She didn’t speak, but she didn’t hang up.
“Are you looking for Nicole?”
The voice was male, mocking. At first Ivy thought Nicole had picked up a john, but even as the thought entered her mind, she knew Nicole was dead.
Just like Wendy.
“Where is she?” Ivy said. Her voice too weak to talk to a killer. She was scared and it showed.
He chuckled. “The morgue. You’re next. I’m closer than you think.”
She hung up. Her phone rang and she ran to the bathroom and dropped it in the sink, running water over it. She bent over the toilet and threw up violently, until acid burned her throat. She collapsed on the floor, her head on her arm, her stomach full of sharp knives.
“Ivy?” Maddie stood in the doorway. “Are you okay.”
Does it look like I’m okay?
“Get your stuff. We’re leaving.”
“I don’t wanna go.”
She sat up, shaking. In a voice much harsher than she intended, she said, “We have to. Nicole is dead!”
She might as well have slapped Maddie. Her lip quivered and tears dampened her eyes. Ivy pulled herself up off the bathroom floor and rinsed her mouth out with water. “Give me your phone.”
Maddie reached into her pocket. Ivy added Maddie’s phone to the water in the sink. When the basin was full, she shut the water off.
She walked past Maddie and back into the hotel room. She hadn’t unpacked. She pulled her backpack from the closet and zipped it up.
Maddie followed her, but made no attempt to pick up her things. “Why can’t we stay here? It’s safe here.”
No place was safe. The only way they’d be safe was if Ivy disappeared. But she had no money, no place to go.
Wendy’s dead.
There was one other option, but Ivy had no idea if Wendy had changed her hiding place after their falling out. Wendy must have known Ivy turned over the pictures of her and Crowley that ended up all over the news. Except Wendy hadn’t confronted her, and she wouldn’t have kept her mouth shut about it, even though they hadn’t spoken in months.
“We have to go,” Ivy said, weary and emotionally drained.
“No!”
Maddie never defied her. Ivy didn’t know what to say, but stared at her friend.
“Jocelyn is trying to help,” Maddie pleaded. “You said so yourself. Why would you run away now? Why do you have to do everything yourself?”
Because there’s no one else.
“I have to get Mina,” Ivy said. “Nicole left her with Marti. They might be in danger, too. Don’t you get it? Wendy and Nicole are dead. I don’t want anything to happen to you or anyone else.” Or Sara. God, what have I gotten her into?
“Wendy’s dead, too?” Maddie shook her head, her hands covering her face.
Dammit, Ivy, you are full of tact!
She spoke softly. “I just saw it on the news. I’m sorry, Maddie.” Ivy had to be strong for all of them. She had to remember that they’d been through hell, but she’d been the one to get them out.
She just didn’t know if she could save them all this time. Her conscience weighed so heavy, she wished she could click her heels together and go anywhere else.
Anywhere but home.
A card key slid into the slot, a computerized whoosh releasing the latch. The door opened into the hotel room. Heart racing, Ivy reached into her backpack for her gun.
“It’s me,” Jocelyn said. She put a large bag of takeout on the table next to the door. “I brought my husband, Chris.”
A man stepped in behind Jocelyn. He was of average build with a baby face and kind eyes.
Ivy stared at Jocelyn. She’d promised to protect Sara, but Ivy couldn’t expect Chris Taylor to keep the secret.
“Let’s sit down and discuss the situation,” Jocelyn said. “You’re in danger. Your sister is in danger.”
“Don’t do that. It’s complex.”
Chris said, “I can arrange—”
Ivy cut him off. “Nicole is dead!”
Jocelyn looked stricken, she walked over to her and took her hands. Ivy shook her off and felt bad about it, but she was in no mood to be coddled. Jocelyn wasn’t wanted for felony kidnapping. Jocelyn didn’t have a killer after her.
Ivy had been responsible for herself since she was fourteen, she didn’t even know how to accept help. She’d tried, and look where she was? Her makeshift family separated. Two friends dead. Kerry not returning her calls. What if she was dead, too?
“Ivy, are you sure? I didn’t hear anything about it on the news—”
“I’m very sure.”
“Then we really do need to call the police.”
“No, no, no!” Ivy rubbed her temples. She didn’t know what to do.
“They’re not going to send Sara back to a man who raped her.”
“You don’t know my father,” Ivy said through clenched teeth.
Everyone was looking at her, looking at her to make the decision. Looking at her for answers. She had none. What had she and Wendy started? What had seemed like a brilliant idea to earn money to buy her and Sara new identities and a home in Canada had blown up. Wendy was dead. The money was gone. Ivy was responsible for three needy teenagers and no way to keep them from harm.
Sara stepped out of the adjoining room and said, “Ha—Ivy? What’s wrong?”
Jocelyn said quietly, “Let’s talk about this tonight. Chris knows people who can fix this. We can protect you all.”
Except they’d call her father. Sara, the one person who needed protection the most, would be sent back into the lion’s den.
Ivy had only one idea, and she prayed to the Lord to give her this one request. For Sara.
“On one condition,” Ivy said. “I have a place where Sara will be safe. I’ll take her there. We keep her completely out of this, pretend she doesn’t exist, then I’ll talk to the police.”
Jocelyn glanced at her husband and they shared something unspoken.
“Please,” Ivy begged. “They can’t protect Sara.”
“If Sara testifies against him—”
“Those are my terms. I want this all to stop. I’m so tired, Jocelyn.” Her voice cracked.
Sara started to cry. Ivy took a deep breath. She couldn’t be weak now. “It’s not just Nicole,” she said. “Wendy is dead, too.”
“Wendy?” Jocelyn questioned. “Who’s that?”
“Wendy James. It’s all over the news.”
Chris’s eyes widened. “Congressman Crowley’s mistress?”
“Mistress? Hardly. You asked a long time ago how I got into this business,” Ivy said to Jocelyn. “It was through Wendy. We used to be partners.”
Chris frowned and sat on the couch. Ivy ignored him and turned to Jocelyn. “I’m going to take Sara to the only person I can trust, then I’ll talk to the police. I need a couple of hours.”
Jocelyn handed Ivy her car keys. “Call me for anything. We’ll wait here.”
“I destroyed my phone—I was afraid whoever killed Nicole might have some way of finding me.”
Chris asked, “How do you know Nicole is dead?”
“A man answered her phone when I called. He told me she was dead.”
Maddie stifled a cry and ran from the room. Ivy wished she could talk to her, but she had no time.
“Take mine.” Jocelyn handed her the cell phone. “I’ll call you from Chris’s phone.”
“Thank you.” She hugged her. Suddenly, she didn’t want to go. She wanted Jocelyn and Chris Taylor to make all the decisions. For once, she wanted someone else to tell her the right thing to do.
For once, she wanted someone else to protect her.
Over Jocelyn’s shoulder Ivy saw her sister, so sheltered and vulnerable and not deserving any of this.