She didn’t want Sandy to know what she had discovered.
“I guess I’ll have to get that key from Maggie,” she said.
“You haven’t got a chance.”
“We’ll see.”
She climbed off Sandy, rolled her over, and sat on her rump. She slipped the T-shirt off, and fingered the three strips of tape used to hold the gauze pad to her left breast and shoulder. The ends on her breast had come unstuck, and dangled like small flaps. Gripping them, she peeled the bandage away from her torn flesh. She tugged the clinging strips off her back. When she tore away the pad, she had three strands of tape, each nearly a foot in length. She tugged on them. They seemed sturdy enough.
She pressed Sandy’s wrists together and bound them tight with all three strips. She made sure the knots were secure. Then she rolled Sandy onto her back.
“Open your mouth.”
She felt the lips. They were pressed together. So she pinched Sandy’s nostrils shut. The girl squirmed and moaned, but finally opened her mouth. Janice stuffed the bandage pad inside. She tore the center strip of tape off the bandage on her belly, stretched it across Sandy’s open mouth, and pressed it firmly to her cheeks.
“No noise,” she warned. “If I hear anything out of you, I’ll come over and knock you senseless.”
The groaning stopped. The only sound was air hissing through Sandy’s nose.
Janice put the T-shirt on again. She draped the girl’s pants over her back, and crawled away slowly, one hand gliding over the carpet in search of the lightbulb. She found it. Its jagged edge pricked her palm. Carefully, she picked it up. Near the door she came upon the can Sandy had dropped.
She left the pants and bulb and can against the wall where she could find them easily, then tried the door knob. It didn’t move. The door had locked on shutting, just as Sandy had claimed. Though she was fairly sure the key had fallen in the corridor, she spent a long time searching for it.
Finally, she gave up. She sat beside the door, her back against the wall. She spread the pants across her lap and placed the bulb on them, base up. Then she picked up the can. It felt cold and heavy. It sloshed when she shook it.
Some kind of soda.
Her tongue rasped against the roof of her mouth, touched the dry blocks of her teeth.
Sandy had used the can as a weapon, bludgeoning her with it. Janice could use it that way, too, when the door opens.
But not if she drank its contents.
She licked the condensation off the can, and waited.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
“Suppose we go along,” Nora said, “and wait in the car?”
“Okay by me,” Jack said. He hitched up his sweatshirt and slid his Colt .45 semi-automatic under the waistband at the back of his jeans.
“I think it’d be better,” Abe said, “if you and Tyler stayed behind. I don’t know where we’ll be leaving the car, but if a cop goes by and sees you two waiting, he might get suspicious.”
“Yeah,” Tyler agreed. “That makes sense.”
“Why don’t you wait at the Carriage House?” Jack suggested. “Have a couple of drinks. We’ll be back before you know it.”
Abe finished folding the thick blue blanket from his bed.
Jack slung the strap of Hardy’s camera case over his shoulder.
“Go on out,” Abe told him. “I’ll be right with you.”
When they were alone, Tyler stepped into his arms. He held her gently against him. “Just try not to think about it too much,” he said.
“Oh, sure.”
“Go over and have a couple of cocktails with Nora. Tell her about our plans for tomorrow. If you don’t gulp your drinks, we’ll be on our way back by the time you finish your second.”
“You’d better be.”
“Count on it.” He kissed Tyler, and she pressed herself fiercely against him. Slipping his hands under her sweater, he caressed the warm smoothness of her back. “I love you so much,” he whispered.
“I love you, Abe.” She looked up at him. Her eyes were glossy with tears.
“Don’t let some guy pick you up while you’re waiting, or I’ll be really ticked.”
She almost smiled.
With a last, brief kiss, he eased out of her arms. He picked up the blanket and opened the door. Jack was standing by the Mustang, his hands on Nora’s hips.
“Let’s get,” Abe said. He opened the driver’s door, dropped the blanket onto the backseat and turned to Tyler. “See you in a while,” he said.
She nodded. With the back of one hand, she rubbed her nose. Nora went over to her. They stood side by side, silhouetted by the porch light behind them.
“If you’re not back in an hour,” Nora said, “we’ll call in the Marines.”
“Dipshit,” Jack called. “We
She gave them a thumbs-up and Tyler waved as Abe backed the car away. He waved out the window, then turned on the headlights and steered up the center of the courtyard.
“This is gonna be good,” Jack said.
“I just wish we could’ve done it without the girls knowing.”
“No chance of that with Gory-babes popping the question in front of everyone.”
“He’s such an asshole.”
“Gutless, too. Shit, if I was gonna write a book about that joint, I’d want to get in there at night and see what it’s like. Catch the ambience, you know?”
“He’ll probably want to interview us about that,” Abe said, and turned left onto the road.
“If he does, let’s charge him for it. He throws around money like confetti.” Jack rolled down a window and stuck his elbow out. “His check better be good.”
“He wouldn’t dare stiff you.”
“I oughta hang onto him till I can get to a bank tomorrow.”
“I wouldn’t worry about it.”
“You’d better. It’s half yours, you know.”
“I’m just along for the ride.”
“Bullshit. It’s fifty-fifty.”
“Just buy me a drink when we get back to the inn, and we’ll call it even.”
“You’re an easy guy to please.”
He slowed down as they entered the business area. The coffee shop where they’d eaten lunch was still open. So was a liquor store across the road from it, and a bar on the next block. Otherwise, the town seemed closed up for the night. The road was deserted except for a few cars and pickup trucks parked along its curbs.
“By the way,” Abe said, “how do you feel about the girls coming along with us tomorrow?”
“To the lodge, you mean?”
“That’s what I mean.”
“Well, all right!”
“No objections?”
“You kidding me?”
“Tyler’ll check with Nora about it tonight.”
“Nora will come. She’s hot for my bod. Who can blame her? It’s magnificent. So’s hers, by the way.”
“I’ve noticed.”
He laughed. “Yeah? How’d you manage that? You haven’t taken your eyes off Tyler since we got here. You two are really in it deep. Man, I’ve seen the way you look at each other. When’s the wedding?”
“We haven’t quite gone that far yet.”
