“Why would you confide in me when you haven’t confided in Penni or Grace?”
“If they wanted to know more about me, all they had to do was ask.” Her pain was doubled at the realization that Penni and Grace were aware that Stump asked someone to look into her.
“I’m asking.”
Zoey raised her hands helplessly in the air. “What do you want to know? Why someone else’s name is on my home? I met Patrick Combs when I was looking for a home to rent. We came to an agreement that I would sit with his mother during the nights he worked. What else do you want to know? Oh yes, why you couldn’t find a license in my name? Do think I’m a spy, or in the witness protection program, or on the run from the police?”
“The thoughts have occurred to me.”
She shook her head in dismay. “Which one?”
“All of them.”
“There’s a simple explanation.”
“Which is?”
“When I first came to Queen City, I was seventeen and homeless. It took me a while to get on my feet. When I turned eighteen, I finished my high school education on the Internet and started college courses in Theology. I’m not the only person on social media who keeps their name a secret. It would be crazy not to. I learned that lesson after two videos when I started receiving presents and pictures from men. I took those videos down and started posting under a different last name.
“My legal name is Zoey Mathers. I was born in Knoxville, Tennessee in 1992. There aren’t many states I haven’t lived in. Some I remember; others I don’t because I was too young. I’m not a spy. I’ve never even had a speeding ticket, and not because I don’t have a license but because I’m a good driver. I’m also not in the witness protection program…” She tried to think of the other reason she spouted off when he told her he had her checked out. “Oh… I’m not on the run either. I live simply because of my beliefs, not because I’m hiding from the police.”
“Why did you run away from home?”
“That is one question that I won’t answer. It’s no business of yours, as it doesn’t pertain to you being my client or finding out who is stalking me.”
“It’s my business if it’s one of your parents who wants to see you dead.”
She jerked at his statement, knocking the iPad onto the floor. She picked it up and put it back on her lap. Then she started fiddling with the bottom of her scarf.
“My father died when I was fourteen, and my mother had no interest in me once she and my father were divorced. I ran away, not because of anything they did, but because I hated the orphanage that I was taken to when my father died and the authorities couldn’t find my mother.
“I was blessed to find someone to give me a place to live until I screwed up and went to get a driver’s license. I was turned over to child protective services. I had just turned seventeen, so I was taken to another orphanage that I ran away from after a month. That’s when I took a bus to Queen City. I liked the name of it, and it was far enough away from the orphanage that I didn’t worry about being recognized. Once I turned eighteen, it didn’t matter anyway.” Shrugging, she let her scarf fall from her hands.
“Where did you live when away from the orphanage?”
“I was taken in by monks at a Theology school.” Zoey couldn’t help laughing at the expression that came across his face.
“You’re kidding?”
“No, it’s the truth. It was in a small country town. I had been sleeping in the woods at night and traveling during the day on foot. I was too afraid to be seen hitchhiking, so I pretty much kept to the woods so I wouldn’t be seen. I was starving and freezing when I saw lights in the woods. I watched the buildings for a couple of nights before I was brave enough to sneak into the abbey, which they kept unlocked. They kept all the buildings unlocked for the students.
“I watched the security guard, so I was able to sneak inside the cafeteria and eat before he came back on his rounds. I found a hiding spot in the abbey where I could sleep, and then I would leave before the monks came in the morning. It worked for about two weeks. Then I was caught.”
“How?”
“I overslept. I expected them to turn me over to the police. Instead, they fed me and gave me a small cottage to live in.” She blinked back tears at the memories. “I loved that place. It was the first real home I had. I would have stayed there if I hadn’t been caught trying to get my license.”