Focused, p.26
Focused, page 26
part #2 of True Images Series
I looked up and wrinkled my nose. “Well that was romantic.”
He shrugged and smiled teasingly. “Hey, it’s just different. Usually your hair smells like strawberries. I’ve always wondered if that’s where it gets that red color that’s tangled in with the blond.”
“Great. Now my hair is tangled.”
His smile was not repentant. He pulled lightly at one of my curls, loosening a bobby pin, and I hurried to push it back in. “Stop it. You’re going to make the whole thing come down, and I’ll never fix it on my own.”
“Would it be the end of the world?”
“Yes. For once I get to look as perfect as you do.”
His finger caught my chin and lifted it up so that I had to look at him. His expression was stern, so I looked back down, though all I could see was his chin. It was better than seeing the reproach in his eyes. “When will you ever realize how beautiful and amazing you are?”
“I believe it sometimes. But sometimes I feel lost inside my own skin.”
He pulled me close and said, “Boy, do I know what you mean. But whoever you are, and whatever this is between us, it’s the thing that is most right in my life. You know what I mean?”
I nodded and relaxed against him. The words of Olivia’s song caught at me. “Hold me tight or I’ll get carried away.”
Chapter 27
Lee
Sienna’s fingers were clinging to mine as we walked out into the hallway for a break from the crowd and the music. She only let go to walk over to a water fountain for a drink. After the too sweet punch, I decided I wanted a drink too. Tuxedos were blasted hot.
As I took a few steps in that direction though, I felt my phone vibrating in my coat pocket. I took it out and saw that it was my mom. Why in the world was she calling during prom? “Yeah, Mom? What’s up?”
“You aren’t going to believe it. Arkansas is here.”
“What? Where is here?”
“They’re following me to the school. They want to sign you for a scholarship position.”
I glanced up at Sienna, and saw that she was politely looking in at the gym, giving me privacy. “Great,” I said, feeling the inadequacy of the word, especially considering the excitement building inside me. But I wanted to have everything signed and squared away before I told Sienna what was going on. I turned my back to Sienna and walked further away. “They’re coming now? Why aren’t we doing it at the signing event tomorrow?
“They know you were going to be signing with Arizona tomorrow if they didn’t come through. They freed up a scholarship position for you. I don’t know how, but they did.”
“Where?” I asked shortly.
“Coach Webb is meeting us in his office. We’re going to do it there since you’re already at the gym. But don’t tell anyone or it might turn into a crazy mess. Just sneak away. We’ll be there in ten minutes.”
She hung up and I stood looking stupidly at my phone. “Nothing like getting a heads up.”
“Everything okay?” Sienna asked as I walked up next to her and rested my hand on her hip.
Her eyes were curious, but I knew she wouldn’t push for an explanation. “It’s great. I’m going to have to slip away for a minute—not long though. Do you mind?”
There was surprise and curiosity in her face, but she only said. “No, I guess not. I’ll be fine.”
“Thanks. I’ll fill you in later.”
So a few minutes later, I walked across to the far end of the gym where only a few teachers talked along the back wall. A faint light was spilling out onto the floor from the locker room hallway now though it had been dark all night, so I knew Coach Webb was already there. I walked towards his office, and as I came to the end of the short hallway, I heard the exterior door at the other end of the hall that intersected it open. My mom stepped briskly inside. There were a few dark spots from rain on her silk shirt, and a sharp wind that barreled through the narrow opening nearly blew her skirt up. She caught at it with one hand and held the door open behind her so it didn’t bang shut on the two men that followed her. One was tall and thin, one was short and beefy. They both wore U of A jackets, and one carried a briefcase.
I was staring stupidly at them when a firm hand gripped my shoulder from the side. I glanced over at Coach Webb, who had come out of his office. “Ready, Lee?”
I hoped so.
Chapter 28
Sienna
When Lee slipped away, curiosity was burning in me like a red coal, but I forced myself to be patient. I’d find out what was going on sooner or later. I wandered around and found Marisol and Will seated at a table with Parker and Olivia. I sat in the chair next to Parker and kicked my heels off under the table with a sigh of relief.
“Wasn’t Olivia amazing?” Mari asked me.
I glanced, smiling, at Olivia. “Of course. Was there any doubt?”
“Thanks, guys,” Olivia said. “That was…” she trailed off as she looked up into the twinkling lights strung over our heads as though she might find the words she wanted up there. “That was the biggest adrenalin high I’ve ever had. I could totally turn into a performance junkie.”
We all laughed, but I noticed that although Parker had his arm around her and smiled a little, his attention was focused on his phone. A few seconds later, his expression became grave.
The conversation continued on to the band, but I had a gut feeling something was wrong. “Parker, what is it?”
He hesitated, but leaned toward me and said in a voice just loud enough that I could hear it above the music, “I’m going to have to leave soon.”
“You’re not going out to the Murphy’s are you. Are you even sure they’re moving stuff tonight?”
For answer, he tilted his phone screen towards me. I saw the feed from one of his cameras. There was a large metal building some ways back with a large moving truck parked in front of it and dark figures moving back and forth between them. It was only possible to see because of the two flood lights on either side of the building and the light that came out of the door. Everywhere the light didn’t reach was black.
