“Why are you parking here?”
“Just want to hide the car more. They can’t see it from the road from here.”
“You’re pretty spooked.”
“It’s just a feeling,” I say. “You know… You go on up first, I’ll get the shopping.”
“Geez, I can carry a bag, Duncan. Don’t forget, I have to carry kids at work.”
“No, go get changed, get comfortable. I won’t be a minute. I want to look up and down the street anyway.”
“Okay,” she says, getting out of the car. I watch her from my seat. She’s got a habit of rubbing her belly as she walks, almost as if she’s trying to soothe baby Thom. I wonder if he is aware of it.
I reach into the back seats, pull out the shopping bags, and start walking toward the gate of the complex.
It’s not that I expect to glean anything looking up and down the street. If anything, it’s an attempt to calm myself so I don’t project my paranoia, so it doesn’t stress out Dee.
But I notice a white convertible parked on the street outside the complex. Tinted windows, and some custom work done to the body, the three-pronged star on the hood.
I can’t be sure if it’s the same car, and digging into my memories I can’t get a picture if the previous cars I saw had four doors or two.
But nevertheless, I’ve never seen that car parked on this street before, and it’s already dark. I set the bags down onto the ground, move out of line of sight of the gate, and then jump and pull myself up the brick wall surrounding the complex.
I see the bright orange burn of a cigarette through the front windshield.
I watch the car, alert, a sixth sense inside me going off like mad. It’s definitely the same car.
A moment later, the car pulls out, drives off down the street, it’s sleek visage at odds with the deep rumble of its powerful engine.
Shit! He must have seen me.
I drop down from the wall, sprint up the steps.
I burst through the door. Dee is standing at the kitchen counter, rolling some rice that she’s taken out of the fridge.
“I thought we could make some sushi with the left-over rice,” she says over her shoulder. “Just add some white vinegar to it, and—”
“Dee!”
She spins around. “What’s wrong?”
“Get your suitcase.”
Her eyes widen, and without saying a word, she drops everything she’s doing, goes straight to the bedroom.
I reach under the sofa, pull out the pistol. It’s loaded, safety on. I push it through my belt at the small of my back.
I take two four-liter bottles of water and line them up at the door, then open my duffel bag to check the cash briefly. I throw in a change of clothes, and Dee comes out of her room, small two-wheeled luggage in tow.
“He’s here? My father?” Dee asks.
“I don’t know,” I say. “I saw that fucking car again.”
“Are you sure?”
“They drove off when they spotted me watching them.” There’s this moment where a ripple of panic crosses her face, and I go to her wrap her up, kiss her head. “We’re getting out of here tonight, okay?”
“I’ll call Pierce,” she says. “Give me your phone.”
I toss it to her. “Keep him on the line.”
I shoulder the duffel bag, take Dee’s suitcase, and scoop up the bottles of water into my arm.
Together we’re out of the house, and I haul the suitcase up and take the steps down two at a time. I throw it all into the back of the car, wait for Dee to catch up.
“It’s ringing out!” she says.
“Try again.”
We get in, I gun the engine, leave the complex.
“I need directions!” I say to Dee.
“He’s not picking up.”
“Dial again!”
“Pierce!” Dee says urgently into the phone. “Duncan needs directions to the safe place. No, we’re not being followed.”
Bright white headlights blind us from in front of us, and I swerve the car into an alley.
“Actually, yes we are! Navigate us. How can we lose them?”
Chapter Forty One
“Left,” I say to Duncan, my voice an urgent whisper. I listen to Pierce on the phone. “Then right at Fitzroy Street. Blow through the lights, he says traffic is slow there and it’s not a patrol route.”
Duncan obeys, takes the left. We come to a set of lights, he accelerates, pushes us through the intersection onto the far left. We cut across traffic, but it’s slow enough for Duncan to weave us neatly through.
“We’re going to Geelong,” she says. “That’s a city north-west of Melbourne, a bit of a drive, but he says if we take the back roads we can lose our tail. It’ll take longer, though.”