by Edwin Hill
And then she stopped and dove into the trees. She crawled forward. Right in front of her was Sam’s Nissan.
She listened.
All she heard coming from Lila’s house was the whining of a dog. Wind lifted freshly fallen snow and blew it across the landscape in a gentle whir. She heard her own heavy breathing and felt the cold begin to creep under her skin.
She edged onto the street behind the car and peered in the windows.
It was empty.
She tried one of the doors. It opened, and the interior light flashed like a beacon across the dark night. She crawled into the backseat and shut the door to get out of the wind. Then she searched for keys, first in the glove box, and then on the dash and, back outside the car, over each of the tires. Finally, she felt under the seats. She reached around in the dark, till her hand landed on something soft. She pulled it out.
It was Monkey. Kate’s Monkey.
Hester felt every bit of the panic she’d held down since yesterday well up in one terrified, silent scream.
Kate was here. Inside that house.
With Sam.
CHAPTER 28
It was still snowing, a light, gentle snow to mark the end of the storm. Gabe had already listened to the rhythmic crunch as Hester had retreated through the trees, and now he still listened, though he wasn’t sure for what. He knew she wouldn’t return, though he still hoped. He hoped that she might choose him. He hoped Sam might come too. That they’d get into the car and drive away, that they’d head off toward some new horizon, toward an unrealized dream. He’d had to choose between the two of them in the end.
He stood, walked down the steps to the lake, and waded out through the drifts to a spot on the ice where he’d watched Sam and Lila swimming all those years ago. In a way, it felt like yesterday. He wondered what had happened to Lila. She was so close, after all. Gabe wondered if he could have saved her even though she hadn’t been willing to save him.
He turned to the shore, to where the darkened trees loomed over the lake, to where the cabin glowed from the last embers of the fire. He hoped when the police finally showed up that Detective White would be with them. Angela White. Angie. Maybe she’d strut across the ice with her white teeth and handcuffs, and she’d play good and bad as she read him his Miranda rights. Surely she’d have found the finger in the batik box by now, or at least the beer bottle with his fingerprints on it. Angie must be angry about shooting the disabled vet, maybe even in trouble. But finding a serial killer would make up for some of that.
He’d done what he’d come here to do. He’d left a trail of clues that led directly to him for the police to find. He’d tried his best to give Sam one last chance, a chance that was Sam’s to take, whatever he chose to do with it. And he’d shown Hester mercy.
He lay in the snow to make an angel, his red parka a blackened dot in a sea of white. Up in the sky, clouds parted, and the moon began to shine through. He imagined a perfect night, with a moon like this one, and water eddying around his ankles and children on a rope swing, and someone to love. He imagined feeling lucky.
He remembered listening to the sounds of the lake, to the gentle breeze through the leaves, to insects pinging against screens, to a coyote crying in the distance. Yet here on the frozen lake, he was struck by the lack of noise—no cars or phones or people or talking—by the silence of the snow, by the peace of the falling flakes. All he heard was his own breathing. Heavy, labored breathing. And snow. Millions of snowflakes, each hitting the ground with a minuscule patter, landing in his hair, dotting his nose. Cleansing. It felt so good to choose, to take this moment to himself.
Then he stood and headed toward shore. There was one last thing to do. He’d made his final choice.
*
All five of Lila’s dogs ran in an anxious, yellow circle. They surrounded Hester. The biggest one whined. “Shh,” she whispered, glad for the warmth of their breath.
She crossed to the rusty green Chevy parked by the barn and opened the door. “In,” she whispered. One by one, the dogs leaped into the cab till the air hung with the scent of wet fur. She searched under the seat and in the glove compartment for keys, without luck. “Stay,” she whispered, and then left the dogs panting in unison, and edged toward the house. The door swung open to the warm kitchen. A fire burned in the woodstove and a nearly dry kettle whistled on a burner. Hester closed the door behind her with a gentle click. She turned off the gas beneath the kettle. In the silence, she could feel the taxidermied eyes of the deer heads staring at her. She whispered Kate’s name into the quiet.
