Chapter 19
2:00 p.m. 11:42 to Termination
What a sea of melting ice I walk on. —Philip Massinger
They parked behind Preston High School five miles over the Utah/Idaho border. The parking lot was full of cars, but no students. School was still in session.
Jane cried in his arms. He found himself glaring at her as he tried to push his frustration aside. She was tired, hungry, and wet. And it wasn’t her fault.
It was his.
He asked Celeste to park between two large pickup trucks, so he felt relatively hidden—at least as hidden as you could be in the middle of Preston.
Celeste turned in her seat, waiting and watching him. Challenging him.
Jane needed a fresh diaper, some formula, and a car seat, but to get all that, he either had to lock Celeste in the trunk, or take her with him. He didn’t like either option. She’d proven herself to be devious with a gun pointed at her; he didn’t want to think what she’d try if he took her out in public. Or left her alone.
“I need you to understand something, Celeste,” he said. “This pistol carries eighteen rounds.” He wasn’t sure how many bullets the gun actually had, but he was hoping neither did she. “I don’t want to use it. Not on you. Not on anyone else. But if somebody tries to stop me, I will use it. This baby is very important. You have to believe me when I say that. Do you understand?”
“Why did you take the baby, Nick?” Celeste asked. “And why did you take me?”
He shook his head. “Doesn’t matter. What does matter is we’re going to go into a store, we’re going to buy formula and diapers, and a car seat. If things go bad, then I have to decide how to use this gun with the least amount of damage. I don’t want to use it at all, but if things get out of control, it will be my only option. It’s in everybody’s best interest if you make sure that we get in, we get what we need, and we get out.” He asked her again. “Do you understand?”
Her eyes searched his face, but he could read nothing in their gaze. Finally, she nodded.
He’d be a fool to trust her, but it was the best he could ask for. He looked around once more and saw they were still alone.
He looked at Celeste’s timer.
ДФД
ДДД
ДФФ
ДДД
ДФФ
ДДД
ДДД
ДДД
ДДД
ДДД
ДДД
About eleven hours. Even after getting what they needed, they’d have plenty of time. He could make it into Canada if he wanted, but he wouldn’t need to go that far. Two or three hundred miles and they’d stop. Maybe he’d go to Montana. Outside Butte, or perhaps as far as Missoula. He’d find a hotel room somewhere and get this all figured out.
“Pass me the keys.” After he had them, he opened the door and got out of the car.
What he did in the next fifteen minutes would be the most reckless thing he’d done today, and he’d already done some whoppers. He only had a block and a half to walk, but there was an active Amber alert, and he was a young white male, carrying a baby. He no longer matched the description, and perhaps the alert hadn’t been issued across the state line, but still . . . he felt exposed and vulnerable.
He tapped on the window, and Celeste got out of the car. Pressing a hand against the back of his jeans, he touched the hard steel of the gun. It gave him no comfort. He covered it with his shirt. “You walk ahead of me,” he told Celeste. “Through those buildings, then left, down the block.”
Celeste began walking and Nick followed just behind her and to the side. He had to walk slow to match her stride.
His grandmother had lived six blocks from here. His parents visited regularly when he was younger—even more after his father died. When all his cousins gathered, they’d walk down to the high school and play on the football field. When he’d grown older, Mom let him walk to the store by himself and buy candy or a soda. But only if he promised to be careful crossing the road.
They made their way across the parking lot, through some out-buildings, and then along the sidewalk. Four cars drove past. None of the drivers gave them a second look.
Jane was hungry, but the hour of crying in the car had exhausted her. With the rhythm of his walking, she settled into a restless sleep. Every few minutes she took a deep and ragged breath, whimpering softly. Her face was ruddy and splotched.
Celeste walked with her hands in her pockets, as if they were out on a stroll. Nick didn’t know if that was a good sign or a bad one.
Crossing the street, they cut through a vacant lot and stopped on the side of Stokes Market—Preston’s largest grocery store. The parking lot was small, and only had half a dozen cars parked in front. He kept to the side of the building where the employees parked and looked through the vehicles until he found a car seat sitting inside an unlocked blue Chevy sedan. There were crushed Cheerios and dried fruit snacks on the back seat.
He adjusted Jane carefully in his arms, cradled in the crook of his left arm, in case he needed his right to get the gun.
