Chapter 26

“I doubt that,” I told him before hanging up.

I stuck the recorder in my pocket, handed Trent the phone, and we took off.

* * * *

I sat on a bench under a tree beside the playground. There was one family; the parents watching two toddlers having a great time going down the kiddy slide. Other than that, the only people around were couples or dog-walkers on the paths running through the park. I checked the time on my phone. Eight-fifty-five. Trent had disabled the one I’d used to call Wilson by removing the SIM card, which he crushed under his heel before dropping it in a dumpster on our way to the park. “I’m stingy,” he said when I asked why he hadn’t gotten rid of the whole phone. “These things may be cheap, but every penny counts, as often as we need them.”

I clenched and unclenched my hands, checking the time again. One minute past nine. Was Wilson going to call my bluff and not show up?