I couldn’t be sure how much time had passed. I’d dozed off for what might have been a minute but could have been an hour. The pain emanating from my back dulled all other senses, physical and emotional. I didn’t fight it. Numb was where I wanted to be. The only road sign we’d passed was for Madawaska, but I wasn’t sure if I’d seen it or dreamt it. I kept fading in and out. There was a border crossing there and it could be where we were headed unless Lucas had his own personal backdoor. We were travelling down a one-lane highway. It was dark and tree-lined. The only lights came from logging trucks roaring past, thousands of pounds strapped to their back. When I was young, I was afraid of those trucks. What if the cinch let go and a multitude of limbs and trunks rolled onto the car I was in? I leaned my head back against the seat thinking that I would welcome that end now. Snap, I willed each one as it past.
In the headlights a Border Crossing came into view and a sign for Edmundston. Lucas began to slow the car. This could be my chance for escape, my only chance. They would ask our business in Canada and want to see my passport. What would he show them?
Lucas stopped beside the guardhouse and a uniformed officer stepped up to his window. There was a gun hanging from his belt. I closed my eyes and relaxed. This man would want information that Lucas couldn’t give. I was about to be freed.
“Ahh, Lucas,” the guard said.
My eyes flew open and I turned my head to see the two men shaking hands through the window.
“Alain, how goes it with you tonight?” Lucas asked.
“Very well and you too I hope?”
“Yes, yes. Returning from a party. A very nice evening.”
“Glad to hear it, sir.”
Alain stepped back and waved us through.
“Wait,” I said straightening up as best I could. I winced as I peeled my oozing back from the leather seat. I wasn’t letting this chance slip by.
Lucas looked at me annoyed. Alain bent and looked through the window past Lucas to me. “Yes, Mademoiselle? A smile played across his face.
“I have to go to the bathroom.”
I turned to Lucas. “Can we stop, please?”
“Inside, to your right.” Alain pointed toward the building.
Lucas grunted and turned the car into the lot, parking in front of the building to our left. A sign over the door read, Welcome Visitors.
He took me by the elbow and steered me inside to the ladies room. There were no windows above the stalls as I’d hoped. No windows at all. I glanced into the mirror, recoiling at what I saw. One side of my face, the side that had connected with Isaac’s hand and the front door, was the color of a summer sunset. My eye was already swollen shut and my cheek puffed to twice its normal size. I started to touch it, thought the better of it and dry heaved into the sink. I couldn’t bear to think of how close Griff and John had been. Another ten minutes and we’d have had Isaac and Lucas in handcuffs and I’d be riding home beside Griff, safe and sound and somewhat successful.
I rinsed my mouth and splashed cold water onto my face gently blotting it with a scratchy paper towel. They’d have no clue where I was unless Isaac talked and I didn’t think there was much chance of that. Unless Ruth stepped up with information it would be tough for Griff and John to press charges against Isaac. I hung my head over the sink and let the tears come. They ran over my cheeks, stinging the pulpy skin around my eyes. I’d wanted to hand over everything, Kira, Isaac, Stebbins and the rest of them and instead I’d given them an empty house. I looked in the mirror, groaning at the sight of myself and looked away. There was no Amy here to swoop in and fix things. No Griff. It was up to me. I took a breath. “Get your shit together. It’s not over yet. There’s a way out. Find it.”
I remembered passing an office on the way to the bathroom. There’d been a man inside at a desk and a telephone on the desk. I opened the bathroom door a crack. If I could just get to the office without Lucas seeing me, I could tell the man at the desk what was happening. I leaned my head into the hallway. There was no sign of Lucas. Stepping out of the ladies room I ran to the office pulled the door open and stepped inside. The man turned his head and looked at me. “Can I help you, mademoiselle?” the man asked.
From the corner of my eye I caught a glimpse of someone else in the room.
“She’s with me,” Lucas said stepping forward and taking my arm. “Have a good one, Charles.” He guided me through the door and back outside to the car.
Once we were in the car and out of view of the men inside he punched me. My neck snapped and my head hit the window. “Don’t be stupid,” he said. “I have no time to babysit. You do what I tell you or you become trash. You know what I do with trash?”.
I shook my head, wincing from the pain.
“I crush it with my hands and toss it in the nearest Dumpster. Are we clear?”
“Yes,” I whispered trying not to move my jaw.
“Good,” He pulled the car onto the road and we travelled in silence.
I wondered why Lucas had bought me, considering my identity and the risk that posed. But maybe Isaac hadn’t told him who I was. That would make sense. Isaac had found one last way to make money off me. But selling me to Lucas and neglecting to mention that I was a PI with a connection to the Portland PD was no small oversight. And one I hoped he’d pay for.
I leaned my head against the seat, closed my eyes and wondered what was happening with Griff and John right now. Were they at Isaac’s? Were they walking through the rooms I’d just left? Was Griff standing in the bedroom I’d shared with Elizabeth? Could he feel my presence? Was he in the room where Edward had whipped me? Did he know the blood on the floor was mine? Griff had seen something worthwhile in me when he’d asked me to be a partner in his firm. But now, every time he took me in his arms, he’d feel my scars beneath his hands and we’d both remember where I’d been and what Isaac had done to me. I’d failed Griff and John and Kira and all the women at Isaac’s.