I clear my throat. “Actually, I’m about fifteen minutes away.”
After a brief pause, Ross asks, “You pulling some kind of stunt on us?”
“I need to lay low for a while.”
“You in trouble?”
“Yes.”
“Bad?”
“Afraid so.”
“Buddy, I don’t want this to touch Mel.”
Guilt burns its way down my throat. “I have nowhere else to go.”
Ross is silent. My hands tense on the wheel while I wait for the line to go dead. But when he finally speaks, his voice is brisk. “We’ll prepare a room for you.”
“Better make it two,” I inform him apologetically. “I have two guests with me. I’ll bunk on the couch.”
He doesn’t ask any follow-up questions. He simply grunts in acknowledgment and confirms he’ll see us soon.
“Is he going to give us grief about this?” Nolene asks from the back seat.
“He’s cool. Amy still out?”
“Comatose.”
I frown. “Just keep an eye on her, will you?”
She huffs out a martyred sigh. “Fine.”
We lapse into silence. I’m still grappling with the notion that Andries might be behind the Nissan staking out the safe house. I need to call him, but not with Nolene listening in.
The sign for Hope Animal Rescue appears and I make the turn. The dirt road winding through the grounds of the sanctuary stretches like a snake soaking up the last of the sallow light. Navigating around the potholes, I follow the road as it yields to a gravel driveway in front of a stone farmhouse.
A pack of dogs, all different breeds and sizes, are playing in the sprawling front garden. I search for one in particular, but he’s not here. Indifferently watching the dogs is a brown goat nibbling on... I squint through the windshield.What the heck?Judging by the white lace trim, it looks like one of Merele’s bras. I grin.
Ross appears on the wide porch hugging the house. He looks the same. Blond hair curling over his collar, eyes as blue as the tanzanite Merele wears on her finger. His tall, lean frame is in shorts and a T-shirt. An overweight Labrador pants at his feet.
Merele is nowhere in sight.
I park the car in the shade of a huge oak tree and twist around to face Nolene. “Ross doesn’t know you’re here. I need to talk to him first.”
She rolls her eyes. “The pacifist still has a problem with me?”
“Stay here until I call you.”
The moment I step out the car, the smell of country soaks into my pores. I take a deep breath. An old wagon wheel propped against the splintered bark of a tree catches my attention. A new touch. Merele no doubt discovered this treasure in one of the tucked away junk stores she loves to scrounge around in. Man, I love this place.
“Nothing like the smell of dung and dirt to tempt you into giving up city life,” Ross says, making his way over to me.
“Definitely better than smog and grill grease.”
Ross pulls me into a bear hug. After a couple of seconds, he lets go and says in a gruff voice, “Four months of silence is a long time.”
“I know.”
