Killjoy

"Your sister hates you."

"Oh, yes."

"She accused you of stealing her child and turning her against her."

"That didn't happen."

"She seems to believe that all of her failures were your fault and that your success was stolen from her."

Carrie nodded. "Jilly always had the unique ability to rewrite history. Once she said it, in her mind it was real."

"She sounds like a psychopath."

"She is," Carrie said. "It was never officially diagnosed, but I'm sure that's what she is."

Sara began to trace the worry line in her forehead with her fingertip as she listened to Carrie. Back and forth, back and forth.

She was so deep in thought she probably wasn't even aware of what she was doing. "What happened with the child?"

"Avery," she said. "Her name is Avery, and she's an adult now, not a child. Jilly left her in the hospital. She told my mother and

me that we could keep her, sell her, or give her away. She didn't care what happened to her." Tears sprang into Carrie's eyes.

She hated herself for showing such weakness in front of a virtual stranger, but she was powerless to do anything about it. "Jilly's going after Avery too. Oh, God, she could already have her locked away somewhere now. My niece was going to join me at the spa…" She covered her face with her hand. "We've got to get out of here soon. We have to find a way."

"Your sister has gone to quite a lot of trouble to hurt you," Sara said.

Carrie told her about Jilly coming into her room during the night and how she had believed she was having a nightmare. Sara

was a good listener and so calm Carrie was actually comforted.

"Jilly could be very patient when she really wanted something, and, oh, how she loved complicated plans. Nothing could ever

be simple."

Sara put her coffee cup down and leaned forward. "How much time do you think we have?"

"She's gone to a lot of trouble setting this up. She'll want to prolong my agony."

Both of them kept glancing at the spiral staircase, expecting to see A

"I've already checked every window I could reach. They're all wired."

"Yes, I would expect so."

"I wish I could be calm like you."

"I'm not calm," Sara protested. "I'm quite… dis-combobulated."

Her choice of words made Carrie smile. "So am I," she said.

"I'm thinking…"

"Yes?"

"How curious it is that the three of us are in this house together. What is it that we have in common?"

"I don't know," Carrie said. "And I don't know that we'll have the time to find out."

"We will get out of here."

Her resolve bolstered Carrie. "Yes, we must, and we will."

"I wonder what's keeping A

"She's going to be a problem."

"Oh?"

Carrie nodded. "She won't admit she received a letter."

"Perhaps she's in shock."

Carrie thought Sara might be right about that. "And denial," she said.

"We're going to all have to work together, but I don't know how much help I can be. I'll do whatever I can. I'm sixty-eight

years old." Sara shrugged. "And I'm terribly out of shape. When I received the invitation for a free two-week stay at the spa

as a promotion, I thought to myself, why not? The experts say it's never too late to turn your life around. I decided to get into better shape. As you can see, I'm overweight, and once we get outside-and we will find a way to do that," she said with conviction, "I won't be able to walk far. I should have had both of my knees replaced several years ago. I'm walking with bone

on bone now."

"Then A

They heard a door close and both looked up. A

"Oh, dear," Sara whispered.

"Good morning, ladies," A

She sounded so cheerful. Had her mind snapped? Carrie wondered. She was about to ask the woman what the hell was the matter with her when Sara suggested A

"Did you sleep well?" A

"Would you care for some coffee?" Sara asked. She was watching her closely, as though she was trying to interpret the

woman's bizarre behavior.

"Not just yet. I'll ring when I'm ready."

Carrie turned to Sara. "I told you she was going to be a problem."

"I'm sorry. What did you say?" A

Carrie turned to her. "It wasn't the wonderful mountain air that made you sleep so long, A

"That's nonsense. Look where we are," she said. "Who would do such a thing in this beautiful-"

Carrie cut her off. "Did you bring your letter down?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"See what I mean?" Carrie asked Sara.

The judge took over. "A

Carrie noticed that A

placed them back on the table. "I don't need to read these."

"Yes, you do," Sara gently asserted. "You'll see that we're in trouble here. Someone has wired this place to kill us."

"What rubbish," A

"We're locked inside this house," Sara told her.

"We are not."

"It's no use," Carrie said. "I tried to tell her all of this upstairs."

"You're lying," A

Carrie considered punching the woman. She thought she'd probably kill her if she did because A

and sickly. A good wind could have done her in.

"If any of us opens a window or door, the house will blow up," Sara patiently explained.

Neither she nor Carrie anticipated A

"You're only lying to get me upset. The house isn't wired, and I'm going to prove it to you."

She was headed for the front door.

Chapter 8

John Paul had to hang around Utopia longer than he'd anticipated, but the wait was worth it. He was sitting, or rather sprawling, in an easy chair half hidden behind a couple of limp palm trees inside the lobby's bar when Avery Delaney walked inside. One hard look and he had her all figured out. She was a typical California blonde. No, maybe not typical. She was unique, he'd give her that. But she was definitely all about her body. Why else would she want to spend a week at a spa? Why would anyone?

The Delaney woman wore a short white T-shirt that fit snugly across her full breasts, and tight jeans, obviously intending to show off her long legs and her tight ass. Her long, straight, blond hair shimmered in the light. It looked natural, but he doubted that it was. Probably came from a bleach bottle. Her sunglasses hid her eyes, but he figured she was probably wearing colored contact lenses. Her T-shirt hid her belly button, but he wouldn't have been surprised to find that she'd had it pierced. Wasn't that the fashion these days?