Darknet (14 page)

So, neither of those solutions worked.

What was left? She didn’t have many ideas. She could call the police, but she knew her reputation would be shot and she would likely be charged with trying to arrange a contract murder. No matter how big a monster Tony was, the law wouldn’t see that side of him. He was the innocent one, and she was the murdering bitch of a wife.

Part of her wondered if her father could somehow find the connections to solve her problem. Her parents had more money than they could spend in a half-dozen lifetimes, and surely Daddy had connections. If anybody could call off this shadowy killer, he could.

At times, when she lay awake in bed in the wee hours of the morning, she sometimes convinced herself of that. Daddy would be able to save her.

In the light of morning, though, the reality came rushing back. He may be rich, but he made all his money through legitimate means. He’d never really have a clue how to deal with this. Hell, even the expert who’d originally told her about DarkNet had no clue how to stop the rising tsunami that was swallowing her alive.

Then an odd thing happened.

Cindy realized it was almost the end of July. Thursday, July 28. She’d run through her normal radio show, laughing and joking with her audience, talking about the current heat wave and holding a phone-in contest to find the best vacation spot of the week. The winning phone call came from a cook who worked on a charter ship that took passengers from the tip of Argentina down even farther south to Antarctica.

“Aah, so cool there,” he said with a bit of a chuckle in his accented voice. “Right now is minus forty at South Pole, and you can make the snow angel patterns by lying down and sweeping with your arms and legs.”

Russian
, she thought.
Surely Russian.

It was just above 100 degrees outside and very sticky from the humidity. The weather forecasters were saying it wasn’t
that
unusual, but damn it, it felt like it.

She faked her way through the entire show, barely paying any attention to what she was doing. It was like she was on auto-pilot, and she was glad she had so much experience to be able to pull it off without being fired.

Her mind focused completely on the Manipulator, but it wasn’t until her way home that something struck her
: July 28.

It’d been eight days since he last contacted her. Eight days since he implied he’d hurt Avril. Since then . . . nothing. No e-mails, no threats, no letters, no phone calls, no dead animals . . . just nothing.

“Maybe he’s gone.”

She wanted to believe that. It seemed right. He’d been after her so much, demanding the money, but then he just disappeared.

God, can it be true?

She tasted metal. She’d bit her lower lip so hard there was a small stream of blood running from the corner of her mouth. Cindy grabbed a tissue and cleaned her mouth as she continued to drive.

Maybe her troubles were over, not by running, not by ruining her life, but just by letting time pass.

Cindy wanted this to be true. She wanted her horrible nightmare to be behind her and to be able to move forward with her life. She still had troubles, with her husband being number one in that department, but that at least was a “normal” problem. The pains he caused her were things she always knew she’d recover from.

As she pulled into her driveway, the sun continued to beat down on her, and she dashed into the house as fast as she could. She called her neighbor, Gloria Estahazy, who was watching Avril during the summer, and asked her to send the ten-year-old home.

When Avril got home, they both went down to the basement with a bowl of freshly-microwaved popcorn and watched a movie together on the Disney channel.

Cindy laughed during the movie. It was the first time she’d laughed all summer, and when the movie was over,
The Witches of Waverly Place
started up. Both mother and daughter fell asleep, snuggled up together on the couch.

* * *

Earlier that day, Avril had chewed a peanut butter and jam sandwich while at Mrs. Estahazy’s house. It wasn’t very good, but she was hungry, and the babysitter wasn’t particularly prompt about serving lunch, so Avril often just helped herself to a sandwich. Mrs. Estahazy was much more interested in her soap operas, which was generally just fine by Avril. She liked the freedom.

Once she finished her sandwich, she walked over and said, “I’m going outside now.”

Mrs. Estahazy jerked her head sideways and nodded, then snapped back to the television.

As she left, she said, “I might go play in the traffic or go find some quicksand to swim in. Hope that’s okay!”

The older woman wasn’t listening, of course, and again, that was just fine with Avril. She knew enough to be back before her mom came to pick her up, but other than that she had her choice of how to spend the afternoon. She just had to be careful of the stupid cast on her wrist.

She thought about going to see Laurie, but Laurie’s mom stayed home with her, and she knew word would get back to her own mom that she had wandered off during the day. That wouldn’t do, so she just headed over to the park, hoping to find somebody to play chess with.

It was a warm sunny day, and Avril wore a light green cap that perched on her head like a bird in its nest. She liked how it kept the sun out of her eyes, and she imagined she looked very mysterious as she pretended to be a secret agent, darting from behind one tree to the next, getting ever closer to the park.

There was nobody in the park, though, except for the man who had bought her ice cream a while ago. He was looking at her, not smiling, and Avril thought she could cheer him up.

