Alex Kava Bundle - Alex Kava [671]
Gibson stopped and sat on the edge of his bed. How stupid was he? The game. He had submitted Monsignor O’Sullivan’s name as a character to be eliminated. The Sin Eater was supposedly the only one who knew and recorded the name. The Sin Eater had to have killed Monsignor O’Sullivan. Or was it all just a coincidence that both Gibson and The Sin Eater were there at the airport and happened to see the priest dead?
He could hear his mom calling for him from the bottom of the stairs. Why didn’t she come up? Could he ignore her? No, ’ cause then she would come up.
Gibson made himself get up off the bed and go to his door.
“What?”
“Come down for a few minutes, sweetie. There’s someone here who would like to talk to you.”
Was it Timmy?
“Give me a couple of minutes. I need to close down something on my computer.” He shut his door with a bit of slam, then very slowly and quietly opened it so he could tiptoe out far enough to see who it might be. He could hear his mom’s voice, now a worried whisper. “I’m sure you must be wrong, Brother Sebastian.” And the rest was muddled up the stairwell, but Gibson thought she said something about drugs.
Now he could see a slice of who she was talking to, who Brother Sebastian was. He had his back to the staircase, but Gibson recognized him anyway. It was the Darth Vader guy.
He could barely control his panic as he tried to get back to his room quietly. He closed and locked the door and then his eyes raced around his room. He had to get out. He shut down his laptop, snapping off cables and wrapping the power cord around it then shoving it into his backpack. He pulled off the gadget he had duct-taped to the underside of his headboard, worked it open and took out the folded-up cash he had hidden. It went into the backpack’s side pocket. He grabbed the portfolio and slipped it in last.
He slid open the window and could immediately feel the blast of warm, sticky night air hit him in the face. He double-checked to make sure no one was out on the sidewalk. The sun had just started going down behind the trees but only the fanatics would be out walking on a night like this.
It had been over a year since he had used this exit, which required sliding down onto the porch roof and then jumping off into the grass. He hadn’t needed to sneak out because his mom was hardly ever home. He hoped they couldn’t see him when he dropped off the porch. He’d have to go more toward the left and then use the back alley. And damn, he’d have to leave behind his bike. It was on the porch.
He pulled on the backpack and readjusted the straps so it’d stay tight on his back. He couldn’t risk smashing his laptop. He had no idea where he would go or when he could come back.
Gibson took one last look around his room, the one place he had felt safe. Then he left.
CHAPTER 65
Omaha, Nebraska
Tommy Pakula came in the back door, catching Clare at the kitchen sink. Before he could find a place to put down the two pizza boxes, he stopped and kissed the back of her neck, getting a satisfactory stroke of his cheek in return.
“You taste good,” he said. “Maybe we don’t need the pizzas.”
“The girls are starved.” She turned and smiled at him, but there was something sad in her smile. Something was wrong.
“What’s happened?”
When she put a finger to his lips to hush him, he knew it wasn’t good.
“Angie’s pretty upset,” she told him, keeping her voice low and her eyes watching out over the counter that separated the kitchen from the dining room.
“Is she hurt?”
“No, no. It’s nothing like that. She received a letter from Creighton today. She’ll show it to you later. We should eat first, okay? Let her tell you about it in her own way. Don’t push her.”
“What kind of a letter?” But he already knew and there was a lump gathering in the pit of his stomach.
“They’re rescinding her scholarship. Something about insufficient funds that they’ve only now become aware of.”
“Insufficient funds. That’s bullshit.”
“Tommy.” This time she placed a finger against her own lips.
He obeyed and kept his voice down, but the