Mom Abandoned Me to Save Herself novel · Chapter 10 of 24

Chapter 10: The Number

"Search him," Alastair said.

They did. Wallet, keys, a phone with the battery taken out.

"I took the train to Pittsburgh and a cab from the station," Augustus said. "Nobody knows I'm here. My driver thinks I'm at the gym."

"How'd you find this house?" Alastair asked.

"Your father came to our Christmas party for fifteen years. He used to brag about the dock."

Alastair's mouth went thin.

We sat Augustus at the kitchen table. Clem stood behind him with the spatula still in his hand.

"How do you know about a paper?" I said.

"I heard him last night. On the phone in his study, with the door open, talking to his head of security." He swallowed. "He said, 'It's got my number on it. Find it before she figures out what it is.'"

"Why come to me?"

"Because I've been awake since Friday." He looked at his hands. "Because I held a dog chain. Because my father has never been afraid of anything in his life, and he's afraid of a piece of paper a trucker's carrying around."

Alastair leaned on the counter.

"He's a Kesterson, Jess. This is a two-hour trip to tell Daddy where it is."

"He threw up in a ditch," I said. "You can't fake that."

"You can if you're good."

"He's not good. Look at him."

Augustus actually laughed, a short broken sound.

"She's right," he said. "I'm terrible at this."

I took my jacket off the back of the chair.

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