Banished (A Retribution Novel) (2 page)

Stark terror ripped through Violet as she struggled
against whoever held her. She stumbled as he dragged her away from her front
door toward the bushes along the side of the townhouse.

Help
! She screamed inside her head, but his
hand kept the words in her throat. She clawed at him, at the gloved hand covering
her mouth. Her head swam from panic and lack of oxygen.

Under cover of the shadows, he threw her to the
ground, the impact forcing the remaining air from her lungs. A black ski mask
covered his face, and he wore a long-sleeved, black t-shirt to help him blend
into the shadows.

He straddled her, grinding his groin against her.
She sucked in a breath and screamed. He clamped a rough hand against her mouth,
the pressure cutting her lips on her teeth, smothering any further sounds.
“Shut up, bitch.”

The sickening, cloying scent of his aftershave
assaulted her, and she recognized the same scent she’d smelled earlier on
Detective Haskell.

No
. She tried to rearrange her thoughts in
a new direction. No one she knew would do this to her.

“You deserve this, for all those times.”

Oh, God.
It was Haskell
.

She bucked beneath him until he produced a knife.
Her pulse raced and she tried to breathe through the thick fog of fear that
choked her. He laughed and twisted the blade in front of her face, the sharp
surface catching light from across the street, glinting with menace.

She stilled as he lowered the knife, flinched when
it touched a spot beneath her collarbone. “I bet you’re sorry now for being
such a cold-hearted bitch. I bet you’d open your legs right now if you thought
it would save your life.” He drew the knife down the valley between her breasts,
the sharp edge slicing into her skin, until he bumped into her purse strap.

Her skin burned where he’d cut her. Incredulity blasted
through her brain. She widened her eyes as he held the knife in front of her
again. He couldn’t.

He wouldn’t
.

“Tomorrow when they find you dead after bleeding
out on your own front lawn, the whole town will raise hell. Complete and utter
shock, I’m sure. Might mean overtime hours for me as we search for the
perpetrator, but it will be worth it.”

Adrenaline raced through her and fueled her will
to live. She squealed against his hand and shoved against him. He didn’t budge.

“I like it when you fight,” he whispered, rubbing
his crotch against her again. “But it won’t do you any good. If I had time, I’d
fuck you first. Unfortunately, the longer I stay, the more likely someone will
see something.”

No
! She couldn’t die like this.

Each breath might be her last, and that realization
shot an enormous amount of adrenaline into her body. She let go of his hand and
slammed her fist into his crotch as hard as she could. The sound of his grunt
echoed in the night, and his knife slice into her shoulder.

She ignored the pain as she used all of her
strength to heave against him, knocking him off balance. He groaned as he sliced
at her again, catching her below her ear. She retaliated and punched him in the
face.

Her attacks were enough to unbalance him.

She shoved hard again and escaped his grasp,
crawling from him as fast as she could.

He grabbed a foot, bringing her down again. She
kicked with all her might, dislodging her pump.

With her heart thundering, she scrambled to her
feet and ran lopsided for her car, grateful that she’d worn her purse over one
shoulder and across her chest so that she hadn’t lost it or her car keys in the
scuffle.

Her loyal car unlocked with a touch of her hand,
and she quickly pushed the ignition button. Her Charger roared to life. She
jammed it into gear, tires screeching as she raced down the street.

Her heart thumped in sickeningly loud beats, and
she swore blood pulsed from her cuts. She swiped a hand between her breasts,
pulling it away to find wet crimson covering her fingertips. Some blood, but
not as much as she feared. Her skin stung where she’d touched, angry from the
damage inflicted upon it.

The cut near her ear didn’t seem to be any worse.

She forced a shaky breath in. Dear God. Had Haskell
seriously attempted to kill her? What the hell was wrong with him? Why would he
do that after all these years?

She should call the cops, but could she trust them?
Haskell worked for the police. Would calling them lead him right to her?

Tears coursed down her face, and she wiped at them
to keep her vision clear. Ellen would help her. She glanced in the rearview
mirror, but no one followed her. Still, she turned several corners, taking her
away from the main street.

