receiver. “Daniel.”
“Thank you. Verified.”
An instant later, the alarm fell silent.
“Thank God,” Diana whispered.
She hung up the phone and lifted the shade to look out the front window. Officer Gruder was out front by the patrol car, waiting for her as promised, apparently unfazed by the alarm. She slipped the pill bottle from her pocket, took out a pill, and rolled it between her fingers. But that didn’t help. She still felt jumpy, on the verge of a meltdown.
Another whole pill would knock her out. She broke the pill and swallowed half of it dry. Automatic pilot, she told herself. Don’t think, just do.
She set the alarm again. At the last moment, she remembered to grab Ashley’s laptop.
Chapter Fourteen
T his time she was out of the house with time to spare. The cruiser was parked not more than twenty feet away from her front door. She’d ridden in a car a million times. It would be like riding a bike, she told herself. You climbed on and it came back to you.
But as she started down the front walk the distance seemed to lengthen. She stumbled and fell, and in an instant Gruder was out of the car, coming toward her. He put his arm around her and helped her up.
“You sure you can do this?” he asked, studying her closely.
She nodded. She had to.
Gruder walked her to the cruiser, supporting her like she was old and infirm. The sight of the mesh barrier between the front and backseat forced her into reverse. She scrabbled back, feeling the same panic she’d felt when that cage had dropped over Nadia.
“Whoa,” Gruder said. “Take it easy. I know, it looks like jail in there. Freaks a lot of people out. Would you rather follow me in your own car?”
“I . . .” A car, a black limousine with dark tinted windows, accelerated past, followed by a battered red pickup truck, its muffler pipe dragging. Diana swallowed. “I don’t think I can.”
“How about this?” Gruder opened the front passenger door. “You ride up front with me.”
She leaned down and peered in. Static crackled from an oversize console installed roughly where a car radio would be. This she could manage.
Diana sat. Reassuring smells of coffee and vinyl enveloped her.
Gruder leaned down. “Okay?”
She managed to nod and swung her legs into the car.
Gently he pressed the door of the cruiser shut. Was that pine? The scent that she so associated with Daniel unnerved her, but just for a moment. Then she noticed the green cardboard pine tree silhouette swinging from the rearview mirror. Car freshener.
Gruder got in the driver’s side. The car beeped when he inserted the key. He slid her a sideways look. “Seat belt.”
She’d forgotten about seat belts. Daniel had always loved that New Hampshire held out, the last state with no seat-belt law—“live free or die” was their motto. She buckled up.
The car started to pull away from the curb. “So, have you always been like this?”
Diana couldn’t hold back a bleat of hysterical laughter. “Like what? Afraid of my own shadow?”
Gruber shrugged. “My sister-in-law gets panic attacks. That’s what it is, isn’t it?”
Diana nodded. “And no, I haven’t always been like this.”
Diana had grown up pushing past boundaries, not cowering behind them. She’d crossed streets before her mother gave her permission. Ridden her bike to places much farther away than her mother would ever have allowed her to go. She’d been eager to learn to drive, and even before she got her license she’d snuck the car and driven to Cape Cod to hear Sandra Day O’Connor speak at Barnstable High School’s graduation.
She’d been so together, or so she’d thought, and determined to become a political activist. Then her mother got sick and she’d come apart. Daniel had glued her back.
As the cruiser rode through the center of town, Diana tried to anchor her attention on what she saw, streets both familiar and not. The movie theater was shuttered. The corner coffee shop
“Thank you. Verified.”
An instant later, the alarm fell silent.
“Thank God,” Diana whispered.
She hung up the phone and lifted the shade to look out the front window. Officer Gruder was out front by the patrol car, waiting for her as promised, apparently unfazed by the alarm. She slipped the pill bottle from her pocket, took out a pill, and rolled it between her fingers. But that didn’t help. She still felt jumpy, on the verge of a meltdown.
Another whole pill would knock her out. She broke the pill and swallowed half of it dry. Automatic pilot, she told herself. Don’t think, just do.
She set the alarm again. At the last moment, she remembered to grab Ashley’s laptop.
Chapter Fourteen
T his time she was out of the house with time to spare. The cruiser was parked not more than twenty feet away from her front door. She’d ridden in a car a million times. It would be like riding a bike, she told herself. You climbed on and it came back to you.
But as she started down the front walk the distance seemed to lengthen. She stumbled and fell, and in an instant Gruder was out of the car, coming toward her. He put his arm around her and helped her up.
“You sure you can do this?” he asked, studying her closely.
She nodded. She had to.
Gruder walked her to the cruiser, supporting her like she was old and infirm. The sight of the mesh barrier between the front and backseat forced her into reverse. She scrabbled back, feeling the same panic she’d felt when that cage had dropped over Nadia.
“Whoa,” Gruder said. “Take it easy. I know, it looks like jail in there. Freaks a lot of people out. Would you rather follow me in your own car?”
“I . . .” A car, a black limousine with dark tinted windows, accelerated past, followed by a battered red pickup truck, its muffler pipe dragging. Diana swallowed. “I don’t think I can.”
“How about this?” Gruder opened the front passenger door. “You ride up front with me.”
She leaned down and peered in. Static crackled from an oversize console installed roughly where a car radio would be. This she could manage.
Diana sat. Reassuring smells of coffee and vinyl enveloped her.
Gruder leaned down. “Okay?”
She managed to nod and swung her legs into the car.
Gently he pressed the door of the cruiser shut. Was that pine? The scent that she so associated with Daniel unnerved her, but just for a moment. Then she noticed the green cardboard pine tree silhouette swinging from the rearview mirror. Car freshener.
Gruder got in the driver’s side. The car beeped when he inserted the key. He slid her a sideways look. “Seat belt.”
She’d forgotten about seat belts. Daniel had always loved that New Hampshire held out, the last state with no seat-belt law—“live free or die” was their motto. She buckled up.
The car started to pull away from the curb. “So, have you always been like this?”
Diana couldn’t hold back a bleat of hysterical laughter. “Like what? Afraid of my own shadow?”
Gruber shrugged. “My sister-in-law gets panic attacks. That’s what it is, isn’t it?”
Diana nodded. “And no, I haven’t always been like this.”
Diana had grown up pushing past boundaries, not cowering behind them. She’d crossed streets before her mother gave her permission. Ridden her bike to places much farther away than her mother would ever have allowed her to go. She’d been eager to learn to drive, and even before she got her license she’d snuck the car and driven to Cape Cod to hear Sandra Day O’Connor speak at Barnstable High School’s graduation.
She’d been so together, or so she’d thought, and determined to become a political activist. Then her mother got sick and she’d come apart. Daniel had glued her back.
As the cruiser rode through the center of town, Diana tried to anchor her attention on what she saw, streets both familiar and not. The movie theater was shuttered. The corner coffee shop
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