Tom clicked over to the incoming call. “Hello. This is Tom.”
“Tom Hawkins,” said a much-younger sounding voice. “It’s Tanner Farnsworth.”
Tom’s jaw muscles tightened, and he squeezed his phone harder. “What do you want, Tanner?” said Tom.
“Look, I know I’ve done some pretty bad things. But I also know you didn’t have anything to do with what happened to Lindsey.”
“And how do you know that?” asked Tom.
“Because I know who did it,” Tanner said. “It was Mitchell Boyd.”
“What?”
“I was just over at Mitchell’s house. We were eavesdropping on his dad. He was talking with Brendan Murphy from the police department. Mr. Boyd gets all the inside scoop. I overheard him say that they found Lindsey’s body.”
Tom’s heart sank. Jill looked over at her father. Her expression revealed a growing alarm.
Tom turned his back so that Jill couldn’t see him. He took a few steps away so that she couldn’t hear him, either. “Where?” Tom whispered.
“In the woods near the Pine Hill Pond. They found your knife nearby, too.”
“My knife?”
“Small knife, about the size of my palm,” Tanner said. “It’s yours. Don’t ask me how Mitchell got it, but he took it from your house. The police pulled your prints off the knife. They’re coming to arrest you. Not just the Shilo PD, either. State police, too. And soon.”
“Hang on.” Tom raced back into the house. He looked for his knife. It was gone. “Tanner, listen to me. You’ve got to call the police yourself. Right now. Tell them what you just told me.”
“I can’t do that,” Tanner said. “I can’t turn myself in. Can’t turn on my best friend, either. I won’t do it. But that doesn’t mean I can’t do something right.”
“Do something right? What right thing are you doing here?” Tom shouted into the phone.
“I’m telling you to run.”
Chapter 74
Tom turned to Jill. “Get inside the house,” he said. “Stay out of your room. Stay in the basement. Don’t move until I come for you.”
“Dad, what is it? What’s going on?”
Tom kept his voice calm and controlled. “Just do as I say,” he ordered.
Jill fled into the house.
Tom didn’t know what he should tell Jill. Was Tanner lying? Could Lindsey really be dead? Were the police coming to arrest him? Tom didn’t have time to think through the possibilities. He only had time to ready an escape. He’d been arrested for a crime that he hadn’t committed once before. He wasn’t about to let it happen again.
Distract and evade.
If it came to it, that was what he would do.
Distract and evade.
Tom needed to survey his best exit points. He crouched low and kept to the side of the house. Where possible, he used trees and shrubs to keep himself hidden. Oak Street was clear. But if Tanner was telling the truth, the street would soon be active with police. He picked this as the place where he’d set the distraction.
Next, Tom crossed to the back of the house. The ravine where Kelly fell and died had an 8 percent grade. He’d have to descend into the ravine and climb back up the other side to get to Pine Street. Beyond Pine Street lay hundreds of acres of conservation land. Tom knew the Shilo topography better than most. He knew he could get away.
Tom returned to the house, where he slipped inside through the basement back door. He saw Jill standing there, waiting for him. She was pale and looked frightened.
“First thing I need you to do is relax,” Tom said. He put his hands on his daughter’s shoulders. “Take some deep breaths. I need you with me.”
Jill nodded.
“Some people are coming for me,” Tom said. He remained calm, which helped Jill. “I’m pretty sure they’re coming to arrest me.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.” She’ll never forgive you for lying to her, he thought.
Jill nodded again, but more slowly. “You’re not leaving without me?” she cried. “You can’t leave me alone.”
“No. Never. But listen to me. We need to separate for a short while. Do as I say and we’ll be together again soon.”
“Why do we have to separate?”
“You’ll slow me down if we stick together. It’s me they’re after, not you. But you’re not safe on your own, either. I’m not going to leave you alone for long. I promise.”
“Okay.”
“Now I’m going to tell you exactly what to do. I’m going to give you very specific instructions. You’re going to follow my instructions exactly as I give them to you. Do you understand?”
“I think so.”
“Don’t think, Jill. Be decisive. Do you understand?”
“Yes,” Jill said.
“Okay, we’ll need to do some things first.”
“What things?”
“Go upstairs. Hurry. Grab all the hair gel you have. There’s hydrogen peroxide under the sink in the upstairs bathroom. Grab that too. Then get the rubbing alcohol from the first aid kit. Bring it all back downstairs to me, along with every Ziploc bag we have.”
“What are you going to do?” asked Jill.
“While you’re doing that,” Tom said, “I’m going to build the detonator.”
Chapter 75
Tom watched Jill drag the forty-gallon plastic trash barrel to the curb. She completed her mission with calm efficiency. Tomorrow was trash day. Oak Street was dotted with lots of green plastic barrels set out in front of lots of curbs. Their barrel looked full of trash. But the bags within it were stuffed full of newspaper. They looked puffy and full. Tom made certain nothing heavy was lodged inside those bags. Nothing that could become a projectile when he triggered the device.
Jill returned unhurriedly to the house. For the next several minutes she would be out of Tom’s sight. But he wasn’t worried. Jill knew what needed to be done. Tom looked out the window again. The street was still quiet.
Was the storm even coming?
Better to be prepared than to be a sitting target, he thought.
Tom called Rainy and told her that he’d call her back later. Something had come up, he said. It was a brief exchange, but it had to be done. Nobody else would be calling him. That was important, too. His phone was now part of the trigger mechanism.
Jill reappeared in the driveway. She was wheeling her red Schwinn World S bike alongside her. She leaned the bike up against the stone wall that abutted the driveway and disappeared from his view again. That was her signal to Tom that everything was in place.
Tom snatched the cordless phone from the kitchen. Next, he grabbed Jill’s nylon backpack, which he’d stuffed with needed supplies. He descended the basement stairs, slipped out the back door, and worked his way around to the side of the house. Jill was waiting for him there.
The mountain bike was there, leaning up against the house. Jill had retrieved it from the shed after she grabbed her Schwinn.
Tom looked the bike over. It appeared to be in decent condition. The bike had belonged to Kelly’s boyfriend, Alfonso. The same Alfonso who had used Kelly’s house as a storage locker and got arrested for DWI.
The mountain bike had more gears than most riders had the skill to use. Hydroformed aluminum frame. Cold-forged dropouts. The front shock was an open bath damper type, which was fine by him so long as the oil levels in each leg were adequate to lube the other sliding parts. The tires were Bontrager, and the wheels Shimano. Quality parts as well. He inspected the shifters and derailleur. Those were fine, too.
Jill came over and stood beside her father.
“You’re going to stay on the move for fifteen minutes.” Tom said it as an instruction, but Jill understood that it was also a question.