Chapter 20 Angela
ANGELA
“Yes, ma’am, I know that David was last seen here in Black Pines,” the cop on the other end of the line said. Edwards? Was that his name? Angela couldn’t remember. “Like I reported to his PO—”
“He was last seen with her.” Angela spat that word like it tasted acidic and dirty. “My son was last seen with the woman he fought with daily for half a decade. And now I haven’t heard a word from him in a month. You’re going to tell me you don’t see a connection there?”
A breath vibrated the speaker. Silence followed for a moment too long.
“Given his history and the charges he was facing, I have to assume the obvious here, ma’am. And I’m sorry—”
“Sorry my ass!”
Pacing her apartment, Angela snapped her arm against the wall. All it left her with was a throbbing wrist. No relief.
“The obvious? The obvious is that she knows where he is. Either she threatened him or she—” Angela’s chest tightened, and she couldn’t even think the words. “Officer Edwards? That’s your name, right?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Look, Officer Edwards. I know my son.”
The good, the bad, and the outright despicable.
Angela knew it all. She knew the police in Cheyenne, Wyoming weren’t wrong.
David was a dealer. Sometimes, deals went bad.
And yes, he’d killed a man. With tears in his eyes, breaths nearly impossible to find, lying his head in her lap as he wept, he’d confessed it to his mother. He hadn’t meant to kill that man.
It was a mistake. An awful, horrible mistake. But a mistake. Just because the mother of the man he killed lost her son didn’t mean Angela should lose hers. Not really. Not forever.
So she had helped him. She’d found everything he would need to start over on the other side of the border.
The murder had happened only days before he got the call from Junie. That timing? It was meant to be. It had to be.
Together, they’d packed his bag: clothes, freeze dried food, a tent, fire starter, and a few thick blankets. They secured his false identification. They mapped the route he would take.
First stop? Black Pines. Collect Junie. Then back in the car, farther north, until he made it to the border. There, he would hike with Junie on his back for as long as it took to make it to Canada.
He had enough cash to stay in a hotel for a few weeks while he arranged flights to the Yukon.
Friends of David’s friends had connections.
One of them was a rich old man who owned property there.
For a few years—until things died down in Cheyenne—David and Junie would stay in the cabin. She would get virtual schooling.
And, to boot, he would be away from the drugs. He’d have no choice but to stay clean.
It would be good. It would be good for everyone.
David, who could finally get his life on track.
Junie, who desperately needed her father, whether she realized it or not.
And Angela, of course. She would make trips every few months to see them both. She would regain contact with her granddaughter and maintain her relationship with her son.
It was supposed to be good. It was supposed to be good for everyone.
“He was going to call me,” Angela said into the phone, heart heavy as she replayed the perfect plan. “He was gonna call me when he got to where he was going. My boy, he calls me every day. Every single day, Officer. And I haven’t heard from him in over a month. He didn’t just run to Canada.”
“Where was he planning on going?” Edwards asked.
“I don’t know exactly.” Angela hoped her lie sounded believable. “But I know he would’ve called—”
“Not after what he did, ma’am,” Edwards said.
“He beat S—Jess within an inch of her life. He was already wanted for questioning in Cheyenne, then he came here and committed battery. If anybody gets a hold of him, he’s not going anywhere for a long time.
We’re talking years. Decades. Maybe the rest of his life. ”
“Please,” Angela said under her breath. “Were you there? Because I know Jess. That girl can hold her own just fine. I wouldn’t be surprised if she hit herself just to make him look bad.”
“A crowd of civilians witnessed him harassing her at her job.” There was a bite to Edwards’ voice now. “I took the testimony myself, and I saw her face. She didn’t do it herself, and I won’t be commenting any further on her condition or her recollection of the events.”
Angela snorted, gritting her teeth. “Fine. We don’t have to talk about Jess. But we do have to talk about the fact that you’re not doing your damn job. My kid went missing, and—”
“Your kid made himself disappear, because if he didn’t, he would spend the rest of his life in prison.
As he damn well should. I know the stories.
I’ve read his records. I know why Jess left him.
As any decent mother would, after her partner tried to sell their daughter.
I’ve already talked to my supervisors and all the detectives in our department, and we all agree about what happened here.
You can keep calling, but I’m gonna keep telling you the same damn thing, Miss Burke. ”
Hands trembling at her sides, teeth clenched so tightly she was sure they were going to break, Angela snapped, “Rot in hell, pig.”
She shuttered the phone and tossed it across the room.
How dare he? What gave him the right?
David wasn’t perfect. He was so far from perfect. Angela would never deny that. But god damn it, he didn’t deserve whatever that bitch did to him.
She stared at her keys hanging on a hook by the door.
Eight hours wasn’t too far of a drive.
Angela was going to get answers.
Once she had them? She was gonna make what David did to Jess look like a tantrum.