“Everything will be okay,” the officer says. “You’re not being held against your will anymore, although we do need to take you downtown to ask you some questions.”
“Taking me downtown is holding me against my will, unlike Elijah!” I spit. “Leave me alone.”
“Ma’am, we just need to ask you a few questions?”
“Shoot first and ask questions later right? Seems like you got all the quote-unquote answers from my dad already.”
“You’d been kidnapped. We had no choice but to respond and frankly, you’re lucky we got to you in time before he took you out of state. Then it could have been much more difficult to track you down.”
“Uh!” I exhale in frustration, making fists by my side as I stomp my feet. I can feel a throbbing forehead vein I didn’t even know I had as I clench my jaw so hard my teeth ache. I sneer at the officer and then cock my head to one side, shaking it in disbelief.
“If you could just please come with us down to the station.”
“I’ll answer your questions when I’m good and ready if I’m ever ready. Don’t hold your breath.”
“But ma’am,” he says, holding out his hand, and then I catch his eyes raking over me. Are you kidding me right now?
“Am I under arrest?”
“No, but—“
“But nothing. Goodbye,” I say over my should as I take off in a jog in the opposite direction before they find some lame made-up charge to book me for.
I don’t have time for it. As a matter of fact, I don’t have time for any of it. I keep running but it’s hard to catch my breath, a sob catching in the middle of my throat and not letting go.
I race to Elijah’s boat, remembering how he’d stashed cash in various places. Catching him pulling back a board underneath one of the cushions and removing five thousand dollars before pulling back a loose board underneath the floorboard and pulling out another five large. Surely that boat has other secrets, and if it does I’m determined to find them.
I’m likely going to need some money to pay his bail bond, and better yet maybe he has a fake passport that he can use to get away with. Then again considering he was trafficking illegal consumables, or at least that’s how I’m guessing cigars are classified, from another country to the U.S., he’s probably considered a flight risk. Throw in a fake kidnapping charge that might stick and there’s no way he’s getting out on bail, let alone skating out of the country.
I make it back to the boat and start knocking on all the boards and fiberglass I can, trying to detect a sound that might lead me to guess where he’s hiding things. I’m not about to rip apart his beautiful boat just in hopes of finding something that might not be there.
After a solid half an hour I’m no closer to determining where he might have anything hidden than when I started.
“Why does it have to be this way!” I say, stomping my foot like a kid throwing a tantrum, my foot going through the floorboard.
“Shit! I broke his boat.”
Quickly I’m down on my knees accessing the damage when I notice a ziplock bag stuffed down inside the little crack I just opened. Being careful not to pull up the floorboard more than it already is, I wiggle my small hand down and pull the bag up, noticing a piece of paper with a very federal, official-looking seal on it. I take it out and read it and my heart drops.
There’s only one thing to do now.
10
Emma
“Rescind the accusations you made,” I demand, stomping my feet.
“Don’t you get it? This is our chance,” dad says, taking another swig from the bottle on the couch.
“This is your chance, to do the right thing for once in your life.”
“Don’t you question me, young lady. You know damn well the only source of income in this family is yours, and I need you back here working. Not to mention how do you plan on paying back Elijah, because you know sure as shit I don’t have the money.”
I shake my head. “Dad, you’re trying to ruin a man’s life, a man who you were once friends with, business associates with even though that business you two were mixed up in wasn’t exactly legal.”
“Which is exactly why he went to prison and not me. He’s the bad guy here. I’m your father, trying to protect you.”
My head drops and I shake it, pulling the piece of paper from my pocket and handing it to him.