If Looks Could Kill

by Heather Graham

  “Kaila, what’s the matter with you? She’s my daughter. I’ll pick her up, and I’ll bring her here.” Aggravated, Darryl turned and got back into his car. Kaila got into her own car to pick up Justin. She wondered why she felt such a strange sense of unease.

  She shivered.

  “What’s the matter, Mommy?” Shelley asked.

  “Nothing, baby, nothing.”

  She started to drive.

  At Justin’s school, she left the two little ones in their car seats and stood about ten feet away, waiting to wave to Justin’s teacher once she saw him coming out of the classroom.

  Her son gave her a broad smile as he emerged. She smiled back. God, she loved her kids. She was so lucky, and she’d come so close to throwing it all away.

  “Hey, kid!” she said, greeting him and tousling his hair. “How was school?”

  “Good!” he said, and crawled into the back.

  Kaila drove back to her house and got out of the car. “Justin, keep an eye on the other two one second while I open the door,” she told her son, walking to the house. “Damn!” she muttered then. She should have picked up some milk. And she had no snacks. If Madison was coming for Carrie Anne and ended up having to wait, maybe Kyle would come over, too, and she had nothing to offer anyone. She should just run back to the store.

  She turned around and headed back to the car. Justin was giggling.

  “What’s going on?” she asked.

  “Nothing!”

  “Well, I thought we should go to the store.” As she slid behind the wheel, the kids started giggling wildly.

  “What is it?” Kaila asked, putting the minivan in gear.

  She turned around and saw for herself.

  At first she wasn’t frightened. She was just puzzled.

  Then the fear set in.

  Somewhere along the way to Kaila’s, a feeling of unease and urgency began to haunt Madison. She told herself not to panic, that Kaila had picked up the kids and would be back at the house by now.

  Still, she looked at her purse, on the passenger seat, then reached into it for her phone. She couldn’t get her fingers around it right away, so she dumped the contents of her purse on the seat. She picked up the phone and keyed in Kaila’s number. She was dismayed to get the answering machine. She was even more dismayed when she heard a warning beep.

  She glanced at the phone and swore. Her batteries were dying.

  She threw the phone on the seat, angry, and growing more alarmed.

  She was perhaps two blocks from her sister’s house when she heard—or sensed—the taunting voice.

  What could possibly be worse than fearing for your own life? Could it be fearing for your child’s life?

  The voice was so real, so clear, that she started, pulling to the side of the road, slamming on the brakes and looking around the car.

  She was alone. Completely alone.

  Her sense of panic escalating, she jerked her car back on the road. The irate driver of a diaper-delivery van blew his horn, but she ignored him, stepping on the gas as she spun around the corner to Kaila’s house.

  Kaila’s minivan was ahead of her, about to turn onto a road that would bring them out to the expressway entrance.

  “Kaila!” Madison shouted out her window. She knew it was useless.

  The van didn’t slow down. In fact, Kaila was driving like a madwoman. Madison sped after it. They left her sister’s residential neighborhood behind and were soon on the expressway. She zigzagged around cars to keep up, driving more recklessly than she had in all her life. She couldn’t believe that Kaila was taking so many chances with the kids in the minivan.

  But then she knew. She heard the voice again.

  What could be worse than fearing for your own life? Could it be fearing for the life of your child?

  She’d seen it in her dream.

  She knew long before they pulled off the westward extension that they would be driving along the Tamiami Trail, heading into the Everglades.

  Dan Aubrey was standing in his driveway, scratching his chin, when Kyle pulled to a screeching halt. “Where are the girls?”

  “I don’t know. Was Madison supposed to be here? I don’t even know where Kaila is. Jeez, just when I think we’re starting to get it together again, she pulls a vanishing act. I came home early, thought we might see you two for a bit tonight. But who the hell knows what she’s doing, huh?”

  Staring at him, Kyle tried Jassy’s number. He got her machine. Swearing, he sank against the car.

