I tread carefully. I burn to know the siblings' secret but I don't want to disrespect Claudia by prying the information out of Todd. It's a miserable place to be. "Assuming that's the case, you won't lose me," I assure him. "I'll always be a phone call away."
"I don't want you to be a phone call away!" His emotional outburst is sudden and loud. "Petr, I want to stay here! I want to go to school with the other kids, graduate and be normal for once, and I want you to marry my sister so we can be a family!"
My grip on the steering wheel tightens. He's circling his sore point and stabbing mine. "Does your sister know how you feel?"
He slumps. "I don't know. Maybe. It doesn't matter if she does. When he finds us, we have to move again."
"Who?" I can't help the question.
"The Monster. He always comes." Fear enters his voice. "Sergeant Henderson showed me pictures of what happened to him. It's what happened to Claudia last time."
Sergeant Henderson was taken hostage for half a day, beaten near death and had his bones broken to the point his arm no longer functions right. I don't need to imagine the wounds to see them in my head.
It sickens me to see Claudia's face in place of the sergeant's.
"Claudia was supposed to marry this crazy guy four years ago. He's totally psycho. He won't leave us alone. Everywhere we go, he finds us. The cops won't do anything but throw him in jail for thirty days. It's long enough for us to escape but he always … he always comes back." Todd is distressed, his fear palpable and his features tortured. "He always hurts her and he hurt me twice. Last time he almost killed her 'cuz she was trying to protect me."
"The police can't help you?"
"No. Our lawyer tried so many times … Claud says we have to wait. The feds are putting together a case against him and will throw him in jail for twenty years. But until then we have to run," he whispers. "I'm so tired of it. I want to stay here with you."
It takes every ounce of will power I can muster not to turn the truck around, walk into the diner and hide Claudia away in our house. My father and I have a collection of weapons, both antiques for show and functional for the shooting range in the basement, that would leave any aficionado drooling. A single man has no chance against me let alone my father, me and all our weapons.