No Fault of Mine

Chapter Nineteen

I sat stunned.

Stan moved his chair back to where he had been sitting and quietly waited, studying me.

I couldn't look him in the eyes. I couldn't move. This call...for some reason...this call rocked me, stopped me. For the first time, I felt in free fall.

He found me! How could he find me?

My thoughts were a twisting mess, out of control, like a tornado terrorizing a trailer park. Nothing made sense; everyone was a suspect. I didn't know which way to turn.

"I don't know what to do," I moaned. "No matter what I do, I can't get away from him...he finds me."

"Your phone is not the problem, Mia. It's someone you know...or at least knows you," he said and then corrected himself. "No. I'm pretty sure you know him."

I shivered and covered my face with my hands. I felt beyond the help of others. Even my brother suspected me of taking money from the company...and he abandoned me.

I finally looked in Stan's direction. His arms lay on the table, hands clasped, and he leaned forward in his chair, looking at me.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"Is it you?" I locked my eyes with his. "Damn it, it's you, isn't it?" Stan held my gaze but didn't say a word. "You gained my confidence by helping me and my son. You took my phone, saying it was a way to keep them off my trail. You had my phone for three days. You could find out every little thing about me. And...and I met you at the Japanese Gardens at your suggestion—at your suggestion." My voice was getting louder, but I didn't care. "And here we are again at your invitation, and the bloodsucker is breathing down my neck. You were the only one who knew I was here."

I glared at him.

"No, Mia. It's not me. I've been genuine. I haven't deceived you."

My body was shaking. I wanted to spit out more words to hurt him—at the man who hurt me. But I couldn't trust my body to submit to the commands of my brain. I stood but could only shake my head. I couldn't even say goodbye.

As I turned to get out, I heard a pathetically weak "Mia." I ignored him and dashed out the door.

I walked the streets with no destination in mind. Not wanting to be around people, I meandered my way to the edge of town and into the industrial area near the railway tracks that connect Portland and Seattle. It was a fitting place to walk. A metal recycling plant belched particulates from it's stacks and roaring machinery pushed waste metal toward a crane with a giant electric magnet. Activated, the crane lifted the twisted and broken metal and dropped it into rail cars to be shipped somewhere else. Ironic, I thought: worthless scraps to be rebirthed in the heat of fire to live again in some useful form.

A freight train passed on the tracks, and the child in me counted the cars. One hundred and twenty-one. Down the tracks, people milled about the entrance of an Amtrak station.

I bought a ticket to Riverview and waited a half hour for the train. Once on board, I found my seat and allowed my thoughts to carry me away. I wanted the ache in my heart to end. I wanted to flee with my son to some safe place and start over. I wanted to bury the memory of Stan in a field of muck and consider myself better for having experienced this catastrophic failure of hope. Then the tears came and didn't dry up until the train pulled into the Riverview station.

Pia pulled up shortly after had I disembarked, and I met her in the parking lot.

"It looks like you've been in a wreck," Pia said as I got into the car.

"I should," I said. "I cried the whole trip up from Vancouver."

"I can see it in your face," She said. "Your once cheery countenance is dangerously close to the cliff of doom."

"Well, I'm falling without a parachute."

"Did Stan turn out to be a brute?" she asked.

"He's never been anything but a gentleman," I said, feeling a twinge in my chest.

"'Nothing but a gentleman,' but yet you've arrived alone, looking like a jilted lover."

"Someone off the street came into the restaurant and handed me a burner phone. He said he'd been given money to hand the phone to me. The harassing man I've been hearing from was on speaker when I was handed the phone, and his message was the same: give me what I want."

"How did that happen?" she asked. "Your phone is off; he can't track you."

"Stan ever so helpful said its someone who personally knows me and who I know."

Pia glanced my direction, and said, "Oh...oh, no."

"Oh, yes. It has to be him. He's the only one who knew what restaurant we were in: the messenger knew exactly where to find me."

"That looks bad," Fia said, her voice barely above a whisper.

When we arrived back at Fia's apartment, I tried to resume my normal life. Brant and I walked to Dairy Queen for an ice cream, and then we played a computer game. He said I was no fun because I wasn't a challenge. Then we made popcorn and watched a movie.

After Brant was tucked in on the couch, Pia, Luke, and I settled onto their bed for what became a planning session.

"I think the sooner you get back to Compton Falls," Pia said, "and get an attorney and have the police interview, the better you'll feel."

"At least get those checked off your must-do list," Luke said.

"Also, as soon as possible, you need to have a sit-down conversation with Thad," Pia said. "This isn't your or Thad's problem. It's a family problem. You two need to address it together."

"Yeah, makes sense," I said. "I'll also be able to see his face when we talk. On the phone, he comes across as a dispassionate bastard."

"I think he is actually," Pia said. "But I still love him. He's my brother."

"We haven't had many clashes primarily because we have different responsibilities," I said. "Martin, however, seemed to have issues with Thad every other week."

"You'll have to admit Martin is opinionated," Luke said, "and if there's anything that gets under Thad's skin, it's an opinionated man pushing a plan that differs from his."

"Thad didn't like Martin's plan to expand the business to Boise," I said. "Martin was right. Boise offers more opportunity."

"I think Thad was concerned about losing control," Luke said. "It was hard for him to delegate."

"Did the tension between Thad and Martin affect you much?" Pia asked

"Of course it did," I said. "I've supported both and tried to play peacemaker. I've had many sleepless nights over their skirmishes. But there was nothing significant enough for the men to part ways."

"That you know of," Pia said.