  “Hey, Kyle, man, what’s the matter? Want a beer? Can I do something.”

  “Yeah, get in the car with me.”

  “Why, what’s going on?”

  “I know who the killer is,” Kyle said.

  Kaila wondered how long he’d been hiding in the back of the minivan.

  The kids thought it was a lark. Kaila was thankful that the kids were all in the back seats, Justin in the far rear, Shelley and Anthony in the middle, behind her.

  Because he was next to her now.

  His knife was in his lap. A switchblade. He’d opened it and closed it, opened it and closed it, over and over again.

  “This isn’t funny,” she told him, trying for bravado.

  “Not at all. Life is serious.”

  “Why are you doing this to me?”

  “I’m not doing anything to you. You know you want to sleep with me, and you are going to love me. You just chickened out. You’re not so much like her, you know.”

  “Like who?”

  “Your mother.”

  A stab of pure panic ripped through Kaila’s heart. She glanced over at him. He didn’t look so handsome anymore. There was something in his eyes, in the angles of his face…

  She moistened her lips. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to lead you on. I made a mistake. I’m married.”

  “That can be undone.”

  “I have children.”

  “I can love them. Or—” he smiled, fingering his knife “—I can get rid of them. In fact, I’m going to give you a chance to love me the way you always insinuated you could…and, well, their lives will depend on it. Now drive. Faster. We’ve got another fifteen miles to go, then you can pull off.”

  She started shaking.

  She was going to die, she told herself. She was going to die. She’d been a bad wife to a good man, and maybe God was getting even with her. She was so scared. She didn’t want to die like her mother.

  She couldn’t die. The kids were in the car. She had to stay alive. No matter what happened to her, she had to stay alive until…

  Until the kids were somehow safe.

  The minivan turned off on an almost invisible road.

  It would be insane to follow. She had to go back. Had to find a gas station, a phone.

  But gas stations and phones were miles apart out here along the Trail. Miles and miles apart. If she didn’t follow the minivan, she might lose it. Her sister, her daughter and all her sister’s kids were in that van.

  Oh, God.

  She started shaking. It was just as it had been all those years ago. She had to go on. If she’d run down the hallway when she was afraid for her mother, she might have stopped the murderer. Now, if she left…she could lose her daughter. Her sister. Shelley, Justin, Anthony…

  Oh, God…

  She was so numb with fear that she nearly drove off the road. The minivan was barely visible ahead of her. Then it jerked to a stop. Quickly she slammed on her own brakes while swerving to the side. The Cherokee swung around in a complete half turn. But she didn’t go sliding into the pool to her left, and she was pretty sure she’d inadvertently managed to hide the Cherokee.

  They were fairly deep in the swamp, and she realized that they had come down an old deserted road leading to some abandoned hunting shacks. Now she hurried through the underbrush, getting close enough to see and hear everything going on.

  The road ended just ahead, where the minivan was. Deep swamp stretched ahead, while some d
ilapidated old canoes lay beneath a tree on an embankment.

  The occupants of the minivan were emerging. For a moment Madison didn’t recognize the man with her sister. Then she gasped, disbelieving. And she knew why she hadn’t been able to see. She knew why she hadn’t wanted to see, to believe….

  Anthony was crying, and the killer was telling Kaila to get the baby to shut up. Justin was trying to joke with him, but he was growing angry.

  Desperately Madison searched the foliage for Carrie Anne. She didn’t see her daughter. Terror gripped her heart. He had killed Carrie Anne.

  No, no, no…that hadn’t happened, she convinced herself. Carrie Anne just wasn’t with them. Something must have happened, and Peggy had gone to get her. She would know if her daughter was…dead.

  “Please…” Kaila was saying. “I’ll handle the children. I’ll do whatever you want, but please, just let me handle the children.”

  “They need discipline.”

  “I’ll take care of it. Really.”

  “Get in the boat.”

  Madison nearly stepped forward, but then she saw that he was holding a switchblade.

