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His gaze turned sharp. “You call us immediately if you feel you are in immediate danger. Nobody else.”
“What does that mean?” I asked.
His expression turned scornful. “No vigilante justice. I know the likes you run about with.”
Mam bristled. “Do you mean her boyfriend’s family? The ones who have been contributing to the community free of charge? Is that the likes she runs about with?”
I inched closer to my mother, afraid I was drawing undue attention to the pack.
The garda sighed. “People can do good works and still make bad decisions. As I said, we’re the ones you turn to if you feel threatened.”
“We’re here now, aren’t we?” Mam snapped. “But you’re not doing anything. As long as you do your job, we shouldn’t have a problem, should we?”
The garda glanced over his shoulder, but I was pretty sure he was rolling his eyes without Mam noticing. “Look,” he said at last. “The car could be a rental that we can track down, but if these people are as dodgy as you say, then it could easily have been stolen. In that case, there’s not a lot we can do to find them. If they act again, let us know immediately. In the meantime, let us take care of the search, while your family lives carefully.”
When Mam shot him another dirty look, he continued, “Don’t let the girl stay at home at night alone, that sort of thing. Your best move is to keep an account of anything out of the ordinary, dates, times, locations, and witnesses. If we’re needed, we’ll come to you. Keep tabs on your daughter, Mrs Harding, but she’s not a small child. She won’t be easy to abduct in this town, I promise you that.”
“Perdita Rivers was abducted in this town when she was a teenager,” I blurted, irritated by his condescending tone. “Sounds like it was easy enough then.”
His gaze was like a laser, shooting right through me. “Remind me who her boyfriend is? Strange how history repeats itself, isn’t it?”
“She wasn’t kidnapped by my crazy biological relatives,” I snapped, my blood boiling at his attitude. “These people are in a cult. They want to force me into that cult even though I’ve never even had any idea they existed. They’re not normal.”
He shrugged. “As I said, be careful, and you’ll come to no harm. Study more and see the boyfriend less. Might be safer. Less chance of you inviting trouble your way.”
Mam’s hands closed into fists.
“Let’s go,” I murmured. “He’s not going to get any less offensive.”
“I’ll not let this go,” Mam said over her shoulder as I guided her towards the door. “You’re here to help the public, not judge them. How do you even get your job done when you’re so busy blaming victims?”
He ignored her.
Outside the station, we froze. I looked around for any sudden movements, painfully aware of how exposed and alone we were. How helpless.
Mam must have had the same thought because she gripped my hand. “Get in the car and lock the door as fast as possible.” She squeezed my fingers tight. “Ready? Let’s go.”
We rushed to the car, getting inside and locking the doors in record time. Then we looked at each other and burst out laughing.
“What are we like?” Mam said. “He might have been an absolute useless toad of a human being, but he was probably right. They aren’t going to get close to you without anybody noticing.” She cocked her head to the side. “But let’s stay careful, all the same.”
“If they look remotely like me, they’ll stand out. Besides, I’ve already started the gossip train. People will be talking about us soon enough.”
“We moved here because of rumours, and now we’re relying on them to help us.” She shot me a wry smile. “Wanna mitch for the rest of the day?”
“As tempting as that sounds, I need to give the gossip train a little more fuel with news of our trip to the station. Besides, I can’t afford to miss any more classes or I won’t be able to keep up.” I blew out a heavy sigh. “How mature am I? You must be so proud.”
She laughed, relaxing. “I’ve always been proud of you, Margo. You’re right. You have matured. You’ve had so much to handle over the last year, but you seem to be taking everything in your stride.”
Maybe my acting was improving. Except that wasn’t quite true. I had been able to manage more of the stress, but that was only because I knew I didn’t have to handle it alone. That might change if the harbingers had anything to do with it.
“I feel safe knowing you and Dad and the pack and even the girls at school have my back. Everything’s turned around so much. Even with these weirdo harbingers stalking us, I wouldn’t change anything we did to get to this point.”
She looked me over as though trying to find the lie. “You mean that, don’t you?”
“Things are tough right now,” I said, “but I’ve gained so much here that I could never regret it.”
“I’m going to have to start following your lead.”
