Finally, he lay at the bottom of the steps on the cement floor, his body contorted like a broken action figure. He’d lost the Taser during his fall; it had clattered away and landed somewhere in the shadows.
He saw Bates at the top of the staircase, the light behind him silhouetting his tall figure in the doorway. Because of the odor, Eddie had thought that the guy was in the basement, but the sneaky bastard had been behind him.
But how could he have crept up behind me? I looked everywhere and I never saw him.
“Eddie,” Bates said in a no-nonsense voice. “Where is my wife?”
He called Rachel his wife as if they just got married yesterday—not like she’d filed for divorce four years ago. What the hell was wrong with this guy?
There would be no reasoning with him. Tanisha, may her soul rest in peace, had probably tried to reason with him.
Although it hurt to move, Eddie shifted, verified that he had not lost his Blackberry when he’d fallen. The device was sheathed in a thick, rubber belt holster that protected it from breakage in the event of falls like this.
“Where is my wife?” Bates asked, again, an edge in his voice.
The shadowed basement was a virtual labyrinth; the maze walls the stacks of computer parts and boxes that held all kinds of electronic gadgets. He was a short brother, rail-thin, and now it might really work to his advantage: if he could get away and hide somewhere down here, he could call the police.
“You haven’t answered my question,” Bates said.
Sweating, Eddie crawled forward, dragging his injured ankle behind him. Although the chamber was dark, he knew every nook and cranny of the cellar as well as he knew his own face.
He heard Bates begin to descend the stairs, heavy feet thumping on the steps. He moved with the unhurried pace of a lion that had already dealt its prey a paralyzing blow.
Eddie pulled himself around a column of old, dust-filmed computer monitors. Drawing up his legs to his chest, he rolled on his side, hissing at the pain the movement caused, and silently unholstered the Blackberry. He didn’t need the backlighting feature—he used the device so frequently that it had become like another finger.
With a shaky thumb, he speed dialed 911, cursing at the soft beep the cell emitted. He prayed that Bates didn’t hear him.
He heard Bates, however. His loud footsteps were somewhere on the other side of the basement. What was he doing?
The operator answered on the second ring.
Eddie put the phone to his mouth and whispered his name, street address, and why he was calling—because a man named Dexter Bates, wanted for several murders, had invaded his house to kill him. He hung up without waiting for the operator to reply.
They would dispatch the cops. It was standard operating procedure. If they got there in time, they would capture Bates, and this nightmare would be all over for everyone.
He needed to only survive until they got there.
He listened for Bates. He could no longer hear him. But he could smell him. The guy’s odor filled the entire basement, like smog, made Eddie want to puke.
Eddie peered around the stack of monitors.
He saw nothing. Only thick layers of shadows, and a narrow aisle flanked with computer equipment and cardboard boxes.
Where was Bates?
Suddenly, two sizzling probes burst from the darkness and attached to Eddie’s shirt. Eddie screamed as a tremendous surge of electrical current flooded his body, overpowering his central nervous system. Muscles twitching uncontrollably, he flopped on the floor, foaming at the mouth.
Above him, Bates had appeared like the conclusion of a magician’s disappearing act.
“Always wanted to use one of those on someone,” he said.
He knelt and picked up Eddie’s Blackberry. Pale blue light bathed his face as he worked the device.
“You called the cops,” Bates said.
Quivering, Eddie gagged, panted.
“There’s a text message from Joshua,” Bates said. “He’s said he’s taking the ferry to the island. What island would that be?”
Curled in fetal position, muscles like wet noodles, Eddie summoned the strength to spit at Bates.
Snarling, Bates flicked away the saliva. He grabbed Eddie’s injured ankle in both his hands.
“Last time,” Bates said. “What island?”
Eddie whispered thickly, drooling: “Kiss . . . my . . . ass . . . .”
Bates wrenched Eddie’s foot viciously, breaking the ankle as easily as a chicken’s neck.
Eddie howled. The pain was so intense he wished he could black out, fade away, anything to end the agony.
