Page 116 of Gone Tonight
The Campbells have one on the back window of their Cadillac.
When I went to Pizza Piazzo last night, James entered the restaurant after me. But that doesn’t mean I got there first. He could have been surveying the crowded lot, watching as I stepped out of the Cadillac. He would have recognized me from my Facebook photo.
All he had to do to notice the Sunrise sticker was walk over to check out the car I drove up in.
June seems to be picking up on my distress. Her smile slips away, and a crease forms between her eyebrows.
“Catherine? Is everything okay, honey?”
James walks back over to the couch as the silence stretches out, andGeorge turns to look at me, too. They can’t see James clearly from their vantage point.
Which is why James is able to reach down and pinch a piece of his jeans between his fingers, pulling up the hem, without anyone else noticing.
I’ve never seen a real gun before.
James’s expression carries a menace equal to the gleaming black weapon in his ankle holster.
If I don’t play along, will he kill us all?
Tears spill out of my eyes. “I’m just—I’m so happy I can barely talk.” I choke out the words.
June smiles. She bought it.
James lets his hem drop. His face morphs back into that of a genial, ordinary man.
“George, let’s get some drinks going and give these two a moment alone.”
June reaches for her cane, and she and George head to their kitchen. The silence they leave behind feels like a gaping void.
I stare at James, still unable to comprehend how he found me so quickly. Somehow, he eluded the trap my mother set for him and tracked me here.
“Sit with me, Catherine.” James taps the cushion next to him.
I’m terrified to obey. I’m even more scared to refuse.
I walk over on shaky legs and sink down next to him, keeping as much distance between us as possible.
James takes my iPhone out of my hand and places it on the coffee table, closer to him than me. Any hope I had of secretly texting my mother evaporates.
“We have a friend in common,” James says softly. “I need to know where she is.”
“A friend?” I’m playing catch-up—I have no idea how much James knows.
I shift away and James inches closer to me, a smile playing at the corner of his mouth. He’s deliberately pinning me against the arm ofthe couch. “She hired you to find me. Now you’re going to find her for me.”
James wants to know where my mother is, but he doesn’t know she’smymother.
A loud pop explodes in the kitchen and I recoil, instinctively curling my head down toward my knees.
James doesn’t even flinch. He laughs as I slowly lift my head. It was only a champagne cork coming out. June and George truly believe this is a celebratory night.
“You drove the Cadillac to the restaurant last night,” James says, confirming my suspicion that he watched me exit the car and walk into Pizza Piazzo. Then he continues, “But Ava picked up the Cadillac this morning. So you must have seen her and given her the keys. That means you know how to reach her. You probably even know where she lives. I threw out her name to the Campbells, but they didn’t react. But when I brought upyourname, they kept raving about what a wonderful young woman you were.”
I shake my head, but James keeps talking.
“We’re going to sit here for ten minutes and have a drink, and you’re going to act delighted to be reunited with your long-lost cousin. Then we’re going to get in your car and you’re going to take me to Ava.”
James’s voice is calm and steady. His jeans and the long-sleeved navy polo shirt that covers his prison tattoo are neat and clean. His breath, so close to my face, smells minty. The juxtaposition is dizzying. He’s a monster draped in the façade of a man.
