by Jason Dean
‘And he kept you drugged the whole time?’
Sylvia nodded. ‘And fed. Water, too, whenever I asked for it. But I had to ask for it. There was also a filthy toilet down there, and he let me do my business whenever I needed to. Then he’d tie me down on the bed again.’
‘Yet you got out somehow.’
She looked out the side window. ‘Well, after one bathroom break, he tied me up again and I saw there was more give than usual around my left wrist. So I finally got myself free a few hours ago and grabbed an old rag that used to be a sweatshirt. Then I stood behind the door, and the next time he unlocked it, I slammed an elbow into the back of his neck and he went down and I ran. I was still doped up, but I saw some stairs and ran up them into some kind of a utility room. There were two doors. I opened one, and I was suddenly outside in the middle of nowhere with fields all around. So I just ran. And I kept running. Once I got to town, I stole some clothes and you pretty much know the rest.’
She looked up at the sky. It was still overcast. She tried to watch the landscape passing by on her right, but she couldn’t see much. They drove in silence for a while.
Then the man said, ‘Are the cops around here crooked?’
‘I don’t know,’ she said without turning round. ‘But they’d take his side, I know that much. It’s my word against his, and he’s got plenty of buddies who’ll back up whatever story he wants to give them.’
‘A simple DNA test would back up your version.’
She shook her head. ‘He was pretty careful about that side of it. No evidence.’
‘What about the two in the dumpster? Think the cops will find them?’
‘I doubt it. Once Beard Man wakes up and sees his pal’s body next to him, he’ll find a way to get rid of it without any fuss. They won’t want this getting out.’
‘So once I get you home, what’s to stop them coming after you there?’
‘They wouldn’t dare.’ She turned to him and said, ‘I live alone with my dad, who’s also a pretty influential guy around here. And he’s got money. I’ll give him some story about a couple of wild parties that got out of hand, and he’ll believe me. I can’t tell him the real story – he’s old, and the truth would tear him apart. Since Mom died, I’m all he’s got. But once those bastards realize I haven’t told him or the cops, they’ll back off altogether. I know how they think.’
He frowned, but didn’t say anything more. He was obviously the strong, silent type, which was fine with Sylvia. Part of her wondered what he was thinking, but it was a very small part. It didn’t really matter. Besides, they’d reach the house in a few minutes, and after that they’d never see each other again.
She faced front and watched the headlight beams hit the road ahead. There were no other lights out here and nothing but fields on either side. The occasional vehicle passed them heading back towards town. Other than that, they could have been on the moon. They drove on. Minutes passed in silence.
The dashboard clock read 01.22 when Sylvia spotted the familiar building in the distance. Out on its own. It was the first house they’d seen in miles.
‘That’s me,’ she said.
NINE
As they got closer, she could see that none of the house lights were on. At least none visible from the road. The driver began to slow the vehicle. ‘This is your place?’
‘That’s right.’ She turned to him. ‘Why, do you know it?’
‘I must have passed this way when I drove into Hartsville this afternoon. I thought the road looked familiar. I remember seeing this old mansion and wondering why it was way out on its own like this.’
‘Oh. Well, he . . . Dad owns a lot of the surrounding land, that’s all. And he’s always liked the peace and quiet you get out in the sticks.’ She pointed ahead and said, ‘There’s a large entranceway coming up on your left. You see it?’
A moment later, he said, ‘I see it,’ and geared down. Then he turned on to the gravel driveway and slowly took them up the slight incline towards the large two-storey house a hundred yards away.
‘At the top of this,’ she said, ‘you’ll want to take the left fork and carry on past the garage towards the rear of the house. I’ll go in through the servants’ kitchen. I don’t want to wake Dad or any of the staff.’
The driver gave a grunt of acknowledgement and carried on. When they reached the fork, he steered left and took them on a circular route past the four-car garage and round to the side of the house. When the headlight beams caught the long row of small eucalyptus trees that marked the beginning of the garden, he brought the car to a stop but left the engine running. Sylvia looked over at the house, and the side door that led directly to the kitchen.
‘I really appreciate what you’ve done for me,’ she said, unclipping her seat belt.
‘Sure.’ He turned to her. ‘So, you planning on letting him get away with it?’
She gave him a thin smile. ‘I’ve got a long memory and I can be patient when I have to be. He’ll get what’s coming to him, believe me. And when he least expects it.’
He nodded. ‘I believe you.’
‘What about you? You’re not going back into town, are you?’
‘After this? I don’t think so. I believe I’ll be moving on.’
‘Just another traveller passing through.’
‘That’s me all right.’
Sylvia opened the door and the interior light came on. For the first time she realized that the man was very attractive, in a stern kind of way. It was those pale blue eyes of his more than anything else. A woman could get lost in those eyes. Sylvia herself might have made a play for him once. But not now. She’d been through too much over the last few days. But that didn’t mean she wasn’t grateful for what he’d done.
She offered him her hand. He looked down at it for a moment, then took his right hand from the wheel and shook it. He had a strong grip. His skin felt dry against her damp palm. She also noticed that part of his pinkie finger was missing. She had a feeling there was an interesting story there, but she had more than enough drama in her own life right now.