“What island?” Bates seized Eddie’s other foot and braced it between his legs. “Or I will hobble you.”
“Hyde,” Eddie said. He hated to give up Joshua and Rachel to this monster, but he didn’t have the fortitude to hold out any longer. Maybe if he gave this asshole what he wanted he could survive, and warn them. “Hyde . . . Island.”
“Hyde Island.”
No sooner had Bates spoken the words than Eddie heard a blessed siren, distant but drawing closer.
Bates cocked his head at the sound, cut a sharp gaze at Eddie.
“Please . . . don’t kill me,” Eddie said. “I’ve got a wife . . . a son. Please . . .”
Bates smiled, but it was a cruel expression. “Are you planning to father any more kids?”
“Huh? W-why?”
Bates dropped Eddie’s foot and pressed the business end of the Taser against the crotch of Eddie’s jeans.
Eddie tried to knock the stun gun away, but he was too weak. Bates pulled the trigger, sending the punishing electricity shooting through Eddie, and this time, Eddie did pass out . . . and the darkness that came was, for once, a blessing.
Chapter 57
Jimmy asked Joshua to wait on the dock once he disembarked, to give him a few minutes to handle his remaining tasks on deck. Joshua found a pay phone at the edge of the dock. He pumped in a couple of coins and dialed Eddie’s home phone number.
The line rang four times, and then voice mail picked up.
“Hey, it’s Josh. I’m on the island now, and Bates hasn’t gotten here yet. Is everything okay there? I sent you a text message a little while ago but haven’t heard from you. I’m not getting a cell signal out here, so leave me a message on my landline, all right? Let me know everything’s cool. Peace.”
Joshua hung up. He scrolled through the list of names and numbers in his Blackberry’s address book, didn’t find a number for Ariel. He would have to hope that Eddie got his message.
But he worried. Bates was so obsessive, so damn resourceful, that no one close was safe. The quiet on Eddie’s end seemed to foretell something ominous.
Jimmy left the ferry, strolled across the gangplank to the dock and waved at Joshua. “Ready, my friend?”
“Let’s go.” Joshua slung his bag over his shoulder.
They loaded into a battered, black Ford pick up that was parked in a dusty lot on the outskirts of the dock. Like he usually did when riding as a passenger, Joshua pushed the seat all the way back to make room for his legs. Jimmy steered out of the lot and onto a narrow, bumpy road.
“How far away is her place?” Joshua asked, shouting to be heard above the roaring engine.
“About two miles. Not far.”
“Are you going to tell me now why my wife is so special here?”
That brought a grin. “Ask her. Maybe she’ll tell you.”
Well, there’s a lot she hasn’t told me, Joshua wanted to say, bitterness boiling up his throat. But he kept his mouth shut. Jimmy was right. He should put all of his questions to Rachel. For once in their relationship, she would be forced to be honest with him.
The ride was rough; the road there might have been the same one used during the antebellum era. Numerous rusty cars sitting on sagging tires lined the grassy shoulder. The sun-spangled ocean was on the left, visible through the palmettos and moss-draped live oaks that
bordered the road.
Soon, they neared a white sign with blue text that read: Historic Hall Hammock. Established Circa 1857. 445 Acres. Pop. 72.
They entered a community of mostly old, modest homes and trailers that sat on high wooden foundations. A larger brick ranch house had a sign out front that advertised a bed-and-breakfast. A tiny cinderblock store sold groceries, and there was a white stucco church with a large bell.
He didn’t see anyone in the street, or in the yards, though winking Christmas lights decorated several of the residences.
“Quiet place,” Joshua said.
“Wasn’t always this way,” Jimmy said. He shook his head sadly. “Everybody’s moved to the other side. Ain’t no jobs here, no nothing. It’s dying.”
He steered around a bend in the road, and stopped at a long gravel driveway that led to a two-story, Cape Cod. The house had a fresh coat of white paint, and was in good repair. A row of palmettos ran along the back of the house, the silvery ocean visible between their narrow trunks.
