A car pulled into the driveway. He shut off the water and pocketed the phone. As a precaution, he made sure the small window in the bathroom could be opened. Had not Bonnie always taught him to have an exit strategy?
Bonnie. Fuck. Was there never a time when she was not in his head?
As the night air, thick with humidity, blew in the cracked window, anticipation surged in him. He flexed his fingers, anxious to hold her neck in his hands and watch the panic flare in her gaze and slowly trickle away.
Sandra’s laughter, ripe with desire, echoed from the hallway, and he thought for a moment she might be on the phone. And then he heard a man’s deep, low voice.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
Who the hell was the guy?
He could stick around. Maybe he could get the drop on the guy and Sandra, but an extra unplanned person created a risk he did not want to assume, especially with Bonnie running around capable of shooting her mouth off.
Moving swiftly, he climbed up on the toilet seat and hauled his leg over the side of the windowsill. He swung the second leg over and dropped five feet to the ground below. But his foot landed wrong and his ankle rolled. He felt a sharp pain and prayed he had not screwed himself. A couple of tentative steps proved it was a serious strain at best. Figuring out how bad would have to come later.
The lights in the house clicked on, and he hobbled toward the small grouping of houses that backed up to Sandra’s. Fifty paces ahead, he knew there was another street that fed into the public parking lot of the grocery store where he had left his car.
“Shit. Shit. Shit.”
This was all Bonnie’s fault. He had been on his game until she came to town. Like all the shit that had happened to him, Bonnie was at the root of it. Until she was dead, he would have no peace.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Thursday, August 27, 7:00 p.m.
Melina’s nerves were wound tight as Ramsey drove toward her parents’ home. They were two houses away when she spotted Bonnie standing on the porch.
Melina unlocked her seat belt and reached for the door handle before the car had stopped. “I still can’t believe she had the guts to come here.”
“Hold on. Let me stop the car,” Ramsey barked as he angled the car near the curb.
“How does she know where my mother lives? Where I grew up.” Tension tangled with anger and rippled through Melina’s growl.
“Remember, this is about Elena, not you,” Ramsey cautioned.
“I get that.” Her fingers pulled up on the door handle as the tires came to a stop. “Making Bonnie suffer is just going to be a bonus.”
Out of the car, Melina marched across the lawn with a hand on her weapon. “What are you doing here?” she demanded.
Bonnie smiled. “I just came by to see Elena. The girl is like a granddaughter to me. Now that my head is better and I’m processing better, I wanted her to know I love her. But your mother wouldn’t let me get close to her.”
“Good for her.”
“I have every right to see the girl. I’m all the family that poor little baby has,” Bonnie said.
“You have no right,” Melina said. “You do not have custody of Elena, and if you did, I would be standing in front of a judge right now getting your rights revoked.”
Ramsey came up behind Melina. “Time to move along, Ms. Guthrie. You’re out on bail, and I can have that rescinded with a phone call.”
Bonnie hesitated. She was a woman accustomed to pushing her luck and dancing on the line separating freedom and jail. “I’m not breaking any laws.”
“Try trespassing,” Melina said.
Bonnie looked around. “I don’t see any signs, but I’m a reasonable person. I don’t see why you have to be so nasty.”
“You haven’t seen how nasty I can be,” Melina said.
Bonnie’s grin faded and her features hardened. Before she could respond, the front door opened. Her mother’s silhouette appeared behind the screen. There was no sign of Elena.
The gift bag dangled from Bonnie’s fingers as she sauntered across the lawn toward her car. “I came to do a good deed and check on the child. I’m sorry to have troubled you.”
“Don’t come back,” Melina said.
“I love Elena. I loved you, Mellie.”
The nickname sent a quake through her body as distant memories of the endearment surfaced. Bonnie had hit another nerve.
“Bonnie loves Mellie Bellie,” Bonnie said in a singsong voice. “I sang that as I rocked you in my arms,” she said, eyeing Melina closely. “You remember me calling you Mellie, don’t you?”
