Melody waited behind the ottoman until Rolf’s whistling was almost inaudible, and then she crept out into the hall and jogged toward the door he’d exited. She froze for a moment, terrified of what she might find behind it. It creaked when she finally pushed it open, and she nearly collapsed when she saw Sam tied to a chair.
“Sam!” she whispered, running toward him, dropping to her knees, trying to untie the ropes. “What’s happening?”
“Melody, listen to me. Rolf is in the house looking for you and he has a gun.”
“I know, I saw it, what does he…” Her eyes drifted up to the walls, to the mad collection of photos. “Oh my God,” she choked.
“Look at me. Look at me! Go. Get out of the house, run like hell, and don’t stop. Flag down a car, find a phone, call the cops. Tell them about the gun.”
“I’m not leaving you, Sam…”
“Go. Now. Please, Melody, go now. Don’t let him see you. Don’t let him find you.”
Tears mingled with sweat splashed on Sam’s face as she leaned in, kissed his mouth, then turned and ran.
Much too late, Sam realized he didn’t tell her to close the door behind her.
Chapter Sixty-six
SAM FELT A SHUDDER RATCHET DOWN his spine when he heard Rolf’s voice calling softly over and over, “Melody? Where are you? Sam and I want to talk to you about something.”
Rolf eventually gave up and stalked into the room, looking panicky. “I can’t find her. Where would she go?”
“How the hell would I know? She probably got lost on the way to the bathroom.”
“The bathrooms are en suite.”
“I was just making the point that it’s a huge house. She’s probably walking around, chilling out before bed.”
He started pacing. “I’m going to go and try and find her again, we need her.”
Sam concentrated, willing himself to find focus, to uncover some hidden serene spot in his rioting brain. What would Dr. Frolich tell him to do?
Stay calm. Try to keep him here as long as you can. Buy some time. Save Melody’s life, save your life.
“Give her a few minutes, she’ll turn up. She’s probably looking for us.”
Rolf wasn’t entirely satisfied, but he stayed, hung in the doorway, scanning the hall. Then he stopped dead and turned to him with narrowed eyes that looked yellow in the light from the hall sconce. Goblin eyes. “This door was open when I came back.”
Sam tried to slow his heart. “Yeah, so?”
“I closed it when I left.”
“No, you didn’t.”
“I’m sure I did.”
“Hey, I’m tied up here, facing the door with nothing to do but stare at it. I watched you leave. You pulled it shut behind you, but it didn’t catch.”
He looked uncertain, which could be a good or a bad thing. Good that he was off his game a little, doubting himself, bad that it might cause him to launch into a frothing, homicidal psychosis. But Rolf didn’t seem like that kind of out-of-control crazy. He was a worse kind of crazy. “Rolf, why don’t you untie me? I’m not going anywhere, not without Melody.”
“Can’t untie you. I’ll give her a few more minutes. You seem like you mellowed out a little.”
“I’m tired. I’m distraught. I’m drunk, and there’s nothing I can do. Why waste my energy?”
“Is that something they teach you in the military?”
“Yeah.” That was a lie, but Rolf wouldn’t know. “While we wait, let’s chat.”
“I already told you, there’s nothing to talk about, just a decision to be made and we can’t make it without Melody.”
“Not about that, about other things.”
“Like what?”
“I’m curious and more than a little impressed. You’re really smart and organized, you plan things out.”
“Thanks. That means a lot, hearing it from you.”
“So how did you get to Gallagher? The cops seemed pretty clueless when they came to talk to us about it.”
His face lifted. “Easy. He was a coke whore, and I can get any drug you want, anytime. I still have connections. So I took a sublet in the same building, and that along with the drugs gave me the access I needed. Then I referred Consuela to him and duped her key.”
He desperately regretted bring up the subject because it led to Yuki. He didn’t want to know how that had played out. He didn’t need to know, at least not now.
Rolf started pacing again, and Sam had a bad feeling he was running out of time. He’d never deeply contemplated his position on the existence of a higher being, but he was praying hard right now to anything or anybody that would listen. “Tell me about Body Worlds.”
Rolf shook his head. “Later. I’m going to go find Melody.”
Chapter Sixty-seven
MELODY COULDN’T CATCH HER BREATH. SHE felt like a landed fish, gasping for oxygen on shore. But hyperventilation was the least of her worries. Every door she’d tried so far was either locked or went into a room without egress, and she didn’t dare backtrack to the front door. That hallway passed the room Sam was in. And Rolf wouldn’t leave him in there alone for long.
Now she was hopelessly lost in a confusing warren of hallways and stairwells. With each failure to find an exit, her panic grew, taking away not just her air but her ability to think clearly. Her brain was like a scattered puzzle she had no hope of putting back together.
She thought about breaking a window, but that would give her position away. Besides, she could slash herself, maybe badly, and bleed out before she could run to get help. The faster the heart pumped, the faster the blood would come, and hers was already a relentless gong in her chest.
She saw a pair of swinging doors at the end of the hall and crept toward them and pushed carefully, wincing when a hinge squeaked. They opened onto a kitchen, surely not the main one; this was smaller. A catering kitchen? A maid’s kitchen? At the far end of the room, there was a door that led outside. Hallelujah, she could see leaves fluttering outside the panes of glass. Freedom.
She hurried over to it, looking over her shoulder, listening. She was about to twist the lock and open it when she saw a steady, red eye staring at her from an alarm pad. Of course a place like this had an alarm system. And if she opened the door, it would set it off. She could run fast, especially on the smooth concrete drive, but it was at least a quarter mile long and well lit. Rolf would spot her out in the open before she made it to the street. And he’d stop her.
The alternate route was off-road, where trees would offer concealment; but the grove was dark even with the full moon, and the terrain hilly and uneven. Rolf knew the property. She didn’t. Morton’s Fork: two choices leading to equally bad conclusions. But there were no other options. She had to take the chance.
She placed her hand on the knob, then froze when she heard Rolf’s voice, coming from her right, close, too close.
“Melody, Sam and I need your opinion on something…”
If she went now, she wouldn’t even have a head start, so she bolted to the left into a smaller hallway, passed a pantry, then a bathroom, and paused to listen. His voice was getting closer.