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“Okay, Jimmy. I’m going to need you to chill. And you’re going to need to remember to keep it quiet. I don’t want to put you in danger.”
“Jesus fucking Christ. Hold on just a minute.” The phone goes silent.
“Jimmy?”
An uncomfortable silence weighs over the distance. But it’s not a dial tone. He hasn’t disconnected the call.
“Okay. I’m back. I’m calm. Tell me. What is going on?”
“I don’t really know. Someone broke into my house. He had a handgun.” I pause, rubbing my hand over the tightness in my chest. My eyes burn. This situation is surreal. “I ran. Well, I hid and then ran when it was light outside.”
“You drove away.” He says it matter-of-factly.
“Yes.”
“I think they’ve been looking for your car. Searching for the license plate. I told the firefighters and the police that your car was missing.”
“It’s okay. I switched out the license plate.”
“How did you have an extra license plate?”
“Sam left me one.”
“Why…you mean in that giant duffel he left you?”
“Yeah. Don’t tell anyone about that. Did you?”
“No. I thought about it. But I figured it burned in the fire. But I also wondered if maybe Sam wasn’t the paranoid freak I assumed he was. Like he somehow did something to bring someone’s wrath down on you and Sloane. And he knew it was a risk, so he taught you how to shoot a gun.”
It’s hard to swallow. “Jimmy.”
“Sorry. It’s just…I’ve been worried sick. I thought you might be dead.”
“What do the police think happened?”
“If they have theories, they aren’t telling me. I’m not family. If anything, I’m a suspect.”
“Oh, Jim?—”
“I don’t think I am now. One of them found me tissues. And I fully cooperated.”
“Well, don’t tell them anything more, okay?”
“You think the cops are in on this?”
“No, nothing like that. But Knox and Max want me to stay low. Just in case the people who are after me burned the house down to locate me.”
“Who’s Knox and Max?”
“Knox Williams. Max works with him.”
“Knox Williams? From Rocky Mount Senior High?”
“The one and only.”
“So, wait…let me get this straight. A guy breaks into your home, and you drive to your secret long-time crush? In California?”
A tap on the window grabs my attention. It’s Knox, watching me from inside his house. I give him the thumbs up signal, and he signals the same back to me.
