Page 44 of Left Behind

All of a sudden, Ava was forgotten as Corina and her drinking buddy cozied up to the kitchen table.

“Tell me,” Corina said.

“I’ll do one better. I’m gonna show you,” Junie said, and pulled up the photos from their trip, scrolled through them until she found the ones she was looking for, and slid the phone across the table. “Who does that look like to you?”

Corina frowned, tapped the photos to enlarge the images, and then gasped. “You are fucking kidding me!”

“No. Swear to God,” Junie said. “Right there, big as Dallas, Aaron and Wiley Wallace, both in police uniforms. At first I thought they was just look-alikes ’cause their names was different. They wasn’t goin’ by Wallace. Pete went up and said hi, and sure enough it was them, but they’re goin’ by the last name Pope. Apparently, it was their mother’s name before she was married. Can’t blame them none. Who would want to claim kin to Clyde Wallace, right?”

Corina frowned. “Where was it you said you went?”

“Jubilee, Kentucky, to see Reagan Bullard in concert. Pete loves his music.”

“They’re both cops now?” Corina asked.

“Obviously, girl. Look at their uniforms,” Junie said.

“Did you ask them anything or, like, talk to them?” Corina asked.

“Not really, and they didn’t look pleased to see us, either. Anyway…I just wanted to show you. Figured you might be interested, considering…well…you know…” she said, and glanced at the little girl in the corner.

Corina started her pitch. “Junie, Miss Mattie dropped dead this morning. I don’t have anybody to watch the kid, and I got the gig of my life! I’m going to be working on a cruise ship sailing back and forth along the Mexican coast.”

“Great news! You’ll find someone,” Junie said. “I gotta go. Still need to unpack.”

Corina turned on the whine. “I need help bad. I don’t suppose you’d be…?”

Junie shook her head. “No, I got my own job.”

“Pete doesn’t work. He could keep her,” Corina said.

Junie frowned. “Pete doesn’t do kids. That’s why we don’t have any,” she said. Then she got up, blew Corina a kiss, and walked out.

“I don’t do kids, either,” Corina muttered, but Junie had already shut the door. She sat for a few minutes, thinking, then got up and poured herself a shot of whiskey, tilted her head, and downed it in one gulp. When she looked up again, the kid was gone. She heard the bathroom door close and then threw the glass against the wall.

She stared out the window, and then it hit her! She did have another option. But she was going to have to take Ava with her on the trip to make it happen. She began throwing all of Ava’s clothes into a trash bag.

***

Corina had left Conway late in the evening and driven through the night with Ava in the back seat, using her bag of clothes for a pillow.

Ava didn’t ask for anything. Not food or water, or even admitting when she needed to pee. She just held it until Corina had to stop for herself and ate whatever Corina gave her, which was usually the leftovers from what she didn’t finish. She didn’t know where they were going or what Corina was going to do with her when they got there, but she was scared.

It was just after 8:00 a.m. when Corina drove past the city limits sign in Jubilee, Kentucky. She was primed for war and absolutely certain her luck was about to change. She pulled into a gas station to refuel, then took herself and Ava to the toilet, washed up, and gave Ava a hairbrush.

“Get those damn tangles out of your hair. You look like some homeless kid,” Corina snapped.

Ava didn’t argue. She just brushed her hair, then waited for food to be the next item on the agenda, but that didn’t happen. Instead, Corina asked for directions to the police station, and then they got back in the car and drove away.

Corina was pleasantly surprised by the charm of the tourist attraction, but she wasn’t here for pleasure. She had business to attend to, so when they pulled up in front of the police station and parked, she grabbed Ava by the arm and stormed into the station, heading straight to the front desk.

“I need to speak to Aaron Pope!” she said.

Desk Sergeant Walter Winter glanced up. “He’s in a meeting. Just have a seat.”

Corina glared. “I didn’t come all this way to wait!”

“Is he expecting you?” Winter asked.

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