Chapter 17
Chapter Seventeen
“ H ow’s that virus going? You any closer to figuring out what it is?”
Libby pushed her chair back with a screech and stood up. “No, but it doesn’t seem too serious.”
Maggie placed a hand on her shoulders. “If you need anything, you let me know, okay?”
Libby nodded but wouldn’t meet her gaze.
While she felt bad about lying to Maggie about the real reason she’d taken a few days off, she knew Maggie wouldn’t understand. With three kids who rarely gave her any trouble and a loving husband who helped pick up the slack, she led a completely different life than Libby’s.
Unfortunately, where Annie was concerned, Libby was all she had.
As much as she hated spying on her and rooting through her things, Libby had to keep her safe. With no more patients for the day and a lighter-than-usual load at the clinic, the doctors had dismissed them. Libby kept sneaking glances at Annie’s red dot on her phone, relieved to find that she was still at school. By the time Libby arrived, a few of the students began trickling out.
Annie was one of the last to leave, glancing around her as she did.
Libby ducked behind the same tree and watched her.
She followed Annie when she went into the library and stayed there for an hour. Then she poked her head out in time to see Annie meet up with the same guy. A chill raced up Libby’s spine when the hug lasted longer, and Annie buried her face in the crook of his neck. Every inch of Libby screamed and rebelled against her standing there, letting it happen, but she didn’t have a choice.
Confronting Annie now was only going to lead to a disaster, like Annie running away and straight into the boy’s arms.
Libby couldn’t let that happen.
She squared her shoulders, ignored the knots in her stomach, and waited till Annie left to start following the boy. He turned onto Shore Street, taking long, brusque strides as he did. Libby followed at a safe space; phone pressed to her chest the entire time. Sweat broke out across her neck and her forehead when he stopped on the front porch of the abandoned warehouse on Linden Road. When he glanced over his shoulder, Libby spun around and pretended to raise her voice and hold the phone over her head, muttering loudly about a bad signal for anyone to hear.
A heartbeat later, she glanced over her shoulder, and he was gone.
Her heart was twisting inside of her chest as she crept forward and pressed herself against the walls of the warehouse, which smelled damp and was in desperate need of repair. When she heard voices spill out of a broken window, she froze and broke out into a cold sweat.
For the longest time, nothing happened.
Libby’s heart was pounding as she wondered what would happen if they found her.
Were those thugs going to silence her?
Or were they going to give her a warning because she was Annie’s mother?
Without her in the picture, Annie would be a lot easier to manipulate.
The thought sent another wave of panic washing over her, which made Libby clench her hands into fists. She counted backward from ten, unclenched her hands, and stepped away from the wall. Libby crouched low and crept forward until she stood underneath the window. Slowly, she lifted her head, and her eyes took a while to adjust to the darkness.
She expected a space with high ceilings and spider webs, but there were storage boxes everywhere, blocking her view.
Voices rose and fell, but she couldn’t make out what they were saying. In the distance, a dog barked, and tires screeched against the asphalt. Libby tilted her head to the side and tried to listen past the pounding of her heart. Then, she heard a voice behind her, followed by the ringing of a bike bell.
Libby spun around and nearly lost her balance.
Her eyes widened when she saw Annie’s classmate, Marissa Pope, leaning against her bicycle. “Hi, Marissa. I don’t know if you remember me.”
Marissa tilted her head to the side and threw her blond hair over her shoulders. “You’re Annie’s foster mom.”
Libby hurried away from the warehouse and held her hands on either side of her. “Yes, that’s right. It’s good to see you. How are you? How are your parents?”
Marissa blinked. “They’re fine. Why are you out here by yourself?”
“I was just…just going for a walk,” Libby said, stuttering over the last word. “But I was headed back anyway. I was going to stop by Ben & Bill’s Chocolate Emporium to pick up some ice cream for Annie…would you like to come?”
Marissa shifted from one foot to the other. “I should probably go home. Thanks, though, Mrs. Baker.”
Before Libby could say anything else, Marissa rode off, kicking up dust and gravel as she did. She stared after her with her heart in her throat and prayed Marissa wouldn’t think too much of it. During the walk back home, she kept checking her phone, and each time it refreshed, showing Annie’s red dot at home, Libby breathed a sigh of relief.
For now, she was in the clear.
At least until she figured out what Annie’s friend was into, and then, all hell was going to break loose.
Outside their apartment building, Libby stopped to glance up at their window, where Annie’s shadowy silhouette appeared. She exhaled and used her key to unlock the front door. On the third-floor landing, Libby was squinting and rifling through her keys when her front door burst open, and Annie appeared in the doorway.
Libby nearly dropped her keys in surprise. “Oh, Annie, sweetheart. You scared me.”
Annie crossed her arms over her chest. “Who else would it be?”