‘Take care of yourself,’ she said, releasing her grip.
He stared at her, still frowning a little. ‘I’d say that goes double for you.’
‘Oh, I’ll be fine,’ she said, and got out the car.
After shutting the door, she walked over to the kitchen entrance and watched as he made a smooth K-turn. Once the Toyota was pointing in the right direction, he raised a hand and slowly pulled away back down the driveway and out of her life. She waited until the vehicle completely disappeared round the curve, and then turned and tried the kitchen door handle. It was unlocked, as she’d hoped.
She stepped into the house and gently closed the door behind her. The undraped windows to her left looked out on to the vast expanse of the rear gardens. Although she couldn’t see it, she knew there was a small brick lodge out there where the cook had his quarters. She glanced around the kitchen area. It looked clean and tidy and smelled faintly of ammonia. She listened very carefully, but couldn’t hear any sounds at all. The house was totally quiet.
She made her way over to the door and stepped out into the main hallway. It was very dark in this part of the house, but she knew the place like the back of her hand and could navigate easily enough. She walked down the carpeted passageway, passing a number of doors and ending up in the main lobby at the front of the house. She could hear the heavy tick-tock of the grandfather clock standing a few feet away from the main staircase.
There was a set of double doors on the other side of the lobby. Sylvia carefully opened the left-hand one – the other one always creaked – and entered the vast living room. A second door, situated fifty feet in front of her, led to the library cum office. There was a thin sliver of light under the door, as she’d known there would be.
He was a night owl, and old habits died hard.
She carefully made her way across the living room, glancing briefly at the place on the wall
where she knew the framed Robert Mitchum movie poster was, and finally stood before the closed door. She put her ear against the wood and listened, but she couldn’t hear anything from within.
Taking a deep breath, she placed her left hand on the door handle. Here we go.
She pressed down on the handle and pushed the door open.
The grey-haired man was sitting behind his oak desk, as usual, making notations on something or other. He looked up and saw her standing in the doorway, and his eyes widened. ‘Sylvia,’ he said, and began to reach for the drawer at his left.
Sylvia quickly pulled the gun from her waistband and aimed it at his head. ‘Don’t even think about it.’
TEN
Lyle Braddock immediately pulled his hand back and clutched the armrest of his chair. He was wearing a black silk kimono that she hadn’t seen before. But then she already knew he had a vast collection of clothes. Probably a different kimono for each day of the month. Right now, he looked much older than his fifty-five years. The slicked-back grey hair was much thinner than she remembered, and there seemed to be a lot more lines around his face. Or maybe she was just seeing him as he really was. A washed-out older man trying to recapture his youth any way he could. And to think she’d once found him attractive and distinguished.
‘What the hell you doing here?’ he said.
‘I bet I was the last person you expected to see, right?’ she said. For the first time in days, she felt in control. She was still tense, but the gun in her hand helped calm her nerves.
She took in the room again. Lyle called it a library, but it was one without any books. He wasn’t much of a reader. The rear wall was taken up by floor-to-ceiling windows that looked out on to the rear gardens, plus a steel-framed glass door. A massive LCD screen filled another wall, while the other two were hung with enlarged shots of a much younger Lyle on the NASCAR race circuit in Talladega. Either close-ups of him in the driving seat or long shots of his various race cars. Nowadays he mainly helped finance other drivers. Among other pursuits. And made a fortune in the process.
She stepped closer until she was just a couple of feet from the oak desk. ‘So all your boys are out looking for me, leaving you here all alone. Lucky for me.’
Lyle’s Adam’s apple moved up and down. She could see he was scared and trying to hide it. ‘How d’you get here?’ he asked.
‘I hitched a ride.’ She thought briefly of the stranger who’d just entered and exited her life. After what he’d done for her, she felt a little bad about lying to him. Well, maybe not lying, exactly. Embellishing was a better word. For instance, she’d never known her father. She’d barely been out of Pampers when he’d deserted her and Mom, never to be seen again. And she didn’t come from around here at all, but from North Carolina. She’d only been living in Hartsville for the last six months, with three of those spent in this house. As for Lyle Braddock, the closest he ever got to the local political scene was when he screwed the mayor’s pretty young secretary once a week. And while he didn’t have a son, there was a creepy nephew called Michael that Lyle liked having round for some reason. Probably to do his dirty work for him.
There hadn’t been any car pursuit, either. Lyle had simply dragged her down to his basement once he’d caught her red-handed at the living room safe. But the drugs and the beatings and the psychological torture were all real. He’d even threatened to hand her over to his boys if she didn’t give up her daughter’s whereabouts. He hadn’t followed through on that particular threat, but he’d still had his way with her whenever the urge came to him. That had been the worst. That the two of them had been in a relationship prior to this made no difference. Rape was still rape.
‘You sick bastard,’ she said. ‘Just how long were you planning to keep me tied up in that basement of yours? A week? Longer? Or just until I told you where Becky was?’
He said nothing. Just glared at her, his eyes blazing.
