“I know you think I should have called my dad,” she says. “To let him know I’m here.”
“This isn’t about what I think,” I say. “It’s about what you want.”
“I didn’t want to talk to him on the phone first, as crazy as that might sound,” she says. “I wanted to wait a little longer and see him with my own eyes.”
I look over at her and see the tears still coming down, the girl not doing anything to wipe them away, and feel my own throat start to thicken again the way it had when I saw her getting off that plane.
We ride in silence for a little bit until she says, “They’re monsters.”
“I know.”
“Miz Mayes says she’ll keep me safe even if they come after me,” she says. “Do you believe her on that, Mr. Tucker?”
“Silas,” I say. “And her word is as good as mine.”
“I just want them to pay.”
“Trust me,” I tell her. “They will.”
“I still don’t know how much of this I’ll be able to tell my dad,” she says. “I mean, he’s mydad.”
“You’ll tell as much as you can and as much as you want,” I say. I pause. “Maybe never all of it. And certainly not all of it today.”
I pull the truck up in front of the house now and shut off the engine. She hesitates, trying to look everywhere at once, taking it all in, as if making sure that this isn’t some kind of dream for her, that she’s at least gotten to the other side of her nightmare.
We finally get out of the car. She’s behind me as I use the old brass knocker on the front door.
Leamon Ridenour opens it, clearly surprised to see me. But before he can say anything, I step aside so that he can see his daughter standing behind me.
He just stares at her at first, not believing what’s right in front of him, before putting a trembling hand up to rub his eyes. When he takes the hand away, he’s already begun to sob.
Leamon Ridenour opens his mouth and tries to say something, but nothing comes out right away. As he reaches out with his arms for Holly, his knees buckle, and he starts to fall.
Only, his daughter won’t let him. Her arms are around him then and his own are around her, and it’s as if they’re holding each other up.
“Holly,” he finally manages, his voice raw. “My baby girl. Is it really you?”
“It’s me,” she says. “I came home, Daddy.”
ONE HUNDRED
THE ARREST WARRANT for Roof and Lynyrd Crockett that Robert Diozzi has gotten from the judge is on the dashboard of Helene’s car as we head for Briar Crockett’s house.
Helene drives way too fast, as she almost always does, once again having taken a hard pass on wearing her seatbelt. When I mentioned to her, not for the first time, that not wearing one was sort of against the law, she’d said, “I keep forgetting to arrest myself.”
Then she’d turned and said, “Now sit back and enjoy the ride.”
“You think they’ll go quietly?” I ask now.
“Hope not,” Helene says.
“Think they know we’re coming?”
“Hope not.”
I see her big hands squeezing the wheel hard as she hits the gas pedal even harder.
“I still can’t believe Holly got away.”
