by Sharon Sala
Mary’s heart twisted. Her fate wasn’t nearly as certain, but she wasn’t going to tell the girls.
“Yes, darling, me, too.”
“And we will come and play with Hope.”
At the thought of her own little girl, her determination not to cry in front of them nearly splintered. Her voice was shaking as she gave them a last quick hug.
“Yes, baby…you’ll both come and play with Hope. Now go get in your places and remember, when you hear him opening the cellar door, don’t talk…don’t move.”
“Okay,” Justine said, and took Amy Anne by the hand and led her toward the stairs.
Mary jumped up quickly and began padding the beds, making it appear as if the girls were under the covers asleep. Then she poured a glass of water in the middle of the floor a good distance away from the stairs, positioned herself to look as if she’d slipped in the water and fallen, then waited for Howard Lee.
Howard Lee tossed the last of his shirts into his suitcase, emptied the drawer containing his underwear and socks on top of them, and closed the lid. The rest of his clothes that were on hangers had been loaded in the van next to the pallets he’d made for the girls. He’d packed an ice chest with food and drink and packed his camping port-a-potty into the back of the van. Now all he needed was the girls and their clothes and he was ready to go. He glanced at his watch. It was just after 2:00 p.m. If he hurried, he’d be on the road and out of the city long before rush hour hit.
He reached into his pocket to get the key to unlock the cellar door, and then stopped and looked around for the rope. He didn’t want Sophie. No, that was wrong. He had to stop thinking of her as that. Her name was Mary, and he couldn’t afford to let her go.
The rope was on the floor near the door, right beside his hunting knife. He picked up the rope, stood for a moment looking down at the knife, then bent down and dropped it in his pocket.
His expression was grim as he unlocked the padlock on the cellar. All the way down the stairs he kept telling himself he could do this—that what he was planning wasn’t a crime. A real father would do anything—even murder—to protect his family.
Then he saw her in the small pool of water—lying crumpled and still upon the floor. Her eyes were closed, her lips slightly parted, as if she’d been in the act of crying out when she’d slipped. He dropped the rope at his feet and ran toward her.
The empty glass was near her hand, the water still puddled beneath her body. He could only guess at what must have happened. He looked toward the beds and saw that the girls had gone back to sleep, which was good. It would make them easier to move to the van. But first, he needed to make sure Mary would not hinder his plans.
He bent down, reaching for her shoulders to drag her out of the way, when she suddenly came alive. Before he knew it, she had grabbed him by the ankles and yanked. He went down like a felled ox, thumping his head on the floor and momentarily knocking the wind from his body.
Mary crawled the length of his body, wrapped her arms around the upper part of his thighs, locked her legs below his knees, then held on. She held on for her life—and for Justine and Amy Anne.
“Run!” she screamed. “Run as fast as you can and don’t look back!”
Both little girls bolted up from where they’d been crouching and ran up the steps, already screaming for help, just as Mary had told them.
A low groan came up and then out of Howard Lee’s lips as he slowly came to. Almost immediately, he realized what she’d done and grabbed Mary by the hair, yanking viciously as he struggled to get free.
“You bitch! You bitch! You’re ruining everything. Let me go!”
Mary ducked her head, shielding her face from his blows and tightened her grip.
Howard Lee struggled to sit up, but couldn’t shake Mary’s grasp. Then he heard the sound of little girls screaming and realized they were gone. Rage swamped him.
“What have you done? What have you done?” he screamed, then doubled up his fists and began raining blow after blow upon her shoulders and the back of her head as they rolled from side to side on the wet floor.
Mary cried out in pain, adding her own screams for help and prayed for a miracle.
“How far away from Raleigh Avenue?” Daniel asked.
“About three blocks. The house should be in the middle of the block on the left,” Bobby Joe said, downshifted to pass a biker, then shifted back into high gear as soon as they were past him. “Think we should call Arnaud?”
“And tell him what? That we’re looking for the man from a dream?”
