All I've Ever Wanted - Adrianne Byrd [27]
She said nothing.
He shrugged. “Look, I’m a businessman, plain and simple. And standing here, it just occurred to me that we can help each other out. I tell you what—it beats the hell out of waitressing.”
Slowly she comprehended his offer. “Are you suggesting that I come work for you?”
Again he shrugged. “It’s good money.”
“You’ve lost your mind.”
His smile vanished. “You think that you’re too good to come work for me?”
Animosity radiated off him.
Kennedy took another step back.
“I think it would be poetic justice that the late, great, Supercop’s daughter ended up on my payroll. Of course—” he stepped forward and returned his hand to her hair “—I have to test the goods myself.”
In a panic, she turned away from him and raced toward the children. His malicious laughter rang in her ears. “Tommy. Jimmy. Get your things. We’re leaving.”
Chapter 12
“Mommy, are you all right?” Tommy asked, watching her as she threw his clothes into an old suitcase.
“Mommy’s fine, sweetheart.” Kennedy didn’t break stride long enough to look up at her son. She had to hurry.
“Are we going somewhere?”
“You’re going to go visit your grandmother. Wouldn’t you like that?” She kept moving.
“Are you going, too?”
She stopped then. She realized that her son’s voice sounded small and frightened. Slowly, she turned and sat on the unmade twin bed and waved him over to her lap.
He hesitated and looked as if he was on the verge of tears.
“Come here, sweetheart,” she said, patting her lap.
This time he came to her, his eyes wide and questioning.
Kennedy picked him up and placed him on her lap. “I wish I could go with you, honey, but I can’t.” Her tears threatened to surface.
“Why not?”
“For one thing, I can’t afford it. I have to stay here and work.”
Fat tears filled his eyes and rolled through his long curly lashes. “Did I do something wrong, Mommy?”
She hugged him to her. “No, baby. It’s nothing like that.”
He pulled back and looked at her as if he didn’t believe her. “Then why do I have to go? Don’t you want me here with you?”
Her vision blurred and tears trickled down her face. It felt as if her heart were being ripped from her chest. “If I had my way, I would never leave your side. But you’re going to have to trust me on this, okay?”
He simply stared at her, his tears running down his small face.
“Do you trust me?” she asked.
He nodded without hesitation, but his obvious confusion remained. “How long will I be gone?”
“Not long, sweetie.”
“How long is that?”
He wanted a definite answer to an unanswerable question. “I don’t know, honey,” she said, hugging him to her. “I don’t know.”
Over the next few minutes, Kennedy realized she had another problem on her hands. How was she going to get Tommy safely out of town without alerting Keenan or his street thugs? She didn’t doubt for a minute that he knew everything that went on on his streets. And she had no doubt that he was making it a point to watch her.
Again she cursed Detectives Collier and Dossman. She was certain that their repeated appearances had attracted Keenan’s unwanted attention to her.
The fact of the matter was that she was left with very few options, especially since she didn’t own a car. Jumping on MARTA with her son and a suitcase would be downright stupid.
She thought of Wanda, but knew her husband would be at work and had their only car. She could ask Tyne, but she knew for a fact that if she did, little Ms. Busybody would show up asking too many questions.
She sent Tommy out to pick a few toys to bring along on his trip. While he rummaged in the living room, Kennedy paced the floor, distraught over her inability to come up with a plan. Then she thought of Reverend Warner. She trusted the reverend and his wife but, if her apartment was being watched, Keenan’s spies would probably follow her son to the bus stop regardless of who took him.
Her stomach churned with anxiety. She didn’t have the first clue about how to execute her plan.
Just then, Tommy came to tell her that