I’d dozed off briefly while reading my book and decided to get up and try to get some more work done in the office. There were a few emails piling up and some research on some new properties had to be conducted sometime. I had a big presentation I was going to give next week. Well, hopefully at least.
I pulled up the security footage on my computer. It was Libby. She was driving one of my cars down the driveway. I saw her right as she was leaving the garage.
“What the hell is she doing?”
I had no idea, but I knew it wasn’t good. A pit of panic hit my stomach and I felt almost nauseous. It was like a spinning ball of fear retching up inside of me and spinning wildly as if it wanted to rip itself out of me. My legs even felt shaky for a moment. But all of this passed quickly; I had to get a move on if I had any hope of stopping her. She was going to get herself killed. Where did she think she was going?
I ran out of the office and down the stairs. Toby was still out like a light. I was fairly certain he hadn’t slept much the night before with the excitement that his teacher was living in his house for a bit. He wasn’t the only one who had barely slept.
I grabbed a set of keys and headed to the garage. A moment later I was driving down the driveway to catch up with Libby.
My mind was struggling to figure out what had just happened. The only thing I could think of that might make her want to leave and go off on her own was some sort of a threat. Someone had called her phone. I was sure of it. But I needed to know the basics of what happened. I had to know what they knew and if they had any clue as to where she was. Libby was one of the smartest people I knew, but she wasn’t streetwise. I didn’t get that vibe from her. I didn’t think she had a deceitful bone in her body. The fact that I quickly figured out she was gone the moment she left was pretty good proof of that.
I had the accelerator floored as I made my way down the driveway. I was much more familiar with it than Libby was, so it did not take me long to get close to her. She was in the final stretch, about to turn onto the main road that headed towards town.
I honked the horn several times at her.
She looked back at me in the rearview mirror. She saw me and I could almost hear her cursing herself out wondering how I’d caught up to her so fast. I was just glad that I was there. She was about to get herself killed and I wasn’t going to let it happen on my watch.
But she wasn’t slowing down.
What was she thinking? I hadn’t told her that I on occasion do some amateur racecar driving. I was actually really into it for a few years in my early twenties. Many people thought I could have gone pro. But I had to face facts at one point and realize I did not have that extra little bit of talent that was going to take me to the NASCAR or Formula One circuits.
But I did pretty well on the amateur rounds though.
Since Libby was not going to stop this madness, I had to do something drastic. I was driving the corvette, one of my favorites. It had been tinkered with by some really cool guys, so this car would go obscenely fast. It was probably not street legal since it could have outrun just about any police car imaginable.
I floored the accelerator and spun around in front of Libby. Then I turned in towards her. I was blocking her way. She had no choice but to slam on the brakes and come to a screeching halt about twenty yards in front of me.
She flew out of the car livid. “What in the hell are you doing?”
“What are you doing? You can’t leave like that?”
“Oh, I didn’t realize I was a fucking prisoner!”
“I’m trying to keep you alive,” I pointed out.
“I have to go,” Libby said. She was fighting tears. Something devastating was happening. I had to get her to confide in me.
“What is going on?” I asked.
“I can’t. I have to go.”
“What happened? Talk to me.”
Libby yelled towards the sky.
Then she looked at me. I could see the desperation in her face. I hated doing this to her, but I didn’t have a choice. I had to know. If I was going to keep her safe, she had to trust that I would be able to do so.