Chapter 21
CHAPTER 21
Vero and I raced home from the shelter. The van’s tires screamed into the driveway just before dark. Cam greeted us at the door and plucked Arnold Schwarzenegger from my arms. “Where have you been? I was worried! And hungry.” He planted a kiss on Arnold’s head. “Man, I missed you, little buddy.” Cam sniffed his ears. “Why does my dog smell like burgers and fries? He’s not supposed to eat that shit. It gives him gas.”
“Where are the kids?” I asked, trying not to look as frantic as I felt.
“Watching a movie on the couch.”
“And Mrs. Haggerty?”
“Upstairs in her room. I think she’s taking a nap.”
I felt myself sag with relief. It had been one thing to have her puttering about in my house and homeschooling my children when I’d assumed she was innocent. It was entirely another after hearing Patricia’s story. Until I knew for certain what Mrs. Haggerty and her friends were up to, I didn’t plan to let that woman out of my sight.
“When’s dinner? I’m starving,” Cam asked.
“You work on dinner,” Vero said to me. “I’ll check on the kids.”
Cam followed me into the kitchen, talking my ear off about their ride in the Lincoln—which he insisted on calling The Eggplant— while I boiled a pot of spaghetti and reheated a container of sauce.
“How was Arnold? Did he behave?” he asked.
“He was a very good boy.” Minus the puddle of pee he’d left on the passenger seat of my minivan.
“He is, isn’t he? I mean, we’re still working on the pissing-on-the-floor thing. Mrs. Haggerty gave me some pointers. She’s got a pretty good track record with the potty training and shit. Check it out, Mrs. D.” Cam held up a finger to get my attention. “Arnold and I have been doing obedience training. Show her your trick, buddy.” Cam sank to his haunches and held out a fist. Arnold lifted a paw and gave it a gentle bump. Cam’s face was giddy with pride. “See? Arnold isn’t dumb. He’s just extrinsically motivated ,” Cam said, enunciating his newfound vocabulary word. “That means you should give him a treat. But if you don’t have any, that’s cool.” He opened the refrigerator. “We’ll settle for a beer.”
“Nice try,” I said, closing the fridge.
“Then how about some of those brownies Mrs. H was telling me about?”
“Not on your life. Our deal was spaghetti and chocolate cake.” I served out a heap of spaghetti and passed him the plate.
Cam licked his lips as he carried it to the table. “You won’t hear me complaining.”
I set one hundred and forty dollars in cash in front of him as he shoveled spaghetti into his mouth. He tucked the money into his pocket as he chewed. “Can I get an extra twenty?” he asked. “I need to catch an Uber back home.”
“I thought Mrs. Haggerty was letting you use her Lincoln.”
He shrugged as I pried open the lid on the grocery-store bakery box and served him a slice of cake. “She said she needed the car to run an errand tonight, so I left The Eggplant in her garage.”
I blinked, wishing he hadn’t left me with that disturbing visual. “Any idea where she’s going?”
“She didn’t say.” He cringed around a mouthful of cake. “I just hope she’s careful. I used the last of my reward money on that paint job. I offered to help her with her errands before I go, but she said she was tired and needed to take a nap.” Cam looked a little glum as he scraped the last of the frosting from his plate. “I guess I won’t get to say goodbye.”
“Where are you going?”
“My grandma’s coming home from her cruise tomorrow, so I’ll be heading back to her house. You won’t have to worry about me starving at my uncle’s anymore.” Cam cleared his dishes and put them in the sink. “Tell Mrs. H I’ll come back in a couple of days to visit with her and we’ll take The Eggplant for a spin. I’ve got to get back to my grandma’s place and clean it before she gets home. I want it to look nice when she gets there.”
A car honked outside. “That’s my ride. Thanks for dinner, Mrs. D.” He kissed my cheek, picked up Arnold Schwarzenegger, and was out the front door before I could give him money for his Uber. Though I was betting he had already used my Venmo to pay himself, and he had probably included a generous tip.
“What was all that honking outside?” Vero asked, coming into the kitchen and peeking in the spaghetti pot.
