Chapter Twenty-Nine
Jackson
The second I realized I needed to find Lily, I had a flash of inspiration. Her cell phone was screwed at the moment, and so she had my phone on her—I’d been using my other work phone while she borrowed my main one today. All I had to do was log on to the ‘Find My Phone’ section of my service provider’s website and the location of my cell would be given to me on a map. Easy.
Using the web browser on my work phone, I put my username and password into the site, and then I groaned as the result came up. Unable to provide location.
Shit. I knew why this was happening. Lily was so far out that the phone wasn’t picking up any signal, and thus it couldn’t send out a location. Fucking technology. It was so good most of the time, and then it always let us down when we needed it the most.
I already knew she was heading to the little woodsy spot that we’d gone camping at over a decade ago, because she’d told me so in one of her texts, but I had no idea how the fuck to get there. I remembered it was around an hour away from the city, and that was about it.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
I slammed my hands against the steering wheel, feeling as helpless as a fucking baby, and I scrolled through the texts Lily and I had sent back and forth today, hoping I’d missed something. Maybe the texts themselves had a location attached to them if I clicked into them. Just the road she was on when the texts were sent, perhaps…something to jog my memory about how to get out to where she was heading.
No such luck.
Shit.
I sighed, and as my index finger listlessly scrolled the messages up and down, I saw one Lily sent far earlier today, back when she was still in the attic packing up Jenna’s stuff. It was something about a box she found which contained old calendars and party invitations, and I remembered how Jenna used to hoard all that shit. It used to annoy the crap out of me, seeing an old party invitation still hanging on the fridge when the party had already been and gone weeks ago. But shit…that old annoying habit of hers might help me find Lily now. If I could just find that box with all the hoarded old crap in it, I might find the invitation to Craig’s thirtieth birthday camping trip. Because no one knew how the hell to get out to the camping spot, he’d attached directions with the invitation. With any luck, I’d be able to find those directions.
I pulled back onto the road and sped home as quick as I could, keeping my eyes peeled for cameras or cop cars to make sure I didn’t get pulled over. Last fucking thing I needed was to get stopped right now. I had to get to Lily. Had to, had to, had to.
When I arrived home, I sprinted up to the attic and rummaged through the boxes as quick as I could, desperately sorting through all the old cards, day planners and invitations. Christ, we used to go out so much back then—there were so many damn birthday party things in the pile.
Finally, I found the one I was looking for—an invitation in Karen’s handwriting, detailing Craig’s camping birthday bash. Directions included on the back, it said.
Yes!
I glanced at the hand-drawn directions with little arrows and labels attached to help guide the invitees, and everything came flooding back to me. To get to the spot, I needed to head back toward the city from my house, then turn off onto an eastbound road about ten minutes before reaching the outer suburbs. Then it was about an hour’s drive along that road before a few twists and turns onto smaller dirt roads, which were all conveniently marked on the invitation map.
“I’m coming, baby girl,” I muttered to myself as I jumped into my car, wishing my words could be telepathically conveyed to her.
I did double the speed limit the whole way along the main road heading east toward the forested countryside, praying to god that no cops were out this far at the moment. Luckily, I wasn’t stopped, and when I reached the tiny dirt road that led toward the camping clearing, I saw Craig’s truck parked up ahead near an old, decaying fence.
I leapt out of the car and jumped over the wooden posts, and in the far-off distance I could see the back of Craig and Lily’s heads as they disappeared behind an old cabin.
“Lily!” I shouted, but they were too far away. My voice simply carried away on the wind.
I had to cross a large clearing before I could reach the cabin, and I ran as fast as my legs could carry me. When I reached it, I dashed around the back, just in time to see Craig’s hand tightening around Lily’s neck, the other clutching a gun.
With a roar, I charged at him, knocking him aside. “You piece of shit! What the fuck are you doing?”
He fell back onto the mossy ground, his eyes wide with surprise, but then he smiled. “Oh, great. Now you’re here too. Come to fuck my daughter some more, eh?” he said.
The gun was still somehow in his clumsy grip despite the fall, and he tightened his fingers around it. Lily remained frozen against the cabin wall, whimpering with fear. “He killed Mom, Jackson. He killed Jenna too,” she managed to choke out.
