Shutting her eyes, she said a silent prayer. She prayed that this day would be a painless one. She prayed that Louis was gone. She prayed she and Karen would be able to go outside. She also prayed for freedom, even though that seemed a moot point anymore. After all, she had nothing. Nobody. The only two people who had ever mattered to her were dead. Gone. For good. Her husband and daughter had drowned. They had died an unthinkable death because she hadn’t been able to save them.
Her heart began to ache again. God she missed Luke and Hallie. At night sometimes, she saw their faces. Luke, with his deep-set blue eyes and Hallie, with her perfect baby-round features. They were always smiling. They were together, after all. That was her only comfort—knowing Luke and Hallie were together in a good place. They were safe now.
Clasping her hand over her heart, her fingers came in contact with the small gold locket that she had worn around her neck for years. Luke had given it to her the day Hallie was born. She still remembered that day as though it were yesterday. She remembered going into labor at home. Her contractions had started and she had been alone, painting the nursery. The baby wasn’t due for another three weeks so she’d been scared beyond belief. She’d called Luke at work and he’d rushed home and taken her to the hospital. He’d held her hand through the entire thing, not caring how hard she squeezed back, or how cranky she’d been with him during the painful moments. In the end, they’d been forced to do a C-section. Once little Hallie had been laid in her father’s arms, he’d been wrapped around her little finger. He’d been so proud.
Tears escaped her eyes again as she remembered Luke leaning close to her, his normally strong blue eyes overloaded with emotion. He’d told her he loved her, his voice barely a whisper. Then he’d set Hallie in her arms. He’d stayed by her side every day she was in the hospital. He’d been her rock. Luke had always taken care of her.
Wiping her eyes, she let out a deep breath. Luke had hated it when she cried. She knew he was probably disappointed in her now. Crying never solved anything. She couldn’t help it though. She felt hopeless and desperate. She felt overwhelming despair. Going on without her husband was a day-today struggle. The thought of her baby girl not making it to her first birthday was almost harder to take than losing everything else. Her heart felt as though someone had it clenched between their palms and was squeezing as hard as they could.
She had no reason to live, she thought for the millionth time. Her life was over. It had been for years. So why was she still here?
The stench was bad again. Over and over, Karen McPherson scrubbed, and still the smell of blood, of death, was evident. It nearly gagged her. She leaned over on the floor and scrubbed some more. The hardwood sparkled beneath her hands. The stains were gone. So why did the smell continue to linger? Death did that, she supposed. Especially violent death. And this hadn’t been the first bloodshed in this apartment. Sadly, it likely wouldn’t be the last.
This particular blood had come from an innocent bystander. Louis didn’t usually take into account that someone had a family or a reason to live. He took into account that someone had seen him breaking and entering at the Korean grocery store downtown. He took into account that this person had picked up his cellular phone, most likely to call the police. Even though the innocent man had sworn he was only calling his wife, Louis hadn’t cared. Without a single thought, he’d stabbed the man. Repeatedly. And Karen was left to clean up the mess. The body had been discarded, God knew where. Louis took care of details like that. He didn’t tell her about them, and she didn’t want to know.
Louis Ferndale was nearly forty-years old. He looked closer to fifty. His hair was receding at a faster pace every day. His steely blue eyes were always red rimmed from the pot he continuously smoked. He claimed it was for his pain. What pains, she didn’t know. She didn’t ask. The truth was, she didn’t care. Asking questions, as far as Louis was concerned, was not a good idea. He kept to himself and truthfully, she liked it that way. It seemed to her that anyone who knew too much about Louis Ferndale ended up in a body bag.
Karen had met Louis fifteen years earlier. She’d only been a kid at the time. A street kid. He’d caught her trying to steal a pack of cigarettes from a 7-Eleven. He had grinned his crooked smile and handed her five bucks before the grocery clerk noticed what she’d been doing. From that moment on, she’d followed him. She had believed he would make her life better—maybe give her the chance she’d never had at cleaning up her act.