“Cam’s Uber. He said Mrs. Haggerty needed her car tonight.” Vero and I exchanged a long look. I leaned against the counter, remembering Mrs. Haggerty’s late-night visit to Sally’s mailbox. “Hurry up and finish your spaghetti. I’ll ask my mother to take the kids for a sleepover. You and I will be running errands with Mrs. Haggerty tonight.”
Vero and I fed and bathed the children, packed their overnight bags, and drove them to my mother’s house. She had been more than happy to babysit when I’d told her that Vero and Javi were going out on a date and I needed to meet with Sylvia over a late dinner to go over some contracts.
Vero and I had driven straight to Sally Mullen’s house from there, parked the Charger down the street a few minutes before nine, and had been staking out her driveway ever since.
Sally’s house was atypically dark for the early hour. Every porch light was off, even the coach lamps beside the garage, as if everyone inside was long asleep. Every few minutes a shadowy figure peeked out from behind the curtains.
It was just after midnight when we finally heard the rumble of The Eggplant’s engine. We ducked low in our seats as Mrs. Haggerty’s Lincoln rolled slowly to the red sign at the end of the block. The purple paint glittered as it passed under a streetlamp and came to a complete and dutiful stop before continuing on to Sally’s house. The driver pulled alongside the curb and killed the headlights, then the engine.
I held the binoculars to my eyes and adjusted the focus. Mrs. Haggerty (thankfully) wasn’t in the driver’s seat. Kathy Sanderson, the cleaner, sat behind the wheel. Another figure was in the back seat. From the staff photos I’d seen on her hospital’s website, I was pretty sure it was Lola de la Rosa.
“What do you think they’re waiting for?” Vero asked.
“I don’t know.”
A few moments later, a white van rolled past The Eggplant with its headlights off. It braked before reversing into Sally’s driveway, inching back slowly until it was nearly touching the garage. I watched through my binoculars as the driver killed the engine and the taillights cut off.
The vehicle was devoid of markings except for the flowers stenciled along the side. The interior lights remained off as Gita Chaudhary climbed down from the driver’s seat. Vero and I ducked as Gita looked both ways up the street before signaling to the others. Elizabeth Chen got out of the passenger side and quietly shut her door.
The curtain in the house peeled back as the rest of the women filed out of The Eggplant and hurried up the driveway. A moment later, the garage door opened. No lights, no motor. Sally braced the door in both hands and gave it a final heave, locking it in place. The women walked past her into the house. Sally followed them inside, wringing her hands.
“What are they doing?” Vero asked, sitting up in her seat.
I adjusted the binoculars’ focus. “I don’t know. They’re all inside the house. They closed the door. I can’t see.”
“I’m going to get a closer look.” Vero plucked her keys from the ignition and got out of the car before I could stop her.
I followed her, careful not to slam the car door. “Don’t get too close,” I whispered as we shuffled to Sally’s house and hid in the bushes. Vero crept out of the hedge and peered into the back of the open van.
“It’s a reefer truck,” she whispered.
“A what?”
“A refrigeration truck.” Her voice became harder to hear as she hauled herself inside. Her phone light flooded the dark interior in a harsh, white glow. “There are insulated compartments in here. Big ones. They’re filled with those fancy little potted spruce trees. The ones with white lights and cinnamon-scented pine cones glued all in them. This must be the truck Gita uses for her deliveries.”
Muffled voices came from inside the house. “Someone’s coming!” I hissed. Vero killed her phone light as the doorknob to Sally’s kitchen began to turn. I ducked back into the bushes, pressing myself flat against the side of the house. There was a thump in the back of the truck. I waited for Vero to scurry into the bushes with me, but she must not have had enough time to get that far.
The door creaked open. I peeped out from the hedge as the women began to file out of the house. Lola appeared first. She staggered backward toward the van, her arms looped around something heavy. Destiny hobbled after her, both women bent low at the waist, grunting and breathing hard as they hauled a dark bundle between them. The long parcel was wrapped in something that looked suspiciously like tree netting.
