Page 143 of It Runs in the Family

“Selena, it’s Iris. I know about Rebecca, and I know about the flash drive. I’m scared for you. I know you’re mixed up with some bad people and maybe you’re stuck. I want to help you—please let me help you. If you need me to come get you, I will. And even if you don’t want help, please let me know you’re okay.” I took a breath. “I love you.” Then I hung up.

I stared at the beat-up cars in the parking lot, wondering what it would have been like to have grown up in a different place, be born to a different family—a normal family, like Boone’s. What would Selena’s life look like now? What would mine?

But I’d never been one to dwell on my problems, because dwelling didn’t solve a damn thing. Neither did feeling sorry for myself, although it was tempting. I was going to die, and so far, nothing had changed that. Still, I couldn’t help hoping that Boone and I might have changed things since this morning. I decided I’d have another vision the next time I was close to him. It had been a few hours since the last one, so my chances of instigating a migraine had lessened. I couldn’t help wondering if I should try to tell him about my vision. If anyone could save me, it would likely be him. Nevertheless, it still felt like a bad idea.

Then another thought occurred to me. Maybe I was asking the wrong questions.

I started to get up and go inside but I could hear Boone’s muffled voice. I turned around and watched him through the window. He was talking to someone on the phone, and I could tell from his tone that the conversation wasn’t going well. Was he talking to his DEA contact?

Forcing a vision could wait.

I’d just settled back in my chair when my phone rang with a call from Rita’s number. I considered sending it to voicemail, then decided I actually wanted to talk to her. I needed to hear a familiar voice.

“Hey, Rita,” I answered, forcing a cheery tone.

“Did you hear that a woman was murdered this morning?”

I wasn’t surprised she knew. The surprising part should have been that Rita was informing me a good eight to ten hours after Rebecca was discovered. But I sure as hell wasn’t going to admit I already knew.

“What?” I asked. “Where?”

“Somewhere south of town. Sometime last night.”

“What happened?” I asked. “Who was it?”

“I don’t know who she was, but I heard she was shot and left on the side of the road.”

“I can’t believe it.”

“I know, right?” she said, but she sounded off. “Do you think…” Her voice cracked. “Do you think it could be Selena?”

I’d wondered the same thing when I’d heard the news, but Rita had been so insistent that Selena wasn’t in trouble. While I knew it wasn’t Rita’s sister, I couldn’t assure her it wasn’t. “No, surely we would have heard if it was her, don’t you think?”

“I don’t know,” she said, tears in her voice. “I’m not sure how these things work.”

“Why don’t you call Garrett?” I suggested. “He probably can’t tell you who the woman is, but he can probably tell you who she isn’t.”

“Yeah,” she said with a sniffle. “You’re right.”

“After you find out, can you text me and let me know it wasn’t her?”

“Yeah, okay. I can do that.” Her voice broke again. “But if it is her…”

“Then you call me right back and I’ll be over to your house as soon as I can.”

“Thank you, Iris. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“Good thing you won’t have to find out.” But even as I said the words, I wasn’t sure it was true. I needed to have another vision, now.

We hung up and I glanced through the window again. Boone wasn’t on the phone anymore, but he was scowling at his laptop screen.

As soon as I walked through the door, I said, “Any luck with the spreadsheet?”

“No.”

Was he lying? It was hard to believe he couldn’t make some sense of it.

He must have read the thought on my face. “I’m being truthful, Iris. I think it’s in some kind of code.”