A LATE VISITOR

G race pressed the phone against her ear. Her hand was slick with sweat. Her heartbeat sounded so loud to her that it almost drowned out the pounding on the door.

“Please, Rory!” Grace gasped into the phone. “Don’t you understand? You treated me like you owned me! That’s why things didn’t work out between us!”

“Grace!” Reva’s voice surprised Grace. She jumped, and the phone jerked out of her hand. She grabbed it. As she pressed it to her ear, she felt the blood drain from her face.

“No!” she muttered in a hoarse whisper. “Don’t come here! You can’t, Rory!” She bit her lip and ran her fingers through her wispy brown hair. “Leave me alone! Don’t come here!” she pleaded again. “No, don’t say that. Don’t threaten me like that, Rory!”

The door banged open. Grace slammed the phone down and whirled around as Reva strode into the room.

“Didn’t you hear me knocking?” Reva demanded, scowling at her. “What’s going on, Grace? You woke Michael up. He thought somebody was in here. He was ready to kill them!”

“I didn’t mean to wake him,” Grace whispered. Her heart was still pounding so hard it hurt. “I’m sorry, Reva.”

“It’s a little late for that,” Reva grumbled. “What’s going on? Who were you talking to?”

Grace sank down on the bed. “Rory.”

Reva’s scowl deepened.

“I’m so scared, Reva!” Grace cried. “He’s furious! And he threatened to come here!”

“To Shadyside?” Reva asked. “To my house?”

Grace nodded. She pulled her legs up and wrapped her arms around her knees, shivering. “He said nothing could keep him from me. He said I’d pay for what I did to him.”

Grace shivered again. The house was warm, but she couldn’t stop shaking. Her eyes filled with tears and she bent her head against her knees. “I’m so scared, Reva, I don’t know what to do! What if he does come here?”

“Let him,” Reva told her.

Grace raised her head. “You can’t mean that!”

“Oh, yes I do.” Reva smiled grimly. “Come on. Let’s go down to the kitchen and make some tea or something.”

Grace didn’t really want any tea. She didn’t want to do anything but fly far away to some place where it was safe.

But no place was far enough.

No place was safe.

“Come on,” Reva repeated impatiently. “I’m wide awake now, and you look like you just checked out of an institution.”

Grace stood up and pulled on her bathrobe. As she did, she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. Reva was right. Her face was pale, and dark circles ringed her eyes.

I look awful. Skinny and pale and terrified. Maybe some tea will at least warm me, maybe make me stop shaking.

Still nervous, Grace followed Reva along the dim hallway and down the sweeping staircase to the main floor.

“I’m starving,” Reva announced as they passed through the pantry and into the huge kitchen. She opened the refrigerator and stared inside. “Good. The cook made some pies for one of the parties. Apple and pumpkin and cherry. Which kind do you like?”

“Well—cherry,” Grace said. “But if they’re for a party, maybe we shouldn’t eat any now.”

“Who cares?” Reva shrugged and pulled out a pie. “The cook can always make more. That’s her job.”

While Reva boiled water in a copper kettle, Grace cut two slices of pie at the big marble-topped island in the center of the gleaming kitchen. Reva plunked down two steaming mugs and the two of them sat on high wooden stools, waiting for the tea to cool.

Grace took a bite of pie, then wrapped her hands around her mug. She still felt cold. “How can you be so calm?” she asked.

Reva gazed at her over the rim of her mug. “Why shouldn’t I be calm?”

“Because of Rory!” Grace cried. “I mean, maybe you don’t realize how dangerous he is, but I do! He beat me up, remember? What if he comes here?”

“As I said, let him.” Reva sipped some tea. “You’re safe here, Grace.”

Grace shook her head. “I wish I could believe you. But you don’t know Rory.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Reva told her. “Listen, I told you about being kidnapped last year, right?”

“Yes, but what does that have to do with Rory?”

“Well, as soon as it was over, my father beefed up the security around here,” Reva explained. “Not only does this house have the best alarm system in the world, we now have three guard dogs on the grounds. Plus,” she added, “Daddy hired two full-time security guards.”

Grace shuddered. “You make it sound like a prison.”

Reva frowned. “Thanks a lot.”

“I didn’t mean it that way!” Grace felt herself blushing. She was always saying things wrong. “It’s a beautiful house, really. And I’m so grateful to be here. I guess I’m just upset, because of the phone call.”

“Yeah, well, you can stop being upset. If Rory tries to get in here, the guard will stop him.” Reva laughed. “And if the guard doesn’t, the dogs will. Take my word for it, they’re trained to go for the throat.”

The throat. Grace shuddered again.

“So forget about Rory, okay?” Reva said. “And stop flinching at every little noise. It’s not exactly fun.”

“I know. I’m sorry.” Grace lifted her mug. Her hands shook and the tea slopped out over the rim.

“What’s the matter now?” Reva asked, sounding irritated. “How many times do I have to tell you that he can’t get in here?”

“I want to believe you,” Grace told her. “But you didn’t hear Rory on the phone just now. He was wild, Reva! And when he’s like that, nothing can stop him. Not dogs or guards or alarms or anything.”

She mopped up the tea with a napkin. “And he said... he said when he got here, he was going to finish what he started with me.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“He was talking about when he beat me up.” Grace swallowed. “He—he meant this time he’s going to kill me!”

Before Reva could respond, someone knocked at the kitchen door. Reva jumped.

Grace jumped, too, knocking her mug over. Dark tea spread across the marble and dribbled onto the floor.

Another knock, louder this time.

Grace wanted to run, but she couldn’t move. She sat frozen in terror, her eyes on the door. “It’s... it’s him! He did come.”

A third knock. A fourth.

“It’s Rory!” Grace cried.

Дата добавления: 2015-07-20