“Just fine,” Steve said a little too quickly for comfort. “When Billy gave us your message, she was so excited. At first she wanted to come to the airport with me, but we decided it would be better for her to call you tomorrow.”
“Sherry was with you when Billy told you I’d called?” I tried to keep it from sounding like an accusation.
“Well, yes,” Steve said uncomfortably. “She’d stopped by the house. She was as happy as I was to learn you were back.”
“What was she doing at your place? Had you been out together?”
“A bunch of us had a picnic over at Grant’s Park,” Steve said. “Rick and Traci, Debbie and Reed, Jodi and Michael…”
“In other words, it was all couples,” I said, phrasing the question as though it were a statement. “Jodi mentioned that you and Sherry were seeing each other. It sure didn’t take you long to find somebody to replace me.”
“It wasn’t like that at all,” Steve said defensively. “Sherry and I started hanging out together because we were trying to figure out what had happened to you.”
“And one thing led to another?” I asked sarcastically, pulling free of the arm he had slung around my shoulders.
“It wasn’t until the ‘For Sale’ sign went up in your yard that we thought you weren’t coming back and we started dating.” He put his hand on my arm. “Please don’t be mad, April. I’m really happy you’re home, and so is Sherry.”
Out in the parking lot he loaded my suitcase into the backseat of his Honda and opened the door so I could climb in on the passenger’s side. Then he went around and got into the driver’s seat. He kept both hands on the wheel as he pulled out of the parking area and made no move to encourage me to snuggle against him. For my own part, I sat rigidly on my side of the car, too hurt and angry to try to make conversation.
“Do you want to stop for something to eat?” Steve asked awkwardly.
“No, I’d like to go straight to Lorelei’s,” I told him. “I need to find out if she’s going to let me stay there.”
“If there’s any problem, I’m sure you can sleep at Sherry’s,” Steve said. “No matter what you may think, she’s still your friend.”
“With a friend like that, I don’t need any enemies,” I said bitterly. “If I can’t spend the night at Lorelei’s, I’ll crash at Jodi’s.”
The Golden Ridge Condominiums, where Lorelei had moved after my grandfather died, were a group of colonial-style town houses enclosed by a wrought-iron fence. The security guard was a friendly man named Pat whom I had come to know well during the five years Lorelei lived there. Now, as Steve brought the car to a stop at the gate, I leaned across him so Pat could see who I was.
“Hi!” I called. “It’s me. I’m here to see my grandmother.” I expected him to immediately raise the gate for us, but instead he came out of the guardhouse, gave Steve a long, hard stare, and walked all the way around the car, looking in windows.
He stopped when he came abreast of the window on my side.
“Your grandmother didn’t leave word she was expecting company,” he said. “I’ll have to call for permission to let you through.”
“Pat, you’ve known me since I was twelve!” I exclaimed. “Since when do I have to have special permission to visit here?”
“Things are different now,” Pat said. “The manager’s clamped down. We don’t let people in anymore unless their names are on a guest list. Your grandmother doesn’t have anybody’s name on her list. She wants me to call and check about every visitor.”
“I can’t believe that,” I said. “It’s not at all like her.”
“Like I said, things are different now,” Pat said patiently.
He went back into the guardhouse, and through the glass of the security room window I could see him on the phone. He spoke briefly, hung up, and came back out.
“She said I can let you in, but nobody else,” he said. “She doesn’t want you to bring your friend in with you.”
“Maybe she’s in her nightgown or something,” Steve speculated. “I’ll wait out here until you find out what the deal is.”
“You don’t have to,” I said. “I’m sure she’ll put me up for one night. If I need to make other long-term arrangements, I can do that tomorrow.”
I got out of the car, and Steve came around to get my bag for me.
“You must have this thing loaded with bricks,” he said with a tentative smile, in a weak attempt to bridge the distance between us.
“I’m used to the weight,” I told him. “I’ve lugged it around all day. Thanks for meeting my plane. It was beyond the call of duty.”
