Page 90 of Second Chance

“You will.”

It’s a wrench to leave, to hurry to his car. Tony looks over his shoulder at least twenty times. Every set of headlights down the road, every sign of life disrupting the tiny slot of time he has to get Daniel out of there sends his pulse racing.

The trip to Rhinebeck is some of the worst driving Tony’s done since he got his license. He’s lucky it’s so late, and the road is largely empty. By the time he gets home, he’s walked through the facts in his head so often they’ve stopped feeling real.

He should call the police. He can’t call the police. He has to call the police. It’s the only rational thing he could possibly do, and Daniel is totally blinded by—whatever. Tony can’t call the police without getting all of them into more trouble. With any luck, Detective Taylor found some incriminating fingerprints on the knife, and she’ll arrest Lily without Tony having to lift a finger. Then, they’ll only have to explain why they didn’t call. Again.

The thought drags a high-pitched laugh out of Tony. Christ, he’s losing it. Maybe it’s because it’s past midnight, and he’s running on about four and a half hours of sleep since Daniel first went missing.

The lights are still on in the apartment when he gets in. Lisa and Blake are under the covers on the foldout couch. Lisa’s got her hair in a scrunched-up bun on the top of her head and her knees drawn up tight. They’re both still sitting up, neither of them trying to sleep.

“Having a slumber party?” Tony asks as he sets his keys down by the door.

“Tony!” Lisa struggles fully upright through the blanket. “Where have you been? We were getting worried.”

Tony lets himself fall into the chair beside the couch. “It’s a long story. And I’m going to need your help.”

“Literally what we’re here for.”

“Okay.” Tony leans forward. “I found Daniel.”

It takes longer to summarize the whole story than Tony wants when he can barely stop himself from turning right back around to Germantown to make sure Daniel’s still all right, from Lily’s increasing instability to Daniel’s crazy text message plan to the difficulty they now find themselves in.

“Daniel doesn’t want to call the cops?” Lisa frowns. “It sounds like Lily definitely did it though. And like she’s…unstable to begin with.”

“Yeah.” Tony clenches his jaw. It takes real effort not to get mad that he’s sitting here defending this incredibly stupid choice. “I think he wants her in a better place to advocate for herself at the very least. Last year…last year, Andrew was institutionalized, Colette was arrested, and Daniel couldn’t do anything to help either of them. I think he wants to help as much as he can before it’s too late. Especially after…”

“After?” Blake prompts.

“After Mario.”

Neither of them says anything, but their bated silence might as well be a question. Beyond his existence and his name, Tony hasn’t told them much about Mario. It’s sweet they still aren’t pushing him to.

“Lily…she was in love with him. She said he never…got physical with her, but we don’t know how much he encouraged her feelings. It seems likely he did, at least in some way.”

Blake picks at a loose thread on the blanket. “What a shitstain.”

“My thoughts exactly.”

“Okay.” Lisa considers. “So, you have an extremely vulnerable girl—young woman—whatever, on some drug. She’s armed, violent, and presumably not in her right mind, and your mild-mannered professor boyfriend is… Okay, he’s not trapped, but he feels responsible for keeping her safe, and the goal is to get the girl and the professor out unscathed.”

“When you put it that way that, it could be a video game.”

“I am in the process of writing a proposal for Bethesda as we speak,” Lisa assures him. “I’m also wondering what we can possibly do to help. I’m happy to call in sick to work and come to Germantown with you, but I’m also no good in a fight.”

“No fighting,” Tony says instantly. “We do not want any fighting to happen this time.”

“This time,” Blake repeats faintly.

Tony glares him into silence. “There are two problems. First, we need to get them out. I can do it with a decent crowbar and some bolt cutters. Daniel says Lily doesn’t want to leave and get help, though, so we need to convince her.”

“One problem is solved with bolt cutters,” Blake says. “Something else for your video game proposal, Lisa.”

“No, that wasn’t one of the problems.”

Blake groans.

“We don’t know what she’s on. We don’t know if she’ll go into detox, or come down badly, or whatever else once we get her out. That’s where you come in.”

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