The doorbell rang.
Don’s hand clamped over her mouth.
“Dad, open the fucking door,” Jack shouted.
Kate slumped and his hold tightened. Now she had no chance. Don opened the door with one hand. One stupid latch Kate hadn’t touched. When she saw Nathan, hope flared until Jack and the gun came into view.
“What are you doing here?” Don asked.
“Are you all right?” Nathan looked at Kate.
She nodded. “I’m sorry.”
“Excuse me.” Jack waved the gun. “This isn’t the time for private chats. I think we’re forgetting something.”
“Put the gun down before you shoot yourself in the foot,” Don said.
“Move,” Jack said. “That includes you.” He pointed the gun at his father. “All of you, hands on your heads. Walk down the hall into the family room. Nathan in front.”
“Stop this, Jack,” Don said.
“Shut up.”
Jack held the gun at Kate’s head as they made their way down the hall.
“Nathan, lie face down on the floor in front of the couch. Dad, you sit on the chair. Kate, Nathan has a cell phone in his pocket. Take it out. Dad give her yours, too.”
Kate took out Nathan’s phone and as she went over to Don, and her back was to Jack, she pressed the redial button. It didn’t matter who was called so long as they listened in. She retrieved Don’s phone and moved away from him.
“You see those cords around the drapes?” Jack said. “Tie Nathan up. Make it tight or I’ll shoot him.”
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Don asked.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing here with my wife? You said you’d contact me if she was found.”
“I intended to. I was trying to persuade her to give you another chance.” Kate put the phones down next to a lamp. She hoped if they were in plain sight, Jack wouldn’t go near enough to see one was on. She pulled the cords from the curtains.
Nathan had no idea whether or not Jack was a good shot but from this distance he didn’t need to be. Kate approached with the cord.
“You try anything, Nathan, and Kate will be the first,” Jack said.
Nathan would have made a grab for the gun at his ankle, but with Kate between him and Jack, he couldn’t risk it. He felt her looping the cord, and he flexed his muscles, pulling against it, indicating not to tie it too tight. She wrapped another cord around his ankles. He felt her fingers brush the gun, then return to it as she registered what it was. He shifted his legs.
“No,” he muttered.
“Go sit on Dad’s knee,” Jack ordered Kate.
She didn’t move.
“Now!” Jack screamed.
Kate fled to Don’s lap. Jack moved forward, keeping the gun on Kate and pulled at the cord around Nathan’s feet. It stayed put, but despite Nathan’s efforts to keep his arms taut, it was obvious his wrists were loose.
“Bad girl, Kate.”
Jack stood up and stepped back. Nathan saw his eyes, knew what he was going to do and tensed. Jack pulled the trigger.
Chapter Forty
Nathan felt like a bomb had gone off inside him, the pain in his shoulder an intense wave of pulsing pressure. Yet part of him still couldn’t believe it. Above Kate’s screaming, he heard Jack say, “That’s for fucking my wife.” Nathan became aware of Kate pressing something against his back.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” she sobbed. “Oh God, Nathan. Jack, you bastard. Why did you do that? I tied him as best I could. Nathan!” He wanted to tell her it wasn’t her fault, that Jack was going to do this anyway, but he couldn’t speak. It hurt to breathe. His right arm wouldn’t move and blood pooled against his cheek. Nathan knew he should have reached sooner for the G26 strapped to his ankle. Now he wasn’t sure if he’d be able to get it, let alone fire it. If Kate touched it, she wouldn’t pull the trigger hard enough, she’d get herself killed.
“What were you doing when we arrived?” Jack asked his father. “Trying to kill Kate?”
“Of course not. I was trying to persuade her to come back to you. She’s your wife. She’s having your baby.”
“The scratches on your face seem to suggest she wasn’t too keen on the idea.” Nathan wanted Kate to get away, but he had no idea how to help her. He should have done something sooner. Bad timing again. He felt himself drifting, everything losing color. He struggled to stay focused.
