Indemnity: Book Two: Covenant of Trust Series (12 page)

That evening, with the hum of the dishwasher insulating the kitchen from the rest of the house, Bobbi took advantage of the solitude. She ran hot water in the sink and began washing the pots and pans from dinner. As she scrubbed and rinsed, her mind drifted back through every strained conversation she and Chuck had had since Jack Ravenna showed up on her class list.

She honestly wanted to see Chuck’s side, and to understand his thinking, but every time she tried to convey her concerns, all he heard was irrational worry. He missed the fact that she did trust him to remain faithful, and she accepted that he was following God’s leadership.

“
She’s not a threat. She’s just angry,” he had said. Chuck refused to see what Tracy really was. His ego would never let him concede that he was mixed up with a woman so devious. He could admit to adultery, but not to being duped.

His career depended on sizing people up, cutting through their pretenses to figure out what was negotiable and what wasn’t. Regardless of all the evidence to the contrary, he
couldn’t
be wrong about Tracy.

The phone rang, and Bobbi dried her hands slowly on the dishtowel. What if it was Tracy? They should get an unlisted number. Then she heard Chuck call from the other room, “Bobbi! It’s Rita!”

Feeling silly for worrying, Bobbi picked up the receiver. “Hey, I’ll have Katelyn and Natalie Thursday. Do you want me to get Shannon, too?”

“
Sure. Shannon will be thrilled.”

“
What’s wrong?”

“
Nothing’s wrong.”

“
It will save us a lot of time if you just go ahead and tell me what’s going on ... And don’t say you’re tired.”

“
I need to work on my acting,” Bobbi sighed. “Tracy showed up at Chuck’s office today to pitch a fit over the court order for the DNA test.”

“
Oh, no.”

“
I’ve got to get used to it. She’s not going away.”

“
I hate to see you have to deal with this again and again. Once was more than enough.”

Wednesday, August 15

Rita Heatley double-checked the post-it note stuck to the steering wheel of her car. The Penner Hewitt law firm should be four blocks down on the right.

Bobbi said she had to get used to it. No, she didn’t. Something had to be done. Somebody had to take action. Chuck wouldn’t stand up for her, and Gavin couldn’t make any headway with him, so it was all up to her.

Rita knew she’d catch all kinds of grief over what she was about to do. Unless it worked. If it worked, everyone’s lives would return to normal, and no one would be the wiser.

“
Here we go.” She parked her car in the first visitor’s spot, and then she leaned forward, straining to see the top story of the glass façade. “This is a lot bigger than Chuck’s building.” Too bad she couldn’t throw that up in his face someday. She grabbed her purse, checked inside to make sure she had everything, and strode into the building.

Natural light filtered down through the atrium into the open lobby. Large plants, even a few small trees, in huge stone pots lined the walkway to the reception desk. As soon as Rita got within ten feet of the desk, the receptionist looked up and greeted her. “Good morning. How may I help you?”

“
I’d like to see Tracy Ravenna.”

“
Do you have an appointment?” The woman reached for the telephone.

“
No.” Nor did she have a backup plan.

“
Can I have your name, please?” the receptionist asked, picking up a pen.

“
Rita Heatley.”

“
One moment.” Rita stepped away from the desk while the receptionist made the call to Tracy. “Ms. Heatley, Ms. Ravenna is in Suite 304. You can take the elevator to the third floor, and she’s the second office on your right.”

“
Thank you.” In the elevator, Rita took two deep breaths. Her hands were steady and dry, proof that she was doing the right thing. Rita’s resolve wavered though, when Tracy met her at the office door.

“
Ms. Heatley, I’m Tracy Ravenna.” She smiled, and extended her hand. She wore a tailored gray pantsuit with a silk blouse, modestly buttoned almost to the top. Not one of her auburn hairs was out of place. She wore no jewelry except earrings and a tasteful, elegant diamond and gold watch. Rita suddenly felt uncharacteristically self-conscious in her slacks and blouse from the clearance rack at JCPenney.

“
Please come in.” Tracy eased the door shut and showed Rita to a leather armchair, then rounded the desk and took a seat. “Is that Mrs. Gavin Heatley?”

“
Yes,” Rita answered, taken aback.

The corner of Tracy’s mouth curled into a smirk. “He came to my house one night. He’s quite a gentleman.”

Rita bristled at the way she said, “he came to my house,” like she could have Chuck or Gavin or anyone else she wanted whenever she took a notion. She couldn’t be more wrong about Gavin, but that was little consolation. No wonder Bobbi so adamantly protested Chuck having any contact with her. He didn’t stand a chance against this woman playing her game.

Before Tracy could go any further, Rita opened her purse and pulled out her checkbook. “Ms. Ravenna, I’ll get right to the point. How much will it take for you to disappear? For good.”

“
Excuse me?”

Rita relished the flash of shock across Tracy’s face. “You’ve brought enough pain into my sister’s life. I want you to leave the state of Missouri. Name your price.”

“
Your sister? Bobbi is your sister.” Tracy leaned back in her chair, and spoke quietly, the smirky smile returning. “It all makes sense now. For the life of me, I couldn’t figure out the connection between Chuck and Mr. Heatley.” Tracy swiveled her chair around and stood slowly. “Mrs. Heatley, you can put your checkbook away.”

Rita never moved her eyes, nor did she close her checkbook, as Tracy moved behind her toward the office door.
And this is where she calls security on me.

With a hand on the doorknob, Tracy continued, “Your sister has nothing to worry about as far as I’m concerned. I have all I want from Chuck. The contact between us now is all his doing. Maybe you should try to buy
him
off.” She opened the office door. “Good day, Mrs. Heatley.”

