Page 13 of Being Lost

“Trace what?” he asks, his voice hardening.

Evading his hold, I stare at my hands, picking at invisible dirt under my fingernails. His fingers come under my chin again.

“Trace what?” he enquires again, this time with the touch of a growl in his voice. When I still don’t reply, he sighs. “Look. I haven’t got any kids, but I know it must be fuckin’ hard, leaving a daughter behind and not having any contact. Even if she’s grown and doesn’t need her mom everyday anymore.”

“She still lived at home, with me,” I offer as justification for my actions before I admit what they were. “I saw her every day. She was my best friend, and I, hers.”

“Patsy, tell me. What did you do?” His tone is patient, but there’s a tick in his jaw.

I take a breath, then let him know what I did. There was no harm in it. I’d been careful and had covered my tracks. In fact, I’m quite proud of myself. “I bought a cheap phone. I called Beth, just to find out if she was okay.”

His eyes close for a second, then he asks, tersely, “Where is this phone now?”

“I dumped it immediately afterward. It wasn’t my number. No one could have traced it.” I almost finish withta daseeing how clever I’d been. I’d briefly heard my daughter’s voice, guiltily, I admit, ending the call after only checking she was alright, and no one was any the wiser.

“You led them right to your door.”

What?No. I couldn’t have. It’s my turn to shake my head. “If it were Alder, and there surely can’t be anyone else interested in us, he can’t know where we live. He won’t even know I called her.”

His eyebrows rise. “He’ll know. And darlin’ if you called from this house—”

“I went to La Jolla,” I tell him quickly with a roll of my eyes. “I was nowhere near here.” Despite my earlier confidence that I’d done nothing wrong, little doubts begin to settle in.

He breathes out. “Thank goodness for small miracles, but this Alder will know the city you live in, and that will narrow his search.”

I don’t understand. “But how? How can he trace an unknown number from a phone I never used before nor will use again?”

He breathes deeply before explaining how stupid I’ve been. “He can’t. But he could be tracking calls to hers.”

I pull away from him and stand, wrapping my arms around my body. “No, it’s impossible. He wouldn’t know how.”

Lost speaks patiently, as if to a child. “Alder smuggles drugs across the border. If he’s what I suspect, he’s likely to have a huge transport network, routes he can shift when he knows the border control are stepping up on their searches. I assure you, he’ll be utilising every fuckin’ piece of technology he can get his hands on, babe. He might not be inclined that way himself, but he’ll employ someone to do it for him.”

I suppose I’m remembering Alder as the sleazy man who was married to Phil’s sister, not as the man who’s become a kingpin in a drug network. At my son’s mock funeral, he’d been well dressed, even I could see his suit was made to measure and not off the rack. Of course he’d have minions to do his work for him.

Suddenly, though the room isn’t cold, goosebumps arise on my skin as the realities sink in. “If you’re right, I’ve blown Dan’s cover.” I turn to him anxiously. “What would he know? That I’d called her, or would someone have listened to what was said?” I go over the phone call in my head. The delighted sound of Beth’s voice as I’d checked in. Our assurances both of us were okay. I hadn’t mentioned Dan, or had I? Suddenly I remember, I certainly had. I’d confirmed both of us were okay and were settling in.

Lost stares at me, a concerned look in his eyes. “From this call, would he know that a dead man was alive?”

I hate to admit it, but it is a possibility. “I called him Dan, not Connor. Maybe anyone listening thought I’d moved to be with a man.” I glance at him, but he doesn’t look hopeful. “Do you really think he’s looking for us, Lost? Is that why you’re here? That message you got…?”

“Was a warning, babe. For us to be on our toes. And worst-case scenario? I think Alder knows your son is alive, and that you’re both here in San Diego.”

I’d messed up, and badly. I’m shaking as I probe to discover just how deep a hole I’d dug. “What are the chances of his finding us? It’s a big city, he doesn’t know our new family name, and Connor’s Dan now. Dan’s job only knows his new identity, not who he was before. All our documents are in our new names.”

“If I were Alder, I’d get a private investigator looking into you. People buying or renting a house at a time which fits the dates. Heck, new employees starting jobs. What about you? Do you work, babe?”

“I do, but I work from home. I’m a designer, and all my stuff is emailed to the company which uses my designs. And before you ask, Cad, the computer guy back in Colorado, did something to my laptop which hides my IP address and makes it seem like anything I send comes from somewhere else.”

Grimacing and again shaking his head, Lost tells me, “I honestly don’t know what info he’s got, but under the circumstances, I take the message to increase your security seriously.”

In which case, I should too. I think of the only people who could help. “Dan needs to go to the feds and get them to relocate us.”

Chapter Five

Lost

From the moment I stepped inside this house, or broke in to be more accurate, I was taken by Patsy. The girls at the clubhouse I can take em’ or leave em’, and in recent years do the latter. I’m not a man who’s turned on by women half my age, preferring someone more mature who I can have a conversation with, and one who’s not expecting an athletic man who can keep at it for hours. Nowadays I can manage once, then am satisfied just to cuddle and sleep after.

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