7 Die For Me
Page 51
“If she stayed with you, she’d see her mama dead in the living room every time she came downstairs,” Kim snapped. “What were you thinking, leaving them alone?”
“I had to go to work,” Craig snarled back. “It’s what keeps bread on my table.”
I hate you I hate you I wish you were dead. The voices screamed in her mind, loud and long and angry. Shut the door. Alex bent her head low and Kim’s hand closed over the back of her neck. Don’t touch me. She tried to wrench away, but Craig was too close. So she stayed frozen.
“Damn you and damn your work,” Kim said bitterly. “You left Kathy alone at the worst moment of her life. If you’d been home, she might be alive. If she were alive, Alex wouldn’t be here right now.”
The boots came closer and Alex pulled her feet back further.
“Are you saying I caused this? That I made Kathy kill herself? That I made Alex swallow a bottle of pills? Is that what you’re saying?”
The silence between them was tense and Alex held her breath, waiting. Kim wasn’t saying no and Craig’s hands were now fisted as tight as Alex’s were.
The doors swished opened, then closed and there were more footsteps on the tile floor. “Kim, is there a problem?” Kim’s husband, Steve. Alex let out the breath she held. He was a big man with a kind face. Alex could look at his face. But not now.
“I don’t know.” Kim’s voice trembled. “Craig, is there a problem?”
Another few beats of silence and Craig’s fists slowly relaxed. “No. Will you at least let me and the kids say good-bye?”
“I suppose that would be okay.” Kim’s perfume grew faint as she moved away.
Craig was coming closer. Shut the door. Alex squeezed her eyes closed and held her breath and finally, finally he stepped away.
She sat hunched over while Bailey hugged her. “I’ll miss you, Alex. Whose clothes will I steal now?” Bailey tried to laugh, but choked on a sob. “Write to me, please.”
Wade was last. Shut the door. Again she held herself rigid as he hugged her good-bye. The voices screeched. It hurt. Please. Make it stop. She focused, hands on the door, shoving it closed. Finally Wade stepped away and she could breathe once more.
“Now we’ll leave,” Kim said. “Please let us go.” Alex held her breath again until they reached a white car. Steve scooped her up and settled her on the seat.
Click. Steve fastened her seatbelt, then cupped her face in his hand.
“We’ll take care of you, Alex. I promise,” he said softly.
He slammed her car door and it was only then that Alex let herself unclench her fist. Just a little. Just enough to see the bag she held. Pills. A lot of tiny white pills. Where? When? It didn’t matter where or when. What mattered is she could now finish what she’d started. She licked her bottom lip and forced her chin up.
“Please.” She flinched at the sound of her own voice. It was rusty from lack of use.
In the front seat both Steve and Kim jerked around to look.
“Mom, Alex talked!” Meredith was grinning.
Alex was not.
“What is it, honey?” Kim asked. “What do you need?”
Alex dropped her eyes. “Water. Please.”
Chapter One
Arcadia, Georgia, Present day
Friday, January 26, 1:25A.M.
He’d chosen her with care. Taken her with relish. Made her scream, long and loud.
It still gave him goosebumps. Still made his blood race and his nostrils flare as he remembered how she’d looked, sounded. Tasted. The taste of pure fear was like nothing else. This he knew.
She’d been his first murder. She would not be his last.
He’d chosen her final resting place with equal care. He let her body roll off his back and drop to the soggy ground with a muted thud. He squatted next to her body and arranged the rough brown blanket to cover her like a shroud, his sense of anticipation growing. Sunday was the annual cross-county bicycle race. One hundred cyclists would be passing this way. He’d placed her so that she’d be visible from the road.
Soon she would be found. Soon they would hear of her demise.
They’ll wonder. And they’ll suspect each other. They’ll all be afraid.
He stood, satisfied with his handiwork. He wanted them to be afraid. He wanted them to shake and tremble like girls. He wanted them to know the true taste of fear.
Because he knew that taste, just as he knew hunger and fury. That he knew all those flavors so intimately was their fault.
He looked down at his feet, nudged the brown blanket with his toe. She had paid. Soon, every one of them would suffer and they would pay.
And I will laugh.
Copyright © 2007 by Karen Rose Hafer
Excerpt from Scream for Me copyright © 2007 by Karen Rose Hafer
All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
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First eBook Edition: September 2007
ISBN: 0-446-40549-3