Where the hell was Vero?
I peeked between the bushes, searching for her as the two women hauled their parcel into the back of the van.
“Open the lid,” one of them whispered through a strained breath.
“I’m trying, but I can’t see anything. It’s too dark in here.” A heavy thump rocked the frame, followed by a soft grunt.
“Did you hear that?” Destiny’s small voice carried from inside the van.
“It’s probably gas,” Lola said. “That happens sometimes.” Another soft thump, like a compartment lid closing. Then the two women jumped down from the back and dusted off their hands.
The rest of the women filed out of the house, stripped off their rubber gloves and hair nets, and deposited them into a trash bag. Kathy came out last, holding a spray bottle and a wet rag. The chemical scent of bleach wafted from it as she shook it out. Sally tugged down the garage door, bracing its weight with both hands to soften the noise before it hit the ground.
“Let’s go,” Gita said, closing the van door.
My cell phone vibrated in my coat pocket, and I scrambled to turn it off.
“What’s that?” Mrs. Haggerty snapped, eyeing each of the women in turn. “You all know the rules. No phones.”
“Sorry!” Destiny reached into her coat pocket, the pale glow of her screen illuminating her face as she checked her notifications. “The kids are staying with a new sitter tonight and I promised her I would keep my phone on in case she needed anything.” Several of the women gave her sympathetic nods as she typed a quick message back.
Mrs. Haggerty grabbed Destiny’s phone before she could hit Send . With an admonishing look, Mrs. Haggerty powered it down and stuffed it in her pocket. “Sally will ride with us. Let’s go, ladies. Vi’s waiting.”
Sally, Lola, Destiny, and Kathy retreated to The Eggplant with Mrs. Haggerty. Elizabeth and Gita climbed back into the van.
I waited until both sets of taillights had disappeared down the street before poking my head out of the bushes.
“Vero?” I whispered, afraid of drawing the attention of Sally’s neighbors. I crept out of the hedge, but Vero was nowhere in sight. A sick feeling settled in my stomach as I remembered the quiet thump I’d heard in the van right before Lola and Destiny had hauled their bundle into the refrigerated compartment. It had made the same soft thumping sound when they’d closed the lid. Right before my cell phone had buzzed.
I rushed to turn it on.
“Oh, god. No, no, no, no !” I whispered as my notifications began to load.
One missed voice mail message from Vero.
“I’m locked inside the reefer truck, Finlay! Get me out of here. NOW!”
I dialed Vero’s number as I ran to the Charger.
She picked up on the first ring, frantic and breathy. “I’m covered in tree sap, there’s a pinecone jabbing my ass, and a dead dude in fishnets is lying on top of me. Please tell me you have a plan!”
“Don’t panic!” I put my phone on speaker and tossed it in the passenger seat.
“Where are you?”
“Everything will be fine,” I said with as much calm as I could muster. She was definitely panicking. My heart stuttered as I pushed the ignition and nothing happened. Oh, god! Vero had the key.
I got out of the Charger and sprinted down the street toward my house. “Just relax and stay where you are!”
“That’s not funny! Tell me you’re right behind me!”
“Not exactly,” I said, starting to panic. Because now was the time to panic.
“Why not?”
“Because you have the car keys. But do not worry,” I panted. “I’m running home to get the minivan.”
“I’m going to die.”
“You’re not going to die!”
“A group of remorseless killers are going to cremate me and put my ashes in a jar on some old lady’s mantel!”
“We don’t know that! Just stay calm,” I said, fumbling to retrieve the hidden key from under the downspout and unlock my front door. I hurried inside, grabbed my van keys off the kitchen counter, and ran to the garage.
I got in my minivan, put the key in the ignition, and gave it a hard twist. The van coughed and stalled. I smacked the steering wheel and pushed the gas pedal to the floor. The engine roared and then started to shudder. “Keep your phone on. I’ll call you back.”
Vero shouted my name as I disconnected and speed-dialed Cam.
He answered on the first ring. “About that last Venmo, I can explain—”
“Listen to me very carefully. I need you to track Vero’s phone.”
