Page 12 of Honest Neglect

Diane and I were just about to get into the car when something caught my eye. I looked up, and when I saw who was on the other side of the street, I practically bundled Diane into the car to hide her.

“What’s going on?” she protested, confused.

“It’s okay,” I told her. “I just need to do something.”

There they were, right on the other side of the street. Tony and his father. They hadn’t seen me, somehow. I guessed they didn’t know the court date was today and thought I was still locked up away from them.

I ducked down behind the car so I could watch them for a while. Mark looked disheveled, his hair messy and some of his clothes ragged, but that didn’t seem to bother his son. Tony was gesticulating at him angrily, standing next to his car and waving his arms around like he wanted to rip his father’s head off.

I needed to get closer. See what was going on here. If there was some break in the ranks, something I could use to destroy their trust in each other, then it was going to be a whole hell of lot easier to bring them both down. But if they saw me, there would be trouble, and I couldn’t risk getting caught so soon after I had made it out of prison. I knew they would turn around and have me locked back up in that place in no time, if they had their way.

I made it to the other side of the road, darting behind another car so I could get a little closer to them. I couldn’t hear the details of what was being said, but there was no doubt Tony was angry. He was starting to raise his voice, and Mark was looking around, clearly worried someone was going to overhear them.

I still couldn’t make out the words, though. I needed to get closer. Maybe if I hid behind Tony’s car.

I took a deep breath and lunged behind his car, throwing out a prayer that they hadn’t heard or seen me. I paused for a moment, waiting to see if either of them would react, but they were so wrapped up in their argument with each other, they hardly seemed able to pay attention to anything else.

“I’m telling you, you need to get this under control,” Tony said to his father. “And now.”

“I’m doing what I can,” Mark protested. But he sounded genuinely scared of his son. I was pretty sure it was the first time I had heard these guys expressing anything like this to each other, any level of doubt that might be enough to rip them apart.

“Fix it before everything gets ruined,” Tony spat at his father, and, suddenly, I felt a hand on my arm.

I jumped and turned to see Diane, half-hunched over as she tried to keep herself hidden behind me.

“You need to go!” she hissed, her eyes wide.

Crap. I didn’t want to risk her getting caught by either of the McCarthys, and there was no way she was going to leave without me. The best I could do now was get out of here with her.

“Fine,” I muttered, and I shielded her from them as we headed back to the car. I didn’t know if they might have spotted us, but at least I could make certain Diane wouldn’t be pulled into it.

Once we were in the car, I watched from the other side of the road as Mark and Tony got into his car and drove off. It was likely that they’d noticed the interest their conversation had gotten and didn’t want to stick around. I couldn’t be sure they hadn’t seen me, but I had to trust that I had been sneaky enough to get away with it.

“What were they talking about?” Diane asked before she could stop herself, but then she shook her head. “No! Wait! You can’t be running off doing things like that. You’re going to get yourself into trouble.”

“It’s fine,” I assured her. “They didn’t see me. And it’s not like they’ve got anything on me.”

“What about the assault charge from Tony?” she reminded me. “You don’t know that it’s gone that quickly. You need to be more careful about how you handle yourself.”

I sighed and looked over at her. I wanted to argue with her, but I knew she wouldn’t hear it. She was so worried about losing me, and, after everything she’d been through, I couldn’t blame her.

“I’m sorry, Diane,” I apologized. “I shouldn’t have been so reckless. I’ll be more careful in future.”

“Thank you,” she replied, and she sank back in the seat and closed her eyes. I noticed dark rings beneath them and wondered if she had slept at all since Lily had been taken. I doubted it. She was clearly suffering from the stress of it all, and I knew it couldn’t have helped with her healing.

I was about to pull away and start us on the road back to her place when my phone rang. I answered it at once, hoping it would be Frank with some good news about the case with Lily.

But instead, I heard another voice down the line. A voice I recognized, even though it was one I hadn’t heard in a while—even though I never thought I would hear it again.

“Warren Stone,” he greeted. “I think I have something of yours.”

Chapter Eight

Lily

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I PUSHED THE SPOON around in the soup that Grace had given me. I wanted to pluck up an appetite, but I was so exhausted, I could hardly muster the strength to pick up the spoon.