Kate pressed the pillow against Nathan’s shoulder. Blood spread over the tiled floor. Too much. She had to figure out a way to call 911.
“What now?” Don asked. “I presume you broke out of Ashlands at gunpoint.
You going to play Bonnie and Clyde with Miss Pathetic?” Nathan groaned as Kate untied his wrists.
“What the fuck are you doing, Kate?” Jack asked.
She needed to distract him. “This is your fault,” she said to Don. “If you’d been a better father and listened to him, maybe Jack wouldn’t have turned out like this.”
“What are you talking about?” Don asked.
“Hoopers,” Kate said and hoped Jack went for it.
“Remember Dr. Stott?” Jack asked. “He promised me I could leave if I let him fuck me. I was thirteen years old.”
“You were sick. You wouldn’t speak to anyone.”
“You put me in there and forgot about me.” Jack spat the words out. “I wanted to go home, so I let the doctor fuck me. Only he didn’t let me go, he kept on abusing me. I smuggled a letter to you, but you didn’t believe me.” Jack waved the gun around. “You sent it back to him. You can imagine how he made me pay for that.”
Kate slid sideways along the floor toward Nathan’s feet. She felt behind her for the knots and touched the gun. Nathan moved his leg. She didn’t care what he thought, she needed the weapon.
“You lied all the time, about everything,” Don said.
Kate looked at him. “Is that all you can say? Aren’t you sorry you didn’t listen when he tried to tell you what was happening?”
“Yes, of course I’m sorry. I thought he was making it up. He was always making things up.”
“You left me in there for even longer,” Jack said.
Kate felt the knots coming undone between her fingers.
“I didn’t know,” Don said.
“He thought you didn’t love him.” Kate struggled to release the gun.
“Don’t,” Nathan muttered. “Run.” He shifted and groaned.
“Kate, get away from him, now,” Jack said.
She stood up, moving backward toward the table where she’d put the phones.
“Jack put that gun down. This is stupid.” Don started to get to his feet. Jack waved the gun at him and he sat again.
“I think Kate deserves the truth about what happened four years ago,” Jack said.
“You raped her, not me,” Don said.
“Because you told me to,” Jack yelled.
Kate froze and Jack looked at her.
“My father engineered the whole thing. Chose the time and place, delayed you so you missed the bus, gave me a drink of beer to steady my nerves, provided the blindfold for your eyes and watched in case we were disturbed.” Kate looked at Don’s face and realized it was true.
“Your father took everything from me. I wanted to do the same to him.” Don sneered at her. “He didn’t give a fuck about your mother. I wanted to hurt the one person he did care about.”
Kate gulped. “But my father didn’t care about me. Oh God, you’re a monster and you made Jack one, too.”
Jack leaned back against the wall. “She’s right. Good job, Dad.”
“All this has been you trying to get even with your father.” Kate stared at Jack and took another step toward the cell phones.
“My mother deserved better. He didn’t love her, not like I did. You know, Dad, the morning Mom took off her clothes and got into my bed was the happiest day of my life.”
Don jumped up, his face dark red with fury. �
��I don’t need to listen to this shit.
You’re a manipulative little fuck, Jack. You should never have been born.” Kate reached back, wrapped her fingers around one of the phones and moved closer to the couch. She glanced down. She had Nathan’s cell, but the screen was locked. Biting back her disappointment that she’d called no one and the police weren’t already on their way, she tried to unlock it.
“Kate’s father never touched Mom,” Jack said. “Her affair was with me. I lied about David Evans. The photographs were faked. All she did was play tennis with him.” Don took a step toward him and Jack pointed the gun at his chest. “Stop right there.”
“You’re lying.”
Jack shook his head and smiled.
Don moved closer. “You goddamn little shit. Did she tell you it had to stop? Is that why you killed her?”
Kate looked down, pressed 911 and slid the phone behind her.
Jack laughed. “See how quick you are to believe the worst? You think I’d fuck my own mother? I never touched her and I didn’t kill her.”
