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“And Ray would have followed you.”
“You don’t know that.” Ian released the bedspread and tried to remain calm, to sound steady. “Being holed up in the mountains alone—what were you thinking?”
Lucy let out a long breath. “I guess maybe I panicked.”
“Way more than panicked,” he said, and tried to keep his voice even, his worry disguised. “I’ll come for you.”
“No!”
“Lucy—”
“No, Ian. Just for once listen! We’ll come back in a few days. I promise. We will. Once I know what I’m going to do. How I’m going to handle this. But I needed space, you know. Distance. To figure it out. I know. I know I’ve had years to think about it, but it was always in the future, not real, and then . . . and then it happened. He was released. Early! As I said, I freaked out, and so we’re up here now, but I thought, I mean, I just wanted Renee to talk to you so that she could connect and you would know she’s okay. And there was bound to be a lot of press around with Watkins being released, everything dredged up again.... I didn’t want her to go through that. She’s too young.”
“But—”
“Has he contacted you?” she asked suddenly.
“No. Why would he?”
“I don’t know. That’s just it. I don’t know what he’ll do.”
“Lucy, this has got to stop.”
But she kept asking. “What about Mom or anyone else? Marilyn? Clark? Aunt Beth?”
“Not that I know.”
“But you’re monitoring him.” It wasn’t a question. When he didn’t immediately respond, she said, “Jun, the woman you work with, Jun Zhou, she’s like an intelligence whiz, right? That’s what you told me. That she can hack into any computer system, that nothing was sacred or off-limits, right? Does she know where he is?”
“Okay, you’re right. We’ve checked. As far as I know, Ray Watkins is at his sister’s house in Fresno, starting up some religious group meetings for ex-cons.”
“You believe that?”
Did he? Ian walked to the window to stare through the rain-spattered glass to the lamppost illuminating the street three stories below. A woman was huddled against the rain, walking a small dog, passing through the pool of light. “From all accounts, it’s what’s happening.”
“Don’t be fooled, Ian. Whatever Ray’s up to is a scam.”
“And you know this how?”
“Because it’s Ray Watkins, and running a con is all he knows. I—I really have to go. I’ve only got so much power.” Then her voice was indistinct again, “Hey, Renee, say ‘goodbye’ to Daddy.”
A moment later, Renee’s small voice came over the wireless connection. “Mommy wants me to say goodbye. And now I ’member. I saw Mountain Hoodie, isn’t that right, Mommy? When we were driving here?”
“Just tell Daddy goodbye.” Lucy’s voice was strained.
“Mommy says I have to go.”
“I heard that,” Ian said.
“I don’t want to.”
Ian’s throat tightened. “I know.”
“Daddy, can you please come get me?”
He felt as if he’d been hit in the gut. “Sure, honey. I just need to know where you are.”
“Let me have the phone,” Lucy said, then more loudly, as if she’d wrestled the cell away from their child, “Goodbye, Ian.”