“Is that a trick question?”
“No, it’s not a trick question!”
“I feel like it is, because you told me not to do that anymore.”
“This is an emergency, Cameron! Vero’s missing, and I need to know where she is right now .” I left rubber in the driveway as I tore down the street.
“Okay, okay. Don’t get your undies in a bunch.”
“Where is she?” I asked again, growing more impatient the closer I was to the entrance of the community. Should I go east or west? There was no time for wrong decisions.
“She’s on the interstate.”
“Which way!” I shouted when I reached the stoplight.
“West. Jeez. Calm down.”
I hit the gas and wedged myself into oncoming traffic, then made an illegal U-turn to circumnavigate the light.
“Take the exit ramp coming up. You’re about ten miles behind her.”
“Do I want to know how you know where I am?”
“Probably not.”
That was just one more thing I didn’t have time to worry about. “Do not lose her, Cam! Text me every turn she makes.”
“Fifty bucks and a steak dinner sounds fair. And maybe one of those fancy cheesecakes with the—”
“Just do it!” I disconnected and dialed Vero back. “I’m less than ten minutes behind you. Cam’s tracking your phone. Whatever you do, don’t turn it off.”
“Where the hell am I?”
“I-66 in Prince William County, headed west.”
“Fabulous. I can hear the banjos already.”
“Don’t be hyperbolic.”
“If I die,” Vero said through chattering teeth, “tell Delia and Zach I love them. And tell Zach I said to keep his pants on. On second thought, tell Javi that, too. And tell him I don’t care how many girls he dated while we were apart. Unless one of them was Sophia Martinelli. If he slept with her, tell him I hope he gets gonorrhea in his next life and I’ll haunt him from the grave. And tell my cousin—”
“I told you, Vero, I’m not going to let you die. You trust me, don’t you?”
“Of course I trust you. Would I be in this situation if I didn’t?”
“That’s not helping my confidence.”
“Just hurry up and get me out of here. It’s freezing, I can’t breathe, and I think Sally’s husband and I just got to second base.”
“I’m driving as fast as I can. Just keep your phone on. I’ll call you back.”
I heard her muffled protests as I disconnected again. Cam texted the number of an exit ramp eight miles ahead of me. I gripped the wheel, trying not to think about everything that could go wrong in the span of ten minutes. My gut said these women weren’t going to drive too far tonight. Destiny had kids at home, and they all had jobs to report to in the morning. The women would have to handle their business quickly once they arrived at their destination.
I drove with one hand, my thumb hovering over Nick’s name on my phone.
When are you going to start trusting me?
I tapped his number before I could talk myself out of it. He picked up quickly. Too quickly. I didn’t have time to think about what to tell him or how to explain. “Hey,” he said, sounding pleasantly surprised. “I was thinking about calling you but I didn’t want to wake you. I was just leaving the station. Want me to come over?”
I tried and failed to control the tremor in my voice. “Do you remember when you said I could trust you with anything?”
I could feel his smile slip. “What’s wrong?”
“Before I tell you, you have to promise me you’ll come alone. No backup. Not even Georgia or Sam.”
“I can’t make that promise. Not until you tell me what’s going on.”
“You said we have to trust each other. That means you have to trust me, too.”
The tension between us crackled through his pause. “Tell me where you are.”
“I-66. Westbound. I just passed exit 18. I’ll explain everything when you find me, I promise. But Vero is in trouble, and I don’t know how much time we have.”
Tires squealed through the phone. A siren began to wail. “Pull over and stay where you are. I’m on my way.”
I checked a mile marker as it blurred past me. If Nick was just leaving the station in Fairfax, even with his lights and sirens blazing, he was still fifteen minutes behind me. “I can’t pull over. I have to get to Vero. Cam is tracking her phone. He’s texting me directions. I’m getting off at the exit for Linden. Just get here as soon as you can. I’ll forward you my location as soon as I have it.”
I disconnected, one hand on the wheel and one eye on the road as I veered off the interstate and began maneuvering the dark country roads, following the directions Cam had sent me.
