Page 61 of Cruel Love

I should get out of here while the guy at the register is practically glued to the TV. Hopefully, he’s so entranced he won’t bother to look up as he rings in my candy and soda.

I lay the items on the counter and the guy turns in my direction, giving me nothing more than a passive nod before tapping away at the register with his attention still locked on the screen.

“Please, I’m begging you, Roxie...”

I look at the television. My father stands in a huddle of reporters with microphones surrounding his head from all angles. I almost don’t recognize him. He was always the fit, clean-shaven type but he’s clearly let himself go in the few weeks since I last saw him.

“If you’re out there, please contact me,” he begs, staring directly at the camera and into my eyes. “I know we’ve had our differences lately, honey, but please... let me know that you’re okay. All right?”

I bite my lip, feeling a touch of sympathy for the man. We’ve barely spoken since I came back from Iowa with Fox. I walked into the house with Fox’s hand in mine and my father knew exactly where I’d been... and what I’d been doing for the few weeks I was alone with him. He ordered me to stay away from Fox and get back to work. Meeting with Bruckberg on Tuesday. Get your hair done before then. Black hair makes you look like a whore.

I told him I wouldn’t be needing his services anymore and walked out. I was a girl in love. I didn’t care about anything else but that. I had Fox, at last. Nothing else mattered.

“Mr. Roberts, do you think your daughter’s disappearance is connected to Snake Eyes?”

He drops his head. “I don’t know.”

Another reporter pushes forward, blocking my father’s path. “Don’t you find it a little suspicious that two people have been brutally killed around her in the exact same way?” he shouts. “Is your daughter involved with them?”

“I don’t know, but...” My father pauses, his face hardening as he looks into the camera again. “If you bastards do have my daughter, I will find you. Do you hear me? If you so much as lay a finger on her, so help me, I will take you down.”

He pushes through the crowd of reporters as they urge him to answer more questions, but he continues with his head bowed a little deeper.

I suppose it is a little suspicious. First, it was Senator Lamb. He didn’t do anything wrong. He just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. And Lena. Same damn thing.

The common denominator is me. If I were superstitious, I’d stay the hell away from me.

“Eighteen-fifty,” the guy behind the counter says.

I lay a twenty on the counter. Pay for everything with cash. Leave no trail.

“You can keep the change,” I mutter as I grab everything and take off outside.

“Okay, be safe,” I hear Caleb say as I lower down into the driver’s seat. “I love you.”

She mouths the name Boxcar. I smile as I fill the cup holders with twenty-ounce sodas and packs of licorice.

“Super safe,” she says. “Stay with Fox.”

She lowers the phone, flips it closed, and lets out an epic sigh as she rests her head back against the seat.

“Is everything okay?” I ask as I slide the baseball cap off.

“Yeah,” she answers as she grabs a candy wrapper and rips it open with her teeth. “They made it to Boston.”

I nod. “That’s good.”

“Did you hear from Fox?” she asks. “Figured he might have called. You were in there a while.”

“No,” I answer. “Just a slow check-out guy.”

“Fox is kind of a no-news-is-good-news kind of dude anyway, isn’t he?”

I swallow hard. “I guess so.”

Caleb chomps into a piece of licorice. “Where to now?”

I settle into my seat. “We hit the highway and head east. Stop only to eat and sleep,” I say, quoting Fox.

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