The Good Citizen by Marc Ross

Author:Marc Ross [Ross, Marc]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-02-17T00:00:00+00:00

He waited at the door as the boy wandered back into his bedroom to grab his things. “Just get what you need for now,” he said. “We can come back for anything else.”

The boy’s room was more spartan than his own: an old mattress on the floor, a Steelers poster tacked to a dirty wall, and a few books and manga comics stacked to one side. Ben grabbed a bag from the closet and put in whatever he could find.

“I’ll be right out here when you’re finished,” he said, then left the boy to it and read the text message on his cellphone that had come through. It was from Abel. The message itself was just a single line with an address for the Lynch residence, just like he’d asked. As he looked up again, he saw Amanda come in. “Did you tell them to call off the search?”

Amanda nodded and looked about the room for the boy.

“He’s in his room,” he said. He took her to one side, out of earshot.

Amanda spoke softly, shaking her head as she stepped over the empty cigarette packets and wine bottles scattered about the floor. “I can’t believe she made him live in this,” she said, surveying the filthy hovel for a home. “Are you sure you’re doing the right thing?”

“He has no one else.”

“But there’s people he can stay with that do this all the time.”

“That’s exactly what he doesn’t want.”

Amanda checked her shoulder to make sure the boy wasn’t there. “And if she doesn’t pull through… What then?”

“I’ll take it a day at a time.”

She held his face and turned it towards her. “He’s not your responsibility. You’re not his family.”

“I know what I am,” he said, then pulled away from her. “And right now, it’s the best he’s got. Can’t you see that?”

Amanda let out a defeated sigh. “Of course I can. I’m just… worried about you.”

“You don’t need to worry about me.”

“That’s what all men say.”

“Well, I don’t know what other men you’re worried about, but you forget about me.”

“Where did you go earlier?”

He hesitated, then reached into his pocket and withdrew the photograph that the stranger had left for him. The one that the chief had returned to him the previous night.

“Is that… you?” she asked, studying the picture.

“Yes.”

“And the woman?”

“I’m not sure,” he said, then pointed at the face of the stranger on the far right of the image. “But that’s the man who died the other night.”

Amanda peered up at him with wide eyes. “The one who contacted you?”

He nodded. “His name is Rick Reynolds.”

“You remember him?”

He shook his head this time. “But he knew me.”

“This picture is old.”

“Right. I don’t remember anything about it. That’s why I need to find out who he is and why he came looking for me.”

Amanda’s eyes narrowed again as she bit her lip. “I don’t like where this is going.”

He leaned into her and held her stare. “I need to go to Philadelphia.”

“Are you serious?”

“I can’t leave this.”

“Okay,” she said, pulling away from him.

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