Thief River Falls

19

Hours later, as the night crept closer to morning, Lisa lay in bed in the perfect darkness. There wasn’t a light anywhere inside or outside. It was disorienting to be in a strange house and a strange bed and not be able to see anything at all. The rain had begun to freeze after midnight, tapping on the window glass like the fingernails of someone wanting to come inside. And yet despite all that, she was at peace for a brief moment. She felt secure here, at least for a little while, where no one could find them. Her stomach was full; Shyla’s soup had been hearty and delicious, and the soup had been followed by homemade peach pie. She could feel the warmth of at least three cats sharing the bed near her feet.

Next to her, Purdue whispered in a tiny little voice. “Are you awake, Lisa?”

“Yes.”

“Me too.”

“You should try to get more sleep. We have a long day ahead.”

“I tried. I can’t.”

“Is everything okay? Did you remember something more?”

“No. It’s not that.”

“Then what is it?” Lisa asked.

“We shouldn’t be here,” Purdue said.

“Where? Here in this house?”

“No, not the house. I like Shyla. But I don’t like this place. There’s something about the whole town. We’re not safe here, Lisa. This is where the bad things happened. I can’t remember all of it, but I’m sure it happened right here.”

Lisa was quiet for a while. “Well, don’t worry — we’ll get out of here as soon as we can. We’ll go somewhere else that’s safe. Once it’s light, we’ll get on the plane, and we’ll leave Thief River Falls behind.”

“I don’t think so. I think you’re wrong.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s just a feeling I have,” the boy said. “I don’t think I’ll ever leave Thief River Falls.”

Lisa chewed on her lip to keep away the sadness. It wasn’t right, hearing those words from a boy so young. She wanted to say something to comfort him, but she realized that she was the one who needed comfort. Purdue didn’t sound upset or afraid of what he was saying. He was a serious boy thinking about serious things. She was the one who was terrified by what was out there for him.

She reached over and stroked his hair. “You know what I think?”

“What?”

“I think we should have more pie.”

She heard Purdue giggle in the darkness.

Lisa got out of bed. The hardwood floor was cold. She hunted for her shoes and then slipped her feet into them. She found her clothes, which had dried on the radiator during the night, and she put them on. She felt her way in the darkness across the small bedroom to the closed door and then let herself out into the hallway. The house wasn’t big. There was another bedroom adjacent to this one for Curtis and then Shyla’s bedroom in the corner. That was all.

She headed for the kitchen, stepping carefully to avoid several cats sleeping in her path. She could hear the rumble of snores and purrs. A streetlight near the river cast enough light to help her make out the furniture around her. A clock glowed on the microwave; it was just past five in the morning. She went to the refrigerator, but before she opened the door, she stopped.

Through the rear door in the kitchen, she saw a pinprick light in the backyard. She squinted to see it better. The light danced like a firefly, appearing and disappearing near the trees, and she realized it was the glow of a cell phone screen. Someone was outside, pacing back and forth in the cold.

She couldn’t see who it was.

Lisa backed away from the door. Instinctively, she looked around the kitchen for something she could use to defend herself, and she found a heavy stone pestle from a mortar and pestle set, like a miniature baton. She clutched it in her hand and then retraced her steps through the house to the bedroom where Curtis was sleeping. If she was going outside, she wanted backup.

She drummed her fingers lightly on the door. “Curtis?”

There was no answer, and she knocked again with the same result. With a slight hesitation, she twisted the knob and opened the bedroom door. Inside, she called his name again, louder, but still got no answer. She felt around the wall for the light switch and turned it on, and she was temporarily blinded by the brightness. When she could see again, she spotted empty, rumpled sheets on the twin bed.

Curtis was gone.

Lisa didn’t understand. Where was he? Then she relaxed a little as she thought, It’s him. He’s the one outside. He’s talking to Laurel.

