Guarding Raine Part 72

He removed his arm from her neck and grasped both her wrists, yanking

them behind her.

A flashlight clicked on, and Joe and Raine were caught in its beam.

"Joe, let her go!"

Sarah insisted.

"This isn't going to work."

"Of course it will work,"

he retorted, panting from his struggle with Raine.

"This solution will be a more permanent one, is all. We don't need to

worry about ruining the pictures. We can get rid of her once and for

all:I failed in the car, and the fire didn't do the trick. But this is almost tOO perfect. It can be arranged to look like an accident. Poor Miss Michaels got locked in here at night and got disoriented in thedark. She panicked.

Surely there's something in here she could trip over and hit her head.

Head wounds are so dangerous, you know."

"Sarah, for G.o.d's sake,"

Raine choked out, the horror of the situation too much to comprehend.

"You can't possibly want to go along with this!"

Sarah sounded dazed."The fire? And the accident? G.o.d, Joe, you swore to me you weren'tinvolved with them! I told you I wouldn't be a party to anything thatwould really hurt Raine."

Her voice was beginning to rise.

"I told you that from the beginning!"

"You don't tell me anything, sister Sarah!"

he lashed out.

"If it hadn't been for me, you'd still be crying in your vodka martinis

about your career going to h.e.l.l. Remember how well you were doing whenHarold Bonzer was sponsoring your shows, before he'd ever heard of yourdearest friend? You can't even get a commitment from him to plananother, now that she's on the scene. Isn't that what you told me whenthe money your sculptures brought in started to slow to a trickle?Didn't you cry and curse Raine Michaels for being the cause of yourcareer drying up?"

The words swirled through Raine's mind, chasing through the panic-induced fog.

"No,"

she said disbelievingly.

She wished frantically to see Sarah's face.

But the ray of light was the only clue she had to her friend's location.

"That's not true, Sarah. Tell him. You've done great these last fewyears, you've told me yourself."

"I told you."

Sarah's laugh sounded a little wild.

"That's just it, don't you see? But what I told you and what really

has been happening are two completely different things. You don't know how many times I've cursed the day you met Harold at one of my shows.He was interested in me. It was my career that was taking off. And then, once he met you, it was all over. He started concentrating on you. Everything was for you."

"But you just had a show last year,"

Raine insisted desperately.

Her fear left a cold, metallic taste in her mouth.

"Harold sponsored that. He's still interested in your development as

an artist. That proves it.""He told her that he wouldn't be doing another,"Joe said then, his voice tinged with malice."He was going to concentrate on Raine Michaels. The great Raine Michaels.

She thought she was well enough established to make it on her own, but

she overestimated herself. My life-style can't afford another year like the one she just had."

"But..."

Sarah's~voice seemed disjointed, coming from the darkness.

"This isn't the way, Joe."

"It's exactly the way,"

he disputed her words.

"Without her to concentrate on, Bonzer will switch his attention back

to you again. Especially when you tearfully show him the sculptureyou'll do of your dear friend. The old fool won't be able to resist it. And when it becomes known that he's again sponsoring you, themoney will start flowing once more."

Raine shook her head, dazed.

"Sarah, I can't believe you arranged all of this."

She was filled with incredible pain at this evidence of her friend's

deceit.

"No!"

Sarah cried, "It's not my fault! I didn't mean for all of this to

happen!"

Joe laughed, an ugly sound.

"I told Joe about the letters you were getting. It was my idea to copythem and step up the pace, but I never wanted to hurt you! I justthought you'd be too shaken up to work. And then when your showcouldn't come off on schedule, you'd lose credibility with Harold. He'dturn to me once more."

Her voice turned petulant, colored with hysteria, "You have so much

already! I just wanted my turn again!"

Mac was still several yards away from the building when he noted a light in the office.

Good girl, he thought With relief.

Raine had managed to walk through the dark hallway to the office to get to the phone.

He knew the kind of courage that had taken.

He'd barely finished the thought when the light went out.

He paused, frowning.

Though he had the utmost respect for her strength, he couldn't believe

that she'd made a phone call from the office and then blithely walked into the darkness.

Something was wrong.

Suddenly the feeling he'd had all night made terrifying sense.

In his mind's eye, he saw the office again when Raine had spoken to Andre.

And remembered the window shade flapping.

The window had been open.

He crouched down and sidled along the building to the window.

It was still open, and he could hear voices inside.

What he heard was enough to curdle his blood.

d.a.m.n it, Sarah Jennings was involved in this?

He'd never really considered her a serious threat to Raine, but from

the conversation drifting through the window, she'd been storing up resentment toward her friend for some time.

He'd heard enough.