On the counter sat a bowl of cold tomato soup and a half-eaten grilled cheese sandwich, which Hester ate without a thought. She turned the faucet on and stuck her mouth into the stream of cool water. She took a knife from a butcher block and searched for a phone, only to find where the landline had been ripped from the wall.
She listened. To the silence. To the moans of the old house.
She held the knife in front of her and crept down a narrow hallway lined with photos and bookshelves. She jumped when her oversize sneaker caught the leg of a wooden chair and sent it skidding across the floor. She half expected a cat to leap from a closet. Ahead of her, light emanated from around a doorway, and from behind it, she could hear the rhythmic thumping of wood against wood.
She turned the knob. The door squeaked open.
Lila sat in the middle of the room struggling to break the duct tape holding her to a chair. When she saw Hester, her eyes widened and she shook her head frantically. “Where is he?” Hester whispered as she cut one of Lila’s hands free. “Is Kate with him?”
Lila ripped the tape from her own mouth and gasped for breath. Her gaze jumped to the doorway at Hester’s back. Hester spun around.
Sam held Kate against his hip. “I thought you were Gabe. He always had a thing for my sister.”
Hester held the knife in front of her. She backed up to the fireplace and took a log from the woodpile. “Put her down,” she said. “And don’t come near me.”
“Are you serious?” Sam said. “I couldn’t come a step closer. You smell like piss. I’m surprised my sister hasn’t passed out from the stench. What happened to you anyway? You look like a pre-teen refugee from a Disney cruise.”
“Are you okay, sweetie?” Hester asked Kate.
“Is she okay?” Sam said. “What’s Daddy making for dinner later?
“Pizza!” Kate said.
He stepped from the doorway. Hester jabbed the knife toward him. “The cops are on the way,” she said.
Sam hesitated and then shook his head. “There’s no phone, sweetie,” he said. “You must have noticed I pulled it out of the wall.” He held up a cell phone, and then dropped it to the floor and crushed it with his boot. “That was my sister’s. Anyway, the police are busy with a little double murder across town. It’ll keep them occupied all night.”
Sam took another step into the room and let his arm swing by his side. The hatchet in his hand made the chef’s knife look about as useful as a pair of tweezers.
“Gabe will be here soon himself,” Hester said. “He let me go.”
“I knew he liked you, but didn’t know he liked you that much. He’s never let one go before.”
“I guess I’m lucky,” Hester said, glancing around the small room. There was a door at the other end.
Sam followed her gaze. “Don’t even think about it,” he said. “Women Gabe likes tend to wind up dead.” He swung the hatchet over his head and swept a vase off a shelf. Lila screamed, and Kate started to cry as the pottery crashed to the floor.
Hester held out her hands. “Give her to me,” she said. “Now!”
Kate wriggled in Sam’s arm till he had no choice but to put the girl down. She ran across the floor and clung to Hester’s leg. It took every ounce of Hester’s resolve to stay focused on Sam.
“We’re leaving now,” she said. “You, do whatever you want. But we’re leaving.”
Hester took a step backw
ard. Sam mirrored her. “Here’s the problem,” he said. “Even if the local police aren’t on their way, there’s a manhunt going on now. It’s all over the news, and even the feds are involved, because Gabe crossed state lines and went through tolls with his Goddamned E-ZPass. They’re looking for you and him. Probably me too.”
“Listen, Sam,” Lila said, struggling to pull the tape from around her bound hand, “I haven’t ever talked to the cops, even when I found out you’d moved to San Francisco. Not once during all these years did I speak to anyone except her, even when they found that body in the woods, and I knew it had something to do with you.”
Lila worked her hand free from the tape. She leaned forward to free her feet, and Sam took a step toward her. “Don’t move,” he said.
Lila sat up. Slowly. More slowly than Hester could have.
“Leave,” Lila said. “I’ve kept your secrets all these years. I’ve always protected you. I bet she will too. All she wants is to get the kid out of here.”