Rita took the longest way home that she could devise. The disasters would surely keep coming now. Was Tracy telling the truth about Chuck, that he was initiating the contact between them now? Did Bobbi know that? Would Chuck admit to it? That might be enough to take the heat off her.

Should she wait until Tracy said something about their meeting this morning? Chuck might not believe it if she let Tracy tell him. No, waiting would drive her insane. Confessing was the best thing. Confessing to Bobbi.

She couldn’t go right now though. It would look very suspicious if she were dressed for work this early in the morning. She’d stop at home, change clothes, and then go see Bobbi. She went to see her sister all the time. With any luck, Gavin was already at school. When Rita tried the front door, it was unlocked. Gavin was still home.
I’m dead.

He met her just inside the front door. “Rita, where’d you take off to? You didn’t even say goodbye.”

“
I’d rather not say,” Rita said, trying to push past him, still hoping to escape.

Gavin closed his eyes and began to rub his temples. “Rita, where’ve you been?”

“
All right, this is going to sound really bad ...”

“
Don’t tell me you went to see Tracy.”

“
Ok, I won’t tell you.” Rita tried to walk away once again, but Gavin caught her by the arm before she could get through the doorway.

“
Have you lost your mind?” Gavin shouted. “Chuck and Bobbi are in the middle of legal action with her!”

“
It was a bad idea. It’ll never happen again.” She pulled her arm away and widened the distance between them.

“
What did you say to her?”

“
Not much. I just ... I suggested there were other places she might want to live, that’s all.”

“
You threatened her?”

“
No,” Rita raised a hand. “I did not threaten her. Not at all.”

“
Then what did you do?”

Gavin had the most piercing eyes of anyone Rita had ever known. Her only option now was to get the ugly truth out there and pray for mercy. She took a deep breath and the words spilled out. “I offered her money to leave the state.” When Gavin
didn’t
explode, Rita knew it was very bad.

“
How much did you offer her?” he growled.

“
That part was up to her.” She resolved to play it cool, like it was as mundane as stopping by the ATM.

“
I see, and just where were you going to get this money?”

“
It depended on how much exactly. I’m sure John could have covered it.”

“
You were going to drag our son-in-law into this? Were you going to let John go to jail for you, too?”

“
Oh Gavin,” Rita rolled her eyes. “Nobody’s going to jail. You make it sound bad.”

“
Come on.” He pulled her toward the door. “Get in the car.”

“
Where are we going?”

“
You’re going to apologize to Bobbi and Chuck, and pray to God that this doesn’t affect their court case.”

“
First of all, that was exactly what I planned to do, so you can cool it with the ‘Mr. Heatley’ voice.” She straightened her back and launched into the rest of her defense, lame as it was. “Second, you agreed with me that it was best if Chuck didn’t have anything to do with Tracy or Jack—”

“
So I put you up to this? You know how insane that is?”

“
Only because it failed. If it had worked, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”

“
Because you would’ve kept it from me.”

“
I didn’t say that, but I guarantee you wouldn’t be this self-righteous.” He hated being called self-righteous. That should distract him long enough for her to concoct a better strategy.

“
No, I’d rather die than see Bobbi hurt again, but the fact is ... they’re both adults. They’ve chosen a course of action, and you ... we have to stay out of it.” Gavin prodded her out to his car, and then he called Bobbi from his cell phone.

“
Has Chuck already left? No, Rita needs to talk to both of you. Thanks. See you soon.”

Gavin’s short, clipped syllables were the only words he spoke on the drive to the Molinskys’. He never even glanced her direction. She began to wish they could go back to the scolding indignation. Her best hope for a way out of this mess lay in her sister’s grace. Chuck was another story. Rita folded her hands in her lap, stared out the window and prayed.

Bobbi peeked out the kitchen window just in time to see Gavin’s car pull in the driveway. “Shannon, Aunt Rita’s here! Why don’t you get the door for her?”

She heard little feet dash from the family room to the entry hall, and then Shannon’s voice rang out, “Aunt Rita! Is this a Katelyn day?”

“
No, sweetie, that’s tomorrow. Uncle Gavin and I need to talk to Mommy and Daddy.”

“
Mommy’s in the kitchen, but Daddy’s not here.”

Shannon skittered back to the family room and a moment later, Rita came into the kitchen with Gavin a half step behind. “Hey, sorry to bother you so early in the morning,” she said taking a seat at the kitchen table with Bobbi.

“
What’s wrong?” Bobbi said, glancing at Gavin who was standing in the doorway. “I’ve never heard Gavin sound like that on the phone.”

“
Gavin is overreacting,” Rita said, nodding toward him, “but I’ll wait until Chuck gets here, so I only have to go through it once.”

“
Do you want some coffee, then? It’s Indonesian. I think it’s my new favorite.”

“
If that’s the strongest thing you’ve got.”

Bobbi looked to Gavin, but he shook his head.

Rita always turned down Indonesian coffee. Always. Gavin’s not speaking, not even hello. That’s a bad sign.

Bobbi got a cup from the cabinet and poured Rita’s coffee.

It’s not bad news, like a tragedy. He’s furious about something.

Bobbi slid Rita’s cup to her and sat back down. She could see Gavin’s hands clenched in tight fists.

It’s Rita. She’s done something, and he’s livid. What’s she done that she would need to talk to me
and
Chuck? Unless it had to do with Tracy. Rita’s done something to Tracy. Rita and Tracy ... This should be good.

They listened to the clock tick as they waited for Chuck, Rita and Bobbi sipping their coffee, and Gavin crossing and uncrossing his arms across his chest. Rita flinched when the refrigerator began to hum.

What on earth has she done?

Gavin’s eyes darted back toward the entryway when they heard Chuck’s car. When he finally opened the front door, Rita leaned back in her chair and let a deep breath go. “Good grief, who died?” Chuck said, as he strode into the kitchen.