Ashley
“Damn it!” Ashley pounded the steering wheel over and over as the time on the dashboard clock ticked over to 7:01 pm. “Damn it! Damn it!”
Though she kept driving, way too fast, she was too late. She’d been delayed by road works and that had cost her twenty minutes. She’d been speeding the whole way toward the remote farmhouse, but it wasn’t enough. It didn’t matter that she was less than two minutes away. His instructions had been clear: be on time or Lucy would get hurt.
Missing Rowe’s deadline felt like an explosion in her heart. She’d thought she could handle this, but she’d stumbled at the first hurdle. As the countryside raced past, lit only by the vehicle’s headlights, she hoped Rowe would cut her some slack. He was a monster, but all of his victims had been grown women, not children. She hoped desperately that he wouldn’t take out his anger on Lucy.
Her phone beeped, and Ashley knew what it would be even before she opened the message. She gasped, and the car swerved. The photo was dark, but it showed a blade slicing into Lucy’s thigh, crimson blood spilling over her creamy white skin. Ashley howled with pain and rage. This was all Ashley’s fault.
After another minute, sobbing furiously as she sped along, she turned off the main road and into the driveway of the farm. Gravel crunched under the wheels of the car and she took in every detail that was illuminated by the headlights. She was frightened, but she had no choice but to keep pushing on. She now knew Duncan would take out his frustration on Lucy, and Ashley would do anything to prevent that from happening.
Ashley pulled the car to a stop about 50 yards back from the homestead. All the lights were out, and she couldn’t see any movement inside. But somewhere in there was her little girl, in desperate fear and pain. Despite her own fear, Ashley was going to end this and protect her little girl.
Not taking her eyes off the house, she wound down all the electric windows and cranked the radio as loud as it would go. She rummaged through the pack on the seat next to her, finding the things she needed. Then she reached for the pistol, took a deep breath, and killed the car headlights.
“I can do this.” Her voice was barely a whisper as Ashley stared out of the car into total darkness.
The car beeped as Ashley opened the door, but that sound was masked by the thrashing rock music. The vehicle stayed dark, because she’d turned off the interior light. Darkness was her friend as she crouched low and moved away from the car. She doubted she had more than a few moments until Rowe grew impatient watching from inside. She was counting on it.
She wanted to rescue her daughter, but she wasn’t going to walk right into his trap. She had no doubt he’d kill Lucy in front of her, then move on to her. The only way to stop him was to mess with those plans. He knew Lucy was the only bait that would lure her in. Ashley hated thinking of Lucy like that, but she had to.
Gripping the pistol and the kitchen knife, she stalked toward the house. He’d tormented her for long enough. She was going to put him in the ground.
64
Duncan
Duncan snarled as the rock music switched to another song, the third since the car had parked and the headlights had gone out. He wasn’t sure what game Ashley was playing, but he wasn’t enjoying it. On the plus side, there were no sirens. Ashley hadn’t told the cops about his message. She had made other mistakes, though.
“Your mother is a very stupid woman, Lucy.” Duncan turned to the little girl, who was sobbing hysterically. “What’s she playing at?”
He waited for the little girl to talk, but she didn’t say a word. With a sigh, Duncan turned back to the car. He was sure he’d be able to see if the car door had opened and Ashley had climbed out. For some reason, she was staying in the vehicle. Duncan watched for several more minutes, waiting for movement, but there was none. As the music changed again, he finally lost the last of his patience and turned away from the window.
“You’re going to wait here,” Duncan told Lucy as he tied her tightly to the leg of a table. “I’m going to kill your mother.”
As the girl wailed, Duncan scooped up the property owner’s shotgun and stalked toward the front door. When he reached it, he removed the keys, stepped outside and locked the door behind him. Short of smashing a window and making a bunch of noise, there was now no way for Ashley Wheeler to get inside. He was standing between her and her daughter, far more capable of violence than she was.
