by E V Lind
It took a while, but bit by bit, with increasing pressure from surprisingly strong fingers, her touch began to soothe the worst of the tightness. She was so intent on what she was doing that she didn’t notice straight away that her touch was beginning to soothe other parts of him, as well. In fact, soothe was probably not the right word. Ryan shifted in the chair, his movement drawing Beth’s attention to his current state.
“Oh,” she said softly.
A flood of color lit her cheeks.
“Yeah, oh,” Ryan replied, perversely enjoying her discomfort.
“I guess I’d better stop.” Her voice was breathy.
“Well, don’t stop on my account.”
She straightened and her flush deepened. “How’s the pain?”
“It’s probably the farthest thing from my mind right now.”
“Right. Good. Okay. I’ll...I’ll, um, go wash my hands. You can cover yourself up. Now, please.”
He couldn’t help it. He laughed. Honest to goodness laughed his guts out. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt like this. Light. Flirtatious. Fun. Beth looked at him in surprise for a few seconds but then she chuckled, too. The sound rapidly growing until they were both laughing like fools. It took a couple of minutes but eventually they calmed down.
Shit, it felt good to just escape into mirth. He tried to think back to the last time he’d laughed like that and remembered that it had been with her. Suddenly he realized just how much he liked having her here. Just how much he didn’t want her to leave. Ever.
THIRTY-SEVEN
Dan paced the motel room floor. Backwards, forwards, backwards, forwards. The confinement was driving him crazy but he couldn’t afford to hit the road in daylight. It was bad enough that he’d had to ditch that bitch’s car, after catching the tail end of a BOLO reported on the news on the radio, and been forced to keep up his hunt on foot.
He was getting twitchy. It had been too long since he’d had the kind of satisfaction he needed and the prostitute he’d ordered to the room late last night had been disappointing to say the least. She’d screamed when he started slapping her around. It had gotten him hard but then she’d changed. It had been a mistake to let her reach into her purse and grab the small switchblade she’d kept in there.
She’d been quicker than he’d expected, but in the end, she’d been no match for him. His palm still stung where she’d gotten him with the tip of the blade. Fucking thing had bled like crazy and every time he flexed his hand it opened up again. Still, by the time they extracted his DNA from amongst the bodily fluids of the previous occupants of the room that were, no doubt, scattered everywhere, he’d be long gone.
And the prostitute? Ha! She’d gotten no better than she’d deserved, he thought with a self-righteous smirk. Although the cleaners might get a surprise when they showed up to do the room tomorrow. The slut’s body lay in the tub wrapped in the shower curtain. He’d gotten careless though. He’d gone too deep on a belly wound and nicked her intestine. She’d died too quickly after that and she damn well stunk now.
About the only good thing the bitch had going for her was the fact she’d brought her car to the motel. The keys jangled in his pocket as he paced, waiting, waiting. Always waiting. He let out a growl of frustration then forced himself to calm the fuck down. He’d always been admired for his cool under duress. Now wasn’t the time to start unraveling. Not now that he was getting closer to his ultimate target.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out the switchblade. Imagined holding it against Beth’s throat and pricking her, just a little. Hearing her gasp, feeling her tremble. Yeah, he’d take his time with the blade, take his time with her one more time. Then he’d say thanks for the memories and choke the life out of her for good and purge her memory in flames.
But first he had to find her. Initially, his informant at the station had been reluctant to get involved but a little reminder about the kiddie porn Dan had given him out of the evidence locker before his suspension, had been enough to get what he wanted. While he knew where she’d called her friend from—some shitty pay phone outside a crappy store in a Podunk town called Riverbend, he had no idea if she’d just been passing through on the way somewhere else or not. If she’d headed toward the coast and gone either North or South he’d have his work cut out for him. But for now, he had a target destination. Riverbend—where the combined intelligence quotient of the dairy stock no doubt outweighed that of the locals. Still, how brainless did you have to be to recognize someone like Beth, especially since he’d left his mark on her?
He smiled again. Things were settling down outside, he’d be on his way soon. His revenge, when it came, would be perfect.
*
It had been a week and there had been no official confirmation yet about the identity of the skeleton. In her heart Beth knew, though. As surely as she knew that the baby had been Lizzie’s. She hadn’t had any more strange dreams since she’d been here in the big house, for which she was extremely grateful, but the cold, intense anger that hovered around the MacDonald house seemed to have crept up the hill and she felt as if it hung around. Watching. Waiting.
The sensation had intensified with the news from the medical examiner’s office. The little boy had been born alive, rather than stillborn, and possibly asphyxiated in the box. The idea that the child had been deliberately wrapped up and left to die, horrified Beth. What kind of person did such a thing?
Aware of her distress, Ryan made sure he was with her almost every moment and on those rare occasions when he wasn’t, he arranged for one of the farm hands to be nearby. Even at the café.
The town was still full of conjecture and gossip about the discoveries at the MacDonald place and hardly a day went by without someone propounding one theory or another over their morning coffee. Speaking of morning coffee, she needed to get a move on. Breakfast with Ryan this morning had been a stilted affair. After that evening when she had massaged his leg and they’d actually laughed together, he’d suddenly withdrawn on every emotional level. Sure, he was still friendly, polite and all that, but he had created a distance between them again.
