The Final Victim(72)

Lianna sneaks a peek at her bedside clock and is surprised to see that it isn't. What the heck is Aimee doing waking her up at eight thirty in the morning?

"Your mom asked me to take you over to one of your friend's houses."

Okay, that's even crazier.

She opens her mouth to inform Aimee that she's grounded, but thinks better of it. Maybe Mom forgot about that, considering everything that's gone on.

Instead, she asks Aimee, "Which friend's house?"

"She said it was up to you. I'm on my way to the hospital in Savannah, and she told me to tell you to call and make arrangements so I can drop you off."

"Mom isn't going to the hospital with you?"

"No, she's…" Aimee hesitates. "She's coming later."

That's odd. None of this adds up. Why wouldn't Mom rush off to the hospital first thing? That's what she said she was going to do last night, before they went to bed.

She had kissed Lianna's forehead and said, "I'll probably be gone when you wake up in the morning, but I'll call to check in during the day, okay?"

Oh, well.

Far be it from Lianna to question any change in plans that allows her to be sprung from this prison.

She swings her legs around the edge of the bed and tells Aimee, "I just have to take a shower, and get dressed, and eat breakfast. Then I'll call my friend… Devin."

She almost said Casey, but that would be pushing it. Tempting as it is to try and sneak a chance to set up a meeting with Kevin, she'd better not risk it.

Mom might be distracted, but she'd probably remember that Casey and her family are still away on vacation, which is the root of Lianna's being grounded in the first place.

No, she can't pull that again.

Kevin will just have to wait.

Even though he whined, when he called Saturday night, about not being able to see her any time soon, which definitely made her feel wanted. Naturally, she promised she'd sneak out of the house some night after everyone is asleep. Just not for a few more days, after her mother calmed down about last week's incident.

"Wait, Lianna." Aimee holds up her hand. "You don't have that much time."

"For what?"

"You know… a shower…Just throw on some clothes and we'll go. I'll take you someplace for breakfast on the way, and you can call your friend Devin from my cell phone in the car if you want."

Lianna narrows her eyes. "What's the big rush?"

It sounds like her mother's trying to get rid of her.

"I'm sorry… It's just that I want to get to my Dad," Aimee replies. "I had a hard time sleeping last night, I was so worried about him."

"Oh."

Who is Lianna to argue with that?

Especially with imminent freedom hanging in the balance?

"Just let me find something to wear and brush my teeth, and I'll be right with you."

CHAPTER 12
Standing in the window of the front parlor, Charlotte watches Aimee drive away in her rental car with Lianna in the passenger's seat.

Thank goodness.

It was all she could do to act as though everything was normal when she gave her daughter a hurried kiss good-bye in the hall just now.

"Have fun at Devin's," she said. "I'll call later about picking you up when I'm through at the hospital." 'Thanks, Mom."

Lianna, who can be especially prickly in the mornings, was surprisingly docile. Charlotte was glad to see her leave, and grateful to Aimee for hustling her right out of here.

She heard her daughter ask Aimee, as they walked down the wide front steps, about the black sedan parked in the shade of a towering oak.

"I don't know whose it is," Aimee said convincingly. Probably the nurse who comes to see your aunt."

"She drives a Honda."

"Well, maybe she sent somebody else today." Without missing a beat, she said, "Hey, you know what? I saw a Bojangles off the highway on the way back from Savannah last night. Maybe we could stop there for breakfast on the way. Do you like biscuits?"

"They're okay," said Lianna.

Just okay? Charlotte thought in irritation. Bo-Berry Biscuits happen to be Lianna's all-time favorite thing to eat.

Obviously, she isn't going to go out of her way to be accommodating today. At least, not to Aimee.

Lianna's resentment of her stepsister was palpable at dinner last night. She barely spoke two words, and Charlotte spotted her sneaking a jealous glare at Aimee when Lianna thought she wasn't looking.

Oh, well. She'll come around sooner or later. Charlotte hopes so-for Aimee's sake, anyway.

What matters most now is that she's out of here.

Charlotte doesn't need to have her teenaged daughter involved in what's about to happen in this house.

She sighs, pressing her forehead against the screen, wishing she could go, too.

Royce will wonder why she isn't there. She told Aimee to tell him that she had some things to see to at home first and that she'll be along shortly.

"If he asks what they are, make up something," she cautioned her stepdaughter. 'Tell him I… I had to pay bills, or something."

She hates to lie, or have Aimee do it on her behalf, but there's no reason to alarm Royce by letting him know what's going on around here. Not right now, when all he should be focused on is recovering from his ordeal.