Her parents, a mother who was a crack addict and a father who frequented the Broadway for personal company, hadn’t been much more than roommates to her. She’d been unplanned, as they had reminded her on more than one occasion. They had left her minimal amounts of money for food, and that was it. She had never been enrolled in school. But she was educated. At least to the best of her own abilities to teach herself. She had learned to read, to count. She’d gotten the basics under her belt. But that was it, just the basics. She had hoped Louis would change all that. He hadn’t. In reality, all he’d done was make things worse.
They were out of cigarettes, she discovered irritably, as she dug through the kitchen drawer. Damn him. He had been gone for two days now and left no money. There was no food in the house either. Maybe a few old crackers and a rotten pint of milk. Louis had taken his stash with him, as he always did. She didn’t know where he went when he disappeared, only that he was usually gone a week or so and then returned with money.
She sighed and her stomach growled. Damn it. She would be forced to find a way to feed herself now. Unfortunately, job opportunities for her were limited. She was a whore. Louis had taught her that too. It was a hell of a stress on one’s self-esteem. She could take it and the degradation that went along with turning tricks. If she was lucky, she wouldn’t get the crap beaten out of her. Some johns were just that way. They liked it rough.
As long as Louis was gone, she was in charge. If she screwed up, there would be hell to pay. She was to do what it took to survive until he came back and she’d better have money for him when he did. Louis also expected her to take care of his other problem. His main problem, according to him. Kate.
It had been three long years since the mysterious woman whom Louis claimed was going to make him a millionaire, had turned their lives upside down. Locked into a deep depression, Kate barely spoke. When she did speak, it was in a very quiet voice that one had to bend an ear to hear. All she did was sit in her room in the apartment and hold onto that locket of hers. The pictures inside, though Karen had never seen them herself, were of her husband and daughter. Kate had told her that once, when she’d actually gotten the grief-stricken woman to open up a little.
It was sad, Karen thought, as she scrubbed harder. Kate had once had a very good life. Louis had told her all about it. And then snap, it was gone. Karen hadn’t wanted that—at least not really. Sure, she wanted money, same as Louis did. She was tired of living in this shithole and letting men beat her silly, while they abused her body in any way they wanted to. She was tired of wondering where her next meal was going to come from—and she was tired of feeling hopeless as far as her future was concerned. So even though Kate swore she had no idea about any money, they kept her here, locked up in her own private hell. Louis was insistent that the money existed and Karen was desperate to believe that it did.
As the story went, old man Fitz had been involved in some shady business deals that had paid off big time. Louis had a source who had given him this information. God only knew who his source was. Louis had some rather scary friends. In any case, all fingers had ended up pointing at Kate. She was the link to the money. Louis was willing to do anything to get that money—even kidnap someone and hold someone against their will for the rest of their life.
When Karen’s conscience was really sweating on her, she thought about telling Kate the truth. She thought about letting the poor woman go. Then the dollar signs changed her mind. That and the threat that Louis would kill her if she defied him.
From what Karen had seen in the paper about the “accident” three years earlier, Luke Garrison was grief-stricken by the loss of his wife. The Garrison family had begged for solitude to deal with their loss. Luke Garrison was a celebrity after all. The articles had kept coming for quite a while, before they suddenly stopped.
Kate knew nothing about them. She knew only her own terminal grief. As hard as it was for Karen to fathom, it appeared that Kate and Luke Garrison had loved each other with unbelievable faith. Karen was not one who believed in love under normal circumstances. She’d been beaten up and tossed for garbage too many times to fall for that crap. But for some reason, Kate’s situation always got to her. Likely, it was because she spent day in and day out with Kate and had nothing better to do than observe the woman’s anguish.
