by Wes Markin
Kayla would come back to him. She had to …
But then a thought occurred to him in the motel parking lot; now with his father gone, who would be looking for her? The men he had hired to actively search for her would no longer have a monetary incentive. And the police? Well, the police didn’t even know about it!
He reversed out the parking lot and drove to Gabriel’s house. He suspected the chief would not be back yet, and the absence of his car confirmed that. He grabbed an energy drink from the dash and exited the car to sit on the hood. It was cold and windy, but if there was anything positive to take from that lifetime on the MacLeoid property, it was the love he’d developed for the outdoors and the fresh air.
After finishing the drink, he headed to Gabriel’s trashcan. He lifted the lid, and his breath caught in his throat. The lid fell from his hand and clattered on the ground. He grabbed his old Converse sneakers from the can. Kayla had found them stuffed in the corner of his room among a pile of other discarded footwear. She’d begged him for them. He remembered his words to her. “Well, they must be two sizes too big for you, but what the hell? Go ahead!” She’d kissed him on his cheek …
He touched his cheek. “Kayla.” He looked up at the house. “Kayla!”
With adrenaline whipping his insides, he slammed the Converse into the can. He surveyed the house and noticed the wooden gate that led to the path down the side of the house. After reaching over it, he patted the wood. “Come on … Come on …” His hand settled on a bolt. “Gotcha.” He slid it with a clunk and opened the gate. He slipped through and closed it behind him.
He ambled down the narrow path lodged between a fence and the stone wall toward a single-paned window. He removed a boot and smashed the glass. What did he care if someone heard? Let a neighbor call the police. Then they could ask their chief, in front of the world, why Kayla’s Converse sneakers were in his trashcan.
He worked his boot around the frame, knocking in the protruding shards. Then, after sliding on his boot, he hoisted himself through onto a work surface. He felt the window glass crunch under his jeans, so he was careful not to slide and risk cutting himself through the fabric. He also tried to keep his bare hands off the surface as best he could, but he could already feel his palms burning, so he must have picked up some debris.
He landed on the floor with another crunch, reached into his jacket pocket for the headtorch he’d been using earlier in the woods, slipped it over his head and fired it up. He scanned the kitchen. “Kayla?” He left the kitchen for the hallway. “Kayla!”
He paused to listen. He could hear something. “Kayla!” He waited.
Yes … someone was definitely replying.
He darted into the living room. When he found nothing, he tried the adjacent office. Again, nothing. “Kayla?” He paused to listen.
A muffled voice! He couldn’t be sure, but it sounded like someone calling for help but from far away—deep underground perhaps?
He ran out of the office and saw the door beneath the stairs. “Kayla!” He pressed his ear to the basement door.
“Help me!” Still muffled but definite now.
He tried to slide the old bolts, but they were stiff, and his bloodied hand slipped off. “Fuck!” He dried his palms on his jeans, ignoring the pain, and tried again—two-handed this time. He thrust both bolts back with a heavy clunk. He opened the door and felt the cold air rush over him. “Kayla! Are you in there?”
“Help me! Ayden. It’s me!”
His heart felt like it was going to explode. “I’m coming, Kayla! I’m coming!”
The overhead light shone on the worn-out and unstable-looking wooden steps. Fuck it. He charged down, his footfalls echoing. “Hold on!”
“Ayden, please, get me out of here!”
At the bottom of the steps, he tripped over a mop and bucket and landed on his knees.
“Ayden, are you okay?”
“Yes,” Ayden said, wincing. “I’m fine.” He rose to stand at the door that separated him from his sister. He lifted a flap and looked through a slot. He welled up.
Kayla. On her feet. Inches from the door. Staring at him. Pale, exhausted, her eyes swollen from crying, but it was her … God, it was her!
Alive!
He tried to push the door. A padlock rattled. Jesus, fuck no! “Stand back, Kayla. It’s locked. I’m going to kick it in.”
