Page 32 of Run with Me

Jack came first into view, then a beautiful raven-haired woman. Her hair was like silk, shiny with perfect waves, and it looked like it had been professionally styled. I pulled my fingers through my own strands, but some of them got stuck in the clumps and so I lowered my arm. The glamorous woman paced around the kitchen counter, carrying her swollen belly in front, and my hand immediately flew to myown.

“Anna, this is my wife, Mary.”

I took the remaining steps down, paced toward her, and reached out to shake her offered hand. “Congratulations. How far along areyou?”

“Twenty-four weeks.”

“You look beautiful. I’m Anna, and I’m sorry to be disrupting your day. I’ll be goingsoon.”

Jack cleared his throat. “You’re not disrupting anyone, Anna, and you’re welcome to stay here for as long as you’d like. At least until I know that you have a place to stay and a way to support yourself.”

Mary covered her dissatisfaction with a forced smile.

“I… I have a job,” I said at the prompt. “And an apartment.”

“Anna, there’s no need tolie.”

“Don’t you see, Jack? She’s lying because she’s embarrassed. I mean, look at her.” Mary pointed my way. I could only imagine how I must have appeared. A nest for hair; ragged clothes which included a new hole in my patched dress that Jack had managed to puncture with that knife last night. The once-bright sunflower print was barely recognizable. My nails hadn’t been cut or cleaned since I’d left Pace over two months ago. I’d managed to bite a few off, but they were definitely not show-worthy.

I scanned the room for my sandals again and said a silent prayer that my only pair of shoes wasn’tlost.

“If you can show me where my shoes are, I’ll get going to my place,” I tried again.

“Where’s your apartment, Anna?”

“Ahm, it’s Thirty-third Southwest and Fifth,” I said, remembering some of the street signs I’d seen, or some combination ofthem.

Jack looked at me funny, and I wondered whether I’d gotten the street directions wrong. I’d seen so many numbered streets with different cardinal coordinates that it was difficult to remember. They were all like a puzzle to me. Who could have remembered themall?

“You barely look like a visitor in Manhattan. And you’re definitely not from around here. There’s no Southwest Street, Anna.”

“How do youknow?”

“It’s my job to be familiar with thiscity.”

“What exactly isyourjob?”

My gaze caught part of the chandelier in the hallway. How could anyone afford a place like this? Well, Ben probably could, if he still had the money I stole. Was he looking for me? Probably. I didn’t think he’d ever stop. Was John all right?

“I’m a bounty hunter,” Jack replied.

“What’s that? You go huntingfor…?”

I looked around the pristine, top-notch penthouse apartment. Everything appeared brand new. Probably because it was. New, expensive, and definitely nothing I’d ever seen before. Colorful vases; a slick couch with a throw, pillows, and a cup holder in its side; a television set so big that the muted news anchor looked like he was about to jump out of the screen. It was almost the size of a car window. Jack was definitely not an ordinary hunter. Yet I didn’t find any evidence of taxidermy.

“People pay me to find people,” he said, and I felt my knees slightly bend. I used the corner of the wall to steady myself.

Bounty hunter? Hunting people.

“Does that scare you?” he asked.

“What do you think?”

“Yeah, I guess it’s not a typical career choice.”

Not typical? Was he kidding me? He got paid to find people – to find someone who was trying to hide; someone like me. Jack could be close to the level of deranged as the man I was running away from, and Ben Cortez was a mafiaman.

Still desperate to locate my sandals, I took a step closer to the elevator, hoping he wouldn’t notice. It was in the same direction as the couch, which I’d have to pass to get to thedoor.

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