Grace paused. What to do?
“Now I want to drink the rest of this wine and take a long, hot bath and cry,” Grace said.
Annie went to inspect the patio door for a second time. She ran her hand over the cracked glass with concern in her eyes. “What are you going to tell Ryan?” she asked.
“That I tripped and fell,” Grace said. Her head hurt something awful, but she didn’t have any signs of concussion, and her ribs were bruised, but she didn’t think any were broken. “He doesn’t need to know … he shouldn’t know.”
Annie returned to the table to retrieve her wineglass. “I suppose he’ll have no trouble believing you’re extremely clumsy.” Her quip was meant to defuse some tension. “You’ll stay with me tonight.” Annie’s suggestion came out as an order. “Ryan too.”
“No, I’m going to stay here,” Grace said with authority.
“What? You can’t!” Annie sounded utterly aghast. “What if they come back?”
“They won’t come back,” Grace answered assuredly. “Not unless I do something stupid.”
“How can you be so sure?” asked Annie. “You play stupid games, you win stupid prizes.”
It was a favorite saying of hers, but never before had it been so applicable. They had been careless, reckless even, and it had cost them dearly. Going after Vince Rapino without support, without so much as a plan, had been utterly foolish, and now Grace had a choice to make. She could pursue Rapino at risk to her own life, find evidence tying Vince directly to Rachel’s murder, prove that he was the one who bound Penny’s wrists, or she could let it go—and with it, her daughter’s best chance at change of plea and full acquittal.
“They don’t want me dead, or I would be,” said Grace. “Tonight was a warning, nothing more.”
“I’d call it a pretty effective one,” Annie noted.
It had not been easy for Grace to relive those terrifying moments of her attack for Annie’s benefit, but she pushed through her reluctance, and talking it out dampened her lingering terror. When it came time to sleep tonight, though, Grace had no doubt those ice blue eyes would be there, waiting in the dark, peering out from above a black bandana.
“So what now?” Annie asked again, pouring more wine into her glass.
“We can’t let Ryan or Jack know what’s going on,” Grace said in a way that left no room for debate.
“Are you going to tell Ryan that you’re taking one of my guns and keeping it in your bedside dresser?”
“I don’t want a gun,” Grace said, hoping Annie wouldn’t press her on it.
“These are dangerous people and you have to protect yourself.”
“It’s nonnegotiable.” Grace said it forcefully, knowing Annie wouldn’t back down.
“It’ll be a small gun,” Annie insisted, proving her right. “I’ve got a Glock 19, it’s a compact model, easy to handle … we’ll go to the range tomorrow, practice with it.”
“No,” Grace said, raising her voice.
“May I ask why you’re so against it?”
Grace could lie, of course, but Annie might keep pressuring, and the only surefire way she knew to shoot down the idea （pun intended） was to tell the truth.
“I don’t want a gun in this house, even a small one, because … well, because of Ryan.” It came as a surprise to Grace when her voice quavered, but she held back the tears.
“Ryan?” Annie sounded perplexed.
Grace took a deep breath but couldn’t quite settle herself. “I don’t know what’s wrong with him.” He was her heart as much as Penny and Jack were. “He’s not well. Something … there’s something off with him and—” She couldn’t bring herself to say the words, but Annie said them for her.
“Do you think he’d hurt himself?”
Grace’s eyes sank to the floor. “I think it’s possible,” she admitted. “He hasn’t been right, not since Penny’s arrest, and I’ve no idea why. He was going to become a lawyer, acing all his pre-law classes at Northeastern. Now that’s gone, or at least put on hold. I’ve asked him time and time again what happened, why the sudden change, but he won’t open up to me about it. You know what can happen if people keep their feelings bottled up.”
“He’s old enough to buy a gun,” Annie said, not ready to let it go. “If he wanted to.”