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I first thought that with the attack in the parking garage. I thought it when I walked in on my wife with another man. And then again when she left me. I thought it when Nathan told me the board was forcing me out of the company I built. I thought it when my parents hired a physician to place me in here, then when they drugged me, and I woke up to what looked like a nightmare but wasn’t. I thought it when I was forced to agree to deals I know I could never fulfill. I’ve bargained with the devil.
Now, I can see I was wrong. It can always get worse. And everything that can happen usually does.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Vanessa
Thirteen bags of ice is how many I estimate it will take to keep my husband’s corpse from rotting, at least until I can hit the road. I’ve sent Matthew and Gina on a whole host of errands, which should keep them busy for most of the day, away from the house, and also unsuspecting.
What I need is a head start—enough money to get far enough away without the church either trailing me or catching me on the run. To accomplish this, I’m going to need money, and to get money I have to find a way into Sean’s computer. It would have been helpful had I thought this through before smothering him. But it’s true what they say, hindsight is twenty-twenty.
He controlled everything, and like a freight train barreling down the tracks, horn blaring, it was inevitable that it would come to this. I can see this now. I just wish I’d prepared for it.
Preparation is apparently not a strong suit of mine, because when Melanie spots me in the grocery store parking lot with my cart full of ice, I know there are only three outcomes for me: death, suicide, or prison. Sometimes you have to pick your poison. “The freezer went out,” I say.
She looks at me like she couldn’t care less, and that’s when I feel almost safe, which I should have known is always a mistake. “Have you heard from him?” she asks quietly.
I don’t respond at first. She could be referring to Adam; she could be referring to anyone. Finally, it’s her furrowed expression that gives her away. “The mark?”
She rolls her eyes. “Who else?”
Sorry, I almost say. I thought you might have meant your boyfriend, the guy who raped me last night. “No,” I tell her. I’d like to say I’ve spent the last twelve hours agonizing over Elliot Parker and what they are doing to him at the rejuvenation center and how much of this might have been my fault. But the truth is, I didn’t. I have enough problems of my own. Too many for Elliot Parker to be one of them. “I haven’t heard from him.”
“Huh,” she says. “That’s too bad.”
Lying to Melanie was easy. Easier than it had ever been in the past, anyway. Elliot Parker had texted me early this morning. I need to see you, the text said. He asked me to meet him downtown at a hotel.
At first, I ignored him. If I play my cards right, Elliot Parker could easily be a way out of my predicament. I could just suggest another weekend away and let it turn into forever. First things first, though. I had to get Sean on ice, or rather ice on Sean. Then, I remembered to delete some of the security footage. I know Sean isn’t going to see it, obviously, but I’ve gotten so good at erasing things that it just comes natural. No one needs to see me carrying bags of ice into my home. Not Gina and not Matthew. Especially not Adam. Now that Sean is gone, no one needs to see me at all. In fact, I plan to disappear altogether. I dyed my hair, packed our bags in the car, and posted on Instalook that Matthew and I were excited to fly out and meet up with Sean for the weekend. Adam will check with Sean although for obvious reasons he won’t be able to reach him
and I plan to be long gone before eyebrows are raised. Surely, if I were going to make a run for it they wouldn’t expect I’d post about it on social media. No one is that stupid.
Once I’ve handled the basics, I text Elliot Parker and agree to meet with him. He sounds so desperate that by the time the third text request comes through, I’ve already made up my mind. He pays in cash, and cash is at the top of the list of things I need. Money doesn’t make you happy, but it does give you options.
I ask him to text me his room number. When he opens the door, he wastes no time getting down to business, which is good because I’m in a hurry. I have to pick up Matthew and get on the road. I can tell there is no room for Elliot Parker in my life when he takes a photo of me just inside the door. I’m busy replying to a text from Gina when I realize he’s posting it to Instalook. It pisses me off, it’s downright risky, but it’s too late. What’s done is done. No doubt he’ll have raised red flags when Adam or Melanie see this. I ask him to delete the photo.
He shrugs. “Delete what?”
He thinks I’m stupid. Maybe he’s right. I shouldn’t have come here. But I need the cash. And I want to warn him to stay away from the church. It’s the least I can do.
Elliot looks up from his phone. “You dyed your hair?”
“You know posting pictures of other women isn’t the answer to getting your wife’s attention.”
He frowns. “What does it matter to you? I’m a paying customer aren’t I?”
“Last I recall, you weren’t paying me for photos,” I say and what happens next, I don’t see coming.
He cocks his head and studies me carefully. “What do you know about Adam Morford?”
I can’t tell him the truth. But I answer with a reasonable question. “Not much…why?”
“New Hope church?”
“What about it?”
“Stop, Vanessa.” He narrows his eyes. “But that’s a lie too, isn’t it? Vanessa isn’t your real name.”
“I thought we covered this.”
