The car falls silent and Cameron scratches his head in frustration as he thinks. “Explain to me why we are following Amelie again. I don’t get it.”
“Ok, so when Natasha came to LA with us the first time, remember when she had the fight with Carson?” I reply as my eyes flick between the three of them.
Max turns around in his seat to listen. “Yes,” replies Cameron.
“Natasha wanted to make up a code word for snake,” I continue.
Cameron frowns. “For snake… as in cock?”
I widen my eyes and shake my head. “You are such an imbecile. No, not cock—a snake as in someone she couldn’t trust.”
“Oh right,” Cameron mutters. Max laughs and Ben smirks into the rear-vision mirror and shakes his head.
“She said that if I saw someone I didn’t think she could trust I could say the word Cinderella to her as a warning.”
“Yes,” replies Max from the front seat.
I nod. “So whenever we have been alone I have called Natasha Cinderella as a pet name.”
Cameron frowns. “And nobody knows this but you two?” he asks.
I shake my head. “No, because if anyone knew, including Joshua, we couldn’t use the code anymore.”
Ben rubs his fingers over his lips, deep in thought as he drives, and Cameron rubs his hand over his stubble as he processes the information.
“Today, when Amelie was talking, she said that Joshua had lost his Cinderella. Nobody knows that but Natasha,” I murmur. “It has to be her. She has to know what happened to Natasha.”
Cameron frowns. “Amelie is a bitch but she’s not capable of this. It’s not her,” he snaps. “No way.”
“She’s turning off,” Max replies from the front seat. “Slow down so she doesn’t see us,” he adds and Ben slows the car down.
I shake my head. “I know it’s a long shot, but I know Natasha would not have told Amelie our code word. I think Natasha is trying to send me a message.”
Max smiles with renewed purpose.
“Don’t get your hopes up,” Ben snaps and once again we fall into silence. For four hours we follow as we vent. Nicholas has had to stay at the prison and Bridget and Abbie have gone to visit Joshua and pick him up. Joshua is low and Cameron just wants to get back to his brother’s side. We are all very worried about him and out in the countryside hours from anywhere, this could be stupidity. It’s eight at night and dark, the roads have gone to dirt and we are well off any highway.
“What the hell is she doing out here anyway?” Cameron frowns as he cranes his neck to look ahead.
“Hiding a body,” I murmur.
Cameron puts his hands up and drags them down his face. “You know what. Just stop talking. You’re stressing me the fuck out,” he snaps.
Ben smirks into the rear-view mirror as his eyes flick to us.
“What are we going to do when we get to her anyway?” Cameron holds his hands up in question.
“Just watch what she is doing?” Ben replies calmly.
“She’s probably here to see a sick horse. Did anyone think of that?” Cameron scoffs, disgusted. “She’s a fucking veterinarian you know. This is where horses live, you know, in the countryside.” He gestures to the paddocks surrounding the car with his hands.
“Pull the car over. I’m going to fucking bury you in a minute,” I snap, annoyed.
“The car has stopped,” Max replies as he looks at the screen.
Ben pulls over. “How far away are we?” he asks.
“Ten kilometres,” Max replies. “Get closer and we will ditch the car and go by foot.”