“I was glad to do it,” Steve said. “It’s great that you’re back.” He leaned down quickly and brushed my cheek with his lips. “If you need anything, just call. You know I still care about you, even if it’s not quite the same as it used to be. Things change, and life goes on, and we roll with the punches. I had no way of knowing I was ever going to see you again.”
I didn’t respond to the statement or to the kiss, because I knew if I did I would start to cry. Instead I picked up my suitcase and started up the driveway. When I reached the sidewalk that ran in front of the condos, I turned and glanced back to see if his car was gone yet. It was still at the gate, and Steve was standing beside it. When he saw me looking back, he raised his hand and waved. Blinking back tears, I turned and kept on walking.
Lorelei’s condominium was the last in the row, and I had to set my suitcase down twice before I got to it. When I reached it and pressed the buzzer, I was startled to hear a dog begin barking inside. After a moment Lorelei’s voice called, “Get back from the door!”
I took a few steps backward to give her a chance to peer out through the peephole, which was something I didn’t recall her ever doing before. Then I heard the click of the lock, and the door swung inward, revealing a woman I almost didn’t recognize.
“So you came after all,” she said. “That’s what I expected. You’re such a stubborn child, there’s just no way to reason with you.”
“Lorelei!” I whispered in horror. “Lorelei, what happened?”
“Don’t stand there gaping,” my grandmother said. “Come in.”
The moment I was inside, she shut the door and locked it, while Porky raced around in circles, barking joyfully, hysterical with excitement about seeing me again. I continued to stare incredulously at my grandmother. Her right arm was in an L-shaped cast that ran from her wrist to her armpit and the whole left side of her face was the yellowish color of a serious bruise in its final stages.
“What happened?” I asked again. “Were you in an acci-dent?”
“It was no accident,” Lorelei said. “I did something foolish. I opened my door to a stranger, and this is what happened.”
She sank down onto the sofa as though her legs were too tired to hold her, and I hurriedly sat down beside her and reached for her hand, bracing myself for what she was going to tell me.
“A week ago Pat called up from the gate to tell me a delivery man was here with a package,” Lorelei said. “I told him to go ahead and send the man up with it. The Marshals Service has had several crates sent over here, so I thought this was just another one of those boxes.
“The man who arrived was very polite and gentlemanly. He asked me where I wanted him to put the box, and I told him to bring it inside and set it in the closet in the hall, which is where I’ve been storing your family’s personal possessions. Once inside, though, he didn’t head for the closet. His whole personality changed, and he suddenly got nasty. He told me he wanted to know where my son-in-law was hiding and if I didn’t tell him I was going to be sorry.”
“Then he wasn’t connected with the Marshals Service atall?”
“Certainly not, but it took me a moment to realize it. As soon as I did, I made a dash for the bedroom. There’s a phone in there, and I thought if I could get the door locked I could call down to Pat and tell him I needed help. It was a good idea, and I actually th
ink it might have worked, but I had just come back from a luncheon and was wearing heels. One of them caught on the edge of the carpet, and before I could get my balance back, the man had covered the distance between us and was on top of me. He threw me down, and my head crashed into the door frame. Then he grabbed my wrist and bent my arm up behind me.”
“Oh, Lorelei, that’s awful!” I breathed. “Did you scream for help?”
“Of course I screamed, but it didn’t do any good. One reason I bought a condo here at Golden Ridge was because they’re so well insulated against noise. If I can’t hear my neighbors, it stands to reason they can’t hear me, so shrieking for help was useless. If the windows had been open, it might have been different, but I had them closed because the air conditioner was on.
“The man kept twisting my arm, demanding to know where your father was, and it’s lucky I didn’t know or I might have told him. Finally, I felt the bone snap. It’s odd how you don’t think of bones making noise when they break, but mine made a sound like a twig from a dried-out Christmas tree. The pain was so bad that I think I must have fainted, because the next thing I knew it was dark and I was lying in the hallway outside the bedroom. I managed somehow to get up and turn on the lights. I was very relieved to discover that I was alone.”
