“True. You’ve always been paranoid about losing access to money in the bank. I guess you were right all along.”
Lydia started stuffing money into her green leather shoulder bag. “I figured it would be a major power outage or zombie apocalypse, not because I had to go on the lam.”
“So there’s absolutely no way I can talk you out of this?”
“Not unless you’re the cops calling to say this was all just a big misunderstanding.”
Lydia heard a heavy sigh. “When will you leave?”
“As soon as I’m finished packing, probably. Oh, and I won’t have this number for much longer. I’m going to make a detour and ditch this cell phone with the GPS on.”
“You’re starting to sound like a wizened criminal now. It’s scaring me.”
“I’m scaring myself. But this is the number I put on my bond paperwork, and once they know I’ve skipped out, I’m betting they can trace it. So I’ll make it that much harder for them by pointing them in the wrong direction.”
Now Valerie was starting to sound a little panicked. “But how will I know you’re okay if I can’t call you?”
“I’ll get one of those prepaid phones and call you when I’m situated. And I’m not going to tell you where I’m going, either. The less you know, the better off you’ll be if anyone asks.” She hesitated. “And they probably will. I’m really sorry about that, Val. I hate the thought of you getting grilled because of me.”
The other woman snorted. “They can torture me and I won’t talk. But I already know where you’re going. There’s only one logical place. Just do me a favor when you get there.”
“Anything, unless you’re going to tell me to turn myself in.”
“Grab the bottle at the back of the top shelf. It’s the good stuff. Open it on your birthday.”
Her birthday. Hell, with everything going on, she’d almost forgotten it was next week.
“I will,” Lydia said. “And the first drink goes in the drink for those who can’t be there with us. I mean me.”
“Damn right. Pour that first glass right into the Pacific, Ly. In memory of much better times.”
“It’ll be really weird staying at the old place alone.”
“I know. And don’t worry about Angel or me. We’ll both be fine.”
They clicked off the call, and Lydia walked to the window. Her eyes scanned the lush, mountainous Colorado landscape that was currently painted in dusky shades of twilight. “I will miss this view,” she said.
She wasn’t exactly going to a slum, but it wouldn’t be home. How long would she have to stay on the run? Would she have a home to come back to? A sofa to curl up on with the cat who was probably wondering what the hell happened to its owner?
Things would work out somehow. They had to. But first, she had to get some distance from this place and think of a plan. Before Andrew played any more wild cards against her rapidly unraveling life.
Just the thought of how he’d violated her quiet, unassuming existence sent her to the bathroom, where she stripped down and flipped on the shower. She’d already bathed the second she’d returned from the dingy, nasty jail. Nevertheless, she twisted her hair into a bun and stepped under the hot spray. One more for the road to wash away the past few days.
While she showered, she went over every detail of her plan again. The detour down to New Mexico was regrettable, since she’d rather make a beeline straight through to California. Still, better to put in the extra effort to throw authorities off her scent. She would deliberately rent a motel room in New Mexico with her credit card and ditch the cell phone in the vicinity. The trail would end there. Afterward, she would have to live off her wits and sparing amounts of cash.
“Damn you, Andrew Waller, you fucking prick,” she said as she climbed out and toweled herself dry.
He thought he’d won, punishing her for having the nerve to discover his scheme. But she still had a trick up her sleeve, one that was inside the manila envelope that had been the first thing she’d packed. Once she was out of Colorado, her first stop would be to make copies of the documents Andrew may or may not have realized she’d taken. One copy would get stashed in New Mexico, another somewhere closer to her destination. The originals she’d keep with her while she decided how to use them.
“So that’s it, then,” she said to her weary but determined reflection in the mirror when she finished scrubbing herself raw a short while later. “You can do this. You can beat the bastard at his own game without spending one more night in a stinking jail.”