Thwack. Wolfman delivered an openhanded slap to the side of Mary’s head, which caused it to snap to one side.
“Oh!” Her hand flew to the spot. She slumped over, trembling violently, her eyes huge pools of fear.
“Where’s the fucking money?”
“That’s all, I swear that’s all.” Mary’s voice was so thick with tears that the words were hard to understand. She sobbed louder as the robber thrust his face toward her menacingly, and dropped her gaze to the counter as if she were afraid to look at him. “Oh, Jesus, have mercy on me. Oh, Jesus, please have mercy.”
Out of the corner of her eye, Sarah caught a flutter of white. The table skirt had moved, she realized. The little girl must have changed positions to get a better view.
Sarah’s heart skipped a beat. Her breathing suspended. The robbers had to have seen—but after a few tense seconds in which she quivered with horrified anticipation, she realized that they hadn’t.
Stay under there, she urged the girl silently, even as she kept her gaze glued to the sobbing Mary. For God’s sake, please, please stay quiet and don’t come out.
Wolfman rounded on Skeleton Boy. “Didn’t you tell me this time of night they usually have a couple thousand in here?”
“Yeah, Duke, they do. They always do.”
Wolfman went very still. His gaze stayed fixed on Skeleton Boy. The air between them suddenly crackled with tension. Fresh terror stabbed through Sarah as she realized what she had just heard: Wolfman’s name was Duke. She—and Mary, and the child—now knew his name.
Worse had just taken a toboggan ride straight downhill.
“Did you just say my name? Are you fucking stupid?” Duke’s voice seethed with repressed rage before his gaze snapped back to the cashier. “I’m gonna ask you one more time: Where’s the money?”
Mary, looking even more terrified than Sarah felt, sucked in air.
“They—they came to get it early tonight. Just after—after ten. This is all I’ve taken in since. I wouldn’t lie to you. As Jesus is my witness, I wouldn’t lie to you.” Blood and tears commingled on her cheeks. Beneath the gore, her skin had gone gray.
“Goddamn it.” Duke turned to glare at Skeleton Boy. Sarah caught another flutter of white out of the corner of her eye. She could almost feel the weight of the child’s watching eyes. Her throat tightened. Her stomach turned inside out. Don’t move. Don’t make a sound. . . .
“You can’t blame this on me,” Skeleton Boy protested.
“Shit I can’t.” Duke’s gaze shifted to Sarah. “Get her purse.” Then he addressed her directly as Skeleton Boy yanked the purse from her shoulder. “Anything in there?”
“About forty dollars. And credit cards.” Sarah was surprised at how steady her voice sounded. Inwardly, she was pretty much a quivering blob of jelly. Her legs felt as limp as overcooked spaghetti, and her heart was beating like the wings of a trapped wild bird. She no longer harbored any doubt at all: Sometime in the next several minutes, she and Mary were going to die. And if she didn’t stay quiet and hidden, the kid was going to die as well.
Superstition Page 47