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He crossed the living room and pulled open one door, found it went to a bathroom, then tried a second and saw the steep wooden steps leading down into the dark, smelled the moisture. Yes, that would do fine. He’d get her to walk down there before he bound her, make things easier to handle.
He was just about to tell her to stand up when he heard a car door slam.
He crossed to the window fast, stared out into the rain, and saw the car that had pulled in. Not police, but a Toyota sedan, unfamiliar to him. The driver’s door opened and a tall, dark-haired woman stepped out, holding her arms up to shield herself from the rain. She ran out of sight, headed for the porch. For the front door.
“Who’s here?” A
“Not a word, bitch,” Josiah said. “Not a word. You speak, our visitor gets shot. It’ll be your choice.” Then he lifted the shotgun and walked out of the living room and down to the front door. He hadn’t even made it there before the doorbell rang. He pulled the door open, keeping the gun in his left hand and using the door to screen it from sight.
The woman didn’t give any real start or indication that she was expecting someone other than Josiah. She just said, “I hope I have the right address. I’m looking for A
She was even better-looking up close, the sort of woman Josiah wouldn’t be able to hit on until he was at least ten beers into the night because the odds were so great she’d shoot him down, and Josiah didn’t take rejection well. Raven-colored hair with some shine to it, damn near flawless face, body that would catch plenty of looks despite being a little on the ski
“Yes,” Josiah said. “And you best come inside quick.”
“You don’t think I can make it back to the hotel if I hurry? I just stopped by to pick up a few bottles of water from A
A few bottles of water. He hadn’t been certain of her relevance until now, but this brought a smile to his face that was no longer forced, as authentic and genuine a grin as he’d had in some time, and he said, “Oh, you’re picking them up for Mr. Shaw?”
“That’s right.”
“I’ll get them for you, but come inside and visit with Mrs. McKi
She took one last, hesitant look back at her car, and right then a good-size branch pulled down from one of the trees in the yard and broke into pieces on the ground. She turned away, said, “I guess I’d better,” and then stepped inside.
He had the door closed before she noticed the gun.
54
ANNE COULDN’T SEE THE front door from where she sat, and the wind and siren kept her from making out the words, but the sound of the unknown woman’s voice, gentle and kind, put a sickness through her so powerful she moved her hands to her stomach. It was a feeling she’d had only a time or two in her life, the last coming when they swung the ambulance doors shut with Harold inside and assured her that it wasn’t over yet, even though everybody knew that it was.
A minute later the stranger was standing there in the living room, a beautiful dark-haired woman with panicked eyes. A
He had her sit in the old straight-backed sewing chair that A
The woman gave A
“Old Lucas will be answering phone calls now,” Josiah was saying as he cut off more tape and wrapped it in circles around her forearms, pi
Lucas? Who on earth was Lucas? “I don’t know Lucas,” the new woman said.
“Bullshit! You’re his whore of a wife, sent people down here to spy on my home and ask questions of my family-”
“That’s not who I am.”
He struck her. It was an open-handed slap that raised a white imprint on her check but no blood, and the sound of flesh on flesh took A
“There won’t be any more lies!” Josiah bellowed. A
“I’m not who you think I-”
There was a second slap, and A
“I’m Eric’s wife-Eric Shaw’s. That’s who I am! I don’t know anything about Lucas Bradford. Neither does he. We’re both just trying to-”
This time he passed on the slap, choosing instead to take the woman’s hair in his fist and jerk it sideways. She gave a cry of pain and then the chair had overbalanced and she was on her side on the floor, still talking.
“We’re just trying to get away from here while the police figure out what’s going on. I don’t know Lucas Bradford! Do you understand that? I don’t know him and he doesn’t know me. He doesn’t care about me. I’m nothing to him.”
Josiah dipped sideways and came up with A
“Josiah, no!” A
He froze. She was taken aback, hadn’t expected any reaction, but he stopped his assault completely and swiveled his head to face her.
“I’ll ask you not to use that name any longer,” he said. “If you’d like my attention, you can call for Campbell. Understand?”
A
“Look in my purse,” the woman on the floor said in a ragged voice. “If you’re going to kill me, you ought to at least know who I am.”
For a long moment A
“Claire Shaw,” he said.
“I told you.”
He seemed almost calm as he gazed at her, but somehow A
“You’re his wife,” he said. “Eric Shaw’s wife.”