It comes up as a private number.
“Hello?” I answer.
Nothing at first, and then, “Are you alone? Can you talk? It’s W.”
“Wade. Holy shit. Are you all right?”
“You wanna run away to Japan with me?” he asks shakily and laughs nervously.
And my heart just plummets.
“Wade,” I breathe.
“I’m guessing by the way you’re sayin’ my name that you know what I did. What I did for you.”
I swallow and sigh. “God, Wade.”
“I know. I know. Drama.”
Wade always jokingly called me a drama queen whenever I would call him all freaked out about a work project. He would drop everything and help me. He’d stay up late to make sure I got files, to make sure I understood things. He really pulled my fat out of the fryer repeatedly in my first few months in San Diego. I don’t know what I would’ve done without him.
“Yeah, I know what you did,” I whisper. “And I really wish you’d have let the cops handle it.”
“I know it was drastic, but I did some research on that family and they’re … Alyssa, I know how bad they are. Believe me, I did the best thing I could do, ridding the world of that scum. I wanted to go back and get rid of the others, but I had a hard time stomaching what I did, even though I know it was right. I can’t find any information on Jonah Steele so I don’t know if he made it. I’m being careful with my digging, you know, in case it leads back to me, but… did you tell anyone about me calling you? Does anyone know it was me?”
“Fuck, Wade. It got so messy. There were cops involved. They were about to arrest Thad an hour after you shot him. I handed over the bag of money and a gun which tied him to a murder. He was about to be charged with murder one.”
“No.”
“Yeah. The guy I’m with… he was helping me. He’s a private eye and really good at what he does. There was all sorts of stuff happening and … I don’t even know where to start to explain it all, but bottom line, I wish you hadn’t done that. I get that you were trying to do it for me and …”
“Oh,” he says quietly. “Grand gesture not appreciated I take it.” He laughs again. A self-deprecating laugh.
I feel terrible for him. Murder is wrong. The ultimate wrong even if it’s someone like Thad. He should be rotting in jail.
“What are you gonna do?” I ask.
“I want you to run away with me. Will you dump the private eye and come with me?”
“Wade, you’ve been such a good friend to me. I really appreciate all you did to help me with my job and-”
“But you don’t feel that way about me,” he says softly.
“I’m in love, Wade. I’m …” I swallow and look around at where I am. At what I’ve got. “I’m happy.”
“Oh.”
The sound of his oh is hollow.
“I wish I’d made a move sooner, Alyssa. Would I have had a chance?” he asks.
“Probably,” I say. “I mean… I was pretty fucked up so not sure how it would’ve gone, but you’re a great guy. You’re smart. You’re good-looking. You’re funny. You’ve been a great friend to me. I can’t even express how nice it was that you were always a phone call away, that you always went out of your way to help me when I felt like I had no one.”
“I murdered someone. Maybe two someones.”
“Just one.”
“Jonah Steele made it?”
“Jonah wasn’t a bad guy,” I say. “Isn’t. And you didn’t murder him. He’s okay. I don’t condone murder, but can’t say the world isn’t a better place with Thad Steele gone. I hope I don’t go to the lake of fire for saying that, but right now you’re my bigger concern. There are a lot of people after you, Wade. Can Tori help you get gone?”
“Tori’s furious with me. She knows what I did. Um… I need to make some fast money so I can get gone since you won’t run away with me and gave back the big bag of money. I’ve always thought it’d be fun to rob a bank, so…”
“Don’t be silly,” I say.
He sighs.
“I can take five grand out of the ATM and bring it to you. Stay there. Okay?”
“Really?”
“Really.”
“You’re not telling me to stay here so you can call the cops and tell them where I am?”
“What do you think?” I ask. “If you thought that, would you have tried to save my life by putting yours at risk?”
“No. Not at all.”
“I’ll be there soon. I have to hurry back here, but I’ll grab the money and be there. Be there as soon as I can.”
“I’ll be here.”
50
Jude
“Call Vixen,” I say and my system in my SUV tries her. It goes to her voicemail.