Even Steven by John Gilstrap Read Free Book Online Page A

told me that if I called the cops, they’d kill Justin. Said they’d never even tell us where they hid the body.”
    Again, April’s knees sagged and she leaned against the wall for support. Until that instant, the reality of it all had not hit her. Her son—her beautiful two-year-old little boy—had been kidnapped! By people who wouldn’t hesitate to kill him or anyone else to get their way. Logan was an animal. Everyone knew that. And now that animal had her child. “So, what are we supposed to do?”
    “He gave me a week to come up with the money. His men promised me that they’d keep him alive that long. But not a day longer. But they said that if Logan so much as heard a rumor about cops, he’d kill Justin.”
    “So I’m supposed to trust Logan? Is that what you’re telling me? I should just let some goon hold on to my child for a week because this murderer told me to?”
    “We don’t have a choice!”
    “The hell we don’t!” April yelled. “I’ll call the whole goddamned army down on him and they’ll throw him away forever!”
    “And Justin will die!” Those words brought total silence to the room. “He’ll fucking die, April. Is that what you want?”
    April shook her head. She didn’t want it to be true. “Then Logan will fry in the electric chair.”
    “No, April, he’ll walk away a free man. Don’t you get it? There were no witnesses out there. Nobody saw anything. Who’s going to believe my story when the only witnesses work for Logan? We don’t have a choice here.”
    The wave of hopelessness started in a place deep down inside April’s body, and it spread with amazing speed, until her hands quaked uselessly and the gun clattered to the parquet floor tiles. Images of her adorable little boy bound and gagged and shoved into a closet somewhere flooded her mind and took her breath away. “Then what are we going to do?”
    “We’ll have to get the money back. I’ll have to get it from somewhere and pay him back. I have a week.”
    “We don’t have a week! We don’t have an hour! I will not allow my little boy to be handled by that man and his people for a single second.”
    William scoffed, “Well, we’re gonna have to be a little patient, anyway. It’s not like I can go outside and shit a pile of hundred-dollar bills.”
    The smugness of his tone, the lightness with which he spoke the words, made something snap inside April, and she smacked him across his face, hard enough to make his head snap to the side. “How dare you—”
    Then, just as quickly, he fired back, a stunning blow to her cheek. Stars flashed behind her eyes and she fell sideways onto the floor.
    “Don’t you ever lay a hand on me, bitch,” he snarled. “Don’t you ever talk to me that way again. I’ll get the fucking money, all right? And I’ll get your fucking kid back, but don’t you ever, ever, hit me again.” He disappeared into the bedroom.
    April couldn’t bear it anymore. Lying there on the floor, she buried her face in the crook of her elbow, and as a door slam shook the apartment, she started to cry.

6
    S USAN’S NAP DIDN’T last long after the Explorer started moving again. Her mind reeled with all the countless things that needed to be done. The diapers were a good first step. She had cleaned his bottom and replaced the tattered pajamas with a clean T-shirt from Bobby’s backpack. He was still caked with dirt, but she felt as if she could at least hold him now, without cringing against the stench and the crusty feel of hopelessly soiled clothing.
    Through all her fat-fingered fumbling in changing him, he never really woke up, though he never seemed fully at rest, either—no doubt pursued in his dreams by the same people who’d done this to him.
    Well, he was safe now. Susan would make sure that nothing bad could happen to him anymore. He lay with his head in her lap as they traveled in silence down the highway toward home. Toward their house, really. It wasn’t a home yet; would