Page 115 of The Sound Of Us

“Eli came in here this morning. He told me to tell you to contact him as soon as possible if you come in and then your husband came in here about twenty minutes ago, asking where you are. What the fuck is going on?”

“Are there customers out there?” I ask.

“No.”

“Okay, Casey, I want you to listen to me carefully. I have a gun in my pocket. It’s loaded.”

She jumps back. “Axel, what the fuck—”

I hold up my hands, palms out. “It’s not mine. It’s Frank’s.” I shake my head. “It’s not even Frank’s.”

She stares at me like I’ve lost my mind. I think I have.

“He said he was going to file a missing person’s report.”

“Fuck. Casey, I’m sorry to do this to you, but I need to get rid of this gun. I was going to throw it in the woods, but I got scared that Frank would find me before I got here.”

“Oh my God, Axel. We need to call Ben. He'll know what to do.” Casey digs into her pocket for her phone.

“No, he's in his exam; he doesn't know what happened. I didn't want to stress him out.”

“He hasn't yet started,” Casey says. She puts the phone on loudspeaker. “Ben? I’m sorry, I know you’re getting ready to write—”

“Casey? Everything okay? I start in five minutes. I asked to make an emergency call.”

“Don’t freak out. Axel's with me. And Pepper. Something happened.”

“Don’t tell me not to freak out when you start like that. What the hell happened? Axel?”

I take the phone from Casey. “Ben, Frank found out. He found out last night. I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I didn't want to stress you out.”

“Oh my fuck.”

“That’s not the worst part. Eli’s mom had a heart attack, so he had to leave. I was gonna leave with him, but Frank locked me in the house. I managed to get away, but I have his gun.”

“Gun? What fucking gun, Ax?”

I can’t believe I lived with that gun for nearly ten years and I never told anyone. Not even Ben.

“He has a gun, Ben. But I took it so I could get out. But now I don’t know what to do with it and I need to get onto a flight at eight a.m. tomorrow.”

“Okay. Don’t panic. Take Pepper and the gun and go to my house. Wait for me there.”

“Okay.”

“Dude, it’s like a movie,” Casey says. “You better go out the back. Your husband said he’ll come back to check. He sounded so worried.”

I scoff. Worried? That was just so people don’t guess what a monster he really is.

Chapter 60

Axel

“I have a suit,” Ben says.

I survived the night. Ben came and got rid of the gun. Once he knows I’m on the plane, he’ll call the sheriff and let them know he found a gun somewhere in the woods.

Frank came banging on Ben’s door around ten p.m. But Ben sent him away with a stern warning that he’d better find me, and in one piece. Frank bought the whole thing.

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