Page 111 of This Love
I halted. Should I keep going? This place was so good.
The man spoke in a low, rumbling voice. “Nice night we’re having.”
He was the first person who’d ever talked directly to me. I didn’t know what to say back. Was this a nice night? It was dark and colder than the day.
He didn’t seem to mind that I hadn’t answered him. “The bus will be here in fifteen minutes.”
A bus. I could get around town on a bus. Get far away fast.
I smashed myself into the opposite corner of the bench and set my bag on my lap. I pulled the notebook out.
“You like to read?” he asked.
I opened my mouth. Instead of words, I coughed. My throat felt raw. Eventually, I managed to say, “Yes.” The sound was strange to my ears.
I hoped that by answering his question, I could get to the rest of the story, but he kept going. “My mama used to read to me. Did yours?”
I had no idea, but based on what I knew of her, I said, “I don’t think so.”
He grunted and took another swig. He seemed to be done talking, so I returned to my story. I needed to finish. Then I would know everything, and I could decide what to do.
Chapter 43
Tucker
As night fell, despair blanketed the room.
Gram continued rocking Tad, who had taken his first bottle. Or an ounce of one, anyway.
Marcus called everyone under the sun, pacing with his ear to the phone. The shelter. The police. Hospital staff. The volunteer agency that walked parts of Austin to help the unhoused, the hungry, the lost.
The only thing he hadn’t made headway with was getting the hospital to turn over the security footage. There were procedures for that due to HIPPA laws, and the offices had already closed.
But he had a lawyer ready to go after them the moment the administrative offices reopened.
He glanced over at me. “We should have had twenty-four-hour care for her the minute she got pregnant. Someone who stayed with her no matter what.”
Ava wouldn’t have wanted that. But I understood his frustration. His fear. Ava was out there, post-partum, post-surgery, alone, no money, no help. She could be kidnapped, trafficked, abused.
I stood up abruptly. I couldn’t think like that. Ava was smart. And suspicious. She had most likely holed up somewhere until she figured something out.
Tina had made it into town and offered to stay at Gram’s in case Ava showed up there. Maya was waiting at the duplex. Harry was standing guard at Ava’s old apartment, and his staff was watching for her at his diner.
The hospital was shutting down, and only the emergency room entrance would be accessible soon. But the security guards knew to watch for a confused woman who might come up to any door. We had to trust they would notice her.
Sheila didn’t work at the shelter anymore, but Beatrice, who served as the director now, said she’d be watching for anyone with Ava’s description.
Bill and Kenisha had put posters on all the telephone polls in the area and signs in the business windows. Marcus had convinced the police to put out an APB on her, even though normally you had to wait twenty-four hours. He was good like that. He knew the right people to call to get things done.
He spoke into his phone after a long pause. “Be ready to go before a judge the moment the courts open. I’m going to push this. I want to see the moment she left her room on that footage.” Then he shoved his phone in his pocket and stared out at the night.
The room got quiet, so we all startled when he said, “We have to call her.”
We all knew who he meant.
Gram shook her head. “Ava didn’t want her mother here.”
“It’s where she ended up last time,” Marcus said.
