It’d been a risk to come home. A risk to stay. And yet it was Eddie who felt like the greatest risk of all.
Twenty-nine
Rob stowed his blue-and-yellow Up Country Hardware apron in the back and headed out—finally. He must’ve checked his damned watch five hundred times, but the seconds had ticked by like he was trapped in some screwed-up science fiction movie.
He had another hunch, but this time it was a good one.
When he first checked his watch that morning, it’d been eight o’clock on the nose. No big deal. But then he’d checked again, and damned if the time didn’t read nine o’clock, exactly. He’d just about pissed himself. Double zeroes, then double zeroes again, right in a row, flashing like a red beacon.
Omens didn’t get any more solid.
Screw the card tables, he was done with them. He wasn’t going to mess around—he’d head straight to the Reno strip. It was time for roulette.
“Rob,” Tom called from the back of the store. “Didn’t you hear me calling?”
He stopped. Dammit, but he’d already clocked out and gotten halfway out the door. Automatically, he checked his watch, half hoping he’d hit one o’clock. But it was already seven past. “I thought I was off at one. ” He tried to seem calm, but really he just wanted to hop into his car and floor it. His hand was in his pocket, jiggling that buffalo nickel.
“Yeah, yeah, your shift’s done,” Tom said. “But you’ve got a phone call. ”
Screw Reno. Really, he just needed to cross the state line. The Indian Rock Casino had a sweet setup with a bunch of five-dollar roulette tables. Or maybe he’d head right to their ten-dollar table, if he was feeling it. It had to feel right, and he made it a rule to stay away from empty tables.
“Did you hear me?” His boss hitched a thumb in the direction of the back office. “Helen’s on the line. ”
“Helen? She’s at work. ” Indian Rock it was. If he went five miles over the limit, he’d be there by two, two-fifteen latest.
“I know she’s at work,” Tom shot back. “That’s where she’s calling from. Right now, on the phone. ”
Rob stood there for a moment, registering the information. “What about?”
“How the hell should I know?” Tom turned and disappeared into the storeroom.
Dammit. He hated interrupting his mojo like this. He told himself it didn’t matter. He’d seen the double zeroes.
He strode back to the office and grabbed the phone. “Hey, Helen. ”
“I called your cell,” she said in greeting.
“Didn’t hear it. ” Really, he hadn’t answered it. Whenever she called, it was usually just for stuff like milk or sugar, anyway. He was going to check her message later. Groceries could wait. Double zeroes didn’t.
Anyway, he was doing this for them.
“Ellie’s camp called,” Helen said. “You need to go get her. ”
He glued his eyes to the old wall clock, watching the second hand tick-ticking along the face. “Wait, I need to get her? Why can’t you get her?”
“I am working a double shift. ”
“She sick or something?” He calculated. He could get her, get back in the car, and be at Indian Rock by two-forty-five. But—damn damn damn—he’d need to get going. “I’ll go grab her, drop her at home for you. I should run—”
“Wait,” she snapped. “Don’t you hang up on me. I need you to stay with her, not just drop her. ”
“Luke’s around. ” Their oldest was in high school. By the time he was in high school, he was working fifteen hours a week at the Gas-n-Go. “He’s a capable kid. Can’t he watch her?”
“No, Luke can’t watch her. He’s down at the Kidd house on Tuesdays, running errands, remember?”
No, he didn’t remember, but he only said, “Yeah, okay. Well, can’t she just sit at home in front of the TV? I’ll grab some ginger ales for her. Should be fine like that. ”
“Where do you need to be running off to that you can’t take care of our sick child?”