“Have you called the police?” I asked.
He snorted. “Of course. Do you think they believed me?” He shook his head. “No, there’s no way they’d believe that their hero brother would have turned criminal.”
“Tell them you have proof?”
“What kind of proof do I have? I have a video but no proof of where it is being streamed from. The only thing I can prove, in fact, without getting the police out there to see for themselves, is that I have been trespassing and planting video equipment. I’m not about to tell them that. I never meant to use it for anything but my use. No, there’s only one thing I can do.”
“What?” I asked, my mind searching for a solution to the problem but coming up blank.
“I’m going to go out there and make a 911 call. When they’ve almost had time to get out there, I’m going to get myself caught. The police have to investigate every call.”
“Parker!” I shrieked. He immediately made a hushing sign to me with his hands and I clapped a hand over my mouth, looking around. “I don’t care,” I said, which was proven false by my whispering it. “That’s the single most stupid thing I’ve ever heard.”
“I don’t care. I’m going to clear my name. I don’t want to graduate with this hanging over me. I’d be a suspect the rest of my life unless they can find the real thieves.”
I stared at him feeling incredibly helpless and stupid. “Tell your mom.”
He raised an eyebrow. “They’re no sooner going to believe her than me. They’re starting to think she’s crazy down at the police station from the way she’s acted every time they’ve pulled me in for questioning.”
“But what if they hide you and the police never see you?” A sickening feeling made me catch my breath. “What if they hide your body?”
His face paled and he stilled for a second. “No, they wouldn’t do that. Besides, you’ll know where I am. And there will be my car to get rid of too. Besides, I won’t get caught until I want to. I’ve got a police scanner. I’ll be able to keep tabs on the situation – to some extent anyway.”
“But they’re leaving now. By the time prom is over, you’ll never get out there it time.”
He smiled a lopsided smile. “Oh, I’m leaving in just a minute. As soon as Olivia gets back up on stage.”
“Does she know?”
“Not precisely everything. And don’t tell her.”
So I sat there, with the music throbbing around me, people laughing, and dread gathering in my heart. I looked around, hoping Lee was coming back. He would help me stop Parker—convince him not to go. But he didn’t come back before Olivia was called back to the stage. Parker stood with her, kissed her cheek and watched with the rest of us as she made her way back up on stage.
He looked hard at me as he pulled his jacket from the back of his chair. My eyes pleaded with him, but he fished his keys out of his pocket and murmured, “Wish me luck. I’ll call you when it’s over. If you don’t hear from me in 30 minutes or so, well, something’s gone wrong.”
Of course I didn’t let him just walk out of there. I pulled my shoes back on and ran after him, pulling on his arm when I caught up. He kept walking. I continued trying to talk him out of it all the way to the parking lot, where I watched with complete helplessness as he got in his car and roared out of the parking lot.
All that was left for me to do was to wait. And pray. I did both while walking up and down the sidewalk in the parking lot. Then I remembered Lee, and hoped that maybe he’d come back. I ran into the gym again, and looked around for him everywhere. I called his phone, but it went to voicemail over and over again.
Finally, I saw the light coming from the locker room hallway and realized that he must have gone there. I walked a short way into the hallway, until I could see the back of Lee’s head, Lee’s mother sitting in a chair near him, and a couple of men I’d never seen before.
What I needed him for was important – urgent. Still, I couldn’t bring myself to knock on the door and interrupt whatever they were discussing so seriously. I stood in the gym, just beyond the light, pacing where I could see them but they would not see me. As soon as they were done, I’d go to him. He’d said it wouldn’t take too long.
As I paced, I checked the time on my phone, anxiously trying to determine what Parker would be doing at that particular time.
When thirty minutes passed with no word from Parker, I knew I had to find out someway if he was okay. I walked outside again for privacy, looking up the number for the police department as I went. I called explaining what I wanted to know to one person, then another. Finally, I got a brusque answer from a cranky lady who said that she couldn’t give out that kind of information.
“But I think my friend might be in trouble,” I told her, panic making it hard for me to speak.
“How long has it been since you’ve heard from him?” she asked.
“About thirty minutes.”
The moment of silence on the other end was telling. “Young Lady, have you been drinking or is this a prank call?”
“No, no. I don’t. I wouldn’t.”
“Look, miss, it’s prom night. I’m going to advise you to call 911 if this is an emergency. If not, don’t get yourself in trouble by making false reports. Goodbye.”
The call ended and I stared at it blankly. I knew one thing. Parker didn’t have time. He most likely needed help now. I needed to get to him.
Not only was Lee not available, there was no way under heaven Lee would take me out there, and I didn’t have my own car. I thought of calling my mom, but she and Alex had gone to the theater in Tulsa. There was no way they could get to me in time. All my friends were in prom behind me, but maybe…
Then it hit me. Layton. Was it possible?
Without giving myself a chance to think too much or talk myself out of it, I found his name in my contacts, and called him. He picked up on the third ring.
“Sienna?”