“Your delaying will cost you dearly!” His shouts probably couldn’t be heard over the music, but with each step he took toward the car he brought the shotgun up slightly more. The message should be clear. He paused a few feet away and then shouted again. “Get the fuck out of the car, Ashley!”
He stood, the shotgun pointed at the windshield in the pale moonlight, his muscles tensed. The longer he waited, the more doubt crept into his mind. He couldn’t understand why she’d deliberately antagonize him, not when he had her daughter. With a snarl, he lowered the barrel and fired a shot at the front grill. The shotgun blast drowned out the music for just a second, but still Ashley stayed in the car.
“Last chance!” He pumped the shotgun and roared with rage. “Keep me waiting any longer and I’ll stick a blade in Lucy’s stomach.”
Still nothing. Duncan stepped closer to the car. He pulled open the door and blinked several times. She wasn’t inside. In the dim moonlight he could see nothing in the front except a rucksack on the passenger seat. He turned around quickly. He didn’t need her sneaking up on him.
He took a step back and looked around. Ashley was nowhere to be seen. He couldn’t sense any movement anywhere. He started to walk back to the house, enraged. He couldn’t believe the woman would be so callous with her daughter’s life. She’d been as cruel to her own daughter as she had been to him a decade ago.
He wasn’t concerned about Ashley getting to Lucy. Even if she had the means to get inside the house, there was no way she’d be able to untie her daughter. The knot was tight, and he had no intention of untying the little girl, either before or after he killed her.
All she had done was make him mad.
He raised the shotgun and fired it into the air. The hunt was on.
65
Ashley
Ashley gripped the pistol tightly as she heard the boom of the shotgun. She’d continued her long run around the property to the back of the house. The shot told her Duncan had discovered her simple ruse and was coming for her. She’d swallowed her fear when she’d exited the car, but now fear himself was coming for her.
She only had a moment to act. She pulled up short for a second, staring at the back of the small family homestead. The owners must be either dead or out of town. She couldn’t think about that right now. Her daughter was inside and her tormenter was outside. The time she’d bought herself was almost up.
Ashley felt, at this moment, exactly how she’d felt back when he’d attacked her and stalked her. She was being hunted by a predator, but hidden. She could stay hidden, as she had so many years ago, but this time she had a whole lot more to lose. She thought of Lucy, terrified and in pain. She wouldn’t let her daughter be subjected to this man’s insanity, wouldn’t let him use her to get what he really wanted.
This time, she had to emerge from the shadows and fight him.
She tried to open the back door, but it was locked. Ashley cursed softly and peered into the window next to the door. The house was totally dark. Her plan relied on quickly being able to get in and then out of the house with Lucy in tow. The darkness meant she was going in blind, with no advantage.
That wouldn’t stop her. She gripped the pistol and smashed the window in front of her. It broke loudly, shattering into large shards, some of which fell onto her. Stealth was no longer an option. She used the butt of the pistol to chip away the last of the glass, then took off her sweater and draped it over the window.
“Mommy?” The voice was soft, a whisper, but it was unmistakable. “Mommy?”
Ashley’s voice caught in her
throat before she had a chance to reply. She didn’t know exactly where Lucy was, but she could tell she was close. Ashley started to climb inside the window. She had one leg inside and the other halfway over when something in her pocket began to vibrate, and a split second later started to ring. She froze, then cursed, realizing her phone wasn’t on silent. She fumbled for it, still straddling the window, and cut the call.
“Too late.” Rowe’s voice was molten fury. “You’re not half as smart as you think you are, Ashley.”
Her eyes widened at the sound of his voice. She turned and saw him, a cell phone lit up in his hand and a shotgun pointed at her. “I—”
The butt of the shotgun rushed toward her face and slammed into it hard.
66
Duncan
“Finally!” Duncan let his arms fall away from under Ashley, dropping her in an unceremonious, unconscious heap onto the bed. “Together again!”
