from?”
“I’m
sorry, we didn’t introduce ourselves. My name’s Eddie, and this is Liliana.”
“Hi.”
Liliana smiled sweetly and then occupied herself with breakfast. Eddie had his
sweet-talking charm up and running and she was ready to let him do the talking.
“It’s
nice to meet you,” Sarah replied. “Where do you know Danny from? Were you in
the military together?”
“Um…not
exactly.” Eddie glanced at Liliana and took a deep breath as he gathered
courage to explain why they had come. He continued to focus positive energy her
way. “The truth is, we don’t actually know Danny.” When he saw that she was
about to ask questions, he quickly interjected, “But we do know that he is away
from home right now and you’re alone. We did come here to make sure that you’re
okay.”
Obviously
confused, Sarah tilted her head sideways and raised her eyebrows. “We’ve never
met, right?”
“Right.”
“And you
don’t know my husband?”
“Uh…no.”
“So…?”
“All right,
this is going to sound a little odd, but please just hear us out before you say
anything. Okay?” When he noticed her confusion start to turn to frustration, he
sent her another wave of warm energy. Soon, the frustration seemed to
dissipate, and he sensed a juncture of peace settle upon her.
She
nodded. “Go ahead.”
“I have
a friend. His name’s Tyler. We only met just a few days ago…”
As he
spoke, he glanced at Liliana, who would listen to Sarah’s thoughts and be ready
to warn him if he needed to boost up the positive energy.
“So
that’s why we’re here,” he concluded after he had explained the entire story.
“I know it sounds crazy. It has to because that’s what I thought when Toby
first contacted me. But it’s all real—every last bit of it. For whatever reason
that we can’t begin to understand, there really are people after us, and they are ready to take us when they find us. Even if you don’t care about finding Toby,
think about yourself and your baby. If you come with us, we can watch your back
and track these people down, before they track us down.”
“I don’t
know what to say,” Sarah said.
“Sarah,”
Liliana began, “I know you must be confused, and you’re probably hesitant to
run off with a bunch of people you just met, but you can’t stay here. I’ve
never done anything crazy like this in my life. My parents would be furious if
they knew that I wasn’t in school, but I took the risk because this is serious.
There are people after us, and if I had stayed home, they would have
come after me and found me, just like they’re going to come after you.”
Sarah
sat in silence. She picked up a discarded straw wrapper and began to tie it in
knots. Eddie and Liliana turned their attention to their breakfast, as they
waited for her to say something.
Finally,
she looked up. “I understand that you’re in quite the predicament. I get that,
but…” She paused as if to search for the right words. “I’m not the girl you’re
looking for.”
They sat
in momentary silence, trying to absorb this new bit of information. Was it
possible that they had tracked down the wrong person? Toby had specifically
told Tyler that Sarah worked at this restaurant, unless…
“Is
there another Sarah who works here?” Eddie asked.
She shook
her head. “Um, no, sorry.”
“You are
Sarah Hughes , right?”
“I am.”
She
smiled politely, but Eddie sensed that it no longer mattered how much charm and
energy he threw her way; this conversation was just about over as far as she
was concerned.
“My name
is Sarah Hughes, but it’s a common name.” She shook her head again. “Obviously
you’re looking for someone else. I’m sorry that I can’t help you.”
Eddie
glanced at Liliana. Is she lying? he asked, silently.
Liliana
shrugged.
How
can you not know? I thought you could always detect a lie.
Not for
the first time, he wished that he could hear Liliana’s thoughts. It was