Her Galahad Read Free

Cameron's here.
    "Underwear." North last time. Southwest before that. I'll have to head east or south—just nowhere near Sydney .
    "Jacket—jeans——"
    Oh, dear God, that man probably knows I came home. He must know where I live. If he tells Cameron—
    "T-shirts. Windcheater."
    Cameron's already been here, you idiot! Run!
    "Toothbrush. Soap. Toothpaste."
    What if he's outside now watching me? Or calling Cameron? What if he follows me? What if he makes sure I can't get away?
    "Pyjamas."
    If Cameron gets me—
    "Hairbrush. Socks!" She flung them into the sack.
    I'll kill myself before I'll go back.
    She threw the sack over her shoulder, grabbed her wallet and keys and bolted back down the stairs, leaving a small, pitiful mess. The only visible sign of her time in sweet Lynch Hill.
    A wailing voice halted her flight at the base of the stairs. "Miss Honeycutt! Please! What can I say to him to keep him here? I'm not clever, like you. I can't think what to say, and I—"
    One minute. She turned on the babbling woman, holding her skinny shoulders. Human contact is nice to elderly people. She's scared. Reassure her. "Just act normal, Mrs. Savage. Give him coffee. Talk about your life. Tell him I'll be home soon. Tell him I've gone to one of my pupils' houses after school, or there's a Neighborhood Watch meeting you forgot about, or Amy's day changed for art lessons. Make up something. Anything to keep him looking for me in Lynch Hill until tomorrow. Just don't tell him I came home, or you told me he was here!" She released the woman, hoping to God she could trust her. She picked up her sack. "Please. I'm begging you. Tell him nothing."
    "Y-es." Mrs. Savage nodded, her eyes still bewildered. "I—I—y-yes. I understand. I'll do what I can to keep him here."
    Tessa kissed her soft, wrinkled cheek, inhaling her violet-scented powder. Another memory to store, another scent to conjure regret. Another unwanted goodbye. "Thank you."
    "He—won't hurt me, will he?"
    She swung back, realizing with a pang what the dear old lady was willing to go through for her. "No. I swear to you he won't." He'll save that for me.
    She pressed a fifty-dollar note into her landlady's hand. Do the drill fast. "Can you clean up my room before he comes back? Make it look like I'm still here? Keep my things for a week. If you don't hear from me by next weekend put it all in a charity bin. And please, please don't talk to anyone about this."
    She threw open the screen door, burst through the open space to the verandah and cannoned straight into a hard male body.
    She looked up, saw the face belonging to it, and screamed.

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    Chapter 2
    « ^ »
    H e was about to force his way inside the faded gray frame house when she bolted out the door and slammed into him.
    He staggered back under the twin impact of her body crashing against him and the bag she carried thumping into his gut. The echoes of her first scream still rang in his ears; her second, riding on its wave, hit a new note in piercing pitch.
    "Be quiet! I won't hurt you." He grabbed her shoulders to steady them both. "Where's your car?"
    She blinked and stared at him; her shrill cry stopped with shocking suddenness. Laughter replaced it, a wild sound of disbelief—but even the cynical twisting of her lips lit her exotic face with all its crooked charm. "You're really something, aren't you. 'Hi, Tessa. Long time, no see. Where's your car?'"
    He grabbed her arm, pulling her with him through the door to the verandah. "Where is it? We've got to get out of here!"
    The laughter snapped off like a shuttered light. "It was you—at the school today. I thought … I thought—it can't be him! Then you left … and—but you must have known it was me…"
    He pulled her off the verandah and down the stairs, around the faded English gardens to the barnlike garage at the back of the house. "We can talk about it on the road. Just run!"
    With the sudden fury of a lioness she lashed out, struggling to break free of