Indemnity: Book Two: Covenant of Trust Series by Paula Wiseman Page A

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