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“Heather, is your mother still alive?” I asked.
She nodded, tears flooding her eyes. “Yes, she lives in Boise with my dad. I have a little brother. Half-brother, technically, but we don’t think of it that way.”
“You’re referring to yourstepfather,” Russo said, his voice tight. “Your real father was Raymond Russo. You don’t need to worry about your other family ever again. We’re the only family you need.”
Russo was like an explosive device. If we rattled him, he would go off, and God save us then.
He went on. “We’re a unit now. We must have one another’s backs and all that. Not like when we were kids and all alone.” He grinned, like a benevolent uncle. “Just look at you two. My sisters. All of us sitting around the dinner table enjoying a meal. This is exactly what I dreamed of as a kid. Did you two wish youhad siblings out there too? Because I always had a feeling you were out there. I mean, truly, in my bones, I knew it.”
“What exactly do you think is going to happen now?” I asked, voice as steady as I could make it despite the fact that my heart seemed to beat between my ears.
Russo tore a piece of his chicken off its bone with his teeth and chewed noisily before answering. “I’m glad you asked. I have everything planned out. We’re all going to live together happily here. We can plant a garden and put away our food for the winter. I can hunt in the spring and summer for deer and bear and store it in the freezer. We can live completely off the grid. Which is why I had to take your phones and smash them. We don’t want anyone ruining our chances for a fresh start.”
“Please, just let us go home.” Tears rolled down Heather’s face and into the collar of her shirt. “My family’s going to be so worried. I have a boyfriend too. He’s a cop. He’ll never stop looking for me.”
Russo slammed his hand on the table so hard the silverware clattered. “This is what I’m talking about. There will be no talk of our former lives. We’re starting out totally new. Just the three of us. No boyfriends or stepfathers or even your skinny mother, Heather. Just us.”
Heather silently sobbed. I wanted to as well but knew I had to keep my wits about me, or we could be stuck in here with this lunatic for the next fifty years. Without cell phones there was no way to track our location. Even if Caspian had survived the gunshot, no one would be able to figure out what happened to us. Caspian. My heart twisted painfully in my chest.God, please take care of him.
I had to get out of here.
Did we even have a sheriff in Bluefern? How could I not know that? I should have been more cautious. Assuming a restraining order was enough to keep this man away from me was sonaive. Moving to Montana was supposed to keep me from harm, but he’d broken through my false sense of safety and come to destroy me. He might not see it that way. Obviously he was delusional. If he kept Heather and me here for years and years as I’d read about in the news, our lives were essentially over.
The only good news I’d heard so far was that Heather’s boyfriend was a cop. He would have resources to look for her. If they looked into my past, they’d see the restraining order and perhaps piece it together.
“We can’t stay here,” I said, trying for neutrality. “Even though the picture you paint sounds great. Heather and I have careers and people who count on us. Maybe we could agree to come up here once a year and hang out? Just the three of us. Catch up on everything that happened over the course of the year?”
Russo’s eyes narrowed. “No, that’s not how it’s going to be. Anyway, what’re you talking about, Elliot? Your mother killed herself. That old aunt of yours is dead in the ground too. You don’t have anyone.”
I have Caspian. I have the Moon family.How had I not seen how much they all meant to me? I’d been playing it safe. But Caspian had slowly drawn me out. All I wanted was to get home to him.
“Heather has people who want her back,” I said. “How about you let her go and you and I can stay. Get to know each other. I could cook for you. Do you like cake?”
Russo shook his head. “No, no. That’s not right. We have to all be together. Like God intended.”
“How old was your father when he died?” Heather asked, surprising me with her question. “And how did he die?”
“Like I said, prison. Not entirely sure what happened butourfather was murdered in there. I tried to get answers from those people, but they’re tight-lipped at the prison. Protect their own.All the guards are dirty, so nothing can be done to protect the innocent. Unfortunately, someone got to him.”
“They’re hardly innocent if they’re in prison,” Heather said, staring at him with cold eyes. “Who did he kill to get in there?
My sister had a little spunk to her. Good. We were going to need it.
Russo flinched. “Like I told Elliot, some rich bastard. His wife hired Pops to kill him. Pops and the wife got life sentences.”
“How old were you then?” I asked. If we could get him talking about his childhood maybe I could discern something that would help us.
“I was fifteen when he went in there. My mom had long since left before then.”
“By left, do you mean she passed away?” I asked, hoping the answer was no. If she was still around, she might be of some help to the police.
“Nah, died before him. Drug overdose. I went into foster care, which was not exactly like winning a trip to Disneyland.” Russo ripped into another piece of chicken and spoke to us with his mouth full. “Eat up, ladies. I want you to get a good night’s sleep tonight. We have a lot to do tomorrow. But first, we’re going to have movie night. I’ve been excited for this. I got popcorn and everything.”
“What happened to you in the system?” I asked.
“You know the drill. Only real nice folks decide to foster kids.” Russo tore apart a biscuit and spread honey on one side. “If you think being starved and assaulted is good parenting.”
“I’m sorry that happened to you,” I said. “But it’s no reason to disappear from society.”