Duncan took a step back and admired his handiwork. Ashley was sprawled on the bed and her daughter was tied up next to her, screaming as she tried desperately to rouse her mother. Duncan smiled. Though he didn’t want to torment the girl, Ashley had pissed Duncan off with her constant attempts to trick him. He’d been quite clear: turn up, alone and on time, or the girl gets hurt.
Instead, she’d been late, tried to sneak into the house, and failed.
Slamming the butt of the shotgun into her face hadn’t been the subtlest move, but it had been the easiest way to subdue her and regain his dominance after so much fucking around. Now he had both Ashley and Lucy Wheeler exactly where he wanted them – subdued, restrained, and under his guard.
“Mom? Mommy?”
Duncan smiled at the sound of Lucy Wheeler’s voice, the girl crying for her mother. He leaned in close. “Is she awake?”
“It’s okay, baby.” Ashley’s voice was groggy as her arm moved slowly and pulled her daughter into a cuddle. “I’m here now. It’s going to be fine.”
“No, it’s not.” Duncan’s voice interrupted the tender moment, and he enjoyed seeing Ashley tense and pull her daughter closer. He still had something of value to take away from her, a way to punish her for all she’d put him through. “It’s really not.”
Ashley started to speak. “Duncan, I—”
“No!” His shout was far louder than he’d intended. “I’ve had enough of your apologies, your promises, your bargains, your lies.”
Duncan looked down at Lucy Wheeler. Ashley tried to pull her closer, to shield her daughter from his gaze, but Duncan leaned in further, until he was just inches from the girl’s face. In the dim light of the single lamp he’d turned on, he enjoyed seeing the terror that washed across Lucy’s face. He wondered if a child seeing the devil himself would be more terrified. She started to cry.
“Leave her alone, you bastard!” Ashley’s spittle sprayed him as she shrieked. “It’s me you want. She’s just a little girl!”
“She would have remained that, if you had cooperated.” He didn’t take his gaze off Lucy as he spoke. “It’s time for a lesson, Lucy, about mommy. You see, ten years ago, years before you were born, your mom and I had a lovely relationship. We dated. I wanted more.”
“It wasn’t a relationship, you sick fuck!” Ashley started to sob. “It was one fucking date, after which you tried to rape me.”
“I. Do. Not. Want. To. Hear. It.” Duncan was inches from her face now, close enough to see her fear and smell her breath. “You led me on and then broke my heart!”
“You’re delusional, Duncan,” she hissed, when he finally paused. “I agreed to go on a date with you because I felt sorry for you.”
“I would’ve looked after you. I would’ve been good to you, not like that scumbag ex-husband of yours.” Duncan glared at her, then turned to Lucy. “You could have been my daughter, Lucy. We could have been happy. But your mother had other ideas. She ran from me, so I had to punish those other women on her behalf.”
Duncan sighed. Things could have been so much better.
67
Ashley
“Now the consequences must be greater.”
Rowe’s words chilled Ashley. She’d underestimated the degree of pain his delusions about her had caused. Now he was scolding her for breaking their deal, then for her amateurish rescue attempt. Finally, in a cold, quiet voice, he promised them pain.
Then again, he’d been promising pain for several minutes now. When Ashley had decided to break Lucy out herself, she’d done it knowing full well that if she were caught, the consequences would be immediate and severe. That he’d delayed so much, talked so much, had caused her to doubt that assumption. It was almost like he was building up to something, preparing to unleash whatever he’d had planned for so many years.
His pacing, his fast talking, his sweating and shaking showed her that, far from the calculating killer Horan had painted him to be, Duncan Rowe was actually just crazy. She watched him shifting the shotgun from hand to hand, speaking to himself as much as to Ashley and Lucy, as if he was building up to something or didn’t want to get started.
The second he did, she was determined to act. She had to protect her daughter. She’d lunge at Duncan, hoping to take him down in the struggle. She’d do anything to stop him. She knew the plan had almost no chance of working – he was bigger, stronger, had a gun, and wasn’t concussed – but the only alternative was to watch him destroy Lucy. She’d gladly sacrifice herself if it meant crippling or killing him. That was the only way she could save Lucy.
