“I’ll try.”
He slid into the car, and I climbed in as well and pulled out of the parking lot. As we approached the gate, the security guard admitted us through without even glancing at the car. About five minutes later, Ari inched closer to me and placed his head on my shoulder. I had to slow down and drive with one hand while I wrapped the other around him.
“I’m so happy,” he said.
“Me too.” And I was. I found myself smiling until a police car behind us flashed its lights. Just great. I really needed to get the hurtful words off my car. Ari straightened and looked over his shoulder.
“What are you doing?” Ari asked when I put on my indicator.
“I’m stopping so we can talk to the officer. It’ll be fine.”
“No, no, it won’t. Don’t stop.”
The flashing lights were getting closer. “What? I have to pull over.”
I made to turn over, but Ari yanked at the steering wheel.
“What the hell, Ari!” I pushed him gently back into his seat. “What’s wrong with you?”
“Please trust me. You can’t stop.”
“Why not? You’re not making any sense.”
Ari took a sharp intake of breath. He gripped the sides of the seat and craned his neck to check out the police car.
“You just can’t.”
“If I don’t get a good explanation… Hell, I’m still pulling over.”
Ari grasped my thigh, his grip so hard it hurt. “You can’t stop because there’s a dead body in your trunk.”
“Jesus, Ari, I’m being serious here.”
“I swear it’s true, Daddy. I’ll explain it later to you, but you can’t stop.”
I watched Ari and found no trace of deception on his face. He was telling the truth. I didn’t know how or why, but I had a dead body in the trunk of my car with the police flagging us down.
What the hell was I going to do?