She pulled to the side of the road and pushed the
speed dial for Ellen on her car’s center console, trying to control her sobs as
the phone rang.

“Hello?”

“Ellen.” She couldn’t get anything else out before
her throat closed.

“
Violet
?
What’s wrong
?”

“God. Brian Haskell tried to kill me. Outside my
house.” She took a breath. “I escaped, but he knifed me first.”

“Good Lord, Violet. Are you okay? Where are you?”

“Driving. I don’t know what to do.”

“You need to call the police. I can call for you.”

“
He’s an officer
. What if…” She held her
teeth together to keep from chattering.

“No. You’re right. We need to think this thing
through.” Several seconds of silence came across the line.

“Why would he do that, Violet?” she whispered,
sounding as shocked as she felt.

“I don’t know. He hit on me again at Dad’s viewing,
and I shot him down like all the other times.” She sucked in a ragged breath. “I
don’t know what made him flip this time. He talked to Kenneth and another guy
afterward, and then he left. Next thing I knew, he tackled me on my front lawn
wearing a ski mask.”

She leaned forward, resting her forehead on her
steering wheel. “He would have killed me, Ellen.”

More silence. “I think he might be involved in
Kenneth’s activities,” she said quietly.

A shiver raced over her from Ellen’s ominous
words. “Like what?”

“I’m not sure. Brian has visited your brother at
work a lot during the past few weeks. I knew they were friends, but he’s never
come around as often as this.”

“You mean since Dad went into the hospital?”

“Shortly after that.”

Crazy scenarios rushed through her head, and a sob
escaped her lips as one solidified in her mind. “What could they be doing?”

“Damn it, I don’t know, Violet. I don’t know. But
we’re talking about your life here. I just…I don’t know what to think.”

“I don’t either.” Her entire world had crashed.

“Why don’t you drive over here? I can take a look
at your cuts, and we’ll decide what to do from there.”

The thought of running into Ellen’s comforting
arms unhinged her. “I can’t drag you into this, Ellen. I love you too much.”

“Of course you can. No one has a reason to look
for you here.”

Violet exhaled a shaky breath, not entirely
convinced. “Okay, but only until we figure out what to do. I’m not too far.
Maybe ten minutes.”

She hung up and wiped her eyes again. God. This
couldn’t be happening.

She left the subdivision, driving back on the main
road as she headed for the entrance to the interstate as more tears threatened
to fall. She had to hold it together. At least until she reached Ellen’s house.
Ten more minutes. She could do that much.

She’d barely driven five minutes when her phone
rang. Ellen’s name appeared on her console. “Hello?”

“Your brother just called here looking for you.”

Fear drove deep into her heart. “What did you
say?”

“I told him I hadn’t heard from or seen you since
the viewing. Then I asked him why he was looking for you. He said you were
upset when you’d left and he was worried. I told him I’d call him if I heard
from you.”

Another sob escaped her.

“I’m afraid they’ll watch my house, Violet. You
need to hide out somewhere they won’t suspect. Maybe in Beaverton? Pay in cash
to be on the safe side?”

“Okay,” she said on another sob.

“Oh, honey. I could come and meet you.”

“No.” She pounded a fist against her steering
wheel. “They might follow you. You can’t do anything that would put you in
danger.”

“My brother-in-law is an attorney. I’m going to
call him. I don’t know how he can help, but maybe he’ll have an idea. Maybe he
can think straight ‘cause I sure as hell can’t.”

“I’m going to hang up so I can focus on driving.”
She gathered her scattered strength. “I’ll find somewhere to stay and call when
I can.”

After she hung up, she struggled to pull the
battery from her phone, and then she tossed both pieces onto the passenger
seat. She couldn’t leave a way for the cops to trace her. She drove another
minute before she lowered her window and threw the phone out onto the pavement.

She couldn’t take
any
chances.

