He shook his head but only barely. His movements were so fluid, so controlled. “After you get changed, give it to me. I’ll get rid of it.” He lifted two glossy bags from the floor and handed them to me. I had been so focused on his face I hadn’t noticed them at his feet. “My assistant bought you clothes according to the sizes you specified. You were already asleep when she dropped them off last night. If there’s anything else you need, write a list.”
“Thank you.” I hugged the bags to my body. “You didn’t—”
“Change my mind?” He smiled but the curl of his lips was so faint I almost didn’t notice it. “I’m a man of my word, Haley. I promised to help you. I meant it.” He slipped his hands into his pockets. “Get dressed and make yourself at home.”
CHAPTER THREE
I hadn’t seen Jude since the day I’d handed him my blood-stained dress. He’d rolled it up and told me not to worry about it. Fifteen minutes later, he’d pressed a wad of cash into my hand, more money than I’d held in a long time.
“I’m going away for a few days. If you need anything, ask Lin, my housekeeper. She’ll get it for you. Don’t leave the house under any circumstances. The dust hasn’t settled yet.” He lowered his voice a fraction. “Don’t tell anyone anything about what happened. If you need to reach me, Lin has my number.”
I had nodded and he’d hurried down the stairs.
That was a week ago.
Alone in the huge mansion with only the gardener, cleaner and housekeeper coming and going daily, I still felt uncomfortable. I just couldn’t relax. Although I felt relief at being able to hide, anxiety that my cover could be blown any moment also gnawed at me. So did the guilt. I was able to hide from my sin, and yet I was still trapped by it. How could I ever erase the scenes inside my head, the sight of blood?
After a week of spending the majority of my time locked inside my darkened room, pacing, crying, and trembling with fear, one week of waiting for the doorbell to ring and for the police to show up, I finally found the courage to flick on the flat screen TV that hung above the marble fireplace in my room. My whole body tense, I pressed the buttons with my thumb, shifting through the channels, searching for anything that had to do with the events that had changed my life forever.
Nothing, not one snippet of news. Almost as if I had imagined it all. I couldn’t help wondering how Jude had made it all go away. But did it matter?
CHAPTER FOUR
I stood inside the walk-in closet and studied the clothes Jude had asked his assistant to buy me, expensive clothes I wouldn’t have a chance to wear again.
Last night I arrived at a decision. I was leaving. And I wouldn’t take anything more than the money he had given me—most of which I still had—and the clothes on my back. Waiting for something to happen and not being able to do anything unnerved me. The feeling of helplessness was getting to me.
Madison was no more than two hours away from Serendipity, but Serendipity was the last place I wanted to go back to. At least not yet. Even if I saw nothing in the news, the small town could possibly be crawling with police. I wasn’t about to walk willingly into my jail cell.
The money I had would be more than enough to get me as far as away from both Madison and Serendipity as possible. I’d find a small town to hide, where I could get a chance to glue the pieces of my shattered life back together. And hope the past never caught up with me.
But it was only midday. I’d wait until dinner, when Lin left to go home. I wouldn’t want her alerting Jude about my departure.
I crawled under the fresh bed sheets. The magnolia-scented fabric softener clinging to them made me think of my mother, of happier times, before Elizabeth left our lives.
Saturday used to be wash day. As I hugged a pillow to myself and closed my eyes, I could hear the distant sound of my sister giggling as I chased her around the bed sheets that hung to dry on the clothing line, fluttering like wings. I heard my mother tell us to step away before we dirtied them with our grubby hands, her tinkling laughter, her voice so soft and gentle even when she raised it.
I buried my face into the pillow and wept for the happiness I would never get back.
A noise outside pulled me out of my daydream, and I dragged myself to the window, feeling as if I’d been hit with a hammer. My heart slammed against my chest at the sudden thought that it could be the police. What if Jude had decided to do the right thing?
Relief flooded into my body when I saw Jude step out of a limousine, wearing a suit and sunglasses, the sun pouring down on him. As usual, he moved with graceful unhurried steps.