Total pages in book: 148
Estimated words: 135517 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 678(@200wpm)___ 542(@250wpm)___ 452(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 135517 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 678(@200wpm)___ 542(@250wpm)___ 452(@300wpm)
“I see!” I was trying hard to hold onto my anger because that never gets me anywhere, but the picture that’s been starting to form in my mind since the last time I went to see my mom is making it hard not to go the fuck off. “Are you still working on what I asked you to?”
“Yeah, I found someone to help, someone we can trust. It’s taking some time because he doesn’t just do surface stuff, you know. He’s one of those old-school guys who like to get to the heart of the matter. I can get him to speed things along if you’d like.”
“No, don’t do that. Tell him to look into everything and everyone. Go as far back as he can. I want to know everything. Do you have enough money to pay him?”
“More than enough, Ryder; you gave me way too much.”
“That’s okay; I’m gonna send some extra money to your account for you to cover any more costs.”
“That account’s been closed for more than three years.”
“What’re you talking about?”
“Wait, you didn’t know?”
“Of course not; why would I close the account I set up for you and my sisters?”
“How the fuck out of it have you been, Ryder? You haven’t sent us any money in years. Which is fine, don’t get me wrong. I work and make enough; I just thought that you grew tired of always looking out for us, and you know….”
“Mom, none of what you’re saying is making any sense. I understand that you believed them when they said it was better for me to cut ties with everyone from my past for a while to get my head straight, but you’re my mother. Didn’t you find it odd that so many years went by, and you didn’t hear from me?”
“I did; I even tried to call. I was starting to get worried; I was going to come out to LA, and I even told Janie that the last time we spoke, but then you started texting the girls, so I thought everything was okay and that maybe you were still mad at me for telling you not to marry her.”
“Texting the girls? What do you mean? I haven’t talked to the girls in a while; in fact, the only people I’ve talked to on the phone for quite some time are Scott and Matt.” Wait, now that I think about it, that is a bit odd. How come I never realized before just how isolated I’ve become?
“I don’t know what’s going on; this is a mess. Do you need me to come out there?”
“No, mom, just keep doing what I asked. I’ll take care of things here.” What the fuck is going on? And why am I only now hearing about this? More importantly, why did they cut my mother off?
“Mom, I’m going to reopen your account sometime today. I need you to do something else for me.”
“Anything, son; what do you need?”
“I might disappear for a while; keep an eye on her for me. On, and one more thing, I’m gonna ditch this phone soon. I don’t trust it. I’ll call you when I get a new number.”
“Sure, no problem, be careful.”
“I will don’t worry.” We hung up, and I went back to brainstorming. I’d spent the night lying awake, putting my plan into action. If I go back to LA, there’s bound to be interference, plus I need to go somewhere to get clean.
I don’t like this feeling of being watched, being handled. I know my absence is going to cause an uproar, but right now, I don’t really care about that. I have this nagging feeling in my more lucid moments that there’s something I’m missing, something I either locked out of my mind or some other psychological drama; whatever it is, though, I’m almost certain it’s back there in LA. I don’t think I trust anyone there.
I’d already turned off the location and everything else on my phone, but I still wasn’t taking any chances. I’d rented the room using my alias, but there was no guarantee that it wouldn’t be found out before long, so I couldn’t stay here much longer.
I’d only planned to stay for long as she was in the hospital since it was within walking distance, but I’ll have to find somewhere else to stay in a day or two, if not sooner. I didn’t fool myself that my disguise would hold out for too long, especially if the paparazzi had followed her here, but it was the best I could do on such short notice.
All the next day, I was the main topic on the social media circuit. Everyone wanted to know where I was, and there was more than enough speculation to go around. Apparently, I was in South America on a yacht with my darling wife. I wonder who came up with that one.