After three years, Louis still believed Kate knew where Fitz had hidden the money. She was hiding it from them. If she didn’t talk, he would kill her, he always threatened. Then he would beat her instead—beat her until her eyes were swelled shut and her arms and legs were covered with bruises. He would beat her to the point of unconsciousness and then throw her back in her room to recover for the next round of interrogation. The hair chopping came next. When Kate was smart, she managed to crawl into the dark closet, all the way to the back, and huddle there. Louis wouldn’t go after her in there. He was seriously claustrophobic.
Karen hated watching what Louis did to Kate. She guessed it was because the woman was such a pathetic creature. She was helpless in her grief. She didn’t even care what Louis did to her. She’d sworn more than once that she didn’t know anything about any money. She’d told him there was no money—that her parents had always struggled with their finances. From what Karen could gather, Kate hadn’t been close to her parents. So why would the old man have told her where he’d hidden his loot? Kate had a sister—Karen had gotten her to admit this finally. The sister had been a dead end too. Apparently, she’d been out of the picture so long that she was impossible to locate. Karen still wondered if Michelle wasn’t the key to the money—rather than Kate. It seemed to her that Kate certainly would have spilled the beans by now if there were any beans to spill. Louis refused to think of things this way. He was determined that Kate knew something and he would keep her locked away until she told him the truth—or until she became expendable—whichever came first.
Hearing the bedroom door open, Karen sat up on her haunches. Her eyes narrowed as Kate appeared in the hallway and flinched. The blinds were open and she wasn’t used to the light.
“It’s okay, hon. He’s gone. I’d reckon it will be a few days before he comes back this time.”
Kate stared at Karen, her brown eyes wide. Her skinny fingers reached up and fingered her locket. She really was a pretty girl, Karen decided. A little too skinny, but that really wasn’t her fault. She was much skinnier now than she had been when she’d first come to stay with them. She refused to eat. Her cheeks were sunken. Her skin was almost colorless. Her once pretty blonde hair was now cropped short and dyed brown. Louis had done that. In anger, he’d chopped her beautiful blonde tresses off and burned them in the fireplace. He’d sworn he would do worse to her than that if she didn’t start talking. Still she’d stuck to her story of not knowing anything about any money.
“You hungry?” Karen eventually asked when it was apparent Kate wasn’t going to say anything.
Kate shook her head, of course. She always did when it came to food. She stared from one window to another curiously. “Am I ever going to get out of here?”
Karen took in the words and digested them. They surprised her. Kate had never been one to ask too many questions. At least not since she had asked about her husband and daughter and Louis had told her they’d drowned. Everything after that had likely seemed unimportant to her.
Sitting back on her butt, Karen wished for a cigarette again. Damn Louis. Damn him for more reasons than one. “The world isn’t such a great place, Katie.”
“Don’t call me that.”
Karen’s eyes narrowed. She’d hit a nerve. “I’m sorry.” Standing up, she dropped her dirty rag on the floor. That unmistakable pain was radiating from Kate’s eyes again.
“My husband called me that. Katie Blue…..” Her voice drifted off and she turned back to the windows.
Karen stared at the back of her head, feeling that sense of overwhelming pity again. Damn it all. Why couldn’t she be less of a softy? Why couldn’t she be more of a fighter? Sighing, she walked over to stand next to Kate, in the hopes of offering some kind of comfort. “He was a nice guy. Your husband, I mean?”
For the first time Karen had ever seen, Kate’s mouth worked itself into some form of a smile. Not a big one, but yet a smile all the same. “He was perfect.”
“Nobody’s perfect, Kate. Not even your husband.”
“You didn’t know him. He was.”
Well, that was that, she guessed. There was no point in arguing that most men had inner flaws that eventually came out. The point was moot. Instead, she cleared her throat and backed away from the window. “Maybe we can go for a walk today. We could check out the park or something. I mean as long as you won’t give me any trouble. Louis would kill me if he knew I took you out.”
Kate shook her head, backing up toward the hallway again.
“You don’t want to go outside?”
“Were you there?”
This was not good. Questions again. “Where?”
“That night. Did you see them?” Kate’s fingers were on the locket again, and her eyes had a faraway look in them.
