بخش 03 - فصل 42

42

Pete’s stop is Elm Street, two blocks over from the house, and the bus is almost there. He’s making his way to the front when his cell buzzes. His relief at seeing his sister’s smiling face in the little window is so great that his knees loosen and he has to grab one of the straphandles.

‘Tina! I’ll be there in a—’

‘There’s a man here!’ Tina is crying so hard he can barely understand her. ‘He was in the house! He—’

Then she’s gone, and he knows the voice that replaces hers. He wishes to God he didn’t.

‘Hello, Peter,’ Red Lips says. ‘Are you on your way?’

He can’t say anything. His tongue is stuck to the roof of his mouth. The bus pulls over at the corner of Elm and Breckenridge Terrace, his stop, but Pete only stands there.

‘Don’t bother answering that, and don’t bother coming home, because no one will be here if you do.’

‘He’s lying!’ Tina yells. ‘Mom is—’

Then she howls.

‘Don’t you hurt her,’ Pete says. The few other riders don’t look around from their papers or handhelds, because he can’t speak above a whisper. ‘Don’t you hurt my sister.’

‘I won’t if she shuts up. She needs to be quiet. You need to be quiet, too, and listen to me. But first you need to answer two questions. Have you called the police?’

‘No.’

‘Have you called anyone?’

‘No.’ Pete lies without hesitation.

‘Good. Excellent. Now comes the listening part. Are you listening?’

A large lady with a shopping bag is clambering onto the bus, wheezing. Pete gets off as soon as she’s out of the way, walking like a boy in a dream, the phone plastered to his ear.

‘I’m taking your sister with me to a safe place. A place where we can meet, once you have the notebooks.’

Pete starts to tell him they don’t have to do it that way, he’ll just tell Red Lips where the notebooks are, then realizes doing that would be a huge mistake. Once Red Lips knows they’re in the basement at the Rec, he’ll have no reason to keep Tina alive.

‘Are you there, Peter?’

‘Y-Yes.’

‘You better be. You just better be. Get the notebooks. When you have them – and not before – call your sister’s cell again. If you call for any other reason, I’ll hurt her.’

‘Is my mother all right?’

‘She’s fine, just tied up. Don’t worry about her, and don’t bother going home. Just get the notebooks and call me.’

With that, Red Lips is gone. Pete doesn’t have time to tell him he has to go home, because he’ll need Tina’s wagon again to haul the cartons. He also needs to get his father’s key to the Rec. He returned it to the board in his father’s office, and he needs it to get in.