“Yeah, right,” Bobby Joe said and then suddenly braked when two little girls darted out from between some shrubbery and ran into the street.
“Son of a—”
He swerved sideways, bringing the car to a sliding halt only inches from the little girls’ feet. Immediately, he and Daniel were out and running.
“Help! Help!” they screamed.
“It’s okay, it’s okay,” Daniel said, and went down on his knees, gathering both girls in his arms. “You’re all right. The car didn’t hit you.” Then he looked up and around, expecting to see a parent somewhere nearby.
“Where are your parents?” he asked.
“We don’t know. The man took us. He wouldn’t let us go home. Mary grabbed him and told us to run. She said to yell for help, so we ran and ran. You have to call the police before the man finds us again.”
Daniel’s heart skipped a beat as he took her by the arms and held her still.
“Who’s Mary? Please, baby…who’s Mary?” he asked.
Justine shivered. “The man brought her. She slept with us and she yelled at the man. She made him mad.”
Daniel started to shake. “Honey…what’s your name?”
“Justine.” Then she tugged on the other girl’s hand. “This is Amy Anne. Mary said we could go home.”
“Sweet God,” Daniel said, and then picked them up in his arms and ran toward the car, yelling at Bobby Joe as he went. “Call 9-1-1. Tell them we found the missing girls and tell them to contact Arnaud.”
Bobby Joe yanked his phone from his pocket as Daniel slid into the seat, still holding both girls in his arms.
“Honey, are you okay? Did the man hurt you? Is Mary okay?”
“Do you know our Mary?” Justine asked.
It was all Daniel could do to answer without coming undone.
“Yes, honey, I know Mary. She’s my Mary, too.”
Justine smiled. “She wants to go home.”
“Where is she, honey? Did the man keep you in his house?”
“Not exactly,” Justine said.
“Then where. You have to tell me, honey, so I can go find her.”
“Kind of like a basement, only nicer than the one at my house.”
“Okay. That’s a good girl. Mary will be proud of you.”
Bobby Joe jumped into the car.
“The dispatcher patched me through to Arnaud. He’s already on the way, and there was a cruiser only a couple of blocks from here. They’ll be here any minute.”
Daniel could hear the sounds of an approaching siren, but Mary had obviously put herself between the children and danger to make sure they escaped. He owed it to her to make sure they were safe.
“You stay with the girls,” he said. “I’m going after Mary.”
Bobby Joe frowned. “No way, man. Don’t leave me alone with two kids.”
Daniel set both the little girls in the seat beside Bobby Joe.
“They won’t hurt you,” he said. “Consider them little women in waiting, use your considerable charm on them until the police get here and you’ll be fine.”
“Damn it, Daniel, don’t—”
Daniel was out of the car and running before Bobby Joe could finish. The last thing he heard was one of them telling Bobby Joe that he shouldn’t say bad words. If he hadn’t been so scared, he would have laughed.
Howard Lee couldn’t believe what was happening. He’d beaten this woman almost se
nseless and she still wouldn’t let go. With unfettered rage, he thrust his hands into her hair and pulled, yanking her head backward and baring the tender underside of her throat. At that moment, he remembered his knife.
“I’ll show you,” he shrieked. “You’ll be sorry you came between me and my girls.”
He turned loose of her hair and began trying to get his hands in his pockets, while Mary struggled to stay conscious.
Every bone in her body throbbed from the beating she was taking and her vision kept going in and out of focus. She was so tired and too weak to hold on much longer, but letting go meant certain death. She heard him muttering and cursing and closed her ears to the sounds. She couldn’t think about what he was doing to her. All she could do was hold on.
Daniel ran, his long legs marking off the distance between him and Mary Faith. He took shortcuts through lush, green lawns and down the alleys between houses, startling one lady who was in her backyard watering flowers and causing dogs in neighboring yards to start barking. The woman jumped back in fright, thinking she was about to be attacked. When Daniel ran past her instead, she dashed into her house and locked the door.
