Part 39 (1/2)

Just beyond the Cadillac, she stopped. She killed her headlights to darken her license plates - in case someone should notice Bodie abandoning the stolen car and getting into hers.

'Hurry, would you?' she muttered.

Finally, he climbed out. Pen leaned across the pa.s.senger seat, shouldering over the shotgun, and unlatched the door. She grabbed the barrel in time to keep the gun from falling out as he opened the door. Straightening up, she pulled it with her. The interior light was on, but just for a moment. Then the door b.u.mped shut and darkness came back.

Pen drove away with her headlights off. 'I thought you were going to stay in there all night,' she said.

'I had to find the registration. I'll try to call the owner when I get the chance, tell him where to find his car.' Then he told Pen how he had stolen it.

Pen listened, stunned.

'I didn't even think about it,' he said. 'All of a sudden, I was just doing it. The funny thing is, I don't even feel very guilty. I'm just glad I wasn't caught.'

Pen turned the corner and put on her headlights. 'Me, too.'

'I've never done anything like that before.' He sounded apologetic.

Pen reached over and squeezed his hand. 'If you think I'm going to hold it against youa I feel badly that you hurt the man, buta hey, the gallant knight can't come to the rescue if he ain't got a charger.'

'Only thing is,' he muttered, 'the damsel wasn't in distress.'a 'You didn't know that.'

'It's the thought that counts, right?'

She glanced at him. Her throat felt tight. 'The thought counts plenty. You better believe it.'

Bodie's fingers tightened around her hand.

Pen stopped for a traffic light at Pico. 'I guess I'll go surface streets,' she said. 'Either way, it'll take a while to reach Harrison 's.'

'Take the slowest route.'

'You don't mean that.'

'I know.'

The light changed. Driving through the intersection, she looked up the road and saw the hospital in the distance. She thought of her father lying in bed, kept alive by tubes. 'I didn't even go and see him today,' she said.

'We'll go tomorrow.'

We. The word made her feel good. 'You're not going back to Phoenix tonight?'

'It's a little late for that. Besides, things have changed. Things have changed, haven't they?'

'A lot,' Pen a.s.sured him.

'You're not going to let Melaniea?'

'She smashed you on the head. She might've killed you, doing a thing like that. She lost whatever claim she had.'

'I don't think she'll see it that way.'

'Tough.' Pen made a left onto Olympic, and picked up speed.

'What's the hurry?' Bodie asked.

'You got me,' Pen said, but she didn't slow down. 'Melanie's had about an hour to do whatever she wanted to do.'

'What do you think she is doing?'

'Who knows? I was absolutely certain she planned to murder you. I was wrong about that, thank G.o.d. Who knows? I just hope it's all over before we get there.'

'I don't want anything to happen to her.'

'I don't either, buta'

'It'll be our fault. We pushed her over the edge, Bodie. Whatever happens, we're responsible. You and me.'

'Don't forget she spent the afternoon in Harrison 's closet. That was before she caught us together.'

'Did you see the look on her face when she found us on the sofa?'

'I'm not saying she wasn't upset. But the fact that she didn't take the pills proves she planned to sneak out.'

'She thought I wanted to put her out so you and I could be alone.' Pen sped up to make it through a yellow light. 'Maybe she was right. I didn't consciously do it for that reason, buta maybe it was in the back of my mind.'

'Whatever our guilt may be,' Bodie said, 'we're doing our penance now. We could be back in your apartment. Instead, we're racing to the rescue.'

'Or to pick up the pieces.'

Harrison 's Mercedes stood in the driveway of his house. Joyce's Continental was no longer parked in front.

'Playing it smart,' Pen said as she drove slowly past the front of the house. 'For all they know, we've been to the police. Wouldn't look too good if Joyce spent the night with him.'

'So she went home,' Bodie said.

'And where's Melanie?'

Bodie shrugged. He had been checking both sides of the street for his van, but so far hadn't spotted it. 'Keep going,' he said. 'Maybe she left it in back.'

Pen turned, then turned again. She drove past Harrison 's block, then made another right, returned to his street and stopped at the corner. 'What do you think?'

'Don't ask me,' Bodie said. 'I've been wrong twice already.'

'She must've gone to Dad's.'

'The house? That'd be my guess, too. This is looking better and better. I figured we'd have a run-in with Harrison. Of course, he might've gone there with Joyce. In her car.'

'I doubt it,' Pen said. They probably split up.'

'Should we check his place?'