Page 85 of Gone Tonight
Besides, if he remembers my mother, chances are other peoplewho have connections to the restaurant do, too. And I bet I can find her old high school quickly now. I don’t need this internet stranger to give me any more information at the moment. Still, I sign off politely in case I need to ask him questions in the future.
I write back,Have a great night and thanks again!
Then I log out of Facebook.
Pizza Piazzo is only about a seventy-minute drive from Sunrise. Even if I hit traffic, I can easily make it there while they’re still serving dinner. Maybe I’ll find a cheap hotel room in the area and spend the night in what may be my mother’s actual hometown.
By this time tomorrow, I could finally know the truth about her.
My body is flooded with a mixture of dread and excitement. Part of me wants to abandon this quest now and go home and simply talk to my mom.
If I told her of my doubts, would she finally come clean?
But my trust in her is shattered.
Besides, I’ve come too far to stop now.
I peer out of the family quarters to make sure the hallway is clear, then step out and head to the community room, where I let Tin know I’m leaving. I start to walk to the blue door to input the code to exit.
I don’t know what makes me stop, turn around, and go back to the big window in the hallway, the one Mr. Damon crouches beneath when he believes the Viet Cong are surrounding us.
Maybe it’s the sixth sense that has always linked me to my mother, the one that sometimes has me lifting my head to listen for the sound of her key in the front door lock a minute or so before the noise actually occurs, or the way one of us will say something random, likeHow about curry for dinner?just as the other has the identical thought.
Whatever it is, it draws me to the window. I look out and see the Bonneville still in the far corner where I left it.
But someone is leaning against it, like they’re waiting for me.
I lean closer to the window, squinting.
It’s my mother.
I instinctively shrink back, even though she doesn’t seem to be looking in my direction.
I cannot believe she has followed me here, especially since I turned off my location sharing. Did she somehow hack into my texts and see the exchange between me and Tin, or did she just take a lucky guess and show up?
Either way, it would have required an extraordinary effort since my mom doesn’t have sophisticated computer skills and I took our only car. She must have taken an Uber here.
As I watch, she straightens up and begins to slowly walk around the parking lot, like she’s on patrol. I wait, hoping she’ll move far enough away that I can slip out and drive off.
But she’s never out of sight of the Bonneville.
My mother is clearly prepared to outwait me.
What does she intend to do when I approach?
I think of her locking my bedroom window, then sliding beneath my comforter to sleep next to me. A chill runs through my body and I shudder.
Now that she knows how eager I am to get away, will she find new ways to tighten her hold on me? Perhaps she already knows I’m going to move to Baltimore, or maybe she suspects that I’m planning to tell Tin everything.
I can’t let my mother see me. I need to find another way to Towson.
Then it comes to me as I stare down at the cars in the lot.
I already have another way.
CHAPTER THIRTYRUTH
I so loved my birth name,Ava Morales. It felt graceful and ethereal, like it could belong to a ballerina.
