“Yes, please.”
I smile and steal the ungrateful man’s piece of cheddar on the way to the freezer. One of us knows how to properly appreciate cheese.
Police lights are hard to miss, so I notice them right away as a cruiser is pulling in front of my house. No siren is blaring. But the lights are enough to stop me dead in my tracks. “No.”
“What’s wrong?” Noah is already up, out of his chair, and looking where I’m looking. It doesn’t take Auggie long to stir from his dog bed in the living room and do some barking. “Good boy. Settle down.”
I have the front door open before they manage to knock. Two officers in uniform are standing on the front porch at eleven o’clock at night. My heart goes into apoplexy at the sight. Because there’s no way they have good news.
A Black woman with short natural hair asks, “Sidney Walsh?”
“That’s right.”
“I am Sergeant Mayhew, and this is Corporal Yang.”
“What happened?” I ask, my shaking hands curled tight into fists. “Has another woman died?”
“No. No one is dead. But Ryan Brody has escaped from prison.”
It doesn’t take long for the news to get around. To those still awake at least. The hunt for Ryan is being broadcast all over the place. Reporters are filming updates standing outside the prison fences. Photos of Ryan and a missing guard at the jail by the name of Maggie Young are being shared far and wide. In her work uniform, she appears to be a calm and competent woman with long blonde hair. Just his type. The plea from her husband asking for her to be returned unharmed is heartbreaking. But it seems far more likely the woman knew exactly what she was doing, and was a willing participant. Rumors are rife that Ryan wooed her. It wouldn’t be the first time he charmed someone into something.
Social media is full of theories about where he is and what he’s going to do next. The option of lopping off my head is winning one poll by over a thousand votes. People are wild. I’m not sure how much more of this I can handle. And throwing my cell into Lake Champlain is not out of the question.
“So he either ran out of patience or thought his mom being exposed as a murderer was going to hurt his chances of getting the charges reduced to time served,” I say to the detective.
“Perhaps,” says Detective Hahn over the speaker. She calls not long after the two officers arrive. “We’ll be guarding your house for the time being. Just to be careful.”
“They’re saying he romanced a jail guard and they’re on the run together?” I ask.
“We believe that to be correct,” answers the detective. “There are extensive phone records between him and a corrections officer.”
“Charming psychopath strikes again,” I say. “Let me guess…she used a burner phone to hide what was happening?”
“What we do know for certain is that he left the prison grounds at around one in the afternoon. The reason given was he was attending a supposed court appointment. But he and the guard never arrived at the courthouse,” she says. “Miss Walsh, where do you think he would go?”
“I’ve hardly talked to him in ten years. How would I know?”
“His girlfriend Laura is currently unable to be located, and his cellmate isn’t talking. You’re all I’ve got to work with right now. Would he stay in the local area?”
“He could cover a lot of ground in ten hours.”
“Yes, he could. The official vehicle used for the escape was found at a train station in Essex Junction. And the guard’s personal vehicle has been located parked outside some shops in Milton.”
“Fast work. But the guard…has her body been found?”
“No. We believe they’re still together. For now.”
“Milton is north of us. If they left the car there, he probably wants you to think they’re heading in that direction. Going to Canada to get lost out in the wilderness or something.”
“Hmm.”
“It’s not like he used to talk about backup plans with me. Just in case he got caught. I had no idea he was a homicidal maniac, remember?”
“Can you think of any reason he might stay in town?” she asks.
“I get that you think I’m a lure for him. That’s why there are cops sitting outside my house. But I’m just not convinced.”
Nothing from the detective.