‘Three days you kept me down there in that shithole. Three whole days. All I wanted was to get my passport and the deeds to my mom’s place that you took from me, and then get the hell out. That was all I wanted. But you just couldn’t let me go, could you?’
‘You were tryin’ to steal from me too,’ he said. ‘Couldn’t let you do that.’
‘I didn’t want your damn money, Lyle. I’m no thief. I just wanted out. But the great Lyle Braddock had to keep me around at his beck and call, no matter what, didn’t he? And what better way than to hold my documents and my daughter as bargaining chips? Fortunately, I thought ahead and got Becky away from here before I made my move. That’s one thing I did right, at least.’
‘So where the hell is she?’
‘Safe, and well out of your reach. That’s all you need to know.’
In fact, her darling Becky was currently four hundred miles away in South Carolina, under the temporary guardianship of Lisa Drummond, her closest and most trusted friend since third grade. And most important of all, someone whose existence Lyle was totally unaware of.
Sylvia had wanted to exit the relationship the moment she discovered Lyle was cheating on her. That had been a month ago. She later learned that he had numerous women around town for that very purpose. And probably more she didn’t even know about. But she also knew she couldn’t just walk out on him. Not Lyle Braddock. He was a rich man, and like most rich men, he had an overriding need for control in all aspects of his life. He had a violent temper, too. She’d witnessed that aspect of his character a fortnight ago, when she’d seen him and his boys cripple a local guy who’d owed him money. And he’d probably done a lot worse to others who’d crossed him in some way.
The last straw was when she discovered he’d found the house deeds Mom had left her in her will and stashed them in his own safe, along with Sylvia’s passport. For safe keeping, he said, but Sylvia knew better. He must have sensed her plans somehow and decided to act first. And it seemed he always had some excuse to avoid giving her the combination, too. Anything to stay in control. But that only made her more determined.
She had kept her anger in check and made her arrangements.
It took weeks of searching the house before she finally found what she hoped was the safe combination. That had been four days ago. It was written in biro on the back of a business card she’d found in an old snakeskin wallet of his. In the meantime, she’d been in contact with Lisa and arranged for Becky to stay with her and her fiancé for a short while. She didn’t know what security safeguards Lyle had in place for the safe, and she wasn’t about to risk opening it while her daughter was there. So she’d taken Becky out of school and driven her the two hundred miles to Anderson, where Lisa had been waiting to take her the rest of the way to her home in Woodleaf, a further two hundred miles away. Sylvia had driven back, and waited until the middle of the night before accessing Lyle’s safe. That was when everything had turned to shit.
‘How did you know I’d opened the safe in the first place, Lyle? You were fast asleep in bed when I left you, and I was quiet as a mouse.’
Lyle gave a loud exhalation. ‘I got me a security camera hidden in the ceiling. Also got a silent alarm that activates any time anybody turns on the lights. That’s connected to my phone, which I always leave on the bedside table. I woke up when it started beeping and saw you were gone, so I figured I’d wait a few minutes then go and see what I could see. Didn’t surprise me at all to find you with my emergency stash in your mitts. Gold-diggin’ bitch.’
‘You shouldn’t talk like that to a woman with a gun,’ Sylvia said, and stepped closer. Lyle instinctively rolled his chair back a few feet, keeping his distance. She came part of the way round and perched on a corner of the desk. The gun barrel was still locked on his head.
‘Say you’re sorry and that you didn’t mean it.’
Lyle swallowed as he stared at the barrel. ‘Sorry,’ he said. ‘I didn’t mean it.’
‘I almost believe you. But this security camera means there’s footage of me on a hard drive so
mewhere. I don’t want that hanging over me the rest of my life. Where is it?’
He glanced behind him at the two black steel cabinets set against the wall. ‘In the left-hand cupboard.’
She nodded at the flat-screen computer monitor on the desk next to her. ‘You can access the footage on here, right?’
‘Right.’
‘Show me.’
With one eye on the gun, Lyle slowly rolled the chair forward until he was in his usual place in front of the keyboard. He toggled the mouse and the monitor woke up. Sylvia watched him open up a folder and scroll down the list. He double-clicked on a file and the media player automatically opened up.
The screen was completely black except for the viewing controls at the bottom. Lyle brought the cursor down and dragged the playhead on the time bar to the right. When the screen lit, he let it play in normal time.
Sylvia stayed perched on the edge of the desk and angled her head in order to see better. The footage was in black and white, but the resolution was very good. She watched herself approaching the framed Thunder Road poster in the living room next door. She was wearing the dark silk robe Lyle had lent her. She moved her hand up the side of the frame until she found the latch, then opened the frame as far as its hinges allowed. Behind it, flush with the wall, was a small steel safe, and next to it, a keypad. She pressed six buttons on the keypad and the safe door opened an inch. She swung it open the rest of the way, then reached in and pulled out the small manila envelope holding her documents. She also took out a wad of bills and slowly flipped through it. She was peering into the safe, about to return the money, when she heard Lyle entering the room behind her and turned. Although he was out of shot, he’d been holding a gun on her just like this one.
