Behind the Curtain - Page 63

“Eric’s car is gone,” he replied in a flat tone. He leaned down to kiss her once more, but she noticed the tension had returned to his face.

• • •

She parked Zara’s car in the predawn darkness and came around the front of the cottage. Relief swept through her when she noticed no lights anywhere. She hadn’t been caught, it would seem. When she reached to push open the screen door, it flew away from her hand. Someone grabbed her forearm and pulled her inside.

“Tahi?” she whispered, brushing past her cousin while Tahi silently shut the door. Something about her tense actions sent an alarm going off in Laila’s head. The alarm started blaring when she saw Zara sitting up on her sleeping bag, her posture tense.

“Thank God you’re here,” Zara whispered.

“Why? What’s happened?” Laila asked, going down on her knees on her sleeping bag.

“Did you see your dad’s car on the way in?” Tahi asked, lowering to her air mattress.

Shivers poured down Laila’s arms. “What? No. There wasn’t a car on the entry road.”

“You must have just missed them,” Tahi muttered.

“They just left here three or four minutes ago,” Zara added.

“Who? My father?” Laila asked, straining not to shout in her rising panic. Had she been caught after all, and her father had left to go looking for her?

“Calm down,” Tahi shushed. “We covered for you. We said you were in the bathroom. Your dad was in such a hurry, he didn’t seem to notice there wasn’t a light on under the door,” she said, pointing to the distant closed bathroom door.

“Why was he in a hurry? What’s wrong?” Laila demanded.

“It’s Mamma Sophia,” Tahi whispered, her face looking wan and tight in the dim light. “She was having chest pains. Your father came over to tell us that he and your mom were taking her over to the emergency room in Grand Haven. He wanted us to tell you what was happening, and for all of us to let everyone know in the morning when they wake up. Your mom was over at our cabin, waking up my mom. The four of them just pulled out minutes before you got here.”

“Oh my God,” Laila said. A trembling had started up in her limbs and she couldn’t seem to control her shaking hands. “Did you see Mamma Sophia?”

“Tahi did,” Zara whispered. “Sh

e went out and saw them taking her to the car.”

“Was she conscious?”

Tahi nodded. “It didn’t seem that bad, Laila. She was walking, with your mom’s help. Mamma Sophia told your mom and dad she’d refuse to get an ambulance if they called it. Then Amu Anass insisted they drive over to the emergency room, if she wouldn’t go with the ambulance. You know how stubborn Mamma Sophia can be when it comes to her health.”

Laila started to stand. “Let’s go. Let’s drive over to the hospital.”

“No, Amu Anass says we should stay here. He’ll text us as soon as they know anything,” Tahi exclaimed in a hushed tone, grabbing Laila’s arm again and halting her. “Hurry up, and get changed back into your pajamas before someone wakes up. You barely missed being caught the first time; you don’t want to chance it again.”

Laila collapsed back onto her sleeping bag, feeling like the power plug had just been pulled on all her muscles. From the moment Tahi had mentioned Mamma Sophia, she’d forgotten how close she’d been to being discovered. The concept of being “caught” seemed utterly empty. Irrelevant. The only thing she could think of was Mamma Sophia waking up alone and in pain in the room they shared, while Laila had been miles away in Asher’s arms.

• • •

At around ten the next morning, Rudy paused in the action of shoveling some Captain Crunch in his mouth with a spoon when Asher entered the breakfast nook. Jimmy glanced around his newspaper.

“What’s wrong?” Jimmy asked, noticing Asher holding up a key and a piece of paper. Or maybe he saw Asher’s angry expression.

“He’s gone,” Asher said bitterly, tossing the key and note onto the wood table. “I found those and my cell phone”—he placed his cell phone facedown next to the key—“on his bedside table.”

“Eric, you mean? He had your phone?” Rudy asked before he swallowed. He picked up the piece of paper. “This says he had to drive over to Chicago for business. But he’s probably not gone for good, is he? Maybe he just drove over for a few days—”

“He’s in Chicago on business,” Asher grated out.

Rudy and Jimmy shared a bemused glance at his intensity.

“He took my damn phone!” Asher told them, giving Jimmy a half-panicked, half-furious glance. “He must have taken it last night on the terrace. He’s been reading my messages. That means he knows about my job at the Times,” Asher bellowed. “He knows about—” He cut himself off with a curse, wincing. The very idea of Eric going through his private texts with Laila made him want to punch something. Since it was Eric he wanted to pound the most, and that snake had slithered away in the night, there was nowhere to put his fury.

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