“You were in Hong Kong? When?”
“Two days after you left.”
“Gosh, I was still there.”
“I went to see the man you got your new passport from.”
“He told you? That bastard. He warned me he’d talk, said he’d only do it to save his own skin.”
“He didn’t at first,” Duncan says. “I had to make him.”
“Was it bad?”
He sighs. “Yeah.”
I nod, suck on my upper lip. “So what happened after Hong Kong?”
“I learned you came to Australia, but the guys who I had searching for you online couldn’t get the flight records this time. So, I went to Sydney first. I figured you’d go there.”
“I thought about it,” I whisper.
“Thought you’d try to get to a big city, so it was a toss-up between here and there. I picked there and you went here.”
“Then what?”
“One of my guys got a photograph of you through an ATM camera. He had some kind of algorithm running, searching through all the branches one by one. Everybody has to visit an ATM at some point, so it was only a matter of time. I figured out you were in Melbourne, came here, and started looking at the schools.”
“But how did you know? I could have started waitressing or something.”
“Figured you’d chase your dream, first. I mean, you needed something good after leaving everything behind. Plus there was a message board post from a Caroline Sax that my guy dug up. So I just sat on schools, just watched from my car. Most of them didn’t keep updated staff records on their websites.”
I frown. “That’s dangerous.”
“I know, but what else was I going to do? I didn’t like doing it either.”
“So how long have you been here?”
“Almost a month.”
“A month,” I echo quietly. “God.”
“You know what the hardest thing was, Dee? The thought that I might overtake you on the road. Or that I might be walking down the aisle of a supermarket with you on the other side of the shelves. Or that I might be walking down the street, turn around at a sound, and then you’d sweep right past me, and…”
His voice trails off.
“Fuck all of that,” he growls.
I hold him against me, rub the back of his head. “I thought about contacting you back home,” I say. “But I knew Dad would be listening, too.”
“He was,” Duncan says. “For sure. I ditched my phone straight away. I told him not to follow me, but I was sure I was being tailed when I drove to the airport. I had to leave your mother’s car somewhere else, duck through some alleys to lose them, and catch a cab the rest of the way.”
“You took the car?”
“I didn’t part with Glass on good terms.”
“What happened?”
“I found out you were pregnant.”
I grit my teeth together. That’s not how I would have wanted him to find out… from fucking Dad.
We lie together in silence for a while, our bodies connected. Eventually, I sigh. I have to say it. There’s no point avoiding it.
“If you found me, then Dad will, too. It’s only a matter of time.”
“I agree,” he says.
“He won’t stop.”
“So, we need to be ready. What?” he asks, reading the look on my face. “Yes, we. I’m not fucking letting you go again, Dee. How much money do you have?”
“I took some from Dad’s safe,” I say. I don’t much like that I stole money, but it was the only way. “But most of that is gone.”
“Then we need money.”
“I’m working part-time at the moment.”
“It’s not enough, Dee. We need an emergency fund, something that will buy us a quick exit.”
“I don’t want to run anymore. I’m tired, and I’m pregnant. It’s already difficult physically for me, and it’s only going to get harder.”
“I don’t want to run, either, but if your Dad is coming, he’s coming with muscle.”
“Frank.”
“Maybe more. So if worst comes to worst, we have to be able to at least afford to leave. That means cash. I can’t withdraw money, he’ll trace it here. So, I’ll fight.”
I lean up, rest my head on my elbow. “What, underground?”
“There’s got to be a gig somewhere.”
“Duncan,” I say softly, not knowing how exactly to broach it. “You’re not in fighting shape anymore. You’ve lost weight, you’re thinner now. You melted through all your muscle once you stopped training. I know you’ve stopped.”
“I know,” he says, licking his lips. “But I won’t be coming up against seasoned guys.”