Page 39 of Two Favors Repaid

“He’s gone, isn’t he?”

Rob nodded. He would always be honest with her.

“Ford escaped sometime during the night. They don’t yet know how he did it. Lorraine and her partner are on their way to the prison now. They’ll call us as soon as they know something more.”

“What am I going to do?” she whispered, looking around her. He followed her gaze. The cliff no longer felt like a safe place for them to be in.

“We are going to stay calm and stay together, Emma. Your story is my story. You trust me, right?”

“He’s coming for me, isn’t he?”

“We don’t know that for sure. But we have to assume it’s crossed his mind. I won’t let anything happen to you. I give you my word.”

“So what, I’m going to go to the station with you every day? Sit next to you while you’re eating lunch? Sleep with you?”

“Is that so bad?” he asked, trying to lighten the mood.

“You know what I mean, Rob,” Emma said impatiently. “I can’t live life like that.”

“Let’s not make life decisions right now. We need to keep you safe, and we need more information. If Ford wants to keep his freedom, he knows he should be heading anywhere but here.”

“But he’s not sane, Rob.”

“No, he’s not.”

The breeze picked up around them. Emma shivered in her thin workout clothes. Rob wrapped his arms around her, knowing being cold was the least of her problems.

“Come, let’s get dressed and get to the station.”

Chapter 11

Emma

Emma wrapped her arms around herself. Even sitting in the arguably warm sheriff’s office, she still felt chilled.

At nine a.m. they’d called Natalie and Hunter. It was one hour earlier in Saint Lucia, but they couldn’t wait any longer.

“I wish we hadn’t had to call them,” Emma said, remembering her friend’s stricken voice.

“So do I. But we needed to let them know. Though slim, there’s always the possibility that Ford will try to find them as well.”

“They’ll be on the next plane home. You realize that, right?”

“Not if Hunter can help it they won’t. Right now, they’re safer anywhere else than here.”

Alma came over, a notebook in one hand, a tray of miniature sandwiches balanced carefully on the other hand. Rob got up quickly to help her.

Can it be lunchtime already?

She looked at her watch and did a double-take. It was already three p.m. She’d completely lost track of time. Ever since hearing the news, she’d been feeling like the proverbial deer in headlights.

“The rumor’s already spreading around town. It looks like some TV station in the city picked up the news. They didn’t release the name, but somehow people know.”

“What are those, Alma?”

“James, from J&J’s Diner, brought them over. He wanted to know if it was true.” Behind her fashionable glasses, Alma’s eyes glazed over with unshed tears. “God, what must they be feeling … Ford raped and killed their only daughter.”

Rob swallowed hard. His Adam’s apple bobbed up and down.