The needle on her speedometer inched higher as she
accelerated until she pushed the edges of the speed limit. Just as quickly, she
eased off. She wanted to leave town as soon as possible, put as much space
between her and the detective who’d wanted to kill her, but she couldn’t draw
attention to herself or her car. The last thing she needed was for an officer
to stop her for speeding.

She drove until she reached the next town and
exited the interstate. A chain gas station sat not far off the freeway and she
pulled into its brightly lit parking lot, stopping next to a gas pump. Blood
from the cut between her breasts had mostly dried, and she tugged the edges of
her shirt closer together to hide it.

She pulled the pins from her disheveled French
twist and let her hair fall about her shoulders, tugging the strands down so
they completely covered the cut near her ear. Another car stopped on the
opposite side of the pump, and a black guy exited his car.

With shaky hands, she pulled her credit card from
her wallet and got out. She kept her head low, not making eye contact with the
guy across the way, nor looking toward the security cameras. She doubted Haskell
could access all the cameras in town, but she didn’t want to take any chances.
She needed to escape and get as far away as she could, as fast as she could.

After she filled the gas tank, she entered the
building and approached the ATM machine near the front doors. She withdrew the
maximum amount of cash from her account and quickly tucked it into her purse.

She wished she could leave the convenience store
without speaking to anyone, but she needed water and maybe something to eat for
later. If Haskell could access her credit card records, she’d rather have all her
purchases in one spot and as close to her hometown as possible.

Once she got out on the road, she didn’t want to
leave any trace of her direction. She grabbed three bottles of water and a
bottle of caffeinated soda before approaching the counter where she added a
couple bags of peanuts and a candy bar. She kept her gaze down as the female
cashier rang up her purchases.

“Is that all?”

“Yes,” she said as she handed her credit card to the
cashier.

The cashier swiped it before giving it back to
her. “Are you okay, miss?”

Violet glanced at her then. The gray-haired woman
had narrowed her eyes in concern.

“I’m fine.”

“You have blood on your sleeve.”

She glanced to the left to see a gaping hole in
her white silk shirt with blood surrounding the edges. She’d forgotten about
that injury. “I’m fine.” She grabbed her items and hurried toward the door.

Panic nipped her again as she jumped into her
vehicle. She’d done nothing wrong, but she worried she’d elevated the woman’s
suspicions enough that she might call the police. As she pulled out of the
parking lot, she looked in her rearview mirror to find the cashier watching her
out the door.

Shit.

Back on the interstate, she headed north until she
hit Wyoming and then headed west. More than eight hours later, she woke to find
her car drifting off the road. She jerked back into her lane, gripping the
wheel, as terror flooded her veins.

She had to stop. Had to rest somewhere. She pulled
off the next exit and into a mostly-empty superstore parking lot. Her head
ached, and her eyes burned.

She wasn’t far enough away to feel safe yet, but
she needed sleep before she continued driving.

*        *        *

The sound of male voices jerked her from her
haunted sleep. She woke with a gasp and glanced around her to see two men
heading for their pickup truck. The sun hadn’t yet crested the horizon. She
blinked her bleary eyes and sat up. Only two hours of sleep. Not nearly enough,
but it would have to do. She couldn’t stay where she was any longer.

She started the engine and rolled down the
windows, letting in fresh autumn air. Her father’s funeral would begin in a
little over five hours.

Would they hold it without her? How could they
not? It would appear as though she’d run off, most would think she couldn’t
handle the pressure. Only Ellen, Haskell and possibly Kenneth knew for sure.

Her stomach rumbled, and she needed gas. She headed
for a nearby convenience store and drew her hair over her shoulder to cover the
blood as much as possible before she went inside. Sunglasses hid her
mascara-washed, puffy eyes, but she couldn’t hide her missing shoes and ruffled
appearance if someone really looked at her.

A rack of t-shirts stood near the counter, and she
quickly rifled through them, finding one in her size. A bin of flip-flops sat
beneath, and she snagged a pair of sparkling turquoise ones that matched the
t-shirt. She grabbed another drink and piled all the stuff on the counter, not
looking at the other patrons or the cashier to see if they stared.