“I always knew when he was screwing around. He was like a little boy, thought he had to be naughty to get my attention. I kicked him out that night, but it was Christmas, you know? And like he always did, he promised it was over, and like I always did, I believed him.”

Sherri emptied her glass and poured herself another healthy tot.

Colleen crossed and recrossed her ankles, carefully working her feet loose in the cumbersome platform sandals.

“You know, it’s really kind of rude of you to drink in front of me and not offer me one. If you’re gonna kill me anyway, the least you could do is fix me a drink.”

Sherri laughed. “Ooh. Where are my manners?” She picked up the bottle and gestured toward the kitchen. “You go first.”

Colleen stood but didn’t move, waiting until the other woman, annoyed, moved closer to give her a push.

At that instant, Colleen swung her shackled hands and knocked the glass from the startled woman’s hands, and before Sherri could react, raised her arms and gave a mighty slicing backswing, bashing Sherri in the face with the full weight of the handcuffs, knocking her to the floor.

Colleen kicked off the shoes and ran, out the sliding-glass doors and onto the deck. She slipped and went sprawling on the rain-slicked boards. She scrabbled around, terrified, finally managing to get back on her feet.

She ran toward the beach, looking back only once, to see Sherri silhouetted in the doorway, the gun raised, clutched between both hands. She fired and Colleen screamed as the bullet ripped through her shoulder, knocking her down again.

The wounded woman lay still for a moment, hearing the panting of her own breath as blood oozed from the wound. But the adrenaline still pumped through her veins and she got back up again. This time she ran without looking back, blindly heading for the cover of the stand of Australian pines and what she knew was the beach, just beyond.

She was still running when she hit the shallow seawall of broken concrete riprap. Colleen could see the waves crashing ashore and heat lightning dancing on the gold-tinged horizon. A squadron of pelicans cruised past, their shapes silhouetted against the dark clouds. But she didn’t see the carpet of slimy moss and seaweed clinging to the rocks. When her foot slipped and she fell, the pelicans were the very last thing she saw.

58

“Sit,” Drue said, gesturing toward the sofa. She went into her bedroom and found an extra pillow and a lightweight blanket.

“Here,” she said, tossing them to her guest. “But you really don’t have to do this.”

“I want to,” Jonah said, stretching out on the sofa with the pillow beneath his head. “Get some sleep, okay? I’ll hang out here. I’m too wired to sleep.”