Before that, she’d try to talk to him one more time. “Duncan, please. You don’t need to do this. I know you’ve killed others, but you can walk away, and we will too.”
He laughed. “Why would I do that? I was prepared to make deals with you, but you shat all over that.”
“Because there are cops and FBI agents on their way here right now,” she lied. Nobody was coming. Rowe probably knew that.
“No deal.” He stopped pacing for a moment and smiled at her. It was like glimpsing pure evil. “I think it’s time to get started.”
Before she could speak, he turned and left the room. Ashley didn’t move off the bed. She edged closer to Lucy and wrapped her in a hug. Her daughter cried as she cuddled into Ashley’s chest, like she had so many times before Ashley had lost custody. Ashley clenched her jaw, hoping to ward off her own emotions as she heard Duncan’s footsteps growing louder as he returned.
“I’ve got something special for you, Ashley.” Rowe peered inside the room with a smile on his face, then stepped inside.
Ashley flinched when she saw the knife in his hand. It looked razor sharp, something the homeowners took pride in. He started to pace again, back and forth, the knife in one hand and the shotgun in the other. She hugged Lucy tighter to her chest as she watched him, pacing and shaking his head. Suddenly something changed. He nodded to himself, as though he’d made a decision, then turned to her sharply and stared.
Her plan to stop him amounted to nothing. He lunged at her faster than she could untangle herself from Lucy. She’d only just started to turn when the knife bit into her. She cried out and squeezed Lucy tighter, the pain in her shoulder burning like fire. Her scream was drowned out by the pained bellow that Duncan Rowe unleashed. It was a sound from the bowels of hell, the sound of venom spewing forth after brewing for ten years.
Though the knife was out of her a second later, Ashley knew it wasn’t over.
68
Duncan
“Fucking hell.” Duncan’s voice was high pitched, unable to believe what was happening as he drew in closer to Ashley Wheeler.
She was a bloody mess. He’d cut her plenty and then stabbed her in the back as she’d tried to move away from him. He hadn’t meant to. He didn’t want it to end yet. He’d just wanted to cause her some pain before killing her daughter. He’d wanted this moment to last for hours, but now it looked like it’d be less than a few minutes. Her blood was flowing onto the carpet, causing her life to ebb away.
“Why’d you make me do this?” He curled up alongside her, his face twisted in anguish as he hissed the words. “Why couldn’t you do what you were supposed to?”
“Kill me.” Ashley ignored his question and pleaded with him instead, her whisper barely a kiss of air against his ear. “Kill me, but spare Lucy. Please.”
Duncan pulled away from her and howled, climbing to his feet. He threw the knife against the wall and started to pace again. He wanted to take things back, to fix things, to make her see how badly she’d hurt him. He wanted her to see that they should’ve been together, that everything that’d happened since had occurred because she’d rejected him.
“You stupid woman!” Duncan’s sobs were coming thick and fast now. “Things could have been so different!”
Ashley didn’t respond, she just wrapped Lucy up into a hug. The little girl was crying uncontrollably. As Duncan watched them, curled up together, he felt jealousy unlike any he’d felt before. No matter how much pain he caused Ashley, he knew he could never take away the bond she shared with her daughter. He wanted her to feel like that about him. She was as fixated on Lucy as he was on Ashley.
“It could have been so different.” He fell onto the bed again, crawling over to where they were cuddling. “This could have been mine.”
“No!” Lucy’s scream was broken by her sobs, but the pain and the hatred in her words were clear.
“You could have been mine!” Duncan shouted into her face, feeling something switch in his head. “But now you need to go away!”
“Lucy, run!” Ashley screamed.
As Duncan was about to reply, he felt something grip his leg. He turned to look down, feeling like he was moving in slow motion. Ashley had locked both her arms around his ankle while Lucy sprang up from the bed and ran out of the room. Confusion overwhelmed him. How was she free of the ropes? It felt like he lost the initiative in a split second. He needed to wrench it back.
Dead and Gone Page 202