Melina’s shoulders grew even more rigid. “Is it supposed to make me cry or embrace a tender moment we once shared?”
“You do remember. I can tell by your face. You could always hide your feelings from others, but not from me.”
Melina shifted to offense. “What is the name Sonny is using now?”
“I don’t know what name he’s using now, baby. It’s been so long since I’ve seen him.”
“Elena says you met with Sonny before your accident.”
“She’s a little kid. What does she know?”
“We’ve searched Dean Guthrie and haven’t gotten a hit. He’s changed his name.”
Bonnie reached for the car’s door handle. “I don’t know where Sonny is, Mellie.”
“Who arranged for your bail?” Melina pressed. “Did Sonny arrange it?”
Bonnie opened her car door. “I can get my own bail.”
“Who called the cops from the diner after you dumped me on the side of the road?”
For a split second, Bonnie looked confused. The shift was just enough to tell Melina that she had scored a point in this round.
“I don’t know anything about a diner,” Bonnie said.
The lies rolled off her tongue so easily. “Why didn’t you go back for me?”
Bonnie didn’t speak.
Melina had a near-perfect bullshit meter and right now it was pinging loudly. “Dean called the cops, didn’t he? It had to have been traumatic as hell for a young kid to see his sibling dumped on the side of the road. If you did it to me, it was a matter of time before you ditched him. He must have felt he had to do anything and everything to keep you happy so you wouldn’t dump him.”
“I never left him,” Bonnie said.
“Sure you did. You got arrested when he was sixteen.”
“That wasn’t my fault. I told him that over and over.”
“That arrest report said you were skimming credit cards. It’s risky given your record. You must have known you’d get caught eventually and then end up doing serious prison time. He must have known that and begged you to stop.”
“You should write fiction.” Bonnie’s grin dimmed.
“I wish to God it were fiction,” Melina said.
A police cruiser pulled up just then. The officer got out and walked up toward Ramsey, who spoke to him in a low tone she could not hear. “He must have been really good at whatever crime he did for you to stay in your good graces. You taught him well.”
“You make me sound like a monster.” Bonnie looked directly into Melina’s eyes. “If it weren’t for me, you’d have rotted in foster care.”
Melina said nothing. She was a good cop, and a good cop knew when to shut up and let the suspect talk.
“Howard and I were packed and ready to go to Hawaii when we got the call that Lizzie had stuck a needle in her arm for the last time. She was DOA when the paramedics transported both of you to the hospital. Social services was circling and ready to scoop you up. Howard didn’t want you at first. Thought you were more trouble than you were worth.” She patted her chest. “But I cared. I talked him into taking you. And when Howard died, I still kept you.”
“What happened next?” Melina asked.
“You, Dean, and me hit the road. Just the three of us. I was headed to Virginia. I had friends there. I had to stop on the side of the road to pee and have a smoke. When I got back to the car, you were missing. You’d taken off. I looked for you, but I couldn’t find you. I went for help.”
She supposed if a lie was repeated often enough, it became truth over the years. Maybe Bonnie actually felt guilty about what she had done. “Where’s Sonny?” she challenged. She would repeat the question until she got an answer.
Bonnie shook her head. “You always were a difficult kid. You never accepted anything I told you. It was always a fight.”
Melina shook her head. “Are you protecting him? Because if you are, it’s a mistake. He’s not the vulnerable kid he once was. He’s been killing women who look like you for years.”
“Sonny loves me.”
Melina turned to Ramsey, looking for backup. She was swimming in lies that were so emotionally charged that she needed confirmation she was on the right track.
“Sounds like this is more about you, Bonnie, and the guilt you’re carrying,” Ramsey said.
Bonnie chuckled, her easy disposition returning. “Are you going to fight her battles for her, Mr. FBI man? I bet she’s a real firecracker in bed.”
Ramsey’s steady expression did not change.
Melina imagined the jail cell door closing in Bonnie’s face. But if she locked up Bonnie now, she could not lead them to Sonny.