Safe House Under Fire. Elisabeth Rees
looked at Lilly imploringly. “Mom,” she whined. “I don’t want to go.”
“You have two options,” David said. “You come with me or you place yourself in serious danger. Do you really want to do that?”
Lilly stood between David and Astrid. “That’s enough talk of danger,” she said, rebuking the FBI agent. “Astrid and I will be ready in an hour.” She fixed him with a hard stare. “Okay?”
“There’s just one more thing,” he said. “We’ll be trying to blend in, to look as normal as possible. We don’t want to attract any attention when we go outside.”
Lilly wasn’t sure what he was getting at. “And?”
“And Astrid sticks out like a sore thumb in that gloomy costume she’s wearing. She needs to change clothes and wear something more suitable. Might I suggest jeans and a sweatshirt?”
“Gloomy costume?” Astrid said with incredulity. “You’re so old and stupid. You don’t know anything about being cool.”
“Astrid!” Lilly said sharply. “That’s enough.”
David smiled. “I admit that I don’t know anything about being cool, but I know a lot about witness protection, and you cannot wear those type of clothes if you want to fade into the crowd.”
“I expect you want me to wear a pretty dress with flowers and bows, right?” Astrid said sarcastically. “Like your own daughters probably did.”
Lilly saw a sudden change come over him, a sadness clouding his eyes, and she knew that Astrid had hit a raw nerve.
“This is getting a little out of hand,” she said, taking hold of David’s arm and leading him to the door. “Astrid, please pack your suitcase and change clothes. You can wear black jeans and your hooded sweatshirt.”
“And black lipstick?” Astrid said hopefully.
“Yes, black lipstick too,” Lilly replied, feeling too drained to argue on this small point. “Be ready in an hour.”
With that, she steered David out of the room and clicked the door closed behind her, instantly hearing rock music playing on Astrid’s speaker.
“You shouldn’t give in to her like that,” David said. “She needs to follow strict instructions.”
“Oh, come on,” Lilly shot back, her mood darkening. “Do you really think that a little black lipstick is going to attract a huge amount of attention?”
“It’s not just the lipstick. It’s a slippery slope. Once you give in to one small demand, it soon snowballs into much bigger things. And if you lose control of her, it’ll be impossible to get it back.”
Lilly breathed slowly in though her nose and out through her mouth. “I know you have an important job to do, and it’s understandable that you want Astrid to play by the rules, but she’s just a kid. You can’t poke fun at her clothes like that and expect her to respect you. She has thoughts and feelings just like you, so quit being so hard on her, okay?”
He seemed to think long and hard about Lilly’s reprimand. “I’m sorry, but I’m only saying these things for your own benefit. I don’t want you to make the same mistake as I did.”
“What mistake?”
He briefly closed his eyes. “It’s nothing.” He turned to walk down the hallway. “I’ll wait in the living room while you pack a suitcase.”
Lilly watched him stride away and pondered the words that he had left unsaid.
David kept a close eye on the street outside while Lilly brushed her daughter’s hair in the hallway and tied it up in a ponytail. With her bright blond strands and olive-toned skin, Astrid really was a carbon copy of her mother. Both tall and rangy, they possessed a Viking quality, women who were undoubtedly a force to be reckoned with. Lilly was clearly strong-minded and raising a strong-minded daughter, but she had so much to learn about teens. Astrid was already pushing her boundaries, perhaps even going off the rails, and Lilly’s response was to compromise. One thing you should never do with an errant teenager is compromise.
Goldie was performing one last security check of the house, ensuring that the sensor alarms were working correctly. These sensors would give them a warning of unauthorized entry. If Henderson came looking for Lilly and Astrid here, the silent alarm would trigger an immediate police response.
His cell phone buzzed, and he slipped it from his pocket to look at the display, smiling on seeing Chloe’s name.
“Hi,” he said, hitting the answer button. “How are things in Penn Hills today?”
“Good.” She sounded happy, and he was pleased. “The sun is shining.”
“Listen, Chloe, I’m glad you called because I have to go away for a week with work, so I won’t be able to come see you for a while, okay?”
“Sure, Dad. I’m fine with that. I don’t need to see you every day, you know. I’m a grown woman now.”
“I know.” He found it impossible to cut Chloe’s apron strings. “Thanks for reminding me.”
“I wanted to tell you that I had a job interview early this morning, and it went really well. I think I’ll get it.”
“A job interview? Really? Why didn’t you tell me? Where is it?”
“Whoa,” she said. “One question at a time, Dad.”
He deliberately slowed down, remembering that Chloe needed time to process information.
“Okay,” he said. “What job is it?”
“An assistant at the local grocery store,” she said, with an obvious smile. “It’s a nice place and the staff are friendly and the manager said I could take extra time to learn the shelf-stocking system if I need to.”
“That’s great, honey, really great,” he said, feeling disappointment sink deep down into his belly. “I’m proud of you.”
Before the accident, Chloe had been expected to graduate top of her class, and the medical profession was her passion. At the age of twenty-one, she should have been a doctor in training, not hoping to stock shelves at a grocery store.
“If I manage to hold down this job, then I might be allowed to move out of my assisted living apartment and rent a regular place with my friends. That would be really cool, right?”
“Yes, it would,” he said. “I’ll say a prayer for you tonight.”
“Thanks, Dad. I’ll call back soon. I love you.”
“Love you too, sweetie.”
He hung up the phone, his stomach a twist of knots. He should have been pleased that Chloe was on the cusp of regaining full independence, preparing to move out of the apartment where a qualified nurse was on hand in case she needed it. Her rehabilitation had been arduous, but she’d made good progress and had regained full use of her body. Yet her brain could only recover up to a point and had lost its ability to think quickly, to retain information and to learn complex things. It pained David to accept that he should carry the burden of blame. If only he hadn’t allowed her to go out with her boyfriend that night. If only he’d realized that she was making bad choices. If only he hadn’t given her the benefit of the doubt. The words if only tormented him.
“Hey.” Lilly was standing next to him, wearing a pastel blue sweat suit that was almost the same color as her eyes. “Are you all right? You’re miles away.”
“Yeah, I’m fine.” He pocketed the phone. “Are you guys ready? Goldie is just doing the final checks.”
“We’re as ready as we’ll ever be,” Lilly