glad I could make it,” I say in an almost normal voice. “Dean Reynolds, this is my friend Rickie Ralls.” I introduce Rickie, who gives her a winning smile. And we make small talk about Vermont for a couple of minutes, until someone more important than I am wants her attention.
With that over, I make our excuses and I steer Rickie toward the wine and cheese, where I allow myself to be waylaid by a couple of research assistants who used to share an office space with me in our old building.
Rickie stands at my side, holding a glass of wine, and playing the part of the perfect date.
Until I feel him tense up and turn his body by ninety degrees, as if shielding me from something. When I glance past him, I find Reardon Halsey a few yards away, staring at me.
And if looks could kill, I’d be dead already.
Forty
Rickie
The fight-or-flight response is well described in the literature. It’s recognized as the first stage of Hans Selye's general adaptation syndrome. As a response to acute stress, the body suddenly releases hormones which activate the sympathetic nervous system and stimulate the adrenal glands. Respiration, the heart rate, and blood pressure also accelerate. Pupils may dilate. Muscles may shake or tremble.
I experience all of this in the span of about five seconds, until I take a deep breath, expanding my lungs, collecting oxygen, and ordering my body to calm the fuck down.
It’s about two percent effective. Because when I glimpsed Reardon Halsey a moment ago, I knew. He’s the one. He’s the reason I lock the doors. He’s the one who stole months of my life. He almost killed me.
And I can’t let him anywhere near Daphne.
Inside, I’m all turmoil. But adrenaline is a powerful drug. I slip a hand onto Daphne’s wrist. “You were going to give me that tour,” I say silkily.
“Right,” she says tightly. She’s spotted him, too.
Her friends smile and say something gracious that I miss, because I’m calculating all the ways to get out of this room. There’s the door we came in, but Halsey is blocking it. There are glass elevators at either side, probably leading up to the offices that surround this atrium.
I don’t like any of those choices, so I lead Daphne to the side of the room, under the overhang, where we’ll be less noticeable. “Talk to me,” I whisper. “We can leave now, right?”
“No, I need to go upstairs,” she says.
“That’s a bad idea,” I insist, guiding her to stand beside a large, potted topiary.
Daphne blinks up at me, trouble in her brown eyes. “Why are you freaking out right now?” she whispers. “What aren’t you telling me?”
“Nothing,” I lie.
Her eyes narrow. “Do not lie to me. That’s what he did.”
Shit. There’s a knot of pressure in the center of my chest. “I recognize him.”
“You mean…” She blinks. “From the Academy?”
I lean my body outward for a quick glance toward Halsey. And it’s a huge mistake. He’s not looking at us right now because he’s talking to a woman. His girlfriend, from the looks of it. But it doesn’t matter that he’s smiling. I know that face when it’s angry. I know he’s responsible for other people’s pain.
“Rickie,” Daphne orders, squeezing my hand. “Tell me what you know.”
“There’s no time. It’s a long story. Let’s go.”
“No,” she insists. “And screw you and your long story. We just spent four hours in a car, with you acting all jumpy and weird. Seems like you had plenty of time to say whatever you had to say then.”
“I’m sorry,” I grunt. “Let’s go somewhere else and discuss this.”
“Don’t even try it,” she hisses. “This ends now.”
Then? She jerks her hand out of mine and walks away from me. She marches half the length of the atrium and smacks the button on the elevator. It opens immediately, and she steps inside.
Shit! I take a few steps in her direction, but the doors close immediately.
And now I am on fire with panic. I turn in the opposite direction, heading for that set of open stairs I’d spotted. I leap up them two at a time, my eyes following the glass elevator, which stops on the third level.
I stop on the third floor, too. And then I position myself against the wall, where I can see most of the O-shaped third level, but I’m largely hidden from the atrium floor.
My heart is trying to climb out of my mouth as Daphne walks slowly around the third-floor loop.