Page 103 of Run Away With Me

‘Brooke?’ I asked again, louder.

She turned up the volume on the TV.

‘Police in Seattle, Washington, have today confirmed they believe there to be a connection between missing schoolgirl Jessie Swift and the murder of Mitchell Covier in the Greenwood area of the city almost two weeks ago. Swift, who is seventeen, hasn’t been seen since the day Covier’s body was discovered, and police are concerned for her welfare. Detective O’Sullivan spoke to reporters earlier.’

‘We have significant evidence to suggest that Jessie is alive and traveling across the country with person or persons currently unknown. Her mother is distraught and desperate for Jessie to be returned safely. Anyone with any information about Jessie or her whereabouts can contact their local police department.’

‘Was Jessie kidnapped?’

‘No comment.’

‘Is Jessie being treated as a suspect in the murder of Mitchell Covier?’

‘No comment.’

I reached over and took the remote out of Brooke’s hand, and clicked off the TV.

The silence that enveloped the room was somehow worse.

‘What,’ she said, ‘the actual fuck, Jessie?’

I sat down on the bed so I could face her. My hands were suddenly ice-cold, and I felt sick to my stomach. I couldn’t hide this from her anymore. I couldn’t protect her anymore, either.

‘You said.’ My voice came out quieter than I wanted. Mouse-like. ‘You said you wouldn’t ask me, and I wouldn’t ask you.’

‘I didn’t realize you had killed someone when we made that deal!’ she shrieked.

I held my hands out, hoping to calm her down before things escalated.

‘I didn’t kill anyone. I didn’t kill him, Brooke. I swear to God.’

She collapsed back against the ugly orange couch, and it took me a moment to notice that her hands were trembling. She was scared.

Of me.

‘This is ridiculous,’ she said, shaking her head. ‘You’re running from the cops? You’ve been running from them this whole time?’

‘What else was I supposed to do?’

‘Literally anything else?’ she said incredulously. She shook her head. ‘I can’t believe you kept this from me.’

‘I had to,’ I said, my voice cracking. ‘I couldn’t tell you or you would’ve dumped me in the middle of nowhere.’

‘I would never have done that to you.’

‘I didn’t know that at the time!’

Everything was starting to crumble, and I had no idea what to do next. I didn’t know how to fix things withBrooke, how to apologize, how to keep running when it was clear the cops were hot on our trail. I didn’t know how to keep going forward, and I knew, for absolutely certain, that I couldn’t go back.

‘I didn’t kill him,’ I said again, more forcefully this time.

‘But someone killed him?’

I nodded. ‘Someone did, yeah.’

Her big, brown eyes grew hard, and I hated that I was the one who had put that expression in them. ‘How do you know that?’

The spiky fingers of fear clawed at my throat, and I shook my head, not knowing what would come out if I opened my mouth.

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