AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“The police—”
“I’ll tell them I did it,” I cut across him. “I’ll tell them I dropped it in the lake. I’ll take a polygraph, if they like. I’m a good liar, Simon. Better than you are.”
“It’s all on the cloud,” Simon said, flatly. “That’s why Arnie said that it doesn’t matter about the phone, they’ll get it all eventually. They’ll send warrants to Apple and Google, if they haven’t already, and they’ll get my search history and pretty much everything else they want.”
My heart sank lower. Of course. Of course everything was on the cloud. I knew that. I wasn’t an idiot or a Luddite. “Fuck ’em. At least this way, they have to work for it.”
We started walking back to the car.
“I love you, baby.”
“I love you too, Mom.”
I took his hand.
“Mom? If I have to run, will you help me?”
“To the ends of the earth, if that’s what it takes.”
CHAPTER THIRTY
Andy
Craig came on Thursday night and took Grace home with him. I called him on Friday morning, to talk to her. She wanted to talk to Leanne, but Lee couldn’t do it. Things had gotten worse with her, and she couldn’t get out of bed, couldn’t eat. It was like she just wanted to withdraw from the world, like she didn’t have the energy to face it. I lied to Grace. Told her that Lee had had to go to the supermarket, and that she’d call her later. I tried not to think about what would happen when later didn’t come. We’d made Grace leave her cell phone at home, so she couldn’t call Lee directly. Maybe I could control things for a few days, for long enough to get Lee some help.
After I spoke to Grace, Craig stayed on the line for a while. I told him what was happening with Leanne.
“I’ve been thinking maybe I should come and take Grace back home after all,” I said. “If she was here, I think Lee would do better. She’d force herself to, for Grace’s sake.”
“That’s a lot to put on a teenager,” Craig said. “You don’t think that maybe Lee needs to see a doctor? Get some help? When she’s a little better and things have calmed down, that might be a better time.”
“She thinks Nina’s dead, Craig. It’s going to take more than a couple of days for her to get over this.”
Craig sighed. “Yeah.”
My stomach clenched. I wanted him to deny it. To tell me that I was crazy. That of course Nina wasn’t dead.
“Look, Andy. There’s something you need to know. Maybe you already know, but Sofia said I have to talk to you about it, and I guess she’s right.” Craig paused. “I know you’re not online much, but you need to know that there’s some disgusting stuff being said. About you. About Nina.”
I didn’t answer him. I didn’t really have anything that I could say to that, other than the obvious. Craig took a deep breath.
“They’re saying you’re a pedophile.”
“Yeah. Okay. I get it. I know about it.”
Craig seemed relieved. Like now that he’d said it, the worst was over. “Grace tells me you closed the inn.”
“We couldn’t have people in the house.”
“You guys doing okay for money? Sof and I could help out.”
That hit me. “Thank you. We’ll be okay. I got projects lined up at work. And savings. Enough that we won’t have to worry for a while.”
“You don’t think... you don’t think the online stuff will hurt your business?”
For a second I thought he meant the inn, then I realized he meant my landscaping business.
“No. I can’t see that happening.”