He was waiting in the truck when she came back downstairs. With a final pat for Snowball she pulled the kitchen door closed behind her and tested it to make sure it was locked. A few minutes later they were heading for Riverbend, Ryan’s headlights probing the morning gloom. She could feel tension pouring off Ryan in waves.
“I’ve been thinking,” Ryan started.
“This early in the day?”
He ignored her barbed comment and continued, “About your situation.”
Beth’s breath caught in her throat. “My situation,” she repeated slowly. “And?”
“When I did that online search last week, I read about your house. What he did to it. Well, what they said about it in the newspaper anyway.”
Ah, now his attitude this morning made sense. She felt a little flare of annoyance of her own.
“And you’re mad at me, aren’t you? You think I should have told the cops what he did. Done something, spoken to someone about how he belittled me and hurt me. How he tried to kill my baby. How I should have let them lock him up and throw away the key.”
Ryan swore and swerved hard to the side of the road. He turned in his seat and looked straight at her.
“Yes, I’m mad. Mad at the fact that any man thought he had the right to treat you the way he did. Henderson’s an animal, no, he’s worse than an animal. He needs to be stopped. Even when you got here in Riverbend you were probably still under his spell. What I need to know is, if he turns up do you think you’re going to freeze and play into whatever outcome he’s got planned for you? Or are you prepared to fight?”
Beth stared at Ryan. It was a fair question. One she’d asked herself. After all, hadn’t she faltered at the first hurdle when she’d finally garnered the courage to apply for a restraining order? One word from him and she’d instantly reverted to being his victim, under his control. Would she
react the same way again if they came face-to-face? She shuddered and drew in a deep breath.
“I don’t want your mom, or Lester, or Norris, or Val, or you to get hurt, Ryan,” she said in a small voice.
“What about you? What about your baby? Don’t you deserve to be free of fear? Free of wondering just when you’re going to walk around a corner one day and find him waiting for you?”
“Of course I want to be free of him!” she answered sharply. “It’s why I left. It’s why I ended up here.”
Ryan nodded. “It’s why you ran. It’s why you were prepared to keep running. But this is where it has to stop, Beth. You, your baby, you both deserve a future. As long as he’s around, he’s denying you that. His terrorism of you, and God alone knows who else, has to end and it will take more than just you to do it.”
He turned back to the steering wheel and set the truck in motion again. “The news this morning said he’s been implicated in your friend’s murder and there’s a warrant out for his arrest. He better hope his buddies in the police find him first.”
Beth felt everything in her body clench on a surge of fear and she was reminded of the handgun she knew Ryan kept near at all times now. She reached a hand out and laid it on Ryan’s forearm. Instantly the heat of his body permeated the fabric of his shirt and filtered through to her cold fingers.
“Ryan, promise me you won’t approach him on your own. You’ll let the police handle it if he turns up.”
“I promise you I’ll do what needs to be done to take him out of your life.”
And if Ryan killed him? He’d be put away for life. She couldn’t let him fight this battle for her. It wasn’t his to fight. Hadn’t he already done enough on active service overseas? A man had a right to come home and to live his life without being forced into protecting someone else’s. Already Ryan and his mom had given her so much. She couldn’t keep taking from them, not when the only thing she had to give them was the certainty that one day Dan Henderson would turn up and threaten not only Beth but everyone who had helped her, too.
The baby flip-flopped and she rested her hands over her belly. She’d always known Dan would hunt her down and even after what had happened to Colleen, she’d grown lax this past week believing she was safe here. She’d allowed the people around her to buffer her and care for her when she should have done whatever she could to keep them all safe from harm.
Beth stared out the windshield, suddenly aware of all the shadows and hiding places where Dan could lurk. She’d traveled this road nearly every day for a month now and familiarity had allowed her guard to slip. Had allowed her to feel as if she was wrapped in a cocoon of care and safety. She, better than anyone, should have known there was a thin veil, at best, between danger and being free from harm.
As they pulled up outside the cozily lit café and Ryan killed the engine, Beth had reached her decision. She had to leave these people. It was the only way she could protect them. That meant making a plan, because she knew Ryan would never simply stand back and allow her to quietly disappear. No, he’d made it his mission to take care of her and he wasn’t the kind of man who was easily deterred.
Escaping his watchful eye was going to take some work. She looked across the bench seat and at his strong profile. So much determination there. So much vigilance. He was a man on the alert for anything at any time. The thought of leaving his protection caused a spike of pain in her chest. She rubbed at it, as if she could make it go away with a touch but deep down she knew better. She cared for these people here, Ryan most of all.
Inside the café, it was already busy in the kitchen. The familiar scents of fresh baked bread and hot coffee permeated the air creating an illusion of comfort and home—but she knew it was only that, an illusion. When Dan Henderson arrived, all of this would be shattered. Beth grabbed an apron and set to work, ready for the first customers who were already beginning to trickle through the doors. It was good to be busy. It allowed her to work on automatic, taking orders, delivering them. Offering a smile and a comment from time to time. It distracted her from the constant presence of Ryan, tucked in a corner near the kitchen.