“Okay,” he said. “Let’s go in. Remember what I said.”
Celeste turned and walked toward the store. Nick tried to slow his breathing. His heart pounded and he could feel the pulse of it in his arms and hands. He touched once more the gun tucked in the small of his back. Celeste stepped on a black rubber mat in front of two glass doors and they rumbled open.
Jane began to cry, and he shushed her. Picking up a grocery basket, he passed it to Celeste. He looked at no one.
“This way.” He kept close to Celeste’s side. Too far in front and he couldn’t see her face. Too far behind and he couldn’t see if she tried to run. He glanced at Celeste as they passed each shopper, but she acted completely natural. She looked down each aisle and read the signs at the end of each aisle as if searching for a specific item.
They found the baby section and in a few moments, they’d gathered a pack of diapers, some wipes, a bottle and some formula, a blanket, a pack of onesies, and three pacifiers. He grabbed a cloth baby carrier just in case. No car seats.
“I’m hungry,” Celeste said, her voice flat. “I haven’t eaten anything since breakfast.”
Nick looked at her, but Celeste simply shrugged. “You’re the one that kidnapped me at lunchtime. I can’t—”
“Keep your voice down,” he whispered. They were alone in the aisle, but she had spoken loud enough to be heard an aisle over. “I’ve got some Moon Pies in the car, and we can—”
“I’m off sugar.”
Nick stared at Celeste, wondering if he wanted to laugh or scream. Did kidnappers have to adhere to the dietary restrictions of their captives? He said slowly, “We can get some crackers unless you’re off gluten too.”
He added a couple of bottles of Gatorade and water to their basket and then some crackers and cheese. Celeste carried the basket, and he guided her to the back of the store. He stopped in front of a drinking fountain.
“You can fill the bottle here.”
“This water’s too cold,” Celeste protested. “The baby can’t be more than a few weeks old. She won’t drink the formula if you make it with chilled water.”
Nick swore under his breath, and then said. “It’ll be fine.”
“It won’t be fine,” Celeste said. “She’ll still be hungry, and we’ll be listening to her cry for another two hours. There’s warm water in the bathroom. I’ll get it from there.”
Nick shook his head. “I’m not letting you be alone.”
“Then you go get it.”
“You’d still be alone.”
“I’ll be fifteen seconds,” Celeste said. “Look, I told you, I don’t want anybody to get hurt. But this baby needs to eat. I’m going to go in, get some water, and then I’ll be back. Nothing else.”
Nick weighed his options, but he didn’t have any. They weren’t against an outside wall, so the bathroom wouldn’t have a window. He leaned past her and pushed open the restroom door.
“Is anybody in there?” He paused. “I’m cleaning the bathroom, is there anybody here?”
No reply. He took a step back. “Fifteen seconds,” he said.
Celeste stepped past him, into the bathroom. He stood at the door, keeping it propped open with his foot. The water turned on and ran for about ten seconds. Then a pause while he heard the bottle being filled. The water turned off and a few seconds later Celeste stepped out of the bathroom. She carried the bottle with the nipple attached.
“Formula?” Celeste asked.
“When we get outside.” Nick took the bottle and slipped it into his back pocket. He had both a baby bottle and a gun at easy reach.
This was a low day, even for him.
They returned to the front of the store. Finding an open check stand, Nick started to put the items on the conveyor. A middle-aged woman with dyed brown hair started scanning his items. Her timer expired at 1:18, along with the rest of the world. Her life thread ran pale and pink, intertwined with those around them in the store.
“Did you two find everything okay?” she asked with a tired but welcoming smile.
“Yes, we did. Thank you,” Celeste said. Nick shot her a glare, but she was already looking around the store, avoiding his gaze.
Too many people. A cashier rang up another customer one stand over. A clerk bagged groceries. The outside doors rumbled open, and a couple stepped through. Nick was surrounded by people, and any one of them might have heard the Amber alert.
The woman finished scanning their groceries. “That’ll be twenty-six, forty-four. The formula is what gets you every time. I don’t know what they put in that stuff, but they like to charge you an arm and a leg.”
Still holding the baby, Nick pulled the envelope from his pocket and set it on the counter. With his free hand, he picked out two twenties from the bills inside. He held them out to the cashier.
“She’s a cutie. How old is she?”
