Breathless

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  To: Alfred Norwich

  From: Richard Durham

  Subject: Re: West Virginia

  Alfred,

  We’ve been monitoring the situation in West Virginia, tapping the phones of the Jones family. It’s our feeling that if the family should come in contact with Jason again, they would be an immediate threat to his person. For now, we’ve just got them under surveillance, but if they should make any moves, we would recommend termination.

  It’s also my personal feeling that since Hallam was so adamant we stay away from West Virginia, he knew Jason was there the entire time. That means any place he said Jason wouldn’t be is probably where Jason is.

  Yours in the pursuit of the Purpose,

  Richard

  It wasn’t as hard to find Aunt Stephanie as I feared. Jason and I just found an internet café and used the computers to look her up on anywho.com. We got a phone number and an address. Aunt Stephanie lived in Alpine, New Jersey, which Jason said was good, because it was relatively close. We were already in New Jersey, having gotten off the ferry. We weren’t sure if we should call Aunt Stephanie first. I’d told Jason that my aunt hadn’t really kept in touch with my family and that she and my grandmother had disowned my mother for marrying below her station.

  Jason wasn’t sure it was a good idea for us to go to my aunt’s house. I had to admit that my last idea of going somewhere for help (Ms. Campbell) had backfired completely. But he admitted that Alpine, NJ was the last place the Sons would look for him and that he didn’t have any better ideas.

  Apparently, Alpine was a community of really, really rich people. I hadn’t known this. But all the houses there were worth millions of dollars.

  “Your mother really did marry down,” said Jason.

  We decided to call her, because we were going to have to take a bus to Alpine, and if she didn’t want us to be there, we’d have wasted all that money. I had to admit there were definite advantages to this whole metropolitan area thing. Public transportation was a marvelous thing. It was really cool getting around without a car. One less thing to worry about.

  I dialed my aunt’s number on a payphone (which was extremely hard to find in this day of cell phones. Neither Jason nor I had one). It rang and rang. I chewed on my lip nervously.

  Finally, someone answered the phone. “Hoyt residence.” That was my mother’s maiden name. Aunt Stephanie had never married.

  “Um,” I said, “may I speak to Stephanie Hoyt?”

  “May I ask who’s calling?”

  “It’s her niece, Azazel,” I said.

  “Hold on,” said the voice, but whoever it was sounded a little startled. I wondered who was answering the phone at Aunt Stephanie’s house. Did she have servants or something?

  I waited. Finally, someone picked up the phone.

  “Azazel?”

  “Hi Aunt Stephanie,” I said.

  “Is your mother with you?” she asked.

  “Um... I’ve kind of run away from home,” I said.

  “Of course you have. How could you live there with that woman?” said Aunt Stephanie. “Where are you?”

  “In Hoboken,” I said. That wasn’t the response I was expecting.

  “Oh my God,” said Aunt Stephanie. “Alone?”

  “N-no, I have a friend.”

  “Well, thank Heaven for that. I wouldn’t want you all alone out there,” she said. “I’m sending a car. Tell me exactly where you are.”

  After giving her a detailed location, I hung up the phone. “She’s sending a car,” I said to Jason. “She didn’t seem upset that I ran away.”

  “Good sign,” said Jason.