Faith’s soothing voice contrasted with Jessa’s sharp, staccato one.
Jessa ignored the comment as she dove for her bag. She pulled out her cell phone. The GPS. If the group could uncover all these secrets about the men they targeted, they could trace her. “I need to get the chip out.”
“What?”
“They can find me through this.” Jessa held up her phone, knowing she verged on sounding paranoid. But she was right. They knew too much. She couldn’t make it easy on them to gather even more intel. “I need this one number, but the rest of what’s on there doesn’t matter.”
She repeated Gabby’s number a few times, sinking it into memory. When that didn’t work, Jessa grabbed a pen and wrote it on her arm, then she ripped at her cell, trying to take it apart. Her hands shook, and her muscles ignored the orders from her brain.
“Let me help.” Faith used her fingernail and took out a tiny memory card. “This?”
Jessa snatched it out of her hand and ran to the bathroom. She flushed it.
“Jessa, what the hell?” Faith stood in the bathroom doorway with her hands over her mouth. Terrified, confused. Her expression suggested she was a few seconds away from calling for help.
That couldn’t happen. Jessa could almost hear the clock ticking as her time ran out. “I can’t be here. It’s not safe for you.”
“I’m fine.” Faith motioned for Jessa to come out of the bathroom. “Let’s sit down and talk.”
“I need a new phone.”
“Do you want mine?”
She’d already put Faith in danger. That had never hit Jessa until right now. Taking her phone would only compound the problem. “No, I can buy one.”
“Wait.” Faith disappeared for a few seconds.
Jessa used the time to grab her bag and a few things she needed. “I’ll call you as soon as I’m safe.”
“Here.” Faith held out a phone. “I have a stack of these. We give them to abused spouses. It’s a way for them to have an emergency line and to speak without their abusers watching or tracking them. But you need to stay here and—”
“No.” Standing there, talking, only made Jessa more anxious. Her knees and cheek ached, but she didn’t have time to baby the injuries. “It’s better this way. You won’t know where I am.”
Faith’s mouth dropped open. “I want to know where you are!”
“I’ll tell you everything, things you really don’t want to know about some powerful women in the area, but not yet. I need to do something first.”
“Jessa, I’m begging you. Stay here and rest. We’ll snuggle on the couch and—”
Jessa grabbed Faith and wrapped her in a tight hug. She never cried but could feel her control slipping away. “Trust me. I just need a few hours. Please don’t call the police or anyone else.”
Before Faith could hold her or argue, Jessa pulled away. She could hear Faith calling for her as she stepped into the hallway. One glance at her hand and Jessa texted Gabby.
It’s me. Jessa. Meet me where it’s safest.
They’d talked about this so briefly. She’d made a side comment about not seeing each other in the open, about going where no one should be. Now she had to hope Gabby got the hint.
Chapter Seventy-Two
Jessa