Click.
The dial tone buzzed in her ear. Ruth tapped the chrome cradle several times. “Carrie?” she yelled into the receiver, and then hung up. She turned around. The group had congregated in the kitchen. “We have to go!” she said in a fear-soaked whisper. “Carrie’s in trouble!”
“What happened?” Shirley remained calm and went after the facts. “Is she hurt? Does she need an ambulance?”
“I don’t know. She didn’t say. Just that she wants to leave Eli.” Ruth hurried to the coat closet but shook with fear and was unable to grip the knob. “We have to go!” Her timbre and tenor had returned, but not her grasp. Shirley stepped up beside her and, with her hand atop Ruth’s, opened the door.
“The line went dead.” Ruth fought back tears, had no other words.
Lillian put a hand on Ruth’s shoulder. It comforted her, reminding her she wasn’t alone. “I’ll drive.” Lillian herded the group out the door and into the rain, now heavier than ever.
Shirley stopped at the door. “I’ll be right there. I have to make a quick telephone call.”
Riding in Lillian’s passenger seat, Ruth anticipated every stop and turn on the way to Carrie’s. A more direct route would have been the footpath that cut through the breezeways between the smaller houses. But they needed to take the car for speed, and in case Carrie needed to be driven away.
Ruth shuddered as all the reasons that Carrie might have called ran through her mind.
Hurry, hurry, she thought. What was the point of this fancy vehicle with its dials and buttons and knobs if it couldn’t help them get to Carrie in time? In time for what, Ruth didn’t know.
Couldn’t Lillian drive any faster?
Ruth leaned forward as if to add some momentum, as if she had the power to speed up their journey. Rain rushed past on the windshield and side windows, making visibility a challenge. She gritted her teeth to stop them from chattering.
The car stopped and Ruth fixed her gaze on Carrie’s front door. She had to help her friend, but fear of what she might find, or what danger she herself might face, made her hesitate momentarily. At Legal Aid, she’d seen the wicked things men could do to women. Yet this was different from working with strangers in New York.
Carrie was her friend.
It shouldn’t have made a difference, yet it overwhelmed her.
This wasn’t researching laws. This was being in the heat of the moment with a man who was cruel, unlike the kind father and brothers she had, the sweet husband she’d married.
Eli was the type of man who could kill a woman, and there were few laws to protect women from the Elis of the world.
Ruth stared ahead through the rain and shivered. What if they were too late to help Carrie? She squeezed her eyes closed. The women at Legal Aid were safely in front of Ruth when she saw them. But now she was at Carrie’s house. What if it was too late to save her friend’s life?
The passenger door swung open. Shirley was standing on the other side. “Come on. We can’t just sit here. Let’s go.” Her words snapped above the rain’s whoosh and patter.
As Shirley’s hand tugged Ruth’s arm, chilly rain landed on Ruth’s leg.
She broke out of her trance. She stepped out and under Shirley’s umbrella. Two car doors slammed. Ruth wasn’t alone. Right. Besides Shirley, she had Lillian, Irene, and Harriet there. If Eli was on a rampage, it would be five against one. Relief flooded her veins.
Together, they could do this.
Huddled next to Shirley, Ruth looped her arm into her mother-in-law’s, and she was grateful she’d made peace with her and had her strength beside her. She’d had support through life from her father and brothers. Now she had it from a . . . well, a mother-in-law.
Shirley patted her. “Follow me.” She detached herself from Ruth and marched ahead up the path. Ruth followed, shifting between a run and a walk, while the rain slowed to a drizzle. Behind her, she heard three sets of feet splashing their way up the path. She and Shirley reached the front steps, and Ruth took them two at a time. She looked back at Shirley. “Tell me what to do.”
Lillian, Irene, and Harriet joined them on the steps, forming a solid wall of women.
“We’re ready when you are.” Irene kept her voice low.
“But this wasn’t the plan,” Harriet said. Everyone turned to her. “I’m just worried that we don’t know what we’re doing.”
“Nothing matters right now except Carrie and her safety,” Shirley said, looking at Harriet, who nodded. She shifted her gaze to Lillian. “Not what anyone thought.” She looked back at Harriet. “Or what was planned. There was a troubling telephone call, and we’re here to make sure Carrie is okay.”
“She’s not okay. We’re wasting time,” Ruth said.
Shirley knocked on the door. “Let me do the talking.”
Ruth stepped down one step, now behind Shirley and next to Lillian, who, though she had dismissed Eli’s cruelty at one time, looked to be totally on board to assist now.
Shirley rang the doorbell. No answer.
“Carrie?” She yelled at the door as if it were an intercom.
Ruth held her breath as they listened. That’s how it felt—like all airflow had stopped. In her, and around her.
“Carrie?” Shirley yelled again into an imaginary microphone. “You said you were coming over for lunch. You didn’t show up, and we missed you. We’re just making sure you’re okay.”
No reply, not a sound from inside the house.
Ruth’s heart hammered so loud she was surprised Carrie’s neighbors weren’t staring out the window at the racket. Had the neighbors heard Shirley too?
Shirley tried the doorknob, turned to the girls, and shrugged.
“It’s unlocked,” she said. “I’m going in.”
Harriet grabbed her arm. “Should you?”
“Someone has to,” Shirley said. “You can wait out here.”
“I’m coming with you,” Ruth said.
“Me too,” echoed Lillian and Irene.
Shirley turned the knob and pushed open the door. They stepped inside and crowded into the foyer. The gray day rendered the small space dark, and then, as her eyes adjusted, Ruth’s sight line was clear. Carrie was lying on her back on a green sofa.
Next to her, kneeling on the floor, his back to the group, his head hanging down—was Eli.
The brute. Ruth’s fear evaporated, replaced by anger. She growled. Shirley reached out to hold Ruth back, but she pushed her away. There was a house full of witnesses—what could Eli do? They could all tell the police. Someone would have to listen.
Ruth ran around him, closer to Carrie’s head than her feet. Carrie moaned and Eli looked up, mouth open.
“Who are you?” Eli said. He turned and saw the others.
Another moan from Carrie, this time even weaker.
“Oh, honey.” Eli laid his cheek on Carrie’s hand. She drew the hand away, but he grabbed it anyway, patted it. “You fell,” he said. Carrie glanced at Ruth with bloodshot eyes. Ruth hoped they were only red from crying.
Eli looked up at Ruth. “You know she’s expecting.”
“Yes, we know about the baby.” Shirley walked over and stood next to Ruth. “We’re going to take her to the doctor.”