“Eight weeks.” He hoped that was close.
The checker took the two bills and turned to make change.
“Do you like working here?” Celeste said it casually. Nick’s blood turned to ice.
The woman paused in making the change, glancing over her shoulder. “I like working here just fine. I don’t like all the hours on my feet, but it pays the bills, right?”
“I know what you mean,” Celeste said. “I work at a store down in—”
Nick cut her off. “Where’s the best place to get something to eat? Something fast and cheap?”
“Oh, you can just get something from the deli,” the cashier said. “They have anything you can think of, hot or cold.”
Nick caught Celeste’s eyes, then reached around his back as if to scratch. The gun, he wanted to say. Don’t forget I have a gun.
Celeste looked like she was weighing her options but said nothing else.
“The potato salad is good, but only if you get it before supper time. After that, it tastes a bit stale. I shouldn’t say that, but it’s the truth.”
Motion behind the checker caught his attention.
A clerk spoke to the cashier three aisles over—he leaned in, talking low. The way the cashier held herself made Nick suspect she was the manager. She looked like she was in charge. She listened, her head low, while the clerk spoke.
“I like the potato logs, but they taste too delicious, so they can’t possibly be good for you.”
Something was wrong. He watched the manager’s eyes. If they looked up at him, then he’d been made.
He reached around his back and put his hand under his shirt. His forehead felt hot and cold at the same time. He had a brief image of a gunfight in the Preston supermarket. This was Idaho. Half the people here likely had concealed weapons permits, and the other half probably carried anyway.
“And of course, you can never go wrong with frog-eye salad.”
The manager lifted her eyes. She looked toward the back of the store.
Toward the bathrooms.
“Here’s your change, hon.”
Nick shook himself out of his stupor. He took his change, stuffed the bills and coins in his pocket, grabbed the two bags with his free hand, and walked with Celeste out the door.
“What the hell did you do?” he asked as soon as they were outside. He spoke low so only she could hear. “What did you do in the bathroom?”
“I filled the bottle like I said I would,” Celeste said.
“What else?” He pushed his anger down. There wasn’t time for emotions. Wasn’t time to slip up.
Something told him there wasn’t time to walk back to the car either.
A woman about their age walked toward them. She had dark hair, thick glasses, and wore a blue apron tied too tightly around her waist. Three pens—all different colors—stuck out of a pocket on the front of the apron. She pushed a line of carts. Nick still held the baby as well as the groceries.
“Hey, can I get some help out to my car? My wife is pregnant and isn’t supposed to carry anything.”
If the woman was at all confused by their young age, the fact that Nick already carried a baby, or that he only had two bags to carry, she showed none of it. She simply smiled, said sure, and took the groceries from Nick.
Nick walked toward the side of the building, keeping one eye on Celeste, and the other on the front of the store. If Celeste bolted . . .
He turned the corner.
“Hey,” Nick tried to make his voice sound casual. “Did you by any chance drive to work?”
The woman hesitated. “Yeah. How come?”
They no longer had line of sight to the front doors. He reached around and pulled out his gun, held it in front of him so she could see it, then tucked it under the baby, pointing it in her general direction but not right at her.
She dropped the groceries.
“Don’t move.” Nick’s voice was firm. He read the woman’s nametag. “Leslie, I’m not going to hurt you. I want you to pick up the bags and take me to your car.”
For a moment he thought Leslie would run. God help him, what would he do if that happened?
Celeste stepped forward and picked up the groceries. She’d moved in between him and Leslie. Between the gun and Leslie. “It’s okay. If you do what he says, you’re going to be just fine.” Her voice was calm, but for the first time that day, Nick thought he heard real fear in her voice.
Nick watched as the woman made eye contact with Celeste. The terror lessened, just a little. She looked back toward the store, on the edge of tears.
“It’s okay, Leslie,” Celeste said again. “Show us your car.”
The employee looked back to Nick as if seeing him for the first time. Nick hated himself a little more. In a daze, she cut a wide path around Nick toward the side parking lot. Celeste walked next to her. Nick walked behind them both.
“Which car is yours?” Celeste asked.
Leslie could only point to a 1974 Ford Bronco.
“Is it yours or does it belong to your folks?”
“It’s mine.”
“Are you fixing it up? That’ll make a nice ride if you do it right.”