“No! He leaves the key out there in one of the pots.”
Ayden spotted a set of decaying shelves littered with old ornaments and vases. He started to shake them out.
Gabriel spent most of the journey home smiling. This night had been so full of glorious moments! Moments he’d be joyfully reliving until his final day. The moment when he’d whispered the truth to Jotham; the moment when despair had exploded on that psychopath’s face; the moment when the bastard had writhed on the ground, trying to shout through his gag—so many of them. If only Jake hadn’t ended the bastard so quickly! He’d love to have seen Jotham melting just a few minutes longer with the knowledge that he now owned Jotham’s daughter.
As he turned into his driveway and parked alongside Ayden’s vehicle, he sighed. What did this pest want? Irritation quickly became dread. The car was unoccupied. He surveyed his house, and his eyes widened. He reached into the glovebox for his holstered hunting knife, clipped it to his belt then grabbed his handgun. He disabled the dome light so it wouldn’t reveal his presence when he opened the car door. He slipped quietly outside and darted past the front entrance toward the back gate.
He noticed the trashcan lid on the ground and the Converse sneakers resting on top of the garbage. Every nerve in his body felt like it was on fire.
Ayden knew.
He went to the wooden gate and noticed it was slightly ajar. He raised the handgun and prodded it open with his foot and slipped in to see the smashed window. He moved quickly and quietly down the side of his home. He looked through the smashed window but could see very little; nonetheless, he knew the layout, so inside, of course, he would have the advantage. He took his keys from his pocket and went to the back door. Despite the cold, sweat pooled in the center of his back. He unlocked the back door as quietly as he could and entered with his gun ready.
He saw light from the basement creeping under the hallway door.
The basement door must be open.
Ayden had found his sister.
Kayla tried to control her breathing. She’d suffered many panic attacks over the past couple days, but these had been mainly from sheer hopelessness. Now, she was within touching distance of freedom, and the anxiety over potentially having it suddenly torn away was debilitating.
“That’s it!” Ayden said.
She placed her hand to her chest. The key … he has the key! She was moments from embracing the person she cared most about in the world. “Please, Ayden, hurry!” She heard him wrestling with the padlock.
“Come on, come on … Fucking thing …”
“Keep trying, please. It’ll work.”
“Yes!” A thud sounded as the padlock hit the floor. The door opened. Her older brother was there, rubbing away tears with bloodied hands. He came to her quickly, knelt and embraced her.
She let her cheek settle on his shoulder and closed her eyes.
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Kayla.”
She rubbed her face against his shoulder. It felt so good. “It’s not your fault.”
“Has he hurt you?”
“No … not yet, but he will, eventually. We have to go.”
“I let you down. I should have protected you from him.”
“You’ve saved me.” With her eyes still closed, she kissed his cheek. “But we must leave now.”
“I’m going to kill him.”
“Ayden, please.”
“Okay―” Ayden shrieked, his shoulder disappeared, and her head lolled forward. “Get off me!”
While being dragged backward by his hair, Ayden managed to claw at Gabriel’s hand, but the police ch
ief showed his determination with wild eyes and bared teeth. She imagined the grip to be fierce.
“Let go of him!”
“Stay back, Kayla,” Ayden managed to say while trying to wriggle free.
Gabriel showed Kayla the hunting knife in his other hand.
“Please …” she said.
“He shouldn’t have come here,” Gabriel said, yanking on Ayden’s hair.
Ayden wailed as Gabriel dragged him backward toward the door.
“Please,” Kayla said, feeling her mouth fill with tears. “I’ll do anything.”
Gabriel’s tongue darted out and touched his top lip. “Anything?”
“Yes.”
Ayden writhed. “No, Kayla. I’m going to kill you, Jewell.”
Gabriel drew the knife across Ayden’s throat.
Kayla screamed.
Ayden’s eyes widened. One hand flew to his neck while the other darted in her direction.