“You sick fuck,” I hissed, slowly approaching him as he climbed to his feet. He kept the gun aimed at me the entire time, and as I drew closer, I realized it was Jenna’s pistol. Lily must’ve brought it out here just in case, but Craig had obviously managed to get it off her. “What did you do?”
“I already told Lily everything,” he replied. “I’m not telling you shit. Can’t be bothered. You can just disappear with her. I’ll tell ‘em you ran away together when you realized people were gonna start snitching about your sick little affair. Fuckin’ pedo.”
“Lily is an adult,” I said, my eyes narrowed. “I’m not a sex offender, you piece of shit. You’re the only criminal here, Craig.”
He waved the gun at me. “Whatever, man. Just give up. You might’ve always been bigger and stronger than me, but even you can’t compete with a fucking bullet. You can’t save her, and you can’t save yourself. You really fucked up by coming here today.”
“No, I didn’t. I wasn’t going to let you do anything to my little girl,” I said, trying to keep my voice steady. Lily was already terrified; she didn’t need to see me looking even remotely ruffled at all. I had a plan, of course, but there was no telling what a psycho prick like Craig might have up his sleeve. “Of course I came.”
Craig laughed. “Do you even hear yourself?” he asked. “Your little girl? Jesus Christ.”
While he was distracted by his own amusement for a second, I charged at him and knocked the gun out of his hand. Lily screamed, and I kicked it over to her. “Pick it up!” I told her as I made a grab for Craig’s arm. She stayed motionless against the wall, eyes wide with horror. “Remember, Lily, you promised me a long time ago—you do as I say. That’s a rule!”
She nodded and finally did as I said, trembling as she picked up the gun and aimed it in our direction. “I...I can’t shoot,” she said weakly. “I might hit you.”
I didn’t respond. I was too busy wrestling with Craig, trying to subdue him. He was shorter and slightly skinnier than me, but he was still pretty damn strong, and we traded countless kicks and punches as we struggled for dominance. Finally I managed to get in a trick punch before ducking behind him in his momentary confusion. I smashed him on the back of the head in its most sensitive spot, and then I shoved one knee into his lower back, making him cry out like a wounded animal as he fell forward. I grabbed him from behind, forcing him down onto his knees, and I looked up at Lily as I crouched with him, grabbing his arms and twisting them behind him. “Aim now!” I called to her. “He’s right here, baby girl. You can’t hit me while I’m behind him. If he moves a muscle, shoot him. Right in the heart.”
Lily’s shaky arm held the gun up again, pointing it right at Craig’s chest. “This is what you deserve, you fucking scumbag,” I hissed as I held his hands fast behind his back. I knew he wouldn’t struggle, because he was too scared of the order I’d given Lily. Her once-innocent eyes were serious and filled with an intensity I’d never seen. She was ready to shoot if necessary.
Ready to kill.
“Don’t hurt me,” Craig whimpered. Such a fucking coward. He was ready to kill us when he thought he had the upper hand, and now he was begging for his life.
“Keep the gun aimed at him,” I said to Lily. Holding Craig’s hands together in the grip of one hand, I used the other to wrestle my belt out of the loops of my pants. Using the belt, I tied Craig’s hands together, barely daring to take a breath for fear he’d work out my secret. He’d probably figure it out any second now. If he moved even an inch, Lily would try to shoot the gun, and….nothing would happen. Then he’d know he wasn’t in any real danger.
When I had his hands tied so tightly that there was no chance of escape, I kicked him onto his side, and Lily lowered the gun, her lower lip trembling. “I didn’t have to shoot him,” she said. “Oh god, what if I actually had to—”
I cut her off as I hauled Craig to his feet via his shirt collar. “Doesn’t matter, baby. I made sure there were no bullets in that thing the other night. Didn’t think I’d leave a loaded pistol lying around the place, did you?”
Shock registered in her eyes, and at the same time Craig let out an anguished howl as he realized he’d been had.
“Yeah, yeah, I tricked you,” I said, patting him on the back. “Too fucking bad, buddy. I’m not gonna say sorry to a piece of shit like you.”
Lily tentatively stepped forward, her eyes bright with tears. “You saved me. Again,” she said. “You’re always saving me, Jackson.”
I smiled at her. “I always will, baby girl,” I said. “Always will.”