I dialed Vero. “Are you okay?” I asked the second she answered.
Her teeth chattered. “I don’t know. We slowed down. The van’s bouncing all over the place. It feels like we might be on some kind of dirt road. Wait…” Vero’s voice dropped to a whisper. “I think we’ve stopped. They turned off the engine. I think they’re getting out.” A car door slammed and Vero whimpered.
I mashed my foot down on the accelerator. “Just stay quiet! Turn off the notifications on your phone. They have no idea you’re in the truck. As long as they don’t see or hear you, you’ll be—”
The line went dead.
“No! No, no, no! ” My van skidded, nearly running off the pavement as I let my eyes drift from the road to reconnect the call. It went straight to voice mail.
Another text came from Cam with my next turn. Then a second text with a map pin embedded in it. I reduced my speed as the road began to wind and narrow. Ten torturous minutes passed before I reached the final turn onto a winding, gravel driveway. My headlights ghosted over the overgrown branches that formed a dense tunnel around it. I slowed, turning my lights off as I closed the distance to the red pin on the map.
Gita’s flower truck appeared around the next bend. The Eggplant was parked beside it, along with two other cars. I recognized one as Viola Henry’s Honda, but I had never seen the hatchback parked beside it.
I put the van in neutral and leaned forward in my seat, searching the woods around me for signs of the book club. A distant light burned in the window of a cabin through the trees.
My phone vibrated with an incoming text from Cam. I like my steaks medium rare.
I swiped the message away and sent the map pin to Nick before killing the engine.
Pine needles crackled under my feet as I slipped quietly out of my minivan and crept to Gita’s flower truck. I pressed an ear to the door.
Not a peep came from inside it, and I tested the lock. My heart missed a beat when the handle didn’t budge.
Oh, god. They must have found her. By the time Nick got here, it would be too late. Vero could be chopped up into little pieces. Her head could be stuffed behind a bag of broccoli in a freezer in that cabin before—
The back door of the truck flew open, bouncing off its hinge.
I shrieked, suddenly face-to-face with the barrel of a gun.
Vero sat up on her knees, her arms extended in front of her. She gripped an orange plastic pistol in both hands, swinging it wildly from side to side. Her lips were blue and her face was a sickly shade of car-sick green, her eyes wide and feral. Pine needles stuck in the strands of her hair, most of which had escaped her ponytail in a sunburst of static and snarls.
She collapsed back on her haunches and lowered the flare gun as I pressed a finger to my lips, hoping no one had heard us.
“You scared me to death!” I whispered. My heart was galloping so fast, it could probably run back to South Riding on its own.
“What took you so long? I could have suffocated in there!”
“Keep your voice down.” I darted an anxious glance at the cabin, then at the woods all around us. Vero’s legs were a little unsteady as I helped her to the ground. “Where did you get that?” I asked, pushing the nose of the flare gun away from me.
“The emergency kit in the spare tire compartment.”
“That’s a safety device, not a Smith & Wesson.”
“And this isn’t duct tape,” she whispered, shoving a flimsy roll of first aid tape at me, “but a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do.” She lifted the cover to the wheel well and removed the tire iron from the spare. “Take this,” she said, passing it to me. My elbow buckled under its weight. She hooked a small pair of pruning shears into her belt loop and jumped down from the back of the van. “What now?”
“Nick’s on his way,” I whispered, handing her the tape.
“You called him? Why the hell did you do that? What did you tell him?”
“I told him I needed help and to get here fast. Come on. If we leave now, we can call him from the road and tell him not to come.” I would worry about how to explain why once we were a safe distance away.
We started through the brush toward my minivan. A rifle cocked behind us. Vero and I froze.
“Drop everything in your hands and turn around slowly,” a woman said.
Vero dropped her flare gun. I let my tire iron thump to the ground.
“Phones and keys, too,” the woman demanded.
We dropped our phones and our car keys and slowly turned around. One by one, the members of Mrs. Haggerty’s book club came into focus. Viola Henry aimed her rifle right at us. “You two had better come inside. We have a few things we need to discuss.”