The man finally spoke, causing Tashby to look up.
"Alright," he said. She realized that all that time he had been looking for some paper. "You were heading for the village."
"Yes."
"If you tell us the directions, we'll let you go. Simple. Do you know them?"
She nodded. There was hope now. Even if everyone else would die, she was going to survive. And that was the only thing she cared about now. The only thing that had been bothering her for the previous hour.
"Well, not all of them, exactly, but I know how you get there from Neva. Kind of."
"Fine. Do you want to see how we found you?"
Tashby rested her chin of her fist and her ankle on her knee. It was uncomfortable that way, but she felt better.
"Why not?" She shrugged her shoulders and then lay back, letting her arm hang again.
"Wait a second. But don't you dare run away. There's surveillance here, you know."
Tashby looked up as the man shut the door, making a quiet sound. The surveillance might have been a simple lie made up to scare her, but she was too exhausted to run. She'd survive, anyway.
The door opened again, and she turned her head, expecting the policeman to be at the door. Instead, she saw Keaton.
"Hi, Tashby," He smiled mockingly. "Or do you prefer Margaret?"
"Didn't expect such an epic entrance, Keaton," Tashby rolled her eyes. "So, what's the story? Give out all the juice."
She was trying to act cool, but ended up looking stupid. For real, she knew that she was surpised. She'd always forgotten about her little adventure in Kernie. Ivy had been so calm about it. And she had no clue that Keaton, who had been so nice to her, had given her out.
"I understood everything once I found out that they were looking for you," He said, getting more serious.
Now it was a proven fact that, despite his homelessness, Keaton was surely intelligent.
"There was a cash prize," he continued. "And you know how much I need it. I'm sorry."
Their eyes met, and for a moment Keaton truly seemed kind and apologetic. But soon that was replaced by anger.
"And you lied to me," He spat out under his breath. "I would help you if only you'd told me the truth. I would hide you. But you decided to lie, even when I was being honest."