Not What It Seems by Nicky James

Author:Nicky James [James, Nicky]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-09-05T16:00:00+00:00

* * *

River wore the ball cap he’d stolen from the hospital and the clothes I’d grabbed for him at the local Walmart. As I drove up and down random streets in St. Thomas’s busier downtown area, he kept a lookout for places that might draw in a homeless population.

Having him in the car beside me was giving me anxiety. My armpits were drenched, and sweat trickled down my temples despite the blasts of cold air pumping from the vents. Every car that turned a corner or came up behind me made my heart beat harder and faster. I was waiting for a police cruiser to pull me over.

“We need to park and walk,” River said.

“What? We can’t do that.”

“We have to. If we’re going to find anyone to ask, it will be down these alleys and behind these buildings. You can’t drive down them. We need to be on foot.”

“You can’t be out there.”

“It’s after midnight. I’ll keep my head down.”

It was a bad idea. A horrible idea. Regardless, like always, because I didn’t know how to say no, I pulled to the side of the road and killed the engine. Blowing out a breath, I scanned the street in both directions.

River’s hand landed on my thigh. “Chill, Doc. We’re good. I promise.”

“You’re a wanted man, and I’m an accomplice. We are anything but good.”

“Do you see a swarm of police officers combing the streets looking for me?”

My shoulders fell. “No.”

“Because they scoured the area already and didn’t find me. They probably figure I found a way to London.”

“It doesn’t mean this isn’t dangerous.”

“I know.”

“I don’t like it.”

“I know that too.”

“I feel sick.”

River chuckled. “You’re doing great. Come on. I promise I won’t draw attention to myself. Unless you want to go search these back alleys by yourself. In that case, have at it.”

My skin prickled, and my lips twitched. “No. Please come with me.”

Because I was a coward on top of it all, but I wasn’t about to admit it.

We got out of the car, and I rounded the front to stand beside River on the sidewalk. He angled his head toward an alley beside a 7-Eleven. “This way.”

The humidity was thick. The moisture in the air seemed to absorb the rancid smells in the alley and hold them hostage. Urine, rotten cabbage, and something chemical I couldn’t identify. We followed a narrow passage behind several buildings, steel service doors and dumpsters at intervals. But no people.

“Maybe St. Thomas doesn’t have a homeless population,” I suggested after a while.

“Everywhere has a homeless population. Trust me. I lived in a foster home once in a town with a population of eight hundred, and we had a homeless guy. Everyone knew him. His name was Bucky.”

“Bucky?”

“Yep. He was, like, sixty or seventy.”

“That’s sad.”

“It is what it is. All I’m saying is, the homeless are everywhere.”

We walked on, my nose twitching, skin buzzing. I wanted another shower. The scent clung to my hair and clothes. We passed a pile of vomit, and the ripe odor made me gag.

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