Better off Dead

Chapter 57

I last encountered Michaela Fenton half a day later. We met on the road outside the town. I was on foot. She was in her Jeep. She roared past me then swung hard to her left. She blocked my path. Her front fender was a hairsbreadth away from the trunk of a tree. A stunted, twisted, ugly thing with hardly any leaves. But the only thing growing taller than knee height for miles in either direction.

Fenton said, “You left without saying goodbye.”

I shrugged. “Everyone was asleep.”

“I tried to call you.”

“I don’t have that phone anymore. I dropped it in the trash.”

“I figured. That’s why I came to look for you. I thought I might find you on this road.”

“It’s the only one leading out of town.”

“Still heading for the ocean?”

“Won’t stop till I get there.”

“Any chance you’ll change your mind?”

I shook my head.

“In that case, I want to thank you. And so does Michael.”

“He’s awake?”

“He is. He’s weak, but he’s talking.”

“Did he say what he had that Dendoncker was so desperate to get?”

“He called it his insurance. It was a code book. It showed what was inside all the shells Dendoncker had stockpiled. He needed it to make the maximum money when he sold them.”

“Where did he hide it?”

“He said he rolled it up and shoved it inside the crossbar of a soccer goal at the school.”

“Outstanding.”

“And there’s something else. I called Sonia. She came back. And you know what? I do like her. Maybe she is my future sister-in-law. And if she is, that’s fine by me.”

I said nothing.

Fenton tipped her head to the side. “You won’t stay even another day?”

“No point. You’d be sick of me in ten minutes. You’d be begging me to leave.”

“I doubt it.”

“That’s right.” I turned and started walking again. “You’d probably shoot me instead.”