AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I had no idea how, though. I knew that Alex would show up pretty soon, and I cranked my head as I tried to look out the window at the abandoned house across the street. I had no idea what Garth had in store for him, but it couldn’t be good. Garth was losing it, bit by bit, believing he was untouchable to the point where he probably thought that he could kill a man and not face the consequences of that. He wasn’t delusional, though, just given false security by a Sheriff who was as competent as a fish out of water.
To me, that meant he was reckless, and I doubted Alex knew just how much. There was no telling what would happen when the two of them collided. All I knew was one of them was not going to make it out of this alive, and right now, Garth had home advantage.
You have to warn him.
The question was how.
Heath began to whistle joyfully as he strolled back into the living room, holding what looked like a journal in his hands. He was flipping through the pages, eyes wide, his pitch going higher as he scanned the journal’s contacts.
“Hey, Jenni, you know what this is?” he asked, waving the journal at me.
I didn’t answer.
“You remember how Garth said he could remember every single contact he had, just pull out their numbers from some kind of super storage in his head?” Heath smacked the journal and smiled. “Well, that was a load of crap.”
You don’t say? There was a lot of that oozing out of Garth, that this didn’t seem like much of a surprise.
Heath opened the journal again. “Every single name and number, in alphabetical order, and Garth didn’t even code the damn thing.” He looked up at me and smiled. “You know, I could take this and make it on my own without him, if I didn’t love the guy so much. Pretty stupid to leave it lying around where anyone could find it.”
“You seemed to be looking real hard for that,” I commented.
Heath laughed and plopped down on the couch. “Gotta watch my boy’s back, you know?” He continued scanning the journal. “I mean, we got a bunch of guys coming and going through here, some that can’t be trusted. This isn’t something you’d want them to get their hands on. There’s no telling what they could do with it.”
There’s your out!
“What are you going to do with it?” I asked.
“What do ya mean?”
I gestured to the journal. “You said everything’s in there,” I said. “What’s stopping you from walking out of here with it all?”
Heath looked at me for a few seconds before he smiled and shook a finger at me. “No, no, no,” he chuckled. “Bad ex-girlfriend. I see what you’re trying to do.”
“What am I trying to do?”
“You’re trying to tempt me into backstabbing my best friend,” Heath said. “Playing your little mind games, making me think I can have it all, right?”
&nbs
p; I shrugged. “I don’t see why not. I mean, you’re a smart guy. It’s not like you really need him.”
“Alright, you know what?” he said, waving a dismissive hand at me. “Stop it. I liked you better when you weren’t talking.”
“Seriously, Heath,” I pressed. “Come to think of it, all he really does is call people and bark orders. You do most of the heavy lifting.”
“Shut up, Jenni.” Heath’s tone took a more aggressive turn, and he glared at me angrily.
Twin lights broke through the window and briefly lit up the living room in a bright light before turning away. I looked over my shoulder and watched in horror as Alex’s car pulled up to the house across the street. I felt my heart sink to the pit of my stomach.
“That your lover boy?” Heath asked, getting up and rushing to the window. He clapped his hands together and smiled. “Looks like it’s all going down now.” He turned around and went back to the couch, picking up the journal again.
I tried to loosen my restraints again, wincing and clenching my teeth at the jolts of pain that shot out from where the skin had been rubbed raw. This was getting me nowhere, and I watched helplessly as Alex walked up the driveway and disappeared behind the house. He was carrying Samuel’s rifle.
“You know, now would be the perfect time,” I said, turning my attention back to Heath.
He looked up at me and frowned. “What?”
I gestured to the journal again. “Garth’s going to be a little preoccupied at the moment. I say take it and make a run for it. Drive out of town, far away from Kent. Make a few calls. Get a nice little setup going on before he even knows what hit him.”