Daniel ran with Mary’s name in his heart, remembering what Justine had said, that Mary grabbed the man by the legs and then told them to run. God. He’d never known she had that kind of strength. He needed to find her. He needed to find her alive—so that he could tell her how proud he was to call her his wife. He lengthened his stride, and moments later come out of an alley from between two houses to find himself in the middle of Raleigh Avenue. He paused briefly, his heart pounding and gasping for breath, uncertain of which way to go. The houses in front of him had no house numbers and the one behind him was missing two and the others were so faded he couldn’t read them.
He turned in place, trying to find a numbered house on which to fix his location, and as he did, saw an elderly man coming toward him on the sidewalk with a small dog on a leash.
“Which way to 1449 Raleigh?” he yelled.
The man pointed over his shoulder.
Daniel bolted past him, praying for strength as he ran.
Halfway down the block, he began hearing the faint, but persistent, shriek of sirens. Although help was on the way, it didn’t slow his steps. Moments later, he saw the numbers he’d been looking for, then the front door standing ajar at the house. He remembered the panicked looks on those little girls’ faces, imagining their terror as they made their escape. In two long steps, he cleared the curb and was running through the yard.
Even before he was inside, he heard them fighting. Male rage mingling with a woman’s weak, high-pitched shrieks sent a rush of adrenaline through his body. He hit the porch on the run, shouting Mary’s name as he went.
Howard Lee’s shirt was stuck to his body. His straight, Dutch-boy haircut was wet with sweat as he struggled to get the hunting knife out of his pocket.
“Move, bitch, move,” he screamed, and whacked at Mary’s shoulder with his fist. He felt her flinch, but she wouldn’t let go and he couldn’t get his hand in his pocket.
Mary continued to fight, screaming when she could gather the breath. A few seconds ago she’d thought she’d heard Daniel’s voice and knew that was impossible. Daniel didn’t know where she was. Maybe she was dying.
Suddenly, Howard Lee bucked and she went flying across the floor before hitting the wall in a sliding thump. Instantly, she rolled to her hands and knees as Howard Lee was pulling the knife from his pocket. She struggled to her feet and looked around for a weapon, but there was nothing. When he started toward her, she began backing up, using her hands for a shield as Howard Lee slide the blade from its sheath.
The sight of the weapon splintered her courage.
“Oh God…no, please no,” Mary begged, and reached behind her, her fingernails raking the concrete surface of the walls as she faced her mortality.
“You destroyed my family!” Howard Lee shrieked.
Mary couldn’t believe what she was hearing. He was going to kill her and then blame her for her own death? Not while she had breath in her body. She yanked the spread from one of the beds and wrapped it around her arm as he came at her.
“You’re crazy! You don’t have daughters. You stole someone else’s. I’m not your wife! I belong to—”
“Mary! Mary!”
Mary gasped. That was Daniel! She hadn’t imagined it before. She could hear him calling her name.
“Here!” she screamed. “I’m down here!”
Before Howard Lee could turn around, Daniel hit him from behind in a tackle worthy of the NFL. Howard Lee grunted. The knife went flying out of his hands. Once again, he went down, this time reaching outward and bracing himself for the fall. As he hit, his neck popped and he bit his own tongue. The coppery taste of blood spurted inside his mouth as he struggled to right himself beneath the weight of the man’s body, but it was no use. Instead, he covered his head with his hands and started begging for mercy.
Reese Arnaud and Bobby Joe Killian came to a sliding halt in front of the house on Raleigh Street at almost the same time. They both came out of their cars, armed and running.
“Look for a basement,” Bobby Joe yelled, as he vaulted onto the porch. “The kid said he kept them in a basement.”
They entered the living room, one only a half step behind the other and then followed the sounds of the high-pitched screams into the bedroom, then down the cellar steps.
Reese was the first to reach bottom.
“Get Mary out of here,” he yelled, and stepped aside as Bobby Joe dashed past. Then he holstered his gun and moved toward Daniel. He needed to pull him off the man before he killed him.
