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I shook my head as I said, “I was so stupid…I thought we were old news at that point since it had been four months since we’d run, but I was wrong. Arthur saw us on a news report and confronted me. I…I was so sure he was going to call the cops, but he didn’t. He believed me,” I murmured. I could feel tears threatening as I whispered, “He wanted to help us.”
“What happened?” Cain asked. “Why did you leave?”
“Eric found us. No idea how. He was waiting outside the library I used to take Lucy to. She liked to read a lot and I was also trying to keep up with her schooling, so she’d use the books to do assignments I’d give her. But she never checked anything out even though Arthur offered to let us use his library card.”
“Did Lucy use the computers at the library?”
I shook my head. “No. I think she would have needed a library card to use them. And she knew not to check her email.”
Ronan glanced at Phoenix. “Can you ask Lucy to come join us?” The big man nodded and then left the room.
“Did Eric find out about Arthur?”
I shook my head. “No, I’ve kept in touch with Arthur using those disposable phones that you buy and load minutes onto. I bought a few using cash in Arizona as Lucy and I were leaving. I use one to call him once a month and then I throw it away.”
“Why take the risk to keep in touch with him?” Cain asked.
“Um, Lucy’s phone. We kept it with us the whole time even though we couldn’t get it to work. I thought…I thought that there were people out there who could fix it. But I was worried about carrying it with us since it was the only leverage we had against Eric to keep Lucy safe. Just like my safe deposit box, I wanted something I could hold over his head to get him to leave us alone. So I left the phone with Arthur and gave him instructions to mail it to my brother if he didn’t hear from me by the last day of every month. I included a letter telling my brother everything just in case something happened to me…”
I saw Cain’s jaw tighten, but he didn’t say anything.
“So Arthur still has the phone?”
I nodded. “He gave me his son’s social security card before we left along with his ID…his son died a while back when he was about my age. He thought it would help me find decent work long enough for me to earn some money before the HR department figured out the social security number wasn’t mine.” I glanced at Ronan. “His son’s name was Allen.”
Ronan nodded since he knew Allen was the name I’d used to get the job at Ronan’s hospital as a transporter.
I paused in my story when Lucy entered the room, followed by Phoenix. She looked terrified and I immediately opened my arms when she hurried to me. I could feel her shaking against me so I kissed the top of her head and murmured, “Everything’s okay, Lucy. Ronan just has a couple of questions for you.”
She nodded against me. I felt her silent tears burning through my shirt so I grabbed a couple of tissues from the dispenser and pushed her back enough so I could see her face. I clasped the sides of her face with my hands and said, “We’re safe, Lucy. I promise.”
Another nod and then she was wiping at her eyes. She leaned against me as she faced Ronan and Cain. Her body was rife with tension and fear, but she held her ground.
“Lucy, when you were using the library in Arizona, did you ever use the computer?”
She began shaking her head, but stopped suddenly. “Um yeah, once,” she murmured. She shifted to look at me. “But I didn’t use the card Arthur gave me and I didn’t check my email. The person who’d been using the computer before forgot to log out so I was using their card,” she said quickly.
I nodded reassuringly.
“What did you do on the computer?” Ronan asked.
“I…I read some news stories about what happened to my mom. I looked at some of my friends’ profiles on Facebook.”
“Did you interact with them?” Cain asked.
She shook her head. “No, I didn’t log into my account. I just checked their timelines…a lot of them were worried about me. They were saying Ethan kidnapped me,” she said softly. “It…it wasn’t true so I created a new email account with a fake name and emailed my friend, Jackie, and told her to tell people I’d told her I was running away…I thought it might confuse the police,” she said as she looked at me hopefully. “Eric didn’t know Jackie – she was an online friend. I swear, Ethan, she wouldn’t have told him I talked to her.”
