AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Because he’s been sitting in a car outside of here for the last six days. I imagine it took him the extra day to find you. Dad hid you away pretty well. Maybe he paid an investigator to follow us. Maybe Michael, who quit, told him where you were. I don’t know. All I know is that he is sitting in a car. The same car. Day in and day out. He leaves the car there when he goes somewhere to change his clothes, shower, and use the bathroom.”
Hope shook her head. “I made eye contact with him yesterday, but he didn’t speak to me. Didn’t ask for any information. It’s like…it’s like he just wants to be close to you.”
“Sort of the way a man who is deeply troubled by his behavior might be if the woman he loves was locked away in this impenetrable castle,” Bridget finished.
“There on the street where you live.” Hope sang the lyric fromMy Fair Lady.
I rose. “If he’s been here six days…” That was mind boggling. “Why hasn’t he come in? If he has something to say, say it.”
Zeke Scott didn’t wait. If he had something to do, he got it done.
“Dad barred him. The place won’t let him in,” Bridget answered. “That was how I found out that he was here in that car. The director let me know he was banned, but he’d tried to see you. That’s when I spotted him.” I had to catch my breath. “Where?”
Hope walked to the window. They were tinted so we could see out, but they couldn’t see in. From the street, it looked like just another converted Upper East Side brownstone that might belong to anyone. Woody Allen had one just like it.
“He doesn’t move the car. He takes a taxi or a rideshare. But the car stays there.”
There was the car. He’d gotten street parking. No way was he moving it. Maybe ever. That was impossible to get. I blinked. That didn’t matter now. I could make him out. He was in a black SUV. Sitting in the driver’s seat, staring at the building. That was all I could make out.
My heart beat really fast, and I wrung my hands together. Everything was muddled. I’d understood things, and now I didn’t. What was he doing?
“Well, what am I supposed to do? If he can’t come, I can’t…make sense of what he thinks he’s doing. I can’t… work it out. Is this really just guilt? He could have sent flowers.”
Hope laughed. “Sorry you got kidnapped at my house.
Hope these roses make you smile. Best, Zeke.”
I groaned. “Okay, point taken.”
“Lulu, if he can’t come in, and maybe he can if you go plead your case and get paperwork done. I mean you’re an adult, it’s sort of hard to tell a twenty something woman that she can’t see someone because her daddy, who is a fugitive from the law, said no, go out.”
Go out. Yes, I wasn’t locked in. The doctor had even suggested if I wanted to go to the deli around the corner, it had great baklava. But I hadn’t considered it. Why would I leave right now? Where would I go worth being?
My hand went to my head where my hair should be and wasn’t.
“It’s too bad, they make great wigs. If we’d thought about it,” Hope sighed, “we’d have brought one over today.”
Bridget shook her head. “No, she doesn’t need a wig. This is Layla, if she walks around bald, everyone will shave their heads.”
That’s right. I’d be spotted if I left. The cameras. My mind went to that moment coming out of the place where they’d heldme in France. There must be those pictures too. No matter. I could only deal with right now. I hated the idea of being caught on display again.
But it was a choice. See Zeke and get answers, or stay inside afraid and get none.
I’d pick number two.
I swallowed. “This is going to be a random thing to say. Well, two things. Number one, Hope, can I borrow your hoodie please? I can’t find my cap. I put it down, and I think it got swept up with the sheets when the maid came.”
“Sure.” She rushed to the chair where she’d draped it and handed it to me. I was in a white hospital uniform but at least I had my sneakers. I’d been in them when I was taken and still had them. “Number two?”
“You guys know Mom killed herself, right?”
They both stared at me, and Hope visibly swallowed. “No, she just overdosed.”
“I know,” Bridget said, and Hope rounded on her like she couldn’t believe it.
“I used to think like you did, Hopey. But I think we all need some truth now. And that is truth. She ended her life. With four kids in the house and a husband who was away. I can’t blame her for her mental illness, but I will blame her for not arranging for someone to care for us. Poor Justin. He took the biggest hit.”
Bridget put her arm around Hope. “It’s okay. We’re all stronger than her. Especially you, Lulu. Always were. Go get your answers. We’re right here and not going anywhere.”
