Page 113 of Gone Tonight
I try to pass the time thinking about what I’ll do once this is all over. I’m scheduled to work tomorrow, so I need to have a difficult conversation with Tin and come up with a reason for my reversal. I can’t tell her the truth, but neither do I want to lie to her.
I’m fed up with lies.
The last wisps of gray in the sky are being overtaken by black when my phone buzzes. I flinch.
If Ethan is texting me again, I’m going to tell him off, then block him.
But it isn’t Ethan.
The incoming text is from George Campbell.Catherine, I noticed your car is still here. Could you come see me and June as soon as possible? There’s something important we need to discuss with you.
My heart sinks as I read the words.
I thought I did everything right—telling my mom to fill the tank to the three-quarters mark and making sure I didn’t leave anything in the Cadillac. What could have tripped me up? Perhaps George noticed something off about his vehicle, and June mentioned I’d been rummaging around in the bowl that held their keys just this morning.
Now they suspect what I’ve done.
“What is it?” my mother asks.
I turn around my phone screen so she can read the message.
Her face falls. “Oh, no.”
CHAPTER FORTYRUTH
I don’t like not having eyes on Catherine.
Logically I know she’s just a few dozen yards away, sealed in the safety of the Campbells’ apartment.
Still, my breathing has grown shallow and my chest feels tight. I pace relentlessly: ten steps forward, swivel, then ten steps back.
Catherine’s plan is to throw herself at the Campbells’ mercy. She’s going to tell them the truth—that she desperately needed to borrow a car last night and made a split-second, foolish decision—and hope they forgive her.
She says George and June are very kind people. She thinks they’ll be understanding.
I watched as Catherine walked away from me to face the Campbells, every slow step like a stab to my gut. She rounded her shoulders, preparing to face judgment. It was the same way she walked into all the schools she attended on her first day as a new kid.
Head up, shoulders back.I willed her the message, just as I did on all those first school days.
Then she turned the corner and disappeared.
She has been gone nearly fifteen minutes.
I can’t help myself. I look down at my iPhone and check her location.
She’s still in Sunrise.
I don’t know how long a conversation like the one she’s having with George and June should take. Surely not too much longer, though.
A breeze cuts through the air and I wrap my arms around myself, shivering. The temperature is plummeting now that the sun has sunk below the horizon.
I packed a sweatshirt in my duffle bag, but it’s on the other side of the building, in the Bonneville, in the back of the lot. There’s no way I’m leaving this spot. I don’t want Catherine to return and not see me.
I refresh my Google search on James. No new results.
I try again with different keywords:Oak Hillandfieldandescape. But there’s nothing.
I move a little closer to the building. The front of Sunrise is very well lit, with wide, paved walking paths and yellow light spilling out from every window. Back here, where residents never come, it’s a different story. It’s so shadowy I can’t see more than ten or fifteen feet in front of me, and there’s an unpleasant smell coming from the big trash dumpster.
