When Darkness Falls(53)

“Yes, all right. I guess you’re right.”

The words seemed to come from somewhere outside of Haley. She had no energy left, but she recognized that he was right. She’d slept so little during the past forty-eight hours that she really shouldn’t drive.

Once in the new room, Haley sat on the edge of the bed, shaking, arms wrapped around herself. The hotel phone rang, the wood nightstand amplifying the sound, making her jump.

“Haley,” Devon said. “Thank God you’re all right.”

“What? How did you know something happened?”

“I didn’t. I had a bad feeling. I almost came over there.”

“Where are you?” Taking the cordless receiver with her, Haley went to the door and peered through the eyehole, sure she’d see him standing there. But the walkway outside was empty.

“At a motel. I left Lydia’s today.”

Haley double-checked the locks and returned to the bed. It troubled her that she felt almost as relieved that Devon wasn’t outside her hotel room as she was that he’d left Lydia’s. She didn’t want to feel afraid of her husband. She didn’t truly believe he’d done any of the things Lydia claimed he had. But he was afraid he might have, which said a world about a side of him she didn’t know.

Because it’s only been seven months. I’ve only known him seven months. She slumped against the headboard, staying carefully in the circle of light provided by the bedside lamp as if that somehow would protect her.

“How did your call get through to me?” she said. “I’m in a different room now.”

“I called your cell, and you didn’t answer—”

“When? Oh, sorry.” The display on her phone showed his call during the time she’d been switching rooms.

“I called the desk and asked for you. Why did you switch?”

“Someone broke into my room. Through the balcony.”

“Lydia.”

“That’s what I’m thinking,” Haley said, though now it occurred to her that it had been Devon’s shampoo she’d smelled when she’d been dreaming.

“Did she hurt you?”

“No.”

“She probably came to see if I was with you,” Devon said. “That’s exactly why you need to go home. I’m not staying with Lydia, so you need to go back home. You said you would.”

That was a better thought than that Lydia had come to hurt her, but it didn’t help Haley feel better. She rubbed her forehead.

“Haley?”

“I’m here. Trying to calm down.”

“I’m trying to stay awake. I don’t want to sleep. I don’t want to dream. Will you talk to me? Help keep me awake?”

Haley moved to the armchair, feeling better in the corner where she could see the entire room. “You really believe Lydia, don’t you?”

“Please,” Devon said. “Talk about something else.”

“I don’t know if I can.”

“Tell me something. Anything. Tell me about…tell me about when you were little. When you started school. Tell me every year, what it was like.”

“It’s late.”

But Haley eyed the chain on the front door. It wouldn’t be that hard for someone to cut through it who really wanted in. She wouldn’t sleep until the sun rose. So she talked to Devon, and somewhere in those hours, it was as if the clock turned back, and they were dating again, when everything each said to the other was fascinating and new, when every word drew them closer. And Haley knew she couldn’t leave him, couldn’t abandon him to Lydia. She’d figure out something else. She didn’t know what, but something.

So they both had company through the rest of the night, though they were alone.





Chapter Twenty-Seven


At sunrise, Devon told Haley they could say good-bye. “Call me when you get home,” he said.

“All right. I love you.” Her voice sounded faint through the receiver.

“Still?” he said.

“Still.”

“I love you, too.”

After Devon hung up, he realized he hadn’t given Haley the name of his motel. He started to call her back, then clicked off his phone. She could reach him on his cell if she needed him. Let her sleep for now. He felt tired despite that he was used to getting very little sleep. She must be exhausted.

The heavy orange curtains drawn across the windows blocked all sunlight. He had closed them during the last fifteen minutes of his conversation with Haley, before the sun rose. He yawned, stretched. He could sleep now without fear. The events of the earlier part of the night had jumbled together in his mind. He thought he’d gone to a grocery store, but he didn’t know if he’d bought groceries or, if he had, what happened to them. There was a blank space between entering the store and calling Haley over an hour later.

Devon didn’t know what he believed, didn’t know how much of what Lydia had told him was true and how much insane fantasy. But at least, tonight, no matter what, he would not be hunting Haley. She’d be home in Chicago, a safe 1,800 miles away.

? ? ?

Haley checked all the locks again after hanging up. Her mind spun. She lay back down and stared at the white blur of the ceiling. If only she could convince Devon to come home, to deal with whatever was happening to him head on. But she couldn’t imagine how to do that. Or where she could go so Lydia would not find her.