Gabriel released her brother’s hair, and he fell forward onto his front, gagging.
“Ayden!” She scurried toward him. “Ayden!”
He gurgled.
She reached underneath him, lifting and pushing with all her might, until he rolled over.
His face was pale and blood-streaked. The wide gash on his neck bubbled. He attempted to speak but managed only gasps.
“Ayden? Please … Ayden?”
He stared at her as he lifted a hand to her face.
“You came for me. I knew you would.”
His hand dropped. The gagging slowed and then stopped.
She maintained eye contact with him but knew he’d gone.
“You’re safe now, Kayla,” Gabriel said.
Crying too hard to respond clearly, she screamed at her captor instead.
“Finished?” he said.
“MONSTER!”
“The MacLeoids are no more.”
“I’m a MacLeoid!” She pounded her chest with her fist.
He shook his head. “No. Not anymore. You belong to me now.”
She gritted her teeth and pounced.
He slammed the door closed before she reached him.
She pounded at the door until exhaustion set in, then she sank to the floor.
“I’ll give you time to say goodbye to him,” Gabriel said. “Then I’ll come back to clean up.”
She crawled to her brother, dropped her arm across his still chest and lay beside him in a pool of blood.
AFTER …
THE BANDAGE AROUND Peter’s mouth inhibited the conversation. Fortunately, the arm of the hand he used to write had been spared injury, so he scribbled into a notebook: I hate hospitals.
“Well, at least you’re in one,” Jake said, “and not lying burnt to a cinder.”
Peter winced. He’d obviously tried to smile.
“Sorry,” Jake said.
Jake had been sitting beside the hospital bed for the best part of an hour while Peter drifted in and out of sleep.
Earlier, Peter had scribbled: Glad of the company. Don’t rush off.
“I won’t,” Jake said, who then sat and read from an Elmore Leonard paperback he’d grabbed from the hospital waiting room earlier.
The emergency services had found Peter in the field a short distance from the burning farmhouse. They were still none the wiser to how he’d got there.
“What happened, Peter?”
Managed to kick open the cage door and crawl away after.
“After what?”
Sadness invaded Peter’s eyes. We’ll talk another time. Just read to me.
Jake read a few paragraphs from the Elmore Leonard book out loud while Peter stared off into space. Jake had been vague on the details as to what had happened at the killing pit. Walls have ears, after all.
Peter waited until Jake finished the chapter and wrote: Jotham’s definitely gone?
Jake nodded. “I spoke to Jewell this morning. They pulled him and Anthony out of the pit.”
Peter wrote: Anthony’s dad will be broken.
Jake sighed. He’d given Anthony the opportunity to walk away. It was his decision. “They also found upward of twenty other bodies.”
Fuck.
“That’s one word for it. At least a lot of families will now get closure.”
Ayden and his sister will be in danger.
Jake nodded again. “They’ve skipped town already.”
Good.
Jake checked his watch. “Well, old soldier, your time is almost up. Any last requests before I kiss you goodbye?”
Make me handsome again.
Jake laughed. “I’m not a genie.”
On my pension, I’ll be able to afford a new false tooth a year.
“I’m afraid not, Peter. You’ll have to spend your money on holidays. Your medical costs, including full dental reconstruction, will be covered.”
Don’t be ridiculous. I can’t let you.
Jake squeezed his arm. “It’s done.”
While holding her hand, Piper surveyed Amber Colson’s wasted arm, her skeletal body, and then let her eyes settle on her emaciated face. What did that man do to you? Piper glanced at the hospital room door to check that the armed guard had not strayed inside to listen to what came next. She lifted her natural mother’s rough, weathered hand and kissed it. “I forgive you for what you did. You were sick, and I was lucky. My life has been good. I’m so sorry for what he did to you.”
Amber didn’t stir. If it wasn’t for the machines beeping alongside her, you could be forgiven for thinking she’d died.
