Southern Lights: A Novel

“If he is behind the letters, and I’m beginning to think he is, I don’t think he’ll have the balls to try anything at this point, and I’m not sure he has that kind of power, to make someone else grab her and hurt her. He’s not connected to the mob. He’s an ex-con and a sociopath. This is his deal, no one else’s. He probably contacted someone he knows indirectly, and is doing this to rattle you, with nothing behind it. He hasn’t had any visitors, but he can get word out of jail through someone else. It’s probably just a sick game he’s playing. But it’s a lot to put your kid through. I think you should send her away, if you have somewhere to send her, and I’ll assign a couple of cops to you. I’m sorry, Alexa, I know this is hard for you.”

She nodded and tears rolled down her cheeks again. Savannah was her whole life and she didn’t want anything to happen to her. She hoped that Jack was right and if it was Quentin, he was only trying to scare her, but she couldn’t take the chance, and if it wasn’t Quentin, it was scary anyway. Jack told her he’d have a plainclothesman at her door in half an hour. He agreed with her mother on that too, although Alexa wasn’t nearly as worried about herself. It would take a lot of guts to kill the prosecutor, and it wasn’t Quentin’s MO. Savannah was, if he could have gotten to her himself. And Jack was probably right about that too. Whoever was dropping the letters off might never have the guts to grab her. But who knew? And worrying about it day and night would be hard on them both. She was better off somewhere else, although Alexa knew Savannah wouldn’t be happy about it. She wouldn’t want to leave her friends, mother, or school, especially for the last few months of senior year. It just wasn’t fair.

Alexa was awake until the early hours of the morning. She slept fitfully for a few hours, and she woke up and called Tom at seven. He had the deep voice that he always had in the morning, and when she asked, he said Savannah was in the other room. They were having breakfast together in half an hour, and were hoping to get a few runs in before he drove back to the city at noon. He said he’d have her back at seven. His flight to Charleston was at nine.

“That’s why I called,” Alexa said, sounding exhausted. “You can’t bring her home.” She told him what had happened, and he was as concerned as she was. She tried to reassure him, but it wasn’t a good situation, and it was impossible to predict.

“What about you, Lexie? Are you going to be okay?” He hadn’t called her that since she left, not even by e-mail.

“I just want to convict the bastard. I owe it to all those families to send him to prison for the next hundred years. But I don’t owe them risking my own kid.”

“No, you don’t,” he said solemnly. “Are you sure you don’t want to get off the case?”

“I’ll be okay. It’ll be over soon. The trial is set for May. She’d have to stay with you till then.” She said it in a flat, unhappy voice.

“I understand. If it’s safer for her to stay longer, that’s fine too.” It was the only conversation they’d had in ten years, but he was being more human about it than she’d expected, and he sounded concerned for both of them, and upset.

“Can you really do it?” She didn’t want to ask him about Luisa, but they both knew what she meant.

“I’ll work it out,” he assured her. “What do you want me to do about Savannah? Do you want to tell her or should I? It may be easier for her to take it in person than on the phone.” Alexa hated to admit it, but she thought he was right. “And then I think we should go home. I was on a nine o’clock flight, but it doesn’t get in till nearly midnight. I’d rather drive back this morning and get an earlier flight.” Showing up at one o’clock in the morning with his daughter would be even harder with Luisa. He’d rather get home earlier and settle Savannah in. The house they lived in was enormous, it was the same one he had shared with Alexa, and Luisa before that, the first time he had married her. There were several guest rooms where he could put Savannah. Alexa’s stomach turned over when she thought about it. She didn’t want Savannah there, but she didn’t want her back in the apartment in New York now either. This was the best they could all do.

“Do you think you can get her into school?” Alexa asked him.

“I’ll take care of it next week. I’ll call you and let you know what time our flight is.”

“I’ll meet you at the airport, and bring her things. I can say goodbye to her there.” It was going to be hard for both of them, and Alexa’s eyes filled with tears as they hung up. They were tears of relief that Tom was willing to help her and keep their daughter safe, tears for Savannah for what she’d have to go through, and for herself for how lonely she would be without her.

Savannah called her half an hour later, and she was crying too. “I can’t go, Mom. I can’t. I want to finish senior year here …and I don’t want to leave you.” She was sobbing, and listening to her, Alexa felt sick.