“Your stop,” Jimmy said.
Joshua dug in his pocket for his wallet, but Jimmy put his hand on his arm.
“That ain’t necessary. I was only doing the girl a favor. Lord knows she deserves it for what she been through.”
“Well, thank you.”
Jimmy honked, and grumbled away in the truck.
Joshua gazed at the tree-shaded driveway, looked up at the house. In his dream, he hadn’t seen the place from the front, but this was the same model, a two-story Cape Cod on the beach. Would it have a patio and a balcony, too?
He started down the driveway. He reached the front walkway, went to climb the porch steps, and then reconsidered.
On a clear, sunny day such as today, Rachel would not be inside. She would be on the balcony, taking in the view of the sea.
He walked around the side of the house, brushing drooping palmetto leaves out of his face.
At the rear corner, he looked up. He saw the moss-braided balcony that he knew would be there.
Rachel was up there, too. Waiting for him.
Chapter 58
Leaving Eddie twitching and moaning on the basement floor, Dexter rushed out through the back door. He didn’t want to get hemmed in by the cops, though he was increasingly confident that, with his growing invincibility, a squad of armed police officers would have failed to stop him. He hurried mostly because he finally knew where his wife had gone, and he couldn’t wait to get her.
Outdoors, racing across the back yard, Dexter invoked the cloak of invisibility as easily as a man wriggling a finger. Exercising the talent no longer required an intense act of will.
He leaped over the fence at the perimeter of the yard, which placed him on the fringe of a neighborhood park. He had left his car, the Mustang he’d taken from Tanisha, parked around the corner on a quiet, elm-lined residential street. News of her murder had probably gotten out by then, so he’d taken care to switch her license plate with a tag he’d found from another vehicle.
Back behind the wheel, Dexter dug Eddie’s Blackberry out of his jacket pocket. He’d kept the PDA after he’d swiped it from the punk, knowing that it would come in handy later.
Before he’d been incarcerated, he’d used a Blackberry that the firm had loaned to him. But that had been an earlier model, and didn’t have all the bells and whistles that this gadget boasted. This one had email capabilities, Bluetooth, web surfing, the works.
Using his thumbs, he opened the web browser and did a Google search on “Hyde Island.”
Several hundred results appeared on the small display. Several of them referenced the state of Georgia, and in a few he saw a phrase that mentioned a barrier island.
He remembered the beach photo he’d seen hanging on a wall in his wife’s house. It had meant nothing to him at the time, and he’d overlooked it.
Now, he realized that it had meant everything.
“Very clever, girl,” Dexter said. “For once, you surprised me.”
He clicked on a page that included the barrier island phrase, and was rewarded with a tourism site for Hyde Island, a barrier island off the southeastern coast of Georgia. The comprehensive site included a ferry schedule and driving directions from Atlanta. The trip would take four-and-a-half hours.
The clock in the lower right-hand corner of the display indicated that it was a few minutes past noon. A ferry had left for the island a short while ago, and the last boat for the day would leave the mainland at four-thirty in the afternoon.
Dexter smiled at the serendipity of his situation.
If he drove fast, he had just enough time to catch the day’s last boat.
Chapter 59
His heart banging, Joshua mounted the balcony steps.
He dreaded this confrontation with Rachel. But he was pulled inexorably toward it, as if by the force of gravity.
He climbed the stairs.
Rachel stood in the far corner, arms folded on the railing, contemplating the ocean. She wore a white velour jogging suit and sneakers. Her hair was pulled back into a bun.
Joshua noticed a bulge on her hip, concealed by her jacket. He was certain that it was a gun. Although she had retreated to her hideaway, she was still afraid Bates would find her. He couldn’t say that he blamed her.
She didn’t turn to look at him. She continued to gaze at the water. She was so beautiful that his heartbeat stuttered, but in many ways, she was as mysterious as the vast sea that claimed her attention.