“Lies and more lies. Is this another of your games?” Don sneered. “You’ve blanked it out, Jack, but you butchered her. You tore out every organ. You ripped her apart, dragged the baby out of her. You killed Steven when he saw you. I always thought you’d done it, only I never wanted to believe it.” There was a long silence.
“Baby?” Jack asked, his gaze fixed on his father.
Kate swallowed hard. For once, Jack wasn’t the guilty one. Nathan groaned.
His face was pale and his breathing shallow. If she got his gun, could she fire it?
“You knew she was pregnant,” Don said. “You killed her, the baby, and then your own brother. Accept the truth.”
“I would never have hurt her.” Jack looked at Kate. “I didn’t kill her.” She looked straight at him. “I believe you.”
“Shut up, you stupid bitch,” Don hissed. “What do you know?”
“Jack didn’t kill his mother, you did.” Kate’s heart pounded. “Steven was supposed to find Jack with her body and assume he did it. Jack can’t remember anything and Steven is dead so we’ll never know what went wrong. But you killed your wife and you killed Steven.”
“Where is Steven then? If I killed him, where’s his body?” Don asked.
Her heart was beating so hard, Kate was afraid it would leap out of her chest.
She kept her eyes on Don. “I know where he is.” For a long time, the only sound was that of Nathan’s labored breathing.
“Maybe you didn’t mean to kill him. Maybe he saw you kill his mother and you had to kill him. If he was never found, there’d always be a suspicion he was the one who killed her. Jack was so traumatized he blocked it from his mind. I bet you didn’t go and visit him in case it triggered some memory.”
“Are you making all this up as you go along?” Don asked.
“Keep going,” Jack said.
“I think you were livid Jack survived and not his brother, and you’ve made him pay for it ever since. But one son was better than none. He could still produce a grandchild. Only it suited you to let Jack be tormented by the idea he might have killed his mother. Dangerous game to play with someone like him. I’d guess that was why he stabbed you and you had him admitted to Ashlands.” There was silence for a moment.
“Kate?”
She turned to face Jack. He smiled at her. “Did you really find Steven?” She nodded.
“This is a load of bullshit,” Don said. “You killed your mother and brother, and you hid his body with the baby you’d ripped out of her.”
“Shut up,” Jack shouted. “One more word and I’ll shoot you in the balls.” He turned to Kate. “Why don’t you believe I killed her?”
“Because you loved her more than you love yourself. It suited your father for you to think it could have been you. The longer you were in psychiatric care the better. He wouldn’t have put up with you all these years if he suspected you’d killed her. I know where he hid Steven’s body and I saw a baby’s skull there too.
You didn’t know about the baby. Jack, please let me get help for Nathan.” Jack stared at his father. Kate slid down to the floor with her back to Jack. This time she freed the gun and slipped it in the front of her jeans. She knew Jack couldn’t see, but thought Don might have. She didn’t care.
Jack pointed the gun at his father. “Is she right?”
“I can’t believe you’re even listening to her.”
“Come over here, Kate,” Jack said.
She didn’t move.
He sighed. “Come over here or I’ll put another bullet in Nathan.” Her knees shook as she walked to him, hoping the gun stayed in place. Jack spun her around by her shoulder and pulled her back against his chest.
“Remember Charlie? This time put your hand on mine.” Kate rested her trembling fingers on top of Jack’s. She looked at Don. His face had lost all color.
“I’m going to shoot you anyway so how about you tell the truth?” Jack said.
“You won’t get away with it. You’re throwing everything away. I thought you wanted my money. I thought that was the whole point.”
Jack laughed. “I don’t give a fuck about your money. This was never about money. This was about truth. Tell me.”
Don stared at him for a moment and then sighed. “Elizabeth told Steven she was leaving and taking you, leaving him with me. She told him she was pregnant and he told me. She tried to pretend it wasn’t true, so I had a look inside her and we know what I found.”
Kate swallowed a cry of horror.
“You and Steven were supposed to be out playing. You came back and I hid.
