But as the years pass and the names on my list of girls grows, the truth is hard to deny. She chooses bad men because she likes bad men. She’s drawn to them and the risk they present, because she’s all risk, full throttle, all the time. She chose this ride and put me on it with no way off, and then I grow up drawn to bad men, too, like mother, like daughter.
There’s just one difference between her and me. She’s drawn to bad men because deep down, she wants to love them. She needs them to love her.
I don’t want to love them, and I’ve never needed to be loved by them.
I learned very early, the best thing you can expect from them is pain.
And the best thing you can do with a bad man is destroy him.
— 12 —
9:47 a.m. （35 minutes captive）
1 lighter, 3 bottles of vodka, 1 pair of scissors, no plan
This time, it’s Gray Cap who comes into the office.
His knuckles are bloody. It’s the first thing I notice, and it makes me want to crowd next to Casey, to hide her from him.
Who did he hurt? The guard, more? The teller, first? Or the woman who’d just cried, stone-faced, the whole time we were in the lobby?
What to do, what to do, my mind’s skipping and turning, and all I know is that keeping Casey’s real identity from them is the safest thing for her, so I focus on that. Hide Casey.
I have the scissors. I’ll use them if I have to.
A shiver runs down my neck at the thought. I’ve been running from what the girls all taught me for a long time. When Lee got me out that first year, I used to whisper their names to get to sleep. Rebecca. Samantha. Haley. Katie. Ashley.
I haven’t had to do that in a long time. I want to do it right now, but I force myself to focus. He’s saying something.
“Get in the corner.”
Wes plants himself in front of us in the corner as we obey, and Gray Cap’s mouth twitches at the show of protectiveness.
“Go through it,” he orders, and for a second I’m confused, but then Red Cap steps inside.
I watch as he searches the room and goes through the desk, tries to yank at the fake cabinets on the back wall that are sealed shut.
“Goddamn it,” he says. “Nothing.”
That’s when I realize they’re not trying to weapon-proof the room. They’re looking for something.
Give the mark something they want. First step of a con. It builds trust. Find out what they want and provide it.
Red Cap stalks out of the room and Gray Cap’s about to follow, so I tilt forward, trying to catch a glimpse of the hall, but it’s no use. I can’t see a thing.
“There’s gotta be a toolbox somewhere,” Red Cap mutters as the door closes behind them, and then there’s just the sound of whatever they’re using to block the door being dragged back into place.
I hurry over to the door and press my ear to it. Then: not voices, but sirens.
Sheriff’s here. Things are moving too fast. I need time and I don’t have it. I have to make some assumptions.
Assumption #1: The men out there aren’t just here for money, they’re here for something that only the manager has access to: the safe-deposit boxes. You need keys to get into those. Maybe even to access the vault they’re in.
Assumption #2: They’re trying to break into the manager’s office because they need keys.
The sirens are off now, but I can hear the distant sound of the bank phones ringing in the front. They’re trying to make contact again. Clock’s run out. Time to move, Nora. Make a damn plan.
“Casey.” I turn toward where she’s sitting in the corner, slumped over and cried out. “I want you to tell me everything you know about your dad.”
“My dad . . . What do you mean?”
“You said your mom dropped you off. Are they divorced?”
“Yeah, for three years now.”
“Do you like your dad?”
She frowns at me like it’s a ridiculous question, which tells me a lot. “Of course. I love him.”
“Is he worried about money? Who wanted the divorce, him or your mom?”
“Why does that matter?”
Iris shoots me a look, then smiles reassuringly at Casey. “Honey, the guys out there? They’re here for your dad. And they aren’t trying to get into the cash drawers or the safe. That’s . . . well, it’s weird. So if you know anything, overheard anything, we don’t want to get your dad in trouble. We just want to figure out what those guys want. The sooner they get what they want, the sooner we can go home.”