Shit, Karen thought. She had dreaded the day Kate would start asking her questions. Louis had already warned her what would happen if she answered any of them. “I didn’t see anything. I was up above when your jeep went into the river.”
Kate’s eyes fell in sadness.
“It doesn’t matter, Kate. You know the outcome.”
“Why do you stay here?” Kate asked suddenly. “Why do you let him hurt you when you could leave?”
Karen felt a nicotine tug and grimaced. “Quit with the questions. I don’t have answers. I’ve tried to be nice to you. If you don’t want to go outside, then fine, sit here.” She bent over to work on the floor again.
“I’m sorry,” Kate said softly.
Karen looked up, annoyed that she was feeling sorry for Kate yet again. She sighed irritably. “Do you know where the money is, Kate?” If only she could get an answer there was a chance for redemption. A chance to make a difference.
After sniffling a moment, Kate shook her head. “I told you before my parents didn’t have any money. And even if they did, I wouldn’t have a clue where it is. I wasn’t close to them. I hardly knew them anymore.”
“He might help you if you just tell us where it is. I mean what do you care about the money for? Doesn’t your freedom mean more to you than that?”
“My family’s dead. What do I have to gain by being free?”
“Life,” Karen said simply. “Safety. Happiness.”
“I don’t want to live without them. They were my life.”
Karen felt her stomach clench uncomfortably. This woman was working her conscience over good. “It’s your choice,” she finally said. “Louis is a bad man, Kate. It’s up to you if you don’t want to escape him.”
“I don’t know where the money is,” Kate said again, her voice edgy. “I swear it. Don’t you think I would have told you by now?”
“I don’t know what to think.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Kate said. “What’s the point anyway? I just wish he’d kill me and get it over with.”
Karen studied the withdrawn expression in Kate’s coffee colored eyes. Louis had really done this one in. With no reason to live, she wasn’t a threat to him. Karen felt her skin pebble slightly. The thought of hell crossed her mind again. “You’re doing this to yourself, Kate. It’s up to you to change things.”
Kate stared at Karen for several seconds, her eyes almost look
ing haunted. “Haven’t you ever heard that money is the root of all evil?”
Caught off guard, Karen was quiet a moment. Then she leaned against the handle of her mop, her lips leveling into a frown. “Honey, when you don’t have any, it hardly seems evil.”
Kate was quiet for a long time, and then she abruptly turned and headed for her bedroom. At the last minute she turned and met Karen’s gaze again. “I don’t care if he kills me. Do you care if he kills you?” A moment later the bedroom door shut and Karen was alone again.
The ringing phone stopped her from thinking too much about Kate’s question. She didn’t really want to talk to Louis, but she had no choice. She picked up the receiver.
“Hello?”
“What took you so long?” the deep, gritty voice asked. “God sakes, I was waiting for an hour.”
“I was busy cleaning up your mess. Where are you?”
“Running some errands. It’s time to clean house, sweet cheeks.”
Clean house. This was a term she was familiar with. “What are you talking about?”
“I’ve got some plans. It’ll take me a couple of days to finalize them but trust me, baby, we’re going to rake in the dough.”
“I don’t understand.”
“You don’t need to understand. How’s our little houseguest?”
“Same as usual. She’s fading away, Louis. What do I do about that?”
“Not much you can do. Make her eat, or let her starve at this point. I don’t give much of a shit. I’ll be back in a couple of days. If we can’t get her to talk by then, we need to get rid of her.”
Get rid of her. The words repeated themselves inside her head. Like garbage. The depths of hell loomed up in her mind. Shivering, she sat down on the couch, a little light headed. “Maybe she really doesn’t know where the money is, Louis. Did that occur to you?”
“Of course it did,” he snapped. “Doesn’t really matter now. She’s expendable. Nobody knows she’s alive. I’ve got other plans. Plans that don’t include keeping her alive anymore.”
Root of All Evil Page 3