She went back to the house’s rear door, which she opened quietly. Cold air whistled through the crack. Outside, there was no moon, no stars, just clouds, so she couldn’t be seen. When she took one careful step, she felt a sheet of ice under her feet. The porch was slick from a wave of freezing rain. She held on to the railing and took it an inch at a time as she made her way down to the back lawn.

Ice had formed there, too, and it broke like glass as she walked on it. She went slowly to avoid making noise, at least until she was absolutely sure it was Curtis in the yard. She still had the stone pestle in her hand. Not far away, the light of the cell phone moved back and forth near the trees, and a man’s voice rose above the icy patter of the rain. His tone was hushed and agitated. She recognized the voice and felt a wave of relief.

It was Curtis.

Then her relief evaporated as she got close enough to hear what he was saying.

“No! No, you can’t send anyone over here. This woman has a damned armory in her garage. I’m sure there are guns inside the house, too. It’s way too risky. Lisa’s obsessed with this boy, and she’s determined to rescue him. If you confront her about it directly, this thing could turn into a firefight, and nobody wants that. You have to be patient.”

Lisa stood motionless as the rain froze on her clothes. The longer she stood there, listening, the more she became a pillar of ice. She wanted to move, but she couldn’t. Horror bled through her mind and sank like a weight into her stomach. Curtis was one of them. She’d been set up. The forced landing in the plane was fake; it had all been done to keep her here in Thief River Falls, to make sure she didn’t escape with Purdue. And that meant something even worse.

Laurel.

Laurel was part of it, too.

She couldn’t trust her best friend. Everything Laurel had told her had been a lie. She should have listened to Purdue’s suspicions about her. The betrayal tasted bitter in her mouth.

Curtis kept talking. “Look, the plan is to go back to the airport in the morning. Wait until then. This woman Shyla drops us off, and then she’s out of the picture. You can have Garrett and Stoll waiting in the hangar near the plane. At that point, we’re done.”

Lisa knew she was alone. Truly alone. She shouldn’t have been surprised, because her life had been leading here for the past two years, taking away everyone she loved, one by one.

“All right, I’ll text you when we’re heading to the airport. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure nothing goes wrong.”

Curtis hung up.

Lisa wasn’t sure what to do, whether she should run, or hide, or pretend she hadn’t heard everything she’d just heard. If she could get back to the house without Curtis knowing she’d been outside, she could slip away with Purdue and be gone before it was light.

But she ran out of time.

Curtis had shoved his phone into his pocket and was now headed straight for her. His footsteps crunched through the layer of ice. He practically collided with her before he even realized she was there. When he saw her blocking his way, he stopped, and she heard a curse under his breath. They were both little more than dark silhouettes in the yard, but he knew it was her, and he knew the game was up.

“You bastard,” she hissed.

“Lisa, calm down. Let me explain. This isn’t what you think it is.”

“No? Because it sounds like you’re setting me up, Curtis. It sounds like both of you have been part of this from the beginning. You and Laurel.”

She turned for the house, but she knew he wouldn’t let her go. Not now. Not when she knew the truth. She tried to run, but she took only two slippery steps before her feet spilled out beneath her, and she crashed to the wet ground on her stomach, knocking the air out of her chest. She rolled over, gasping for breath. Curtis loomed over her body, reaching for her. She skidded out of his grasp, but he closed the gap between them with a few steps.

“Lisa, wait. Listen to me. Don’t make this hard on yourself. All they want is the boy.”

All they want is the boy.

Hearing that made something break inside her. She crossed a line. A line that the heroes in her books had to cross, when violence was the only answer. She could just make out the shine of Curtis’s eyes, and when he was directly above her, she swung the little stone pestle like a billy club, hearing it rush through the air and connect on Curtis’s skull with a mean crack. He fell hard, his knees giving way. He collapsed on top of her, and she had to shove with both hands to dislodge his body and squeeze out from beneath him. She was still struggling to breathe, laboring to swell her lungs again. Next to her, Curtis wasn’t moving.

