Page 130 of In the Pursuit of Haven
Glaring, Hunter retreated to his SUV, motioning his team to follow. He tilted his head at Abby. “You said you wanted to talk? Let’s talk.”
Yeah right.I shook my head, getting ready to back up her brutal rejection of him.
Sighing, Abby turned to her brother. “You don’t want this?” She ripped up the paper on Jeggle Island that she’d tried to push into his hands. The pieces floated to the sidewalk as she got into the passenger side of Hunter’s SUV.
“What are you doing?” Jessie followed her, looking stern. His building rage reminded me of Pete’s, and I knew exactly where that would get him. The trees behind us seemed to swallow the sun as Jessie’s hands landed over the glossy black door. “You’renotgoing with him.”
“Ha! You think you can stop me again?” She tossed her blonde hair, glaring at him through the open window. “You’re right, Jessie. Iamgetting out of this town, and not only that? I’m going to make a life for myself and it’s going to beamazing! I’m not going to let you do anything stupid to get in the way of that.”
“Are you kidding me right now?” Jessie dropped his tough guy act and lowered his voice, “Abby… you promised you wouldn’t do this.”
“You heard your sweet little sis,” Hunter leaned over Abby to taunt him through the window. “Guess if you want things to go your way, you’ll work on our terms. Talk to you soon.” The window sliced up, shutting off further argument. Hunter drove off like he’d picked Abby up for a date.
My mouth took a moment to work. “Did your sister really just go with them?”
“Yeah,” he grumbled. His eyes went to the scraps of paper she’d thrown to our feet. Leaning down, he picked them off the sidewalk almost mindlessly, like he was so used to cleaning up her messes that he just didn’t think about it anymore. “This is my fault,” he whispered. “I’ve been trying to get her away from them, but… she’s just like my old man. She’s got a self-destructive streak.”
There were scraps of their argument that wouldn’t leave me. An ache of foreboding twisted my stomach. “Did she…”break into that FBI warehouse when you didn’t?Bette Ann was standing right here or I’d ask him more, but now everything was starting to make sense. He’d do anything to keep his sister safe.
And it didn’t look like she wanted to be rescued.
Biting my lip, I turned to Bette Ann. “Thank you for coming when you did.”
“Those were the ones chasing you the other night, weren’t they?” Bette Ann gave me one of those lecturing looks she treated me to when I’d been a child. “What’s going on?”
“I…”wasn’t sure what to say. “They think we have something that belongs to them.”
“Do you?” she asked sharply.
“No… definitely not.”
She steadied herself, even while she worked on calming her dog. “I think I can help you, but…” Her glare went to Jessie. “I’m afraid he’s the one who got you into this mess. You sure you don’t want me to help you get away from him?”
Jessie and I both squawked out sounds of protest. “Bette Ann,” I cried. That was the last thing I needed right now. I could still pick up these pieces… if I could just figure out what they all were! “It’s not like that. Abby’s being… difficult.”
“That’s not what I saw in that tavern the other night.”
I swallowed at the reminder of Divine. I glanced over at Jessie, who didn’t seem to be doing so well. He’d turned pale after losing his sister, and Bette Ann’s aspersions were just another slam against him. “It’s not what you think,” I said.
She shrugged. “Does it matter what I think? You should come to me before you get in over your head.”
I wasn’t sure what that meant, but it didn’t sound good. I ducked when the patrol vehicle stopped to the side of us. Grabbing Jessie’s arm, I dragged him away while Bette Ann stopped to talk to the officers. I might’ve even recognized Officer Randy in the passenger side with that same bored look he always had.
Crabb family domestic disturbances were an everyday occurrence.
“C’mon,” I whispered to Jessie. “Let’s get home before anything else happens.”
“Too late,” he muttered. Glancing up, I saw Robert Corwin ahead of us on the street. My stomach clenched. We weren’t getting any breaks today.
With the patrol vehicle at our backs, and the threat of Hunter and his allies free to close in on us in a secluded alleyway, we chose to pass Robert on the busy street on our way out. Jessie picked up his pace, and I had the same idea of trying to plow our way through. Nothing was stopping us now.
Robert dug his reddened fists into his thick coat pockets as we passed. His wild eyes looked just as red against his florid cheeks. “Just tell me one thing,” he called out to me. “Did you get that locket delivered to you?”
“The—the locket?” I stopped short. But… that had come from Luther…just like that note.I rolled my eyes at myself.
Jessie grabbed at my hands, but I planted my feet. I wasn’t running away anymore. I had to know if Robert had sent the other half of Crabb’s pendant. “That was from you?”
He nodded. Slowly. But why had he given it to me? I was shocked. He’d been the last to see Matthew. It made sense that he had it, but did that mean he’d release the cane to us too? It seemed too unbelievable.
