Page 42 of Two Favors Repaid

Rob’s low, gravelly voice didn’t require a microphone to reach all corners of the gym. He spoke firmly and eloquently to the hundred or so people who’d gathered to listen. A good turnout, given how last-minute the event had been organized.

“We don’t need to be afraid,” Rob said, finishing his speech. “There’s no indication that Stephen Ford is headed this way. But I ask you all to be alert, just in case. Until he’s caught, it’s up to us to take care of each other.”

“So who’s out there looking for that monster?” Jill shouted, distraught. Her husband wrapped his arms around her. They both looked like they’d aged ten years in the time since their daughter was taken from them.

“Everybody’s looking for him, Jill,” Rob reasoned kindly, and for a moment it felt to Emma like they were all witnessing a private conversation between Rob and the grieving parents. “We’re looking. The FBI is looking. There’s a nationwide manhunt for him. As soon as we know anything else, we will share the update. In the meantime,” he said, his voice rising again to address the room, “call us if you see somebody who looks even remotely like Ford. Remember, he may have changed his appearance and no longer look like the man you remember. And whatever you do, don’t try to stop him yourself. I know some of you knew him personally, but he should be considered extremely dangerous.”

There were a few more questions, but Emma zoned out on the answers. Rob seemed to be happy to repeat the same thing again as many times as people needed to hear it.

After the meeting, Rob went to his car, and once again drove it as close as possible before letting Emma out of the building.

“What do you feel like having for dinner?” he asked.

“You mean we can eat out? Like on a date?”

He shook his head ruefully, his bright eyes shining with desire. “As much as I’d like to take you out on a date, that’s not what I had in mind tonight, sorry. We could get some takeout, though. Chinese?”

“From Chen’s Chow?” Emma asked hopefully.

Chen’s Chow was her favorite restaurant in town. Originally opened by Mr. and Mrs. Chen some ten years earlier when they arrived from Tianjin, it was now managed by Mrs. Chen and her two sons as her husband had since passed away. They had one of those enormous menus with hundreds of items on them, and 99.9% of the time Emma was sure people requested the same ten items over and over again, but everything they served was warm and delicious. Her mouth watered just thinking about it.

“Where else?” he laughed. “Do you take me for one of those people who buys his Chinese takeout at the grocery store?”

Emma wrinkled her nose, thinking of the sad takeout food selection at their local grocery store. Ethnic for them seemed to be cooking a large batch of noodles then adding peanuts to the Thai version, seaweed to the Japanese version, and so on.

No, definitely couldn’t start a relationship with somebody who buys their Chinese food there.

The sudden thought made her pause. Was she really imagining a future where she and Rob might have a relationship?

“You okay, Emma?” Rob asked worriedly. “You went really quiet just now. We can order from somewhere else if you prefer.”

“No, I was just thinking about something. But I love Chen’s Chow. Their Char Siu is to die for.”

“That’s the barbeque chicken, isn’t it? I’m all up for that, along with some Singapore-style noodles. They’re my favorite.”

“Sounds like a deal,” she said, her mouth watering.

Her stomach muscles clenched as Rob’s phone rang again. On the dashboard she could see Lorraine Vasquez’s name flash.

Will I always be scared when I hear the phone?

Rob calmly hit the green button. “Hi, Lorraine. You’re on speaker phone. I’m driving Emma back to my place.”

“Rob, Emma, I have some good and bad news. The bad news is we haven’t caught him yet. The good news, where you’re concerned, is that it looks like he is actually trying to make his way to Mexico.”

“How credible is the source?”

“A truck driver picked him up near Philadelphia and dropped him off somewhere in Virginia. Then a family offered to pick him up, but he ended up not going with them as they were heading to Indiana. He was very friendly, told them he was heading south.”

Emma’s stomach had become a rock in her belly. She was amazed that, just a couple minutes earlier, she’d been considering dinner.

“Why would he be advertising his journey, Lorraine? That doesn’t make any sense. He left that postcard for us to find, and now he’s conveniently making that same exact journey? It must be over two thousand miles to Mexico.”

“Two thousand five hundred, give or take a few. But it’s doable in a couple days. Probably three if you’re hitchhiking and need to keep changing vehicles. I would have agreed with you, Rob, but we’ve spent half the day chasing after these sources. They’re credible. We’re going through rest stop cameras now, hoping to catch sight of him again.”

Rob sighed, sounding frustrated. “Okay, thanks for letting us know, Lorraine. I just find it too convenient. Ford’s not an idiot. If he’s left prison, he doesn’t want to head back there again.”

“You should stay alert anyway. Call us if anything seems out of the ordinary there, but we need to follow this line of inquiry.”