Chapter 12: Route 9

Jonas found me standing beside the car with my hand on the roof.

"What is it?"

"What was the date?" I asked. "Of Route 9."

He did not ask me what I meant.

"The ninth of March," he said.

I closed my eyes.

I had come off shift on the tenth.

"Brett had a new headlight by the eleventh," I said.

"He said he'd hit a deer on the way home from a work dinner."

"Jillian."

"He turned gray when I told him about the man in the ditch."

My voice came out flat.

"I thought he felt sorry for me. I thought he was thinking about how brave I was."

Jonas did not touch me.

He stood still beside the car and waited.

"Then your courier came," I said. "With the card."

"Yes."

"I showed it to Brett. I was so happy someone had thanked me. I wanted him to be proud."

I opened my eyes and looked at the silver coupe across the lot.

"He took it out of my hand, Jonas."

I kept my eyes on the car.

"He read it and said, 'This is creepy. Rich men do this to women. Don't call him.' Then he tore it down the middle."

"You kept it."

"I taped it together and put it in a drawer."

I swallowed.

"I never called, because Brett had told me it wasn't safe. I never called for three years."

"Jillian."

"What's in the folder on your desk?"

He said nothing.

"You said you were working, and your hand shook."

"Jillian, I was going to tell you."

"In the hall you told me you didn't know what Diane was afraid of. I knew it was a lie."

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