He set his bag on the floor, cleared his throat. He had thought about his opening line for this conversation over a hundred times, and now, when the moment had finally arrived, he didn’t know what to say.
Rachel spoke first, without looking at him: “So you found me. I knew you would.”
“It wasn’t easy.”
At last, she turned. Her face was unreadable. But when she looked him up and down, a hint of anguish sparked in her eyes.
“You’re hurt,” she said. “How badly?”
“It’s not as bad as it looks. I’ll live. Believe it or not, he’s worse off than I am.”
Rachel nervously tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “I-I never thought you could deal with him, Joshua. That’s why I ran away. I was afraid of what might happen to you if you had to face him.”
“That’s not why you left, and both of us know it.”
She dropped her gaze, pursed her lips. “Maybe you’re right.”
“You were running from me. You didn’t want to tell me the truth about your past.”
She raised her face to him, eyes desperate. “Do you hate me? I would understand if you do. After what I did to you . . . I deserve your hate.”
“I don’t hate you.” Joshua propped his back against the railing. Although only a few feet separated them, in the geography of their relationship, they were miles apart. “I found out a little bit about what Dexter did to you when you were married, and I’ve learned a lot about what he’s been doing since he got out of prison. The guy’s a certified psycho. Your leaving Illinois, changing your identity, is probably the only reason you’re still alive.”
“It was a living hell,” Rachel said. Tears wove down her cheeks, and she wiped them away with the heel of her hand. “Leaving behind my family, my friends, my life. All because of him. When I first moved to Atlanta, I would cry myself to sleep every night. Giving up everything . . . it didn’t seem worth it. But all that changed when I found you.” Through her tears, she managed a slight smile.
Emotion tightened Joshua’s throat. He had to restrain the urge to hold her, to stop her tears. He couldn’t do that yet. There was much left to discuss.
“If you felt that way about me, why didn’t you tell me the truth?” he asked.
“Because I was scared! I was scared to tell anyone I met in Atlanta about Dexter. Dexter was well connected . . . he knew people everywhere, and you know how folks talk. I slip up and tell someone, and word begins to travel, and the next thing you know, as soon as he
gets out of prison, he’s coming to Atlanta and showing up at my front door. I couldn’t risk telling anyone.”
“But I’m your husband. I pledged my life to you, Rachel. I deserved to know.”
“Yes, you did.” She shook her head sadly, sniffled. “But I was scared to tell you, most of all.”
“Why?”
“Come on, baby. What would you have thought of me, knowing that I’d been married to a terrible, abusive asshole who was in prison because he’d tried to kill me? Would I have been as attractive to you? Would you have wanted to be with me, knowing that when Dexter was released, he was going to track me down and try to finish what he’d failed to do the first time?”
“It wouldn’t have changed anything with me. I would’ve wanted to be with you, regardless.”
“Now don’t you start lying to me.” She laughed hollowly. “Think if I’d shared all of these things with you after we’d been dating for a couple of months. You would’ve run for the hills.”
“No, I wouldn’t have,” he said, but his voice lacked conviction. She knew him. Learning the truth of her past during the early stages of their courtship would have planted doubts, concerns. He would have asked himself if he really wanted to get involved with a woman who one day would probably be stalked by her psychotic ex-husband. The romance would have died before it had ample time to bloom.
“And then you would’ve told your mother,” Rachel said. “She would’ve talked so bad about me to you that the crap she says about me now would’ve been no comparison. She would’ve made it her mission to drive you away from me, and you might have given in and ended it.”
“Maybe,” Joshua said. “Or maybe not. You were assuming a lot.”
“But more than all of that, you were so . . . nice, so damned decent.” Her eyes were tearing up again, and she wiped them. “I was coming out of a situation where I’d been married to the devil incarnate, and I mostly blamed myself for getting involved with him, for letting him do the things to me that he did. I honestly didn’t believe that I deserved to meet a good man. But there you were.” She smiled wanly. “I guess I wanted to be a woman who was worthy of you.”
The Darkness To Come Page 26