“Oh, Lorelei!” I said again. I wanted to hug her, but I was afraid of the pain the pressure of my arms would cause her. “What did you do after that, call the police?”
“The police, the FBI, and an ambulance, in that order. At the hospital they set my arm and gave me a sedative. They kept me there overnight to make sure I didn’t have a concussion, and the next day I was released and a friend drove me home. On the way, I had her stop at the kennel for Porky. I’m under no illusion this yapping beast is real protection, but at least he can bark and warn me if someone tries to break in.”
“I can’t believe we weren’t even told,” I said. “You’d think that Max could have gotten a message to us.”
“He never even returned my call,” Lorelei said. “His secretary told me the FBI takes no responsibility for people in the Witness Security Program and I should talk to the people at the U.S. Marshals Service. You do see, don’t you, why it is that you can’t move back here? The man who attacked me must finally have realized I didn’t have the information he wanted, but there’s no way he would ever believe that of you.”
I had finally reached a point at which I could accept that statement.
“You’re right, I have to go back. I don’t have a choice.”
“Does anyone other than Steve know you’re here?” Lorelei asked me.
“His brother Billy, their parents maybe, and Sherry.”
“Then we’re going to have to leave tonight,” said Lorelei.
“We?” I couldn’t believe I had heard her correctly. “Did you say we?”
“I’ve been thinking about it ever since you called,” Lorelei said. “I decided that if you came, I was going to go back with you. It wasn’t an easy decision, because my roots are here—my friends, my activities, my memories of life with your grandfather. Still, such things are not as important as family. Your father’s a sweet little boy who never grew up, and your mother lives in a world made of dreams and books. It’s my duty to be on call when the two of them need me.”
“But you don’t even know where we’re living now,” I said. “It’s a little hick town in Florida called Grove City. They don’t have a symphony there or a country club or anything. As far as I know, they don’t even have a restaurant except for a McDonald’s and the Cabbage Palm Grill.”
“Then I won’t bother taking my cocktail dresses,” Lorelei said. “I can’t pack a suitcase one-handed, so you’re going to have to help me. We need to load the car and leave here immediately. The farther we get from Norwood tonight, the better.”
There was one final question I felt compelled to ask her, despite the fact that I already knew the answer.
“Did the man who broke your arm have very dark eyes?”
“That’s an understatement,” said Lorelei. “They were pools of ink.”
CHAPTER 15
We were ready to leave in less than an hour. Lorelei directed while I did the packing. First I laid her matching luggage open on her bed; then I made a tour of the house with her, collecting items as she selected them, and carrying them back to the bedroom to load into the suitcases.
I was surprised at some of the things she chose to take with her. She stuck to her word about not taking her cocktail dresses, but she did take an ermine stole and the contents of her jewelry box, a raw silk suit, and eight pairs of high-heeled shoes. The rest of her choices were sentimental: a doll with a porcelain face that dated back to her childhood, a family Bible, and a large assortment of photographs. One of the pictures was a small framed snapshot of Lorelei and my Grandpa Clyde on their honeymoon, smiling at each other on the balcony of a French hotel. They were dressed in old-fashioned clothing, but their faces were youthful and radiant, and they looked like stars in some old black-and-white movie. Another photo we packed was of my grandfather in his later years when his hair was sparse and his face was creased with smile lines. It brought back a jolting memory of Jim Peterson, and I determinedly shoved that vision out of my consciousness.
“That should do it,” said Lorelei when the second suitcase had finally been closed and the buckles secured. “I can manage fine without the other things.”
“But what about all your beautiful clothes?!” I protested. “At least, let’s try to pack the most expensive outfits.”
