Page 42 of York

“Do you have any idea what this is about? Were you working for someone shady at any point?”

“I’ve been racking my brain for years. I can’t think of anything I might have gotten wrapped up in. Or why they went from just watching me… to trying to actively kill me.”

“Speaking as someone from that kind of world… I could only imagine they think you know or have seen something.”

“I didn’t see anything.”

“People like this can be paranoid. If they were doing a deal—or hit—and you happened to walk by, they would assume you saw and can point them out in a lineup.”

“But I was clearly trying to get away.”

“But you did go to the cops more than once.”

“Because they were stalking me!”

“You’re being rational about it. They wouldn’t be. Some of these guys are so used to killing that they view it the same way as swatting a fly. So it means nothing to them to chase you down and kill you just in case you saw something. Especially if they are tied to the mob or cartels.”

It still seemed so crazy to me. To follow me across half of the United States? When I was clearly just trying to start over and raise my child?

I was lost in my thoughts when York spoke again.

“What happened to your ribs?”

I exhaled hard, the breath shaking in my chest.

“Georgia.”

“What happened in Georgia?”

“I was already on my way down here after getting the tip about you being here. But I was out of money, so I stopped at a motel that I could rent by the month. I took on a few cleaning and dog-walking jobs. Even the occasional babysitting for other people staying at the motel. It was actually going pretty well. I hadn’t put that much money away in a long time.”

“And then?”

“And then I got a call about a deep-cleaning job for a rental house. Those are the best. They pay the most. And they are empty, so I can get away with bringing Denali with me without worrying about anyone saying something about it.”

“I’m not liking where this is going.”

“Yeah. It was a really remote house. Which should have put up alarm bells. But I thought nothing of it as I pulled up and unloaded the cleaning supplies.”

I went in and opened all the windows, which I always did to make sure the fumes didn’t get to me or Denny. Then I started with the bedrooms and closets, so I could close those rooms and clean my way out the door in the common area.

Denny had her sticker-by-numbers book to keep her occupied as she sat on top of the desk in the bedroom, super focused on trying to get her stickers as straight as possible.

I’d just moved into the primary bathroom when I saw a shadow move around the house.

Sure, it could have been the owner, checking in on me, or coming to yell at me for bringing my kid to work.

But I knew better after all we’d been through.

“I grabbed Denali and shoved her into the primary bathroom closet, telling her that she needed to be quiet and stay put no matter what she heard.”

It was then I heard the footsteps in the kitchen.

I didn’t think.

I flew out of the bedroom as quietly as possible and closed the door silently. All I could think of was getting them away from my daughter, try to convince them that this was one of the situations where I left my kid with a sitter, like I’d done several times in different cities.

Unlike in Montana, I actually had a weapon on me, though. Because I’d just been scraping some sticky substance off the bathroom floor with a razor blade set in a holder.