“Yeah. Hey. I have a favor to ask of you. I’m at prom and I need a ride somewhere. Can you come pick me up at the school, in front of the gym?”
“Sure. Is something wrong?”
“Yes. I’ll explain it all when you get out here. Could you hurry?”
“I’ll be there in ten,” he said, hanging up.
I was still pacing when he pulled up, in only eight minutes, for which I was thankful. Every minute seemed to last forever. In fact, just waiting for the car to come to a complete stop tried my patience.
I jumped into the front seat of the car, making sure to get the skirt of my dress out of the way before I shut the door.
“What’s wrong? Has that boyfriend of yours been…?”
I interrupted him. “No. Nothing like that. My friend Parker is in trouble and I need to get to him, but Lee is in a meeting or something.”
“Well, where am I taking you? You can fill me in as we drive.”
I thought about him taking me back to my house so that I could get my car, but it seemed like too much time to waste. “Layton, my friend Parker is out trying to bust the gang behind all the robberies. I think he might be in trouble. I need you to take me out to the Murphy’s place. It’s just outside of town on the east side.”
He applied the brakes, stopping in the middle of the empty road. “What?”
“Layton, drive. Just keep going.”
“Um, I don’t know what’s going on, but it sounds way too dangerous.”
“It is dangerous, and that’s where Parker is. That’s why I need to get out there.”
“No, that’s exactly why you need to call the police.”
“I have called the police, but they didn’t listen to me.” I looked sideways at the expression of mingled alarm and confusion on Layton’s face and realized that he wasn’t going to listen to me either. At least, he was going to be harder to talk into this than I’d thought. “Look, Layton, do you want to be the reporter to break open the biggest crime story this town has ever seen? Think what it would do for your career.”
“I am thinking. It could end it prematurely by ending me,” he said.
“Look, at least drop me off. I’m not asking you to do any more than that. Please?”
He stared at me for a moment, then shook his head like he thought he was crazy. “Sure. Like I can just leave you there.” Despite his sarcasm, he didn’t say anything else and started driving again.
I relaxed against the seat for a second, only then realizing that I’d been sitting on the edge of my seat, craned around to look at him. Well, maybe relaxed wasn’t the right word. I was too keyed up. It was more like I collapsed against the seat.
The only talk that passed between us was about how to get to the Murphy’s property, but when he followed my directions and turned into the long, winding, tree-lined driveway, he said, “This had better be a good story.”
“I’m pretty sure it couldn’t get better than retired, disabled police officer heads crime ring of teenage thugs.”
He shrugged, but didn’t answer. He was creeping along the paved driveway, glancing around from side to side. “Where should I go? We can’t exactly pull up in front of the house.”
“We’d better find somewhere to leave the car soon or your headlights are going to give us away anyway.” I squinted into the darkness. A darker spot appeared in the trees up ahead. “Is that a clearing?”
He followed the direction of my pointing finger and eased his car off the road into the trees. There was just enough room for the car, and branches of bushes and low hanging limbs made it hard to open the doors and get out. Layton was grumbling under his breath, but at least he didn’t have to maneuver in a long dress and heels.
“What do you want to do now?” he asked.
“Let’s walk the rest of the way up, but stay close to the trees so we can hide if we need to.”
He nodded and moved out ahead of me. The clouds overhead meant there was no moon to light the road in front of us, so we had to move slowly. My eyes adjusted to the darkness, but walking down a dark road, practically in a ditch, in heels, would have been a lot easier if I could see. I reached out and grabbed the back of Layton’s shirt to steady myself, and once, I pulled on him hard to keep from falling over a slippery tree root.
“You okay?” He asked.
Instead of answering, I asked, “Why did this have to happen tonight? That’s what I want to know. Any other night of my life and I would have been wearing tennis shoes.”
“Makes sense if you think about it. What better night to slip past the police than when they’re all focused on prom? There will be drunk drivers and underage parties all over town.”
“Darn it. I meant to text Lee. He’s probably wondering where I am by now.” Luckily, my phone was still clutched in my left hand, though I hadn’t been thinking about it as I got out of the car. I let go of Layton’s shirt and stopped to text Lee.
“Don’t you think you should wait till we get off this road?”
“Just a sec,” I said, my eyes and fingers busy.
When the text was sent, I turned my phone to silent and stuffed it down the front of my dress since I didn’t have any pockets, and grabbed Layton’s shirt again. By the time we made it to the top of the hill, the wind was gusting. The trees all around us were starting to bend sideways under the force of it, and my dress was glued to my legs. My hair was being blown loose of its pins and I had to constantly fight it to keep it out of my eyes. Fat rain drops began landing on us with increasing frequency.
“Great,” Layton said. “We’re going to get soaked.
“Who cares?” I said, though I was becoming thoroughly miserable.
The driveway opened onto a big, grassy clearing, lit by a big light on a tall pole. Directly in front of us was a brick house with a long wheelchair ramp leading from the driveway up to the raised front porch. Caleb’s truck was parked in front of the garage, and a lamp glowed through the big window in the front of the house.
“The storage buildings are probably in back,” I said.