“There’s not enough room,” Lorelei said matter-of-factly. “Remember, we’re driving my car, not your mom’s SUV. We need to take the boxes I’ve stored for your parents, and as much as I shudder to think of it, we also have to allow enough space for Porky.”
Lorelei’s Porsche was parked in front of her condo. I loaded the trunk with the boxes from the hall closet and carried the suitcases out to put in the backseat. As I trudged back and forth with my cargo, Porky glued himself to my heels in quivering terror that he was going to be left behind again. On my third trip out to the car, he managed to slide in ahead of the luggage and wedge his stout body into the small slot of space between my overnight bag and one of Lorelei’s suitcases. Heaving a sigh of relief, he made himself a nest there, so delighted to be coming with us that he didn’t seem to care how uncomfortable he was.
After I had finished loading the car, I waited in the hallway while Lorelei made one last trip through the condo, checking windows and turning out lights. When she came back, she was carrying my tennis racket.
“Jodi brought this over after school let out,” she said. “She told me this is the racket you like to use for tournaments.”
“I can’t play tournament tennis now,” I said. “Dad’s afraid I might get my picture in the paper.”
“Really?” Lorelei said. “I hadn’t thought about that, but I suppose it makes sense. It won’t take up much space, so let’s take it anyway. If nothing else, we can use it for keeping that dog in line.”
To my amazement, my grandmother didn’t look back.
When we reached the car, I automatically started to get in on the passenger’s side, but Lorelei surprised me by motioning me into the driver’s seat.
“You do the driving,” she said. “I’ll act as navigator. I’m not accustomed to one-handed driving like you kids are, and the last thing we need right now is to be in an accident.”
Three months earlier, in another lifetime, I would have been ecstatic at being allowed to drive Lorelei’s Porsche. Ironically, now I didn’t feel happy at all. I had returned home expecting my grandmother to put my life back in order in the bossy, capable manner I remembered from childhood. Having her hand me the keys to her cherished sports car indicated a role reversal I wasn’t ready for.
When we pulled up to the gate, Pat stepped out of the guardhouse, glancing with obvious surprise at the overloaded car.
“You going on a trip, Mrs. Gilbert
?” he asked Lorelei.
“A little vacation on my doctor’s orders,” she told him. “New England is so beautiful in the summertime, and my granddaughter flew in today so she could drive me up there.”
“I’ll keep a close watch on your place while you’re gone,” Pat said. “I want you to know, we’ve really upped the security. I’ll never forgive myself for letting that man in here. I should have suspected something and checked his credentials.”
“I’m sure you would have found them in order,” said Lorelei. “You had no way of knowing he wasn’t who he said he was.”
Pat pressed the switch to lift the gate, and as we pulled away I could see him in the rearview mirror, gazing after us with a puzzled expression on his face.
“He thinks we’re crazy for leaving at night,” I said.
“He probably does, but that can’t be helped,” said Lorelei. “I hope, if he’s asked, he’ll say we were headed for New England.” She glanced at her watch. “We’re doing well with our time, it’s only eight thirty. We should be able to make it as far as the state border tonight. There’s a road map in the glove compartment, and I’ll chart a route for us. We’ll have to make this trip without using my credit cards, so before we leave we’d better stop at an ATM.”
It was while I was sitting in the car, waiting for Lorelei to withdraw money from the ATM, that I was hit with a feeling that somebody was watching us. There was no particular reason for my rush of nervousness. Still, I felt an indefinable pressure between my shoulder blades as though a beam of cold, harsh light were being focused there. I turned in my seat to look back through the car’s rear window, and of course I didn’t see a hollow-eyed vampire. Except for our car, positioned in front of the money machine, the well-lit parking lot at Norwood Savings and Loan was empty.
I told myself I was simply being paranoid. There was no reason to think anybody would be tailing us. There hadn’t been time for word to get out that I was back in town, and Lorelei had already been interrogated and discarded. Still, I was greatly relieved when my grandmother came back to the car and we were able to submerge ourselves in the Friday night traffic.