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I chuckled and pressed her close. “Maybe.”
I opened the front door just as the telephone in the hallway began to ring. Kelly raced forward and answered it, and I knew deep down that she was hoping it would be Jenni.
“Hello?”
I watched her with a smile, hanging my coat by the door and stretching, feeling the day finally taking its toll on me. I would sleep like a log tonight, as long as I could keep my head clear and stopped my mind from conjuring up images of Jenni.
Kelly frowned, looked at me and handed me the receiver. “It’s for you.”
I frowned, suddenly worried that it might be the hospital calling to give me some bad news about Samuel. I took the phone from Kelly and braced myself.
“Hello?”
“Alex, buddy, hey!”
I clenched the receiver tight, my hand hurting with the effort. Heath’s voice on the other end immediately made my blood boil.
“You son of a bitch!” I hissed.
“Hey man, is that any way to greet a friend?” Heath laughed. “Oh, right, yeah, your dad. Listen, sorry about that, but let’s be real. The old man had it coming.”
“When I get my hands on you,” I threatened, “I’ll make sure I break your bones one by one, slowly.”
“Yeah, yeah, okay, so you’re still pissed, that’s understandable,” Heath said. “But listen, that’s not why I was calling, although the whole threat to my life thing is kinda amusing.”
“What do you want, Heath?”
“I have a message for you, from Garth,” Heath said. “He says to meet him in Little Harlow in an hour, house twenty-three. Just tell the security at the gate who you are, he’ll leave word that you’re coming.”
“And why would I want to do that?”
“Because if you don’t, you won’t see Jenni ever again.”
My heart jumped into my throat, and a cold rushed through me. “What?”
“Oh, didn’t I mention? Damn, sorry, should’ve led with that. Yeah, well, we have your girl, and if you want to see her again, you’ll do what Garth tells you to do.”
“What have you done with her, you bastard!”
“Nothing, man, calm down,” Heath said. “Well, no, that’s a lie. I slapped her around a bit. But hey, she hit me first.” Heath laughed, and my blood boiled. “Sounds kinda familiar, doesn’t it?”
“I’m going to kill you!”
“See, there you go with the threats again,” Heath chuckled. “Really amusing, buddy, gotta hand it to you. Real comedian. Anyway, one hour, house twenty-three. Got that?”
I slammed the phone down, making Kelly jump.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, eyes wide as she watched the rage dance across my face.
“Wait here,” I said.
I raced down the hallway to my father’s room and opened his closet, reaching into the back of the top shelf where I knew he kept his rifle. I grabbed it and a box of ammunition, and quickly began loading it. Kelly stood shaking in the doorway.
“Dad?”
“Don’t worry, sweetheart,” I said. “I’m just going to go have a chat with the man who bat your grandfather.”
