Chapter 5 - No Such Thing as Alone
Mara shoved the phone toward Adrian. “They're using a little girl to get to me.”
He looked once and kept his eyes on the road. “They want you afraid enough to make a mistake.”
“I'm already afraid.”
“Good. Fear keeps you looking for exits.”
“Is that supposed to make me feel better?”
“No. It's supposed to keep you breathing.”
They stopped at an all-night laundromat beside a diner with a broken neon sign. Adrian bought two coffees and a cheap sweatshirt. Mara traded the green gown for borrowed jeans in the restroom; she held on to the dress because the seam contained the only thing she trusted: her mother's key.
At a corner table, she told Adrian about Evelyn. Her mother had sung old rock songs while washing dishes. She'd taught Mara to keep receipts, ask one more question, and never take a free gift from a man wearing a watch worth more than a car.
“She'd have hated you,” Mara said, nodding at his watch.
Adrian took it off and slid it across the table. “Better?”
“Marginally.”
He smiled for the first time. It changed his whole face, and Mara resented noticing.
His phone chimed. A text from Lucian: THE BADGE WAS REAL. THE MAN WASN'T. HIS NAME IS DANIEL CROSS. EX-MILITARY. ON DAD'S PAYROLL UNTIL 2019.
“Your father had people like that?” Mara asked.
“He had anyone money could buy.”
“Why do you hate him so much?”
“Because I spent twenty years trying to make him proud.” Adrian's voice turned flat. “And another ten trying to forget it.”
The waitress approached with a refill. She set a folded receipt beside Mara's cup, then walked away without speaking.
On the back was written: THE KEY FITS A LOCKER AT UNION STATION. 4:15 A.M. COME BEFORE THE TRAINS START.
Mara looked up. The waitress had vanished through the kitchen door.
Adrian stood. “Don't touch the coffee.”
“Why?”
He lifted the mug. A white powder clung to the bottom.
May you like
Behind the diner windows, the parking lot lights went out one by one.
THE LAST DANCE AT BLACKTHORN HALL •