“That was the plan.” The woman’s voice shook. “I like to work on cars.”
Nick stopped in front of the blue sedan he’d located on the way into the store.
“Hold up.”
The two of them stopped. He almost said Celeste’s name but caught himself. “I need you to get the car seat.” Celeste handed the grocery sacks to Leslie and came over to the sedan. She opened the back door.
“That’s Cathy’s car,” Leslie protested.
“I’m just borrowing the car seat,” Nick said. “Just like I need to borrow your car. I need the seat for the baby. It’s important.”
The woman shuddered once, a violent spasm running up and down her torso.
“You’re doing just fine, Leslie,” Nick said. “In about five minutes we’re going to be long gone. All this’ll be over, and you’ll have a wild story to tell your friends.”
Celeste unbuckled the car seat. He stole a glance to the front of the store. A female clerk had just finished putting groceries in a car for a customer. She turned and looked over at them, started walking toward the store, and then looked back. After a moment, she looked away and pushed again at the cart.
“Hurry.”
Even as he spoke, Celeste backed out of the car holding the seat.
“Okay, Leslie, take us to your car.”
They followed the woman to the Bronco and Celeste put the car seat in the back.
“Get in,” Nick told Leslie.
The woman paled visibly. “I don’t want to.”
“You’ve already got me, Nick,” Celeste said. “You don’t need another—” she didn’t say the word hostage, but all three of them thought it.
“We need a ride to the Polar Bear.” The Polar Bear was a hamburger joint four blocks away. “You take us to the Polar Bear, we get out, and then you’re free to call the police.”
Leslie looked like she’d just remembered something. Her hand twitched, moved slowly toward her pants pocket, then stopped. Through the tight apron, Nick saw a rectangular bulge.
“Get in the truck, Leslie. You’re almost there.”
The clerk paused once more, then got behind the wheel. Nick waited until Celeste was in the back seat, then he climbed in next to her. He buckled the baby in the car seat, but he didn’t buckle the seat to the bench. Jane seemed to have given up. She rubbed at her face but didn’t cry.
“Drive.”
Leslie started the engine with a roar and pulled out of the parking lot.
“You know where the Polar Bear is?” Nick asked.
“Yeah.”
They rode in silence for two blocks. Leslie brought the car to a halt in front of a stop sign.
“What are you thinking, Nick? You don’t have to do this.”
“Turn right.” Nick realized Celeste had used his name. And maybe back at the store as well. He swore under his breath.
“Wait, right?” Leslie asked from the front. “The Polar Bear is left.”
“I know. Turn right.”
“Where are you taking me, mister?”
“Nick—”
“Be quiet.” His voice was on the verge of shouting. Celeste returned his gaze but fell silent. To Leslie, he said, “Turn right, pull off to the side of the road, and get out. You’re free to go.”
Leslie looked at him in the rearview mirror. Her eyes were wide and still full of fright. She turned right and pulled the truck over.
Nick made sure the woman could see the gun. “You did good, Leslie. One last thing. I need your phone.”
The teen paused, then reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone. Nick took it. Another iPhone.
For a moment, Leslie didn’t move.
“Are you going to shoot me in the back?”
“No.” Nick began to climb over the seat.
“How do I know you’re telling the truth?”
“You don’t. I’m a lot of things, Leslie, but I’m not a liar.”
A monstrous lie.
Leslie opened the door and got out, the car still running. She turned, faced the vehicle, and backed slowly away from the truck. Nick clambered over the seat, sliding behind the wheel.
Leslie still backed away from him. “You lied about the Polar Bear.”
Nick shut the door and looked at her through the open window, confused. “What?”
“You said we were going to the Polar Bear. Only we didn’t. We didn’t go there. That makes you a liar.”
Nick depressed the clutch and shifted into first. “I guess it does.”
He hit the gas and looked back once at Leslie who ran toward a house with two big juniper trees out front. Nick pulled at the wheel, turned the corner, and lost sight of her. He shifted into second and glanced at Celeste in the rearview mirror. It was only a few blocks back to the school, and he didn’t plan on stopping. Celeste would likely get out and run if he did.
“What did you do in the bathroom, Celeste?”
Celeste stared back at him in the mirror and said nothing.
Nick swore, tossed the iPhone out of the window, and shifted into third.