Libby forced a smile to her lips and brushed past her. “No one. I just wasn’t expecting you to open the door.”
Annie slammed the door shut and spun around to face her. “Where were you anyway? I stopped by the clinic, but it was closed.”
“We got out early.” Libby kicked off her shoes and left her purse on the kitchen counter. She poured herself a glass of iced tea and eyed Annie over the rim. “I thought I’d walk around for a bit before I came home.”
Annie stopped on the other side of the counter and stared at her. “Why were you in my room?”
Libby’s heart stopped. “Oh, don’t be ridiculous. I wasn’t—”
Annie held a hand up, and her expression tightened. “Please don’t lie to me. I know you were in my room. I could smell your perfume.”
Libby gripped the counter and exhaled. “Look, I know I shouldn’t have gone in there, but you won’t talk to me. You don’t tell me where you go after school, and you come home smelling weird and with circles under your eyes. I just want to make sure you’re okay.”
Annie’s expression darkened further. “And you thought the way to do that was by invading my privacy?”
Libby released the counter and threw her hands in the air. “What was I supposed to do? You won’t tell me a thing, Annie. And I’m…I’m your guardian, and it’s my job to look out for you and make sure you’re okay—”
“I didn’t know that included knowing where I was twenty-four seven,” Annie muttered darkly. “What else have you been doing? Besides telling my teachers to keep an eye on me.”
Libby winced and stepped out from behind the counter. “Annie, sweetheart, please. I’m just worried. If you would just talk to me—”
Annie took a step back. “ You’re not my mom . Stop acting like you are. You’re just some lady who felt sorry for me, and they made you take me in, but I know you don’t want me here.”
Libby felt like she’d been punched in the gut.
This wasn’t how she wanted things to unfold, and it wasn’t what she wanted Annie to feel.
Her heart broke at the pain in Annie’s words—the anger and longing.
Libby made herself take a deep breath before responding. “Annie, no. No, that’s not true. I want you here. Of course, I want you here.”
Annie shook her head and shoved her phone into her pocket. “You know what? I don’t have to listen to this.”
Without warning, she shoved her feet into a pair of sneakers and ignored Libby’s pleading. Then, she raced down the stairs, and Libby stood, peering out at her over the railing, her voice carrying down the stairwell but to no avail. Annie didn’t turn back once.
Libby went back inside and pressed her face to the glass window, spotting Annie’s hunched form easily.
Libby’s fingers were trembling when she tried to dial the police.
After a frustrating phone call during which she nearly threw her phone against the wall, she hung up. She dialed Charlotte’s number and clutched the phone to her ear, praying she picked it up.
“Hey, I was just about to call you.”
“Annie ran away,” Libby said, the words pouring out of her in a rush. “Well, she didn’t run away, not according to the police. She stormed out. I followed her again today, and I think she knows because a friend of hers saw me, but I—”
“Slow down,” Charlotte interrupted in a soft voice. “I’m going to need you to tell me what happened again, but take a breath first.”
Libby let the curtain fall into place and began to pace. “I followed Annie again. When they closed the clinic earlier today, I went to her school and followed her to the library. She met up with the same guy, and then, I followed him to that abandoned warehouse on Linden Road.”
Charlotte sucked in a harsh breath. “And? What did you find? Wait, I shouldn’t be encouraging this. Libby, you really do need to be careful. What if he really is in a gang?”
Libby ran a hand through her hair. “I couldn’t tell. There were too many boxes, and then Annie’s friend from school, Marissa…she saw me, and I think she told Annie.”
Charlotte released a breath. “What makes you think that?”
“Because we really got into it when I got home. Annie was waiting to pounce, and she knows I’ve been rifling through her things…”
“Oh, Libby. It’s okay. She knows you love and care about her. You’re just trying to protect her. She’ll get over it.”
Tears fell down Libby’s cheeks. “What if she doesn’t come home? The police said I can’t file a missing person’s report until it’s been twenty-four hours.”
“Do you have any of her friends’ numbers? Any parents who might know where she is?”
Libby frowned. “No, I…I don’t have anything.”
“She’ll come home,” Charlotte repeated after a brief pause. “I know she will. In the meantime, I’ll wait with you.”
Libby was half-asleep on the couch when she heard the front door. She snatched her phone where it fell in between the cushions, heart hammering against her chest. “I think she’s back.”
“Remember to stay calm,” Charlotte whispered. “Otherwise, she might just leave again.”
Annie shoved the door open the rest of the way and stopped when she saw Libby. Scoffing, Annie stormed past her and down the hallway. When Annie slammed the door to her room shut, Libby sank to her knees and burst into tears.
“What am I going to do, Charlotte? I don’t want to lose her.”
Because right now, Annie felt too far away, with too much of a chasm between them to ever be crossed.