Thirty and a Half Excuses
Page 93

The whole house went dark, the lights flickering out into blackness. Muffy began to growl. “Mason, my lights just went out. I’m going to Heidi Joy’s.”
“No. Stay inside. You’re safer inside.”
I heard a noise in the back of the house. “Mason, if something happens—”
“Nothing’s going to happen, Rose. I’m not going to let it.”
I wrapped my free arm across my chest and gasped when I felt the silk against my skin. “Oh, God.” I was wearing the white slip part of my dress, and my feet were bare. But the most telling of all was the ring on my hand.
“What?”
“The woman in the vision is me.” My knees started to buckle, and I grabbed the counter.
“Why do you think that? What are you wearing?” He sounded panicked.
I grabbed the ring on my finger and tried to pull it off, but the band got stuck beneath my knuckle. “I can’t get it off.”
“Can’t get what off? What are you wearing?”
“What I saw in my vision.” I started crying.
“No, calm down.” His voice softened. “It doesn’t mean it’s going to come true. You said so yourself.”
I nodded, taking deep gulps of air as I opened my kitchen drawer and pulled out my rolling pin. I wasn’t going down without a fight.
Muffy growled again, and I moved to the kitchen sink to look out the window. I didn’t see anything lurking outside, but my vision shifted, and I saw a shadow image creeping up behind me in the reflection. I screamed, then turned around swinging, connecting with the intruder’s shoulder and dropping the phone in the process.
“Rose!” I heard Mason’s panicked voice coming from the phone on the floor.
But my strike wasn’t strong enough to stop my attacker. I felt an electrical jolt rush through my body followed by intense pain as my muscles cramped.
And then there was only darkness.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
I woke up face down in the seat of a car, my hands tied in front of me. Every part of my body felt so heavy I could hardly move. A wave of panic raced through me before I took a deep breath and told myself to calm down. Panicking wasn’t going to help me. However, the hood over my head wasn’t helping either.
Just when I’d calmed down enough to start assessing my situation, the car stopped. Moments later the door next to me opened and rough hands grabbed my arms, pulling me out of the seat. My legs wouldn’t support my weight, so I lost my balance. I fell to the ground, concrete scrapping my knee.
Two thoughts came to mind: One, I was in Jonah’s driveway. And two, I didn’t remember seeing a scrape on my knee in the vision. If the future was already diverging from what I’d seen, I still had a chance at surviving this.
Something pointed and metallic poked into my side. “Don’t even think about shouting. I’ll shoot you right where you stand.”
I had no doubt he would—only he sounded like a she. He or she, I’d watched this person shoot me in the head. My knees buckled, and my head swam at the thought. Now was not the time to pass out.
A hand jerked me up, but from the angle, I could tell that the kidnapper was surprisingly short, further evidence that she was a woman.
“You’re a sluttin’ whore. I knew it the moment I saw you. What you’re wearin’ right now is proof of that. Now start walking.”
Had Miss Mildred gone rogue and kidnapped me?
Then I realized who had taken me and icy fear crawled up my back. “I’m not interested in Jonah…I mean Reverend Pruitt. We’re friends is all. I have a boyfriend. Did I tell you that? His name is Joe, and he’s a state police officer.”
The gun jammed into my side again. “Shut up and keep walking.”
“There’s been a misunderstanding here. If you just let me go, we’ll forget all about it.”
“You’re just like all the others.” Rhonda said. “They thought they were fooling me since they were so much older than my boy. But they all wanted to steal him away. Just like you do.”
“I don’t, really I don’t.”
“I’m not blind. I’ve seen you with him. Hanging around him at the church of all places.” Her voice lowered into a hateful tone. “And don’t think I didn’t see you with him in the sanctuary.” Something hard hit me square in the back, and I cried out in pain as I fell to my knees.
“Get up, whore.” She jerked me upright again. “Jesus carried his cross on his back for miles after he’d been beaten. If I had time, I’d make you suffer his miseries as penance.”
I fought the hysteria bubbling up in my chest. “Maybe we could pray for my soul. Would you pray with me, Miss Rhonda?”
She leaned around me, and a door opened as she leaned down into my ear. “I’ll pray with you all right. I’ll be praying over your dead body. Now keep quiet, or I’ll shoot you right here. And that’s not an empty promise.”
Was it better to get shot now or let her tie me to a chair, knowing without a doubt what would happen? Running seemed like a better option. I started to bolt, but something hard came down on the middle of my back again, and I cried out.
“Keep your mouth shut.”
She dragged me through the doorway and gave me a shove. I stumbled into a table, which made a screeching noise as it scraped across the floor. That was good. It hadn’t been in my vision either.
The hood was jerked off my head, and I blinked as I took in my surroundings as quickly as possible. We were in a dark kitchen just like in my vision, and the moonlight was streaming in through the window. Rhonda held the gun out toward me, the hood of a sweatshirt over her head.