“Lisa?”

A small scared voice came from behind her. It was Purdue. He’d followed her into the yard.

She managed to get to her feet. He ran to her and threw his hands around her waist and hung on for life. She held him, too, but she knew they didn’t have much time. Curtis would be conscious again soon, and when he was, they needed to be long gone.

“Come on,” she croaked, trying to get the words out.

“What’s going on?”

“I’ll tell you later. Right now, we need to go.”

She didn’t go back inside the house. She took Purdue’s hand, and they made careful tracks across the icy grass, moving in and out of the shelter of the evergreens. A black cat sped across their path, like a bad omen, and three other cats scampered for cover as they ran closer. They passed Shyla’s detached garage and found themselves in the muddy driveway next to her Caprice.

Lisa realized she had no idea what to do next. They had nowhere to go and no way to get there. They could run. They could take the bridge and cross the river into the park, but it wouldn’t take long for them to be caught out on foot once daylight broke over the town.

Then she heard a woman’s voice from the front of the house.

“Stop! Who’s out there? Turn around slowly, and keep those hands where I can see them!”

Lisa made sure Purdue was protected and invisible behind her. She turned around slowly, her arms in the air. A bright light erupted in her face, a flashlight pinning her like an escaped prisoner. This time, when the voice spoke again, she realized it was Shyla. The woman’s tone immediately relaxed.

“Lisa! Is that you? Are you okay? I heard a noise outside, and I don’t mess around when that happens.”

The porch light clicked on with a yellow glow. Lisa saw Shyla at the top of the steps with an AR-15 cradled in her arms, and she had no doubt that the rifle was loaded and ready to fire. Shyla was already fully dressed in camouflage and had hunting boots on her feet. She came down from the porch and marched across the driveway with the cool readiness of a soldier.

“You’re leaving already?” Shyla asked. “Now?”

“Yes. Sorry. Thank you so much for everything, but we have to get out of here.”

“What about your friend? The old guy?”

“It turns out he’s not really a friend.”

“Where is he?”

“In the backyard. Unconscious for now. I don’t want him to know where I’m going.”

“Well, where are you going?”

“Honestly, I’m not sure,” Lisa said. “Somewhere far away.”

Shyla looked as if she was trying to make sense of the expression on Lisa’s face. “You still haven’t told me what’s going on.”

“If I knew, Shyla, I’d tell you. I don’t. I just know I need to get away from Thief River Falls as fast as I can.”

“You won’t get far on foot,” Shyla said. “You need wheels.”

She hiked past Lisa to the door of the garage, unlocked it, and threw it open. The light came on, illuminating the blue sports car inside. Shyla dug in her pants for a set of keys and tossed them to Lisa, who caught them on the fly.

“Take the Camaro,” Shyla said. “It’s free, and it’s fast.”

“Are you sure?”

Shyla shrugged. “I never drive it. Get it back to me when you can. Or keep it. I don’t care.”

“You’re a lifesaver, Shyla.”

“Hey, I owe you,” she replied. Then she put a hand on Lisa’s shoulder. “Be straight with me — are you in some kind of trouble? You’ve got the look of someone who isn’t safe. I know that look, because I’ve been there myself.”

“You’re right. I don’t think I’m safe.”

“Then let’s make sure you can fight back.”

Shyla opened the driver’s door of the Camaro and leaned inside to pop the trunk. She went over to the arsenal on her back wall and took down two weapons, a semiautomatic pistol and an AR-15, which she put in the trunk without a word. Then she unlocked a large cabinet in the corner of the garage and gathered up several magazines of ammunition for both guns. She loaded those in the trunk, too, and slammed it shut.

“You know how to use these?” Shyla asked.

“Yes.”

“Okay, good. I hope you don’t have to.”

“Thank you, Shyla. I don’t even know what to say.”

“You don’t have to say anything. Just stay alive, and stay safe. Now go.”