Page 160 of Bound By Fire
“Take your time,” I say.
She wipes her eyes with the heel of her hand and sniffs a few times.
“I did exactly what they asked. I deleted every message. They told me I’d find a cellphone in a bag in the glove box of my car.” She lets out a horrible little laugh. “They had been inside my car, too.” Her hands start shaking, and she folds them tighter.
“Rachael.” I keep my voice low. “Take a few deep breaths for me. You’re doing great.”
She nods and does as I ask. Across the room, her daughter glances up at the sound of her mother’s name and then goes back to her toys.
“They told me where I needed to go and what I needed to do,” she says, steadier now. “I had to be on standby and to move on their request. I did everything that they told me. I went to the location and dropped the phone in front of your friend so that he would pick it up. I wore gloves like they told me. I bagged the phone, ready for collection.”
“What then?” Flint asks.
“It didn’t take long for them to give me a drop-off location. I had to meet someone in the little park down the street and pass the burner over.”
“What time?” Flint asks.
“Just after one. About twenty minutes after I left the store.”
“Who did you meet?”
“A woman. Middle-aged. I would say around fifty, maybe a little older. The thing that got me was that she looked just as nervous as I was. She was on her own. We met at the picnic table near the duck pond. I gave her the phone. She didn’t say a word to me. She put it in her bag and walked off.”
“Do you know her?” I ask.
Rachael shakes her head.
“I’ve never seen her before, but I would know her if I saw her again. I’ve thought about her face every night since.”
“What did she look like?”
“Short,” Rachael says. “Maybe five-three. A little soft around the middle. Her hair was blonde, but it looked dyed. She had blue eyes and was wearing a navy-blue raincoat, tan slacks, and sensible shoes. Like a schoolteacher or a librarian. Not someone you’d look at twice.”
“Anything else? Any jewelry? Did she have an accent?”
“No accent that I could pick up. She didn’t speak. Just nodded at me when I held the phone out, took it, and walked off. I don’t think she was wearing any jewelry, but I can’t be sure. I was terrified.”
Flint is writing all of this down.
“And that was the last contact you had with them?” he asks.
“Yes,” she says. “I haven’t heard from them since. But I keep waiting. I check the windows at night. Katie sleeps with me, and I’ve been too scared to send her to kindergarten. I haven’t been to work. I told them I’m sick. I’m running out of excuses. I think I might have to leave Draig Island, even though this is our home. I’m just—” She stops. Her hands go up to her face. “I’m so afraid all the time,” she says into her palms. “I don’t know what to do. I don’t know if they’re watching the house right now.”
Outside, two vehicles pull up. I hear the engines cut. My phone buzzes a second later. I look at the screen.
She gasps, looking toward the door.
“It’s okay. That’s our people,” I tell her. “I need you to pack a bag. For you and for Katie. Pack just the essentials. We’re moving you in the next fifteen minutes.”
She nods and stands up. Her hands are shaking again. “Where are you taking us?”
“Somewhere safe. I won’t be told the location.”
“Will I be able to come home again once this is over?”
I look at her. “Yes, but only once it is safe to do so.”
She nods again. “Thank you. I wish I had spoken up sooner. I’m sorry about your friend.”