  And Anthony’s hand.

  “Wait, please—”

  “Kaila, don’t learn your lessons the hard way.”

  Madison kept quiet, biting her lip as she watched them step into one of the boats.

  Madison stood behind a big pine, watching as the boat moved across the narrow expanse of water and its passengers alit on the hammock across the water. She inhaled deeply.

  Go back, get help! an urgent sense of self-preservation warned her.

  But she couldn’t go back.

  When the figures on the opposite side disappeared into the foliage, she scampered toward the boats. She felt ill. There were snakes in the water. Moccasins. God knew what else. Alligators. She wasn’t exactly a nature girl. Oh, yeah, she loved the water, but…

  Not moccasins or gators.

  And spiders. Oh, God, there were spiders all over the boats. Which boat to take? One had a hole punched through it. Which of the other three was swampworthy?

  She couldn’t hesitate any longer. She chose one and pushed off. She moved slowly through the water. It was fairly shallow; saw grass was rising about its surface. In places, the grass was very thick, making it hard to maneuver. Don’t think about the spiders, snakes and gators, she warned herself.

  Right. Just remember that a man you loved as family all your life is a brutal killer. A killer who seduced your sister, just like his other victims, who has her here now…

  She made it across the water and crawled from the boat, shaking. She hadn’t chosen a great vessel. The water was two inches deep at the bottom. Don’t think! she warned herself. Don’t think!

  She couldn’t help but think. Kyle had been so afraid for her. She was the one with second sight, yet he was the one who had known she might be in danger. Kyle, oh, God, Kyle, if I’d listened, if I’d known…

  Kyle…

  If only she could will him to find her.

  But he wasn’t there, she was on her own, and she had to think!

  She kept low in the foliage, managing not to scream when she walked into an enormous spiderweb.

  She’d been here before, she realized. Years and years ago, when she was a child. This was Roger Montgomery’s “swamp lodge,” as he had called it. Abandoned so many years ago.

  And yet apparently…it was still in use.

  Oh, Kyle, where are you? I’m so scared. I’m so sorry. Kyle…Kyle…Kyle…

  Please…

  Madison’s phone was apparently dead. Kyle swore in sheer frustration, slamming his fists against the wheel and throwing his own phone into the back.

  Dan stared at him as if he’d lost his senses. Maybe he had.

  “Kyle? Where are we going now?”

  Kyle had cops moving all over the city, trying Jassy’s place, the morgue, Jimmy’s house, his father’s house, Trent’s, Rafe’s, and checking the roads between Miami and Key West. People were obeying him without really understanding his sense of panic. His wife and sister-in-law had only been missing a couple of hours. No big deal. Women got together and went shopping. Nothing to worry about, according to most men.

  But Madison wasn’t shopping. She was somewhere…in danger—and looking just like her mother.

  “Kyle?” Dan said worriedly.

  He exhaled a long breath, looking at Dan.

  “Where are we going?”

  “I don’t know.”

  God, it was almost as if he could hear her voice. Crying out to him. Was she hurt? Scared? Oh, God, was she dead? No, no, no…

  She needed him. He sensed it, knew it. She was near, and she needed him. He had to reach her.

  But where…?

  All he knew was that he was searching for his wife. The woman he loved. Had loved, had shared something special with, all his life. That wasn’t to take anything away from his marriage. He’d loved Fallon. But she hadn’t been Madison.

  He’d stayed away too long. Refused to admit how much he wanted her. He would never let her out of their marriage. Never. Not in a thousand years. Now that he’d held her, laughed with her, made love with her, listened to her nightmares…

  “Jesus!” he breathed suddenly. It was as if he could hear her, as if she were really calling out to him. She needed help, his help. She needed him, and he wasn’t there.

  “What the hell is going on? What do you know?” Dan asked tensely. “The killer is the guy Kaila was having an affair with, right?” he asked thickly.

  “Kaila never had an affair.”