Steven thought you’d killed her. He picked up the knife and stabbed you. When he saw the blood on my clothes, he realized he’d stabbed the wrong person. He wouldn’t shut up, so I made him. I took his body and the baby and bits of your mother down to the boathouse and hid them with my bloody clothes. I planned to call the police and let them find you with your mom, but you came running down to the lake and ran out onto the ice. It broke and you went through. I saved your life. I wish I hadn’t bothered.”
Kate felt Jack tense behind her.
“Jack, think what you’re doing,” Don said. “You kill me and you’ll go to jail. No money, no Kate. We can sort this mess out. We can say Nathan tried to kill you, and you shot him in self defense.”
Don stepped closer and Kate closed her eyes. A loud noise echoed in her head as the gun jumped against her hand. Her eyes flew open and she lurched away from Jack. Don staggered backward. A small red mark on his chest spread over his white shirt. Don looked down and then fell in a crumpled heap. Kate slid farther away from Jack, took out Nathan’s gun and holding it with both hands pointed it at Jack. The barrel shook and Jack laughed.
“Jack, why shoot him?” Nathan gasped, struggling to sit up. “Could have told police.”
“For Kate. For our mother. For a million reasons.”
“Oh, God. Jack, please let me call an ambulance,” she begged.
“Too late, for Dad and I have plans for Nathan.”
Kate’s mind flew in all directions. “You could do the right thing for once.”
“It’s more fun not to.”
“But it doesn’t get you what you want,” she said.
“Come here.”
“Don’t, Kate,” Nathan gasped. “Stay clear.”
As Jack moved, Kate circled around. But instead of continuing toward her, Jack kicked Nathan in his side. He groaned.
“Please, Jack, don’t hurt him.”
Jack pointed the gun toward Nathan’s head. “What are you going to do to stop me? Shoot me?”
“Yes.”
Jack smiled. “I don’t think so. You know, everything would have been all right if you hadn’t wanted to leave me. It wasn’t all because of my father.”
“Is that supposed to make me feel better?” Kate wanted to pull the trigger. He deserved to die. The longer she delayed, the less chance for Na
than, but she still hesitated. “You want back what you had and it can’t happen.”
“What do I want back?” he asked.
“You want your mom. You want to be loved, to be happy like you were when she was alive. She loved you more than anyone else in the world, and you want to feel like that again.”
“And how do you know that?” His eyes glittered.
“Because…I want to be loved like that, too,” she whispered.
“I loved you like that.”
Kate shook her head. “No, you didn’t, Jack.” His gaze moved to Nathan and now Kate didn’t hesitate. She pulled hard on the trigger. The gun bucked in her hand and she dropped it.
Jack staggered back to the wall and grabbed his chest. “That wasn’t supposed to happen.”
“Kate…his gun,” Nathan grunted.
Jack slid to the ground. As Kate reached for the gun and tossed it away, Jack caught hold of her wrist, dragged her closer.
“I didn’t think you’d have the guts to do that,” he gasped. “Thought I’d be playing…few more games in a hospital…as reward for killing my father.” He groaned. “You’ll get everything, Kate…you and my baby…all his money.” A flicker of a smile crossed his lips. “I win.”
Kate pulled off the wedding ring. “No.”
Jack let go of her wrist and grabbed the ring from her hand. “Cheap trash,” he panted.
Kate pulled a pillow from the couch and pressed it against the wound in Jack’s chest.
“You missed my heart. Just.”
“Then I win, Jack.”
He frowned. “Remember…you killed your baby’s father.” He had difficulty speaking now, slurring his words. “When…you going to tell him? First birthday? Eighteenth?” He coughed and bubbles of blood appeared at the corner of his mouth.
“You’ll never be the father, so it doesn’t matter.” She pulled away from him and slid across the floor to Nathan.
“Phone police,” Nathan muttered.
“I did.” She retrieved the phone from the couch and put it to her ear. “Hello?”
“Is everyone okay? I heard shots. We’ve pinpointed your location. Emergency vehicles are on their way.”
“Three people are shot. We need an ambulance.”
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