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“It’ll be okay,” Butch said.
“Tell Mom I—I tried to tie her up so I could call you, but…you should’ve come with me. She’s stronger than she looks.”
“I understand.”
At that, there was a slight pause, a gap in the hysteria during which he sounded quite calm. “You’re not mad at me?”
“Of course not. You did your best, didn’t you?”
“I did. I did everything I could.”
“So where are you now?”
“Phoenix? Glendale? I don’t know. I’ve been riding the buses, riding and riding, all over, everywhere. I don’t know what else to do. You said I couldn’t come home unless I tied up Francesca, and that didn’t go so good.”
“Calm down, Dean. I’m going to help you.”
He sniffed. “You are? Does that mean I can come home? I want to see Mom.”
“Soon. But for now, it’s too dangerous. The police are watching the yard.”
“The police? Oh, God! What should I do?” His voice crescendoed in a wail.
“You’ll go to the Schultzes’ cabin.”
“I will?”
“Yes. Right away. You remember it, don’t you?”
“Yeah, sure. That place we rented last Christmas? Where we taught Champ to shoot a pellet gun?”
“That’s the one.”
“That was so fun,” he said. “But won’t the cabin be locked?”
“Since when is any lock a problem for you?” Butch asked.
“It’s not. But I thought… I mean, you want me to break in?”
“If that’s the only way.”
“Then what, Butch? How long do I stay?”
Standing, Butch set his glass in the sink and put the Jack Daniel’s back in the cupboard. “Once you get there, sit tight, Dean. Someone will be coming for you shortly,” he said. Then he hung up and called Hunsacker. “It’s me.”
“Butch? What’s up?”
Judging by the thickness of Hunsacker’s voice, he’d been sleeping. Butch gave him time to collect his wits before continuing. “I know where you’ll be able to find Dean.”
“You do?”
“Yes. He just called here, looking for our help.”
Hunsacker’s next words sounded much more alert. “You were smart to contact me. Turning him in is for the best, Butch. The only way.”
He was right about that. “Do you have a pen and paper?”
“I—Yeah, sure. Go ahead,” Hunsacker said, and Butch gave him directions.