Piper felt a tear in her eye. Amber now had a chance at peace.
She met Jake in the waiting room.
He enveloped her in his large arms and held her tight, like he’d done throughout the entire night after telling her the truth.
She cried gently against him. “Thank you.”
“Please don’t keep thanking me.”
She pulled back so she could look up at him. “You told me the truth.”
“Others would’ve done the same. You’d a right to know.”
But many others wouldn’t have told me. It took courage to tell someone they were the daughter to a monster. Many would’ve taken the easy way out, reassured themselves that the person was better off not knowing, that they were doing them some kind of favor … “What will happen to her?”
“I don’t know. I honestly don’t.”
“Well, whatever happens, she doesn’t have to do it alone.”
Jake nodded.
“Do they know who killed Jotham yet?”
Jake shook his head.
“Is it wrong that I’m glad he’s dead?”
“A lot of people probably feel the same.”
“I’m glad I never had to look him in the eyes and acknowledge him as my father.”
Jake put his hand to her damp cheek.
“I think he would have enjoyed that too much.”
He kissed her forehead. “Let’s get some lunch.”
“I have a brother and a sister.” She smiled. “That’s the first time I’ve ever been able to say that.”
Jake smiled back.
“Ayden and Kayla.” She took a deep breath. “I hope they’re all right.”
“They will be. They got away.”
“Good. I hope they’re happy. After everything they went through with that man, they deserve to be.”
It took Gabriel several cups of coffee to get himself going; he’d spent the entire night disposing of the body. Down in the basement, he saw that Kayla was exhausted too; she lay curled up, sobbing on her bed. He’d brought a chair with him and, after unlocking the door and slipping quietly into her room, he positioned it beside her bed.
She kept her back to him.
He leaned over and touched her shoulder.
She pulled away.
“It’s okay. I understand. It takes time.” He reached for one of the books on her bedside table—Five on a Treasure Island by Enid Blyton. “How wonderful. This was one of Colle
tte’s. Her most treasured book.” Gabriel started to read, “‘Mother, have you heard about our summer holidays yet?’ said Julian at the breakfast table …”
He read for a long time and, over the course of the day, she sobbed less and less until, eventually, she rolled onto her back and stared at the ceiling. She listened until day turned to night and even managed a wry smile over one of the lines: It wasn’t a bit of good fighting grownups. They could do exactly as they liked.
Blue Falls Taps was due to reopen in the evening, so Piper had headed in to help steady the ship.
Jake sat alone on the edge of his bed, staring at his photographs of Frank. He really should be moving on from Blue Falls now, but the idea of drifting into another town, one without Piper, suddenly didn’t appeal to him. And for now, anyway, he was out of danger due to that final conversation between Jotham and Gabriel. “Remember those fifteen-year-old girls at Sharon’s Edge?”
Jake had confronted Gabriel on the return journey from Stinson Lake. “Is it true, Jewell?”
“Is what true?”
“About the girls?
“No … don’t be ridiculous. He was lying. He’d have said anything to discredit me.”
“I hope so, Jewell, I really do. But maybe you should know I’m not taking your advice. That I’m thinking I might stick around Blue Falls.”
“When did that become an option―”
“Just now.”
“I―”
“Think very carefully about your next words, Jewell. If information about where I am finds its way back to England, I’ll find out everything about you, and if it confirms Jotham’s accusations, I’ll come for you next.”
They’d not spoken for the rest of the journey, and Jake had taken his silence as an agreement.
Now, alone in his motel room, miserable without anyone else’s problems to distract him from his own, Jake sighed. Gabriel’s agreement was merely a stay of execution—a little more time with Piper, nothing more. Sooner or later, Gabriel would make that phone call to the people Jake had run from. Why wouldn’t he? Jake would always be the chief’s shadow while he remained in Blue Falls, second guessing his every move regarding matters of the law. Yes, his time here was very limited indeed.