“Daniel! Daniel…let him go!”
But Daniel didn’t relent, which left Reese with the job of making it happen. He wrapped his arms around Daniel’s upper body and pulled, wrenching the beaten and bloody man out of Daniel’s grasp and leaving him limp and moaning on the floor.
Daniel spun, his fists still doubled, at the ready to throw another punch when he realized it was Reese.
“Son of a bitch,” he muttered, and then took a deep, shuddering breath.
“Leave enough for me to arrest, and go tend to your wife.”
Mary! Daniel spun, his gaze wide and frantic. Then he saw her slumped over on the bed. Bobby Joe stood between them, his gun still drawn. Daniel’s legs were shaking as he took the first step. Was she all right? Had he come too late?
“Ah God…Mary.”
She staggered to her feet and into his arms.
The moment Daniel’s arms went around her, Mary started to cry—huge, choking sobs that ripped up her throat and burned the back of her nostrils. She threw her arms around his neck and pressed herself fast to his strength, praying that this wasn’t another horrible dream and that he was really, truly here.
“The girls…the girls…did you find them? Are they okay?”
“Yes, baby…the girls are fine. We found them a few minutes ago.”
“Thank God,” Mary muttered, then felt the world going black.
Daniel caught her as she fainted, then swept her up in his arms. He looked down at Howard Lee, his rage still intact.
“Consider yourself lucky, you miserable son of a bitch. I would have killed you for what you did.”
With Reese Arnaud already in the act of hand-cuffing the man, he sidestepped what was left of Howard Lee and carried Mary up and out of the basement, knowing Bobby Joe was right behind him. Sunlight hit him full in the face as he walked out of the house. He looked down at Mary, wincing at the array of bruising that he could see, and started to cry.
“There’s an ambulance on the way,” Bobby Joe said.
“I won’t let her go.”
Bobby Joe put a hand on Daniel’s shoulder.
“That’s all right, buddy. You don’t have to. You’ll be with her all the way.”
Mary woke up in the ambulance and began to struggle.
“Let me go. Let me go,” she mumbl
ed. “Got to find the girls.”
Daniel leaned over and cupped her face. “Mary…honey…the girls are fine. You’re on your way to the hospital and I’ll be with you every step of the way.”
“Can’t close my eyes…don’t close my eyes. He’ll take them away.”
“He can’t touch you, baby. He’ll never bother anyone again.”
“Don’t drink the juice. It will put you to sleep.”
“God Almighty,” Daniel said, and laid his face against her shoulder.
The paramedic put his hand on Daniel’s shoulder.
“Hey, mister, she’s going to be okay.”
Daniel nodded through tears. “Yes, I know, but I’m not so sure about myself.”
Chapter 15
Mary woke up once in the night, panicked at the unfamiliar surroundings, then she saw Daniel slumped over in a chair beside her bed.
Is this real or am I dreaming?
“Daniel?”
He jerked. Seconds later he was on his feet and at her side.
“Baby…what’s wrong? Are you in pain? Do you want me to get the nurse?”
“No. I just needed to touch you…to know if you were real.”
Daniel took her hand and lifted it to his lips, pressing a kiss in the palm of her hand.
“I’m real, baby…and so are you.” He drew a deep, shuddering breath. “God, Mary…I’ve never been so scared.”
“Me, too.”
Gently, he lifted the wayward strands of hair from her forehead, then bent down and kissed her.
“The girls…they told us what you did. I am so proud of you.”
“Are they all right?”
“Yes…oh, and Reese said that Justine wanted you to know that Amy Anne talked. Is that important?”
Mary closed her eyes briefly, picturing the silent child with horror-filled eyes.
“Very important. She was the first one he took. She was alone with that…that man…for almost a month before he took Justine. By that time she wouldn’t make eye contact or react in any manner to what was happening. All the time I was with them I kept thinking…what if this had happened to Hope?”