  “She was seeing someone—”

  “Not sleeping with him. If…if she had been, she would be dead now.”

  “They’ve got to be all right. I’m sure the girls are just off with the kids. They went shopping. For the love of God, they must have gone shopping.”

  Kyle looked at Dan. “They didn’t go shopping.”

  “Then—”

  “They’re headed out to the swamp,” Kyle said. Yes, that had to be it. He remembered holding Madison, feeling her shaking and trembling against him.

  I was driving west along the Tamiami Trail. To the hunting shacks…it was me, it wasn’t me…

  Madison was with Kaila, or following her, not about to let her sister die as her mother had been killed.

  19

  Madison kept low, approaching the weathered old shack that sat on the pine hammock. Insects chirped. Things seemed to slither.

  Yet as she neared the house, she was suddenly bombarded with mental images that left her gasping, doubling over for breath. Flashes of a knife wielded viciously in the flickering firelight danced before her eyes. Blood pooling on the floor.

  And she knew. He hadn’t necessarily killed his victims here.

  But he had come here to see to their disposal.

  Kyle was always telling her to breathe through her mouth. She did so now. She fought the impulse to be sick, staggering up to the wooden shack. She gained control, and looked through the window.

  There was a loft inside the shack. Kaila managed to convince the kids that they were on an adventure with their uncle Rafe, and that it was really important for them to take a long nap so they could play games that night.

  She was numb, trying desperately to think. Oh, God, if only she could talk to Jassy or Madison now! Just how did you try to placate a raving lunatic? What did she have to do to stay alive? What about the children…

  She wanted to laugh. All he had was the knife. She could run! But she couldn’t, because she couldn’t run with three little kids. This was absurd. She had to play along now and pray.

  Pray for what?

  That someone would find her in the middle of the swamp before he cut her and the children to pieces?

  What about Darryl? What would happen when he came back with Carrie Anne, when Madison came looking for her daughter?

  And Dan…Dan would think she had run off with the lover who had sent her the edible und
erwear. She almost laughed out loud, but she forced herself not to. Oh, God.

  He was sitting in a chair in front of the fireplace. Rafe. Looking like himself now. Legs sprawled out, smile on his handsome face, blond hair only slightly ruffled. He had that beach-boy look about him again.

  “Kids asleep?”

  “Yes.”

  “Come here.”

  “Rafe, please…”

  “Come here, Kaila. Now.”

  She inhaled, swallowed and walked over to him. He stared at her evenly. “Kaila, don’t fuck with me. Don’t turn out to be a bitch and a tease. I don’t want to hurt you, and I don’t want to hurt your kids. It’s all up to you. We’ve got a chance here. You’ve just got to love me. Now, come here.”

  She was going to break down, Kaila thought. Break down and start crying and screaming. She couldn’t believe she had ever thought him tender, sexy, attractive.

  “You’re almost exactly like her.”

  “Who?”

  “Lainie. Your mother. She was the biggest cock-tease known to man. I look at you sometimes, and you are her. I almost call Madison by her name sometimes. What a bit of irony, huh?”

  “I’m not my mother.”

  He smiled suddenly. “You’re close enough. So, what would you do to stay alive?” he asked her huskily.

  “Anything!” she whispered, feeling sick.

  “Start doing it,” he advised. “Convince me that I should let you live.

  Through the broken window of the shack, Madison watched her sister strip off her T-shirt and kneel before Rafe, where he sat in the chair.

  For the moment his switchblade sat on the rock ledge of the fireplace.

  If she could just lure Rafe away for a few minutes, she could get the switchblade, grab the kids and Kaila and get them all out of there. Take the good boat back and sink the other one.

  How could she get him out of the house?

  Staring through the window, she saw tears streaming down her sister’s face as Rafe stroked her naked torso. She wondered if Kaila was thinking about the amount of blood on those hands. Crouched on the ground, she curled her fingers into the earth. She looked down, realizing she’d picked up a large rock.