Mary-Ann pulled her to one side when she was between customers.
“Is everything okay with you and Ryan?” she asked. “I didn’t want to interfere but in the last few days things are different between you, and I don’t mean good different.”
Beth looked at the earnest expression on Mary-Ann’s face and felt herself tear up. The thought of Dan doing anything to harm this incredibly generous and caring woman made her feel sick to her stomach. Every day she stayed here, she risked all their lives. She had to do something and it had to be soon.
“We’re both just a bit on edge, y’know. Waiting to hear back from the coroner’s office and all that.”
Mary-Ann gave her a searching look and Beth could tell the older woman had seen right through her words. She pulled Beth in for a hug and whispered in her ear.
“It’ll be all right. Everything’s gonna be fine. Just you wait and see.”
But Beth saw the uncertainty that lingered in Mary-Ann’s eyes, in contradiction to her encouraging words—and she hated that she was responsible for putting it there. When it was time for her break, Beth walked over to Ryan’s table.
“How many times can you read that newspaper?” she asked as she drew near.
“About as many times as I can refill my coffee and not start jittering,” he said wryly.
His comment tugged a reluctant smile from Beth’s lips.
“I need some fresh air. I thought I’d head out for a short walk along the river.”
“Give me a second and I’ll come with you.”
“Ryan, there are people everywhere. Surely that’s not necessary.”
“Humor me,” he said with a look that told her he wasn’t letting her go alone.
“I’ll wait for you by the front door,” she said, stripping off her apron and hanging it on a hook just inside the kitchen and grabbing her coat.
“We’ll use the back,” he said firmly. “And wait inside, not outside. I just need to take a leak.”
Beth rolled her eyes. “Whatever.”
When Ryan returned, he preceded her out the door, taking a moment to scan in all directions before motioning her outside with him.
“Isn’t this a little over the top?” Beth asked with an exasperated huff. “My break’s nearly over and we haven’t even walked out the building yet.”
“Do you usually do this? Go for a walk during your break?”
“When the weather’s good, yes. Obviously with the rain the last week I haven’t been able to,” she said. “I don’t go far and there are always people around.”
“And what if one of those people is him? He’s probably changed his appearance by now. Remember, he’s on the run. We know he’s committed one murder already. He’s going to be a lot more desperate and a lot more determined than he was when you were with him.”
Beth swallowed against the lump that formed in her throat. If Ryan wanted to alarm her he was going the right way about it.
“Okay, okay. I know. I...I guess I just don’t want to think about him being here. About him,” she gestured with her arm to encompass Riverbend. “Ruining any of this.”
“I’ll make sure he won’t.”
But what if he got to Ryan first? The horrible irony of him losing his life to violence on home soil after everything he’d gone through on deployment was too awful to contemplate.
Beth pulled the collar of her coat up around her throat as a cold wind tangled and tugged in her hair. It reminded her of Dan’s predilection for controlling her that way—of his fingers gripping tight and yanking her scalp so hard that it would make her cry out, even when she’d been specifically instructed to be quiet. Suddenly the peaceful break of taking a walk along the river didn’t feel so peaceful after all. She felt as if eyes were on her from every direction and felt compelled to look over her shoulder more than once.
“We s
hould head back,” Ryan said coming to an abrupt halt next to her.
She nodded her assent and together they made their way back. As they covered the short distance, Beth wondered what had made him suddenly decide to stop there and then. Had he sensed her sudden nerves, or had he felt something more. Was Dan already here? Was it already too late?
*
He’d probably get food poisoning but Dan ordered from the fat waitress and hunched down in his seat, pulling his cap a little lower on his forehead. Bitch had to be at least sixty and her fat ankles spilled over the sides of her shoes. Bright red lipstick bled through the lines around her lips. Did the woman have no self-respect at all, he wondered. Dressed like someone decades younger and in clothing that was too tight for her voluptuous form, she disgusted him.
She’d been over-friendly, too—looking at him just that little too long and asking far too many questions in response to his, “just passing through”. For the first time in his life he was glad that his beard grew in quickly and, disguised with a wig over his newly shaven head and dressed in thrift store clothes that were a far cry from his usual designer suits and highly polished leather shoes, no one would recognize him—least of all Beth.
Although, he fought a private smile, he would love to see her face if she did. If she came right by him and turned and met his eyes. Of course, that would mean taking off the tinted lens glasses he’d pinched from the old guy at the library back in Ralston. Damn things skewed his vision but they were necessary here. At least they didn’t make him completely blind. But, ah, the anticipation. The thrill of waiting for that moment when the whore realized her time was up. He’d let her have her freedom long enough. Now it was time to pay for her transgressions. The thought made him almost giddy with excitement, but he wasn’t ready to reveal himself just yet.
Beneath the cheap wig, his bare scalp itched like crazy and he fought the urge to scratch at it. He was nothing if not the master of control. Once he was certain he’d found her, he’d watch the whore a little longer. String it out. Make her sweat—then make her suffer.