Change of Heart - By S.E. Edwards Page 0,62

subject line is innocuous enough: “Meeting.” But the name of the sender sets my heart racing.

“Rich?” I call out. I can’t help the quiver in my voice. “Rich, come here!”

He must have picked up on my urgency, because he comes running. “What? What is it?”

“Rich,” I say softly, turning around to face him, “what is Tam’s last name?”

“Bakker,” he tells me. “Why?”

I point a trembling finger at the screen. He frowns as he walks over to me. When he sees what I’m pointing at, his breath catches.

“He’s meeting with Amanda,” he says, his voice hoarse with disbelief. Hearing him confirm it sends a chill down my spine. “Shit! When? Penny, quick, open the email!”

The cursor flies across the screen. I click on the subject line.

“Come on, come on, come on,” Rich urges behind me. “If it wasn’t for this damn dial-up connection… There!”

My eyes sweep over the newly-loaded text. I find what I’m looking for right away. “One-fifteen,” I say, pressing my finger to the screen. “And now it’s…” a despairing, sinking feeling weighs down my chest. “Almost one-thirty.”

“Shit!” Rich curses. “Shit, shit, shit!”

“I thought you said they didn’t know we were here!” I exclaim. Panic throttles up inside of me. “Rich! Answer me!”

“They don’t! Or, they didn’t. Or, rather, they weren’t supposed to.” He runs a hand through his hair. “Fuck! Amanda must have told them.”

“I thought you said we could trust her!”

“That’s what I thought,” Rich says in a rush. “Fuck! I should have thought of it before. Of course these people would have checked on my past relationships. Of course they’d know about Amanda!”

“Could she really be so spiteful? Could she really have given us away?”

Rich snorts. “You’ve met her. What do you think?”

I don’t hesitate for a second before answering. “Yes.”

Rich starts pacing the room in front of me. “I wouldn’t have believed it if I didn’t see it with my own two eyes. I would never have believed it of Amanda. But I’ve always tried to see the good in her. Okay.” He takes a deep breath. “This changes everything. Amanda doesn’t know that we know. She could just be meeting with Tam to cover for us, to say we’re not here.”

I look at him flatly. “Do you really believe that?”

“No.” He fidgets with his hands. “No, even I’m not that naïve. She’s bringing him here. The question is, when? Penny, read the email. Where does it say they’re meeting?”

My eyes scan the screen. “A coffee shop in town.”

Rich nods. “Okay. Good. It takes about fifteen minutes to get from there to here. Which gives us—”

He cuts off as the sound of tires driving over gravel sound from outside. I jerk my head toward the window. Mel starts to bark.

“Get down!!” Rich hisses, grabbing me by the waist and nearly tackling me to the floor. A thrill shoots through me at having his body so close to mine, but it’s quashed by the nearly maddening panic twisting my insides into knots. “Stay there,” Rich says, and sneaks to the window to look outside. His head hovers above the sill for a moment. When he turns back, his face is drained of blood. “They’re here.”

“Who?” I demand with desperate fright.

“Tam and Victor. Amanda’s with them. She drove.” Rich looks around the room wildly, like a cornered animal. “Victor looks excited to get some revenge.”

“Holy shit,” I whimper. “What do we do? We’re trapped.”

Rich’s eyes focus on the hallway. I know an idea has formed in his mind. “Not yet,” he says. He rushes to me and takes my hand. “I promised I’d keep you safe. I don’t break my promises.”

***

We rush through the halls of Amanda’s enormous house. I fully expect Tam and Victor to pop up around every corner. For each one we pass that they don’t, I only become more uneasy. I know it’s just a matter of time.

Rich bursts into Amanda’s room and rips into her closet.

“What are you doing?” I say, aghast.

“Looking for something,” he replies. A leather jacket flies over his shoulder at me. I catch it. “Put that on. You’re going to need it.”

I shrug my shoulders into it, but I don’t understand. “Rich, hurry!” I urge. It might just be my imagination, but I think I can hear the front door opening. Mel begins to bark. “Hurry!”

“Got it,” he grunts. He’s holding a ring of keys in one hand. He looks at me for a moment, then bursts out in a grin as if nothing at all is wrong.