what Sarah could not. With a screech of protest, the window opened. We all sighed with relief, but it was short lived.
'Take our hands, Delores. We'll pull you up,' Juliet said.
'Can't,' she panted, the pain obvious in her voice. 'I think the bastard's broken my arm. It's swollen and hurts like hell when I try to move it.'
'I can come up,' Sarah said.
'Like hell you will,' Delores snapped at her. Sarah shrunk back. 'She'll run right to Greg.'
'No! No, I won't!'
Delores rolled her eyes. 'I've been listening to her bleat all afternoon. If it weren't for this arm she'd be trussed up and gagged.'
'But he loves me,' Sarah wailed and held up her left hand. Aha! That's where the other diamond ring ended up. 'He asked me to marry him last night at the hospital. I snuck out and came here like he told me to. He loves me!'
'Don't even bother,' Delores said to us. 'She doesn't understand being tossed down here with me is not a sign of love.'
'He does too love me,' she said. 'He wanted me to keep an eye on you while he was gone.'
'You're dumber than a box of rocks,' Delores said.
'He told me Valerie forced him into proposing to her and the whole other thing was her idea, too.' Sarah directed her last comment to me, and I had no idea what she was talking about.
'We're wasting time,' Delores said. 'We need to get out of here.'
Juliet grabbed my arm. 'Why don't I go down through the window and help lift her through? After all, I'm taller than you. And stronger.'
'Okay.' I didn't think it was such a hot idea. We could hurt Delores more in the process, but there seemed no other way. Besides, Juliet was more than capable of trussing up Sarah, if need be.
I backed out of the bushes to give Juliet room to maneuver. She grunted as she squeezed through the awkward opening.
So intent was I on Juliet's efforts that I didn't notice the approaching footsteps. Before I had time to react a large hand clamped over my mouth and nose. A metallic click sounded dangerously close to my ear as I was dragged away from my sister and friend. Juliet's voice sounded a million miles away.
'Okay, I made it. Thea? Thea?'
Chapter Twenty-Two
It was Greg.
He dragged me away from Juliet and Delores. The hurried, backward movement and what was surely a gun against my head kept me from struggling. I was certain he intended to haul me to the pasture and shoot me at the spot where I'd found Valerie. Instead, he halted less than fifty feet from where he'd grabbed me.
His face rested lightly against my hair and he spoke in a calm, quiet voice. 'I'm going to take my hand off your mouth. If you say one word or try to run I'll shoot you. Understand?'
Oh yes, I understood. I nodded quickly. Running was out of the question. The convulsive shaking of my legs made it almost impossible to stand. He bent down and retrieved something from the ground. I risked a glance. A rake? Gardening tools don't kill people, people kill people.
Shut up, Thea.
He gave me a push in the ribs with the business end of the gun, forcing me toward the house. I was amazed my legs obeyed and amazed we went right back to the bushes where he'd found me. His mouth was once again by my ear, but Juliet's impatient snarl cut him off.
'Thea, I said we're ready. Where are you?'
I pressed my lips hard together.
'Get down in the window well and shut the window,' he whispered. 'You even look like you're trying to get through it and I'll shoot you.'
I nodded and stumbled through the bushes. Juliet looked up at me through the open window, her annoyance with me plain on her face. It was too dark to see Delores or Sarah.
'Thanks for showing up. I about killed myself getting in here.'
The silent message I wanted so desperately for her to read on my face was going unacknowledged.
'Shut the window,' Greg snapped.
I glanced in his direction. A metallic click prodded me into action. Using my foot, I slammed the window shut. Juliet banged her fist against the glass and pushed it open. Again I slammed it shut, shaking my head and mouthing, 'No, please,' as I held my foot against it. I had no trouble hearing her shout.
'What the hell are you doing? This is not funny, Thea.'
The bushes rustled. 'Take this.' Greg thrust the rake at me. 'Wedge it against the window, then get back up here. Don't forget about the gun. I doubt a rake is any match for a bullet.'
I angled the rake between the window and the side of the window well, but it was a poor fit. Cussing with enthusiasm, Juliet tried to push the window open. I shook my head and mouthed, 'sorry,' with no effect, then I scrambled out of the hole and through the bushes to where Greg waited, praying I'd done a poor job of trapping my sister and friend. With luck Greg would take me far enough away so they could escape unobserved.
'Gardening tools come in so handy sometimes, don't they?' He spun me around and pushed me along in front of him. 'You should pay more attention when you hold conferences in the bushes. It wasn't hard to figure out what you two were planning. I don't see a future for you in burglary – don't see much of a future for you at all, actually.' He chuckled.
We reached the back of the house and he shoved me at the porch steps. I tripped, broke my fall with my hands, then climbed up to the back door.
'Nice going, Grace.' He laughed.
Maybe he'd amuse himself so much making fun of me he'd forget to shoot me.
Keys jingled. He reached around me, unlocked the door and pushed it opened. With the gun pressed firmly into my spine, he propelled me into the house and flipped on the lights.
We were in Valerie's remodeled kitchen with its granite countertops, tile floor, cherry cabinets, and awful smell of a toilet that hadn't been flushed for a long while.
'Now, shall we invite everyone up?' he asked.
He pushed me across the huge room. As we skirted the center island I caught sight of a pair of work boots sticking out from denim-clad legs. They were so out of place that my feet refused to continue until I'd made sense of it.
'Don't worry about Lee,' Greg said, at my sudden stop. 'We had a little disagreement about some money. He finally saw it my way.' His high-pitched giggle plucked at my already taut nerves. He nudged me into another step and I saw the face of the man we'd been trying to locate at the bar. His skin was gray and his eyes stared, unblinking, at the ceiling. Blood – what had to be blood – pooled under his head and shoulder. The odor was not the same as the one that coated my nostrils and turned my stomach when I'd found Valerie. Of course. Lee was only recently dead. My knees buckled. Greg grabbed my collar and hustled me toward the basement door, then hauled me to a stop. With the muzzle of the gun against my ribs, he released the lock and swung the door open.
'Come on up, ladies,' he called, as if inviting them in for coffee.
I held my breath and strained to listen, hoping to hear silence, hoping they had escaped. Instead I heard brief scuffling and angry whispers.
'Come now,' Greg called again. 'You wouldn't want to leave your sister all alone with me, would you, Juliet? Why, she might not be able to resist my well-known charms.'
He caressed my cheek and neck with his left hand, and I flinched at his touch. The stutter of his breath against my hair was undoubtedly amusement.
'Did you like my little love notes?' he asked, his mouth close to my ear. 'You must have, since you seemed to want more. I had to improvise for the one on your pillow – didn't have time for a newspaper note. Did I make you
