Kate was shouting. Wimp. Fool.
Leona's voice was the loudest. Get it over with!
Someone else was crying. Sarah. Sarah, always so strong, always the caretaker, was coming toward her, her hands outstretched, tears streaking her face, begging, "Don't leave me. I love you."
The voices stilled. Laurie flung the knife across the room and stumbled forward to gather Sarah in her arms.
THE KNIFE was on the floor. His eyes glittering, his hair disheveled, the robe Opal had wrapped around him at the sound of the doorbell slipping from his shoulders, Bic bent down. His fingers grasped the handle of the knife.
Lee would never be his now. All the years of wanting her, fearing her memories were over. His ministry was over. She had been his temptation and his downfall. Her sister had kept him from her. Let them die together.
LAURIE HEARD the hissing, swishing sound that had haunted her all these years, glimpsed the blade gleaming in the semidarkness, cutting the air in ever-widening circles, powered by the thick hairy arm.
"No," Laurie moaned. With a violent shove, she thrust Sarah away, out of the path of the knife.
Sarah, off balance, stumbled backwards and fell, her head smashing into the side of the rocker.
A TERRIBLE smile slashing his face, Bic advanced with measured step toward Laurie, the darting blade blocking her escape. Finally there was no place to go. Pressed against the wall, Laurie looked into the face of her executioner.
Chapter
116
BRENDON MOODY floored the accelerator as he drove down Twin Oaks Road. "They're both here," he snapped as he saw the cars in the driveway. Gregg at his heels, he raced to the house. Why was the front door ajar?
There was an unnatural silence about the darkened rooms. "Check this floor," he ordered. "I'm going upstairs."
At the end of the hallway the door was open. Laurie's bedroom. He ran toward it. Some instinct made him draw his gun. He heard a moan as he reached the doorway and took in the nightmarish scene.
Sarah was lying on the floor, dazed, trying to struggle to her feet. Blood trickled from her forehead.
Carla Hawkins stood frozen a few feet from Sarah.
Laurie was backed into a corner of the room, her hands raised to her throat, staring at the wild-eyed figure approaching her, sweeping a knife in ever-widening arcs.
Bic Hawkins raised the knife high in the air, looked down into Laurie's face, inches from his own, and whispered, "Goodbye, Lee."
It was the instant Brendon Moody needed. His bullet found its target, the throat of Laurie's abductor.
JUSTIN RUSHED into the house as Gregg was racing through the foyer to the staircase. "Upstairs," Gregg shouted. The shot sounded as they reached the landing.
SHE HAD always known it would happen this way. The knife entering her throat. Sticky warm blood splashing over her face and arms.
But now the knife was gone. The droplets of blood spattered over her were not her blood. It was Bic, not she, who had slumped and fallen. It was his eyes, not hers, staring up.
Laurie watched motionless as the gleaming, compelling eyes flickered and closed forever.
Justin and Gregg reached the doorway of the bedroom together. Carla Hawkins, kneeling beside the body, was pleading. "Come back, Bic. A miracle. You can perform miracles."
Brendon Moody, his hand at his side, still holding the gun, stood dispassionately observing them.
The three men watched as Sarah struggled to her feet. Laurie walked to her, her hands outstretched. They stood looking at each other for a long minute. Then in a firm voice Laurie said, "It's over, Sarah. It's really over."
Chapter
117
TWO WEEKS LATER, Sarah and Justin stood at the security check in Newark Airport and watched Laurie walk down the corridor to the gate for United Airlines flight19 to San Francisco.
"Being near Gregg, finishing college at UCSF is the best possible choice for her now," Justin assured Sarah as he noticed the worried expression that replaced her bright smile.
"I know it is. She can play a lot of golf, get her game back, get her degree. Be independent and still have Gregg there for her. They're so good together. She doesn't need me anymore, at least not in the same way."
At the bend in the corridor, Laurie turned, smiled and blew a kiss.
She's different, Sarah thought. Confident, sure of herself. I've never seen her look that way before.
She pressed her fingertips to her lips and returned it.
As Laurie's slender form disappeared around the corner, Sarah felt Justin's arm comfortingly around her shoulders.
"Save the rest of the kisses for me, luv."