Chapter Two
Raine Kennedy wanted a hot bath, a decent glass of wine, and her life back. She wasn’t getting any of that tonight, and she was never getting her old life back. Instead, she got a drafty old shack with too many windows, and a neighbor who didn’t know how to mind his own business. Mr. Badger clearly didn’t know his tenant very well. Keeps to himself. Her ass. Which hurt because she fell on it when that big oaf snuck up on her. She’d have to be more careful, but she was tired from having driven hundreds of miles all day. The more space she put between them and California the better.
She jiggled the thermostat. Hopefully, the heat would kick on soon. A fireplace sat vacant in the living room that opened up to the kitchen. Basically, the whole house was one big room with a hallway leading to two bedrooms and a bathroom. Not ideal. Too few places to hide if necessary. But Badger had said there was a boat they could use. The problem with a boat now was the frozen lake.
She’d get firewood tomorrow. Someone must sell it because she didn’t know how to chop it. She’d have to grocery shop too then find a job. She couldn’t spend the money she had considering it didn’t exactly belong to her. It didn’t belong to the person she took it from either. Not that Matt was going to understand her scheme to disappear. Not only had she stolen his money, she took his son too. He might forgive her for being a thief, might even lie and say he did it, but he’d never forgive her for taking their son. She’d crossed the line there.
Well, tough shit.
“Mom, I’m hungry and it’s freezing in here. When can we go back to California?” Landon still had on his coat, but he’d grabbed his old ratty stuffed monkey he’d had since he was a toddler and jammed it under his arm.
She smiled in spite of the mess her life was at the moment. As long as she kept her boy safe, she could handle the rest. “Buddy, we’ve been over this. No more California.”
“But I miss Dad.”
“I know you do, but he’s not there anymore.”
“We should’ve waited for him to come back.”
“He said if he didn’t come back in two days we were to leave and never look back. If he can, he’ll find us.” That had been the best story she could come up with.
Matt regularly took trips to Mexico for days on end. She had waited for one of his trips, took Landon out of school early, and started driving. Even after Matt returned, it would be days before he realized they were gone. He only saw Landon on the weekends. The divorce gave her a head start.
She told Landon a lie about Matt wanting them to leave so he’d stop trying to reach his father. Landon knew Matt’s work wasn’t like other fathers. He just didn’t know exactly how different. But any eight-year-old would want to see his parent after a while. She couldn’t let that happen and someday, when Landon was grown, and she was no longer worried Matt would find them, she’d tell her son the real story.
“How about we make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches?” She still had some left.
“I’m sick of peanut butter and jelly. Can we get chili?”
She didn’t have a clue where to find a good chili place around here. She’d buy the ingredients tomorrow. She’d have to inspect the cabinets for the pots and pans situation. “Not tonight, buddy. Sorry. It’s getting late. We’ll investigate the town tomorrow for good food places. How does that sound?” She’d also need to find the school and register him. She hadn’t mentioned they’d be using her grandmother’s, on her father’s side, maiden name. He’d no longer be Landon Garcia.
He sat at the table while she pulled together their pathetic dinner. Thankfully, the pots were usable, good in fact, and she whipped up hot chocolate along with the sandwiches. She’d been packing some of the instant foods Landon liked to have for the trip. As long as she could boil water he’d have his hot chocolate. She ruffled his hair while he ate.
“This isn’t so bad. I like this place.” She turned in her chair and took the place in. “It’s cozy, right? We can light fires, and cook great meals in the kitchen.” The appliances were older, but they all seemed to be in working order.
“Can I play Game Station 2100?”
“You can’t play online. There’s no Wi-Fi here.” She’d chosen Silent Water to keep them unidentifiable. But maybe one account, all in fake names and not the names they were using, so her boy could play his games might be okay.
“Why isn’t there any Wi-Fi? How do they get on the internet?”
“I think they have some kind of dial-up, but I don’t know if your gaming system works that way. We’ll check. There’s something we need to talk about.” She turned his chair to face her.
“Am I in trouble?” He slumped in his seat.
“No way. You’ve been so great this whole trip. We’re not going to be able to use our last name.”
He scrunched up his face. “I have to have a last name. What if there’s another Landon at school? If I’m not Landon G they won’t know which Landon they’re talking to.”
