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He fell, blood spreading across his white shirt.
I turned to run and saw the shooter.
He wore a black face mask covering his nose and mouth, and sunglasses blocked his eyes. He was taller than me—six-one at least. Brown hair. He saw me.
He turned the gun toward me.
I stared at his hands.
I knew him.
I ran. I had never run so fast in my life. I didn’t hear a gunshot but my heart was beating so fast I didn’t know if I could hear anything else but the rush of blood in my ears. I ran all the way to the Fifth Street park, where I surprisingly felt safe.
“Miz Violet?” Toby said. “You okay?”
I shook my head. I would never be okay. “I need... I need...”
I called Will. “Will. Will—I saw... I saw David Chen. Shot. Come here. Fifth Street. I... I’ve seen the killer. I think. I know him.” I couldn’t catch my breath.
“Stay there, I’m on my way.”
Relieved, I walked slowly through the park. I saw Midge, who’d been living here a few months. She was in her fifties, close to my mother’s age. She was petite and skinny, but with a bloated stomach, a sign of heavy drinking. I didn’t know her story yet—she was wary of everyone—but when she saw me, she asked, “What happened?”
“Can I—can I sit in your tent for a minute?”
“Go ahead, sweetie.”
Her tent was stuffed with plastic bottles. She collected them from trash cans all over downtown and turned them in when she had a shopping cart full. Then she would buy as much alcohol as she could and drink until she passed out. When she woke up, she’d start collecting again and repeated the cycle.
The tent smelled of urine and alcohol and vomit. But I felt safe here for now. Will was on his way. He would come for me.
I sat there for five minutes when I heard someone shout, “Hey, that’s mine!”
There was a general disturbance and rustling in the park, a titter of voices, an angry yell, a woman’s scream.
Hands shaking, I parted the opening of Midge’s tent.
Three men wearing sagging pants and angry expressions sauntered through the park ripping open the tents. The homeless here were both mad and scared at the intrusion. They retreated to the edges of the park, letting the men storm through. One of the thugs pushed Toby; he fell down and lay there. Was he hurt?
“Where’s the girl? She ran in here. Are you hiding her?”
How did they know? Why were they looking for me?
I stared at the phone in my hand.
I knew who killed David Chen. He was a cop.
And he tracked me here because this was where I first saw him. But since he was a cop, he might also be able to track my phone.
I couldn’t risk it.
I stuffed the phone under Midge’s blanket and crawled out of the tent. I ran between two buildings, past sleeping men and women who littered the alley, under blankets and sleeping bags and jackets. I exited on Sixth Street and saw a bus coming toward the stop.
I made it. I didn’t know where the bus would ultimately take me, but I knew where I was going.
I stuffed my hand into my pocket and felt my key ring.
After I buried my mother, Colton said the investigation was heating up, and if I was scared or worried, he had a safe house for me.