“The kid,” Sam said with a raise of one eyebrow. “She’s a cutie. Maybe I want her to come with me.”
“Fuck you,” Hester said.
“Language,” Sam said. “Think about it, a single father with a kid like that …” He clucked his tongue. “I’ll be the most popular man in town, no matter where I wind up.”
“Come one step closer to us,” Hester said, “and I’ll kill you.”
“How?” Sam asked.
He took another step into the room. Lila flinched. He swung the hatchet so that the blade sank into the doorframe, and then he turned without a word and walked away.
Hester stared after him. She put a hand to the wall. A shiver began at the base of her spine and ran up through her chest, and then she crouched down and hugged Kate and wanted to check every single inch of her to make sure he hadn’t hurt her in any way. “Where’s your rifle?” she asked Lila. “Where’s Clovis?”
“Cut the tape,” Lila said.
“Where is the fucking gun?” Hester said.
“In the kitchen,” Lila whispered. “I’ll get it. Go out the back. The keys to the truck are hanging on the wall by the barn door.” She flinched. “Watch out!”
Hester spun to see Sam charging them. He wrenched the hatchet from the wall as Hester held Kate to her chest, rolled onto her back, and shoved Lila to the floor. Sam swung the hatchet, sinking the blade into Lila’s arm. She cried out as blood spurted across the floor. Sam stepped over her. Hester rolled to the side and shoved Kate away. She raised the log as the blade nearly split it in half. She twisted at the log, and Sam fell on top of her. They rolled into a shelf and books cascaded around them. Sam’s face was so close to hers she could smell his breath. Shouting, Sam called Hester a cunt and a bitch and a whore, and told her that she’d never, ever see the light of day again. They slid through Lila’s blood. Hester grabbed the hatchet handle. Sam was strong. And angry. And she was losing her grip.
But she kneed him in the groin.
And she rammed her fist into his throat.
Fight!
She yanked the log and the hatchet away. She scrambled across the floor and drove the hatchet into the wall so that the log split off it. Lila crawled from the room, leaving a trail of blood behind her. Sam was doubled over in pain, and there was nothing in the world that Hester wanted more than for him to charge so that she could cleave his skull right in half. “Come on!” she shouted. “I dare you.”
He charged.
She raised the hatchet over her head with both hands. He slammed his shoulder into her chest and the wind swept from her lungs. She crashed into the wall. The hatchet spun across the floor. She yanked the door open. She lifted Kate onto her hip. Sam clutched at her leg, and one of the sneakers slipped from her foot. She kicked again and dashed down a dark hallway toward the scent of hay and manure. She reached the barn door and wrenched it open.
Sam tackled her.
She shoved Kate forward. “Run!” she shouted, but Kate wouldn’t move.
Hester clawed at what she could. Sam screamed as she dug her finger into his eye socket.
Her head snapped. His fist crushed the bones in her jaw. She spat out a tooth. He rammed a shoulder into her gut, and they sprawled across the hay-strewn barn floor. He had her by the hair. She twisted around and kicked, but his knee was in her chest. He reared up, the hatchet in both hands.
“Sam.”
Sam froze. Hester felt the weight lift from her chest.
Gabe stood in the doorway, the rifle to his shoulder, pointed at Hester. Kate cowered against the barn wall, her hands covering her face. “Go outside,” Hester pleaded with her. “Go find the dogs.”
Kate shook her head and sobbed.
“You made it,” Sam said.
Even from across the room, Hester could see the tears streaming down Gabe’s face. “Please,” she said to him.
“Shut your mouth,” Sam said, glaring at her. His eye was bloody from where Hester had gouged it. He turned his attention back to Gabe. “We’ll leave. Together. Like we always do.”
“Where?” Hester said. “Where will you go this time? How will it be any different? Listen to me, Gabe. This will never end. Not today. Not ever.”
Sam ignored her. “Your choice, Gabe,” he said. “Anywhere you want to go.”
Gabe swung the rifle toward Sam. “What about her?” he said. “What about them?”
“You’re at the stern,” Sam said. “You can finish this. You’re in control.”