“You’re right. I thought this through. We’re going to be the Kennedys like my grandma. You never met her, but she was one of my favorite people and she would’ve loved to have you borrow her last name. Just for a little while. Until Dad comes back. ” Or more truthfully, never.
Their passports were in their real names. She hadn’t been able to change that. Both parents were required to be present when a child’s passport was issued or renewed. Probably to avoid exactly what she did.
“I don’t like the name Kennedy. I want to use my last name. Dad wouldn’t like us changing names. He always said we should be proud to be Garcias.” Landon pounded his chest with his hand.
He was all Matt in that moment and for a second, she remembered the man she walked down the aisle to, the one she had loved. But she needed to keep the man he really was in the forefront of her mind. Mateo Garcia was a drug dealer. He was a very powerful, and mean drug dealer at that. And she would do whatever it took to keep her son out of that life.
“You can be proud on the inside, okay? Just for now. Then, when things are safe again, you can go back to Garcia.”
“No.”
She gripped his hands in hers. “This is important. If you won’t pretend for just a little while, we can’t stay here. We’re going to have to get back in the car and drive more. You don’t want to drive anymore do you?” She didn’t. She needed to stop and regroup. Make sure her plan was in place.
“We’ve been in the car for days. And I hate all the ugly hotels you make us stay at. Adam said his family always goes on vacation to nice places with lots of rooms for them to run around in. None of the hotels we stayed at looked like that.”
“Then you’ll pretend? You’ll say your last name is Kennedy?”
“Okay.” He squeezed his monkey around the neck and pulled it close.
“Promise?” She pushed a smile into her voice.
He kept his gaze on the ground. “Promise.”
She gripped him in a hug and kissed the top of his head. “I love you around the world a million times.”
He wiggled out of her grip. “Can I have more hot chocolate?”
She should tell him the time was late, or he had to go get washed up before bed, or that much sugar was no good for him. The smile had returned to his onyx eyes. Matt’s eyes. She shook her head. No more thoughts of Matt. She had to act as if he was dead. She would never be able to get away with her scheme otherwise.
She grabbed another packet out of her oversized tote and poured it into a mug. “More hot chocolate coming up.”
She was hardly in a place to enforce rules. She was a liar, and a stealer. She wasn’t much better than her husband. Well, former husband. One very big difference remained between them – she may be a liar and a thief, but she was no murderer.
She managed to get Landon tucked in. Thankfully, the place came furnished. She had remembered to grab his night light from his room in California before she left. If he woke, he would see the Spiderman lit up and flying. She had left the hall light on too in case he woke up during the night and needed the bathroom.
The house creaked and groaned against the growing winds. All houses made noises. There was nothing to be afraid of. No trail of them had been left. Her cell phone was at the bottom of a river. Her car would be found in a bus terminal parking lot. In the glove compartment was a receipt for two tickets to Seattle purchased the week before. If she had been alone, she would’ve faked her death like Julia Roberts did in that movie, but she didn’t know how to pull off faking Landon’s. Just the idea of losing him had her shaking. This way was better.
She triple checked all the doors and windows were locked then opened her suitcase, found her favorite sweatpants and climbed under the covers. She had managed to pack her gray fleece travel blanket because everyone needed that one thing that made them feel safe.
A gun might make her feel safer, but she didn’t have one. She had to rely on her smarts and her fists. A gun would leave a trail, or she could buy one off the streets. She hated guns. Although, a gun at the moment would be handy.
A good book might help her sleep, but she didn’t have one of those either. Add that to the list of things to buy tomorrow. Or maybe they could find the library. Did this town even have a library? More records that could be traced. No one could completely disappear. If the right people were looking, they could find her. She only hoped she’d thrown them off her scent long enough to convince Matt to stop looking. Landon was more of a trophy Matt liked to take down from the shelf and dust off from time to time. His hands-on father skills lacked quite a bit. She prayed he’d get tired of looking instead of wanting revenge on her for stealing their son.
Her eyelids grew heavy. The long drive had caught up with her. She’d rest for a while then she’d check the doors again. She should think about that gun. In the morning.
In the morning everything would look better. It couldn’t look any worse.