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A day had passed, I learned Doctors and nurses and psychologists swept in and out of the rooh thein their faces and screa about Jude About the truth About Lukumi

How did he find me?

Why?

I couldn’t let myself think about it because one question led toin them and I couldn’t panic because I wouldn’t be allowed to see Noah if I did The drugs and the tubes made me lose it, always, but without them now I could co beneath Good behavior would buy me time, I had to remember With my father’s help, I was even able to talk with a detective about the cop as found dead on the dock right by me He had a stroke, it turned out Not my fault

Even if it had been, I wasn’t sure I would have cared Not then The only thing I wanted was Noah To feel his hands on my face, his body wrapped around mine, to hear his voice in my ear, to listen to him say he believed me

But another day passed, and he still didn’t show up Joseph didn’t come, either He wasn’t allowed, Daniel told me when he finally visited He sat hunched over a can of soda, flipping the tab back and forth

"What about Noah?" I asked quietly

Daniel shook his head

"I need to talk to him" I tried not to sound desperate

"You’re on another hold," Daniel said, his voice weak "They’re allowing iht here from the airport when he found out you were ado"

So he was here and gone I deflated

"You scared the hell out of us, Mara"

I closednot to sound as infuriated as I was This was Jude’s fault, but they were the ones who had to pay "I know," I said evenly "I’e to spit

"I just keep--What if the police found you an hour later?" Daniel rubbed his forehead "I keep thinking about it" His voice shook, and he finally broke off the tab on the soda can He dropped it inside and it landed with a clink

His words made me wonder "Who called them?" I asked "Who called the police?"

"The caller never left a naive you when they think you’re insane On the ferry to the Horizons Residential Treatot it

The wind snapped at my skin and tumbled my hair in front ofthe twin bandages onwith y of the Keys, realized he was taking us to the glorified mental hospital, not the resort that shared the island A sloariness crept into his expression,to have to get used to; the doctors told o," the captain said He pointed at souishable clump of land in the open ocean, and I felt obscenely sht there, to the east See it?"