“He’s right,” Hester said. “Listen to him. Get in your car and drive away. You still have time. You’re more than this.”
Gabe moved the barrel again. Aiming it at Hester. She fought the urge to close her eyes, to give in, and matched his stare. This couldn’t be the last image Kate had of her. “Remember what I told you,” she said, “at the dog park. In the cabin. I meant it then. And I mean it now. Don’t prove me wrong.”
Gabe pulled the trigger. The barrel of the rifle recoiled, and the blast reverberated through the barn. Hester wondered if it would be the last sound she’d ever hear.
And then Sam’s eyes grew wide as he reached toward Gabe in surprise. Sam’s face turned white, and an ink stain of blood spread across his shirt. Then, with a groan, he slumped forward on top of Hester. Blood spurted across her pajamas, and she gasped for breath as she fought her way out from beneath him.
Gabe stood in the doorway. The rifle’s muzzle smoked. Hester scrambled across the floor to put herself between Gabe and Kate, but he dropped the rifle and slid to the floor, staring at Sam the whole time.
And then she crawled to Kate and held her like she’d never, ever let her go again.
CHAPTER 29
It took more than a half hour for the ambulance and police to arrive. Hester didn’t move except to shiver uncontrollably and cling to Kate. She knew she was in shock. She knew she should go inside and sit by the fire, that she should check on Lila, but she couldn’t look away from where Sam lay in the hay, his blank eyes staring right at her, even as the yard outside filled with flashing lights, even after a standoff where Gabe emerged from the barn and lay on the ground with his face in the snow so that a deputy could handcuff him. A kind-looking EMT wheeled in a gurney. “Come on, sweetie,” he said. “We’ll get you to the hospital.”
“Shouldn’t you take care of Lila?” Hester asked, her words slurred. It hurt to speak. She touched her jaw and could feel the swelling.
“There’s someone with her,” the EMT said, as he checked her pulse and tried to slip an oxygen mask over her face.
“No, no,” she said, batting his hand away. Another EMT tried to take Kate from her, and Hester shook her head again. “No!” she said.
“It’s okay. We’re checking her out. She’ll be right next to you.”
“I need a phone,” Hester said.
The EMT dug one from his pocket and gave it to her. Hester shivered so much as they lifted her onto the soft gurney that she could barely punch in Morgan’s numbe
r. When he answered, she hated herself a little bit because she started to sob and she couldn’t manage to form a word. She handed the phone to the EMT so that he could tell Morgan everything was okay.
“Exposure,” the EMT said. “Dehydration. Cuts and bruises. A broken jaw. We’ll check them out at the hospital.”
“No,” Hester said. “I want to go home.”
“Maybe tomorrow,” the EMT said. “Let us take care of you now.”
He gave the phone to Hester as she heard Morgan saying her name. “It’s me,” she said.
“I’ll be there in two hours,” Morgan said. “Even less, because my foot will be all the way to the floor.” And then he talked softly, gently, and kept talking while Hester heard him hurrying around the apartment with the phone tucked under his chin. She heard him whistle to Waffles, and then thump down the stairs to the truck. “I’ll stay on the phone the whole way,” he said. “It’ll be like I’m there with you.”
The EMTs lifted Hester into the ambulance and then lay Kate down beside her. The girl nestled into the crook of Hester’s arm. They lifted Lila in on a second gurney, and then they drove out of the driveway with the sirens blaring. “They’re driving like it’s an emergency,” Hester mumbled into the phone. Her eyes began to feel heavy.
“You’ll be fine,” Morgan said.
“Why Aunt Hester cry?” Kate asked.
Hester touched the girl’s face and smiled. “Because I’m happy,” she said. “And because I missed you.”
She listened to Morgan’s voice as he told her about the press that had hounded him for the past twenty-four hours, about the visits from the police and the long interrogations. “Prachi and Jane were here the whole time,” he said. “Prachi read them the riot act, but I guess the non-husband is the first person they suspect. A Detective White came around too. She’s the one who sent the police to the house there.”