“You’re a girl after my own heart. Now I must be frank. My home is on the outskirts of Rockin, and it’s isolated. We’ll be living alone while we organize my finances. Are you going to be okay with that? You’ll have a lock on your door, and you can introduce yourself to the police if it would make you more comfortable.”
“No!”
“I thought you might say that.” He sounded smug in a way she didn’t care for. Then in a voice as comforting as a baked potato with all the fixings, he added, “I’m not a pervert, but if you ever feel vulnerable, that option is always open to you.”
“Good to know.” And not in a million years did she need more law enforcement hanging around. She didn’t like them. She didn’t trust them.
Of course, she didn’t really trust anybody but her own self, so that was no news flash. “I’ll take your word and assume you’re a good guy.” She tried to sound humorous, but she was pretty sure he heard the grim tone in her voice. “But I will use the lock on my door, and I do know how to defend myself.” Because in San Jose JDC—the C stood for Craphole—she had learned more about fighting and surviving than she’d ever learned on the streets.
“Message received. I’ll be at baggage claim with a sign with your name on it. I look forward to meeting you on Sunday. We can really make this work for me.” Donald White sounded pleased with himself.
After they hung up, Evie sat in a gratified daze, too.
She was going to Alaska. She was going to Rockin. She would be close to Mama and Marya, and when she had established herself as a reliable employee who could earn a living, she’d go to her mother and—
A knock on the office window. She looked up at her counselor, Regina Griffin. Regina wasn’t that much older than Evie. She’d been on the job most of the time Evie had spent here, and she was the one who’d convinced Evie that when she got out, she could be something. She could be a success.
Now Evie gave her a grin and two thumbs up.
Regina unlocked the door to her office and came in. “You got it?” She didn’t save many of the juveniles, so Evie was a special victory for her.
“Yes!”
The two joined arms and jumped up and down in unison.
Regina broke the embrace. “The salary is good. He’s paying your health insurance. Remember, don’t say anything more than you have to. Don’t tell anyone you were in JDC.”
“In goddamned prison,” Evelyn corrected.
“Don’t swear. Don’t let anyone see your gang tattoo. No one needs to know you were with the Mongols. Remember to check in with your parole officer. Stand up straight. Look around and figure out how to be like everyone else, and then be like everyone else. Evelyn...”
Evie grabbed her shoulders and looked into her eyes. “Stop worrying. I’m a smart girl, and I’ve learned my lesson. And I’m going to Alaska!”
“Are you scared?” Regina sounded breathless. “You’ll be all alone out there with an older man you don’t know.”
“No.” Evie’s grin spread all over her face. “The worst is over. I’m out of here. I’ve got a job. I’m going on an adventure. At last, everything’s going to be perfect. I can’t wait to get there and tell you all about it.”
Regina’s smile faded a little.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” Regina’s faded smile twisted. “Just that things change.”
“And about time. I love change!”
“Right. Right! You’re right. I’ll take a page from your book and love it, too.”
DON’T TALK
EVIE HADN’T FLOWN SINCE her father divorced her mother, dumping his blond, cool, Slavic immigrant wife for a brunette, fiery, Mexican immigrant wife. He left his first family without a backward glance, leaving her mother furious, her little sister confused and Evie devastated.
She had been his favorite.
Now he had a son, and he didn’t care about her.
That was why she had gone looking for trouble. And found it on a street filled with blazing gunfire and a tragic death.
Incarceration worked as it should. She hated that she had joined the gang, that she’d been anywhere near the tragedy, and she mourned for the death of a child. She hadn’t been the killer, but the burden of guilt would weigh on her forever, and she swore she’d never again be so heedless.
The Anchorage airport wasn’t as overwhelming as San Jose’s, and the guy holding the sign for Evelyn Jones was tall, spare and old, around her father’s age. His hair was ash-blond, his eyes were calm green and he had a droopy mustache. He looked like the movie version of a dull chauffeur. Evelyn figured he probably was the chauffeur, until she stopped in front of him and held out her hand. “Hi, I’m Evelyn Jones.”
He smiled with so much charm she was forced to reevaluate her impression about him being dull. Accepting her hand, he shook it. “I’m Donald White. Welcome to Alaska.”
Okay. He’d said he was going to pick her up himself, and he had. No big deal, right? “It’s good to meet you, Mr. White.”
He made a face. “Call me Donald.”
“Um...”
“Let’s get your luggage.”
She lifted her backpack. “This is it.”
“Not planning on staying?” His voice turned crisp and his eyes darkened.
She shrugged. “It’s what I’ve got.”
He didn’t seem to understand. “Where’s your coat?”
“I’m wearing it.” Blue denim, and perfectly adequate for almost all California weather.
“That’s a jacket. You can’t wear a jacket here in the winter.” He frowned. “Fine. We’ll stop on the way to Rockin and get you a coat.”
“No. Please! I’ll be fine. Please. I don’t need to spend money on a coat.” Because she’d arrived with one hundred dollars and a firm warning to make it last until her first paycheck, and she’d already spent eight dollars on a really expensive rip-off of a lunch on the plane.
He lost that granite expression and smiled again. “Come on, then. Follow me.”
She did, out to the parking garage.
He was right. It was cold, with a wind that whistled through the columns and the lines of cars and bit her to the bone. “How cold is it?” she shouted over the wind.
“Warm day,” he shouted back. “Five degrees, wind chill of minus fifteen.”