Free Promise by Sarah Armstrong Page B

was the consequence of what she was doing, wasn’t it? She felt sick.
    ‘Anna? Are you there?’
    ‘So if I bring her to your place, can you guarantee that we’ll be able to get her into care tonight? Can you guarantee she won’t go back to those two next door?’
    The traffic started moving and she turned right.
    ‘No . . .’ He paused. ‘No, of course I can’t. But I guarantee you’ll end up charged with a serious crime unless you stop right now.’
    ‘But I’d still get charged, wouldn’t I? Even if I handed her to the cops now?’
    He was silent. ‘Maybe you would. But . . . I doubt you’d end up in jail. Why don’t you just take her home and say you took her out for an ice-cream or something?’
    She sighed and shook her head. ‘But can’t you see? I’d be giving her back to that man. Charlie’s terrified of him. She pissed her pants when she was hiding from him in my garden. What you can do is tell the cops why I’ve taken her.’
    ‘Yeah, well, I’ll have every opportunity to do that, don’t worry. But, you know, their primary focus will be the fact that she’s been
abducted
.’ He spoke urgently. ‘Anna, for god’s sake, don’t do this!’
    ‘Someone has to take care of this girl.’ She wanted to hang up now. The conversation was going in circles.
    ‘You realise I have to call the police and tell them what you’ve told me?’
    ‘Don’t do it straightaway, Dave. Wait a bit.’
    He sounded pained. ‘I have to call straightaway. Otherwise I’m aiding you – not a good look for a lawyer.’
    ‘Right.’
Shit
. She gripped the steering wheel. She shouldn’t have answered the phone.
    ‘They’ll look at your phone records and see when you called me. I have to call when we hang up.’
    She exhaled shakily. ‘Okay.’
    ‘Sure you don’t want to bring her here?’
    ‘I’m sure.’
    He sighed. ‘Oh, Anna. Please think about what you are doing.’
    ‘Bye, Dave.’
    ‘Take care.’
    She threw the phone onto the passenger seat. Every cop car in Sydney would be looking for her in about five minutes, and she had no idea where she was heading. She couldn’t go to her dad’s. Could she and Charlie just camp in the bush? She imagined sleeping in the car, with no bedding to speak of, no clothes for Charlie, no food. She had friends near Grafton and Bathurst, but the police would surely check those places after looking at her phone and email records. Her laptop was open on the kitchen table, waiting for them.
    The road merged onto the motorway and she pulled into the left lane and dialled her dad’s number. The call flicked through to his answering machine. He still had the ancient machine that her mum bought when they were new and fancy. His voice was thin and wobbly on the old cassette. ‘Hello. Neville Pierce is not home. Please leave a message after the beep.’
    ‘Dad. It’s me. Things got worse for the girl next door. And I’ve taken things into my own hands and I have her with me and I’m dropping off the radar for a while. So I won’t be in touch. I’ll be right. Please don’t worry.’
    Tears spilled from her eyes. She wished she could hear her dad’s reassuring voice.
    ‘Bye, Daddo. Take care.’
    She imagined him arriving home and standing in his neat kitchen, listening to her message. She knew he’d be dismayed that she’d broken the law, and could picture him thumping the bench. But she felt pretty sure he wouldn’t report her phone call, not that he’d be able to tell the cops anything that Dave hadn’t already told them.
    She wound down her window and tossed her phone out and heard it smash as it hit the road. She’d forgotten to ask after Red, her dad’s dog, and now it was too late.
    A big road sign suggested Liverpool and Canberra as destinations. Her instinct was to head north-west through the city, then over the Blue Mountains using the Bells Line of Road. She wouldn’t go to her dad’s but maybe she’d think of someone else around Orange. There