“Johnny, would you like to play?” she asked.

He stared at her and forced a smile. “I saw you play, kid. I wouldn’t stand a chance.”

“I can spot you a rook.”

He laughed. “I’d need both rooks and the queen to have a chance. I may not be much of a chess player, but I can recognize someone who is.”

She didn’t know what to say to that. She really just wished he’d offer her another ice cream cone. It was getting hotter as the afternoon wore on.

Avril pushed her hair back behind her ears.

“Did you know the youngest-ever chess champion was four years old?” she asked.

“Really?”

She hesitated. “Well, maybe not exactly a champion, but he played in serious tournaments and stuff and won lots of games.”

She licked her lips trying to escape the heat and then continued. “He was in nursery school but liked to read
The Manual of Chess Combinations.
I want to read that book sometime, but my mom and dad haven’t gotten it for me.”

“Not yet. Maybe they will.”

“Maybe.”

They looked at each other in silence. He didn’t look like he was going to offer her an ice cream.

“Well, I guess I should go home.”

“Okay. I’m sure I’ll be seeing you around.”

She nodded and smiled.

“Hey, kid,” he said. “Don’t go talking to any strangers, now. Keep safe.”

“Thanks! I won’t.”

She headed back towards Mrs. Estahazy’s house but somehow got sidetracked and found herself staring at the library. She knew about the library, had even seen the inside of it once or twice, but she didn’t think she was allowed inside on her own. Somebody might ask her what she was doing all by herself, and she didn’t really have a good answer.

There’s lots of books in there
, she knew.
Maybe lots of chess books.

Avril made a mental note to ask her mom how old she had to be to go to the library on her own.

* * *

That evening was one of the last good nights for Tony McKay. The day was long and hot, which was exactly perfect for him. He loved heat and he loved sunshine, and he loved evenings that just seemed to last forever. The summer solstice was already past, though, and in a blink of an eye, the sun would be setting long before he was ready for it to.

Summertime had always been the inspiration for his music, and this year was no different. He’d spent hours today at the music store just tinkering with the words to his latest song. Even if Deb hadn’t loved it right away, he knew it’d grow on her, the same way
Summer Drive
had grown on everybody all those years ago.

* * *

Going on to the riverside

Going on to the summer tide

Loving my girl with the tight bikini

Eating her up on the sandy shore

* * *

He knew the chorus still wasn’t quite right. He didn’t like the word “riverside” because rivers didn’t have tides, but the cadence worked well, so he’d left it for now. Stupid teenagers who bought all the music wouldn’t likely notice anyhow. They’d just snicker about the words “eating her up.” He smiled. It was likely okay for radio, and the kids would play it over and over, as if there was a big secret hidden there. Tony smelled the money already.

He hesitated as he came to Deb’s house. He hadn’t seen her in four days, since . . . well, since she hurt herself.

There hadn’t been any screaming phone calls from her, no nasty e-mails, and most importantly, no visits from the police. That was a good sign. Maybe she was a keeper after all.

He texted her as he waited. “Hey, I’m here. Want some company?”

After a few minutes, his phone bleeped. “You broke my shoulder and you want me to let you in?”

Blood rushed to his head. She was blaming
him
?

Jesus, you stupid twat, what the fuck’s wrong with you?

He didn’t text that, though. Instead he said, “I’m sorry for anything I did wrong. Come on, you can let me in, can’t you?”

For a few minutes, there was no reply, and he thought of just forcing his way inside, but then the door creaked open.

Deb stared out at him. Her long dark hair was tied back in a ponytail, and she stared at him with curious eyes. She had a slight smile that hinted at secrets and pleasures. He felt his cock start to stir. He smiled at her and reached a hand out.

“Careful, please,” she said.

Her right arm had been hidden behind the door but now he saw it was riding in a sling. There wasn’t a cast, though, so how bad could it be?

“Doc says it’ll be better in about six or seven weeks.”

Tony nodded. “Sore?”

“Fucking sore.”

He wondered if she was going to have sex with him or if she’d use that as an excuse.

“You have any beer?”

“Sure. Come on.”

He slid past her and into her kitchen, opened the fridge and pulled out two Budweisers. He snapped them both open and gave her one. They sat at the kitchen table.

“You can’t be hurting me that much,” she said.

At first he didn’t know how to respond. Nobody had ever talked to him calmly about him hurting them. They either screamed in anger or hid in fear.

When he didn’t say anything, Deb added, “I understand you. I know you need to work out your aggressions and when you behave that way, I know it turns you on, and . . . well, that’s okay. I kind of get off on that, too, you know. That time you almost strangled me was the best orgasm of my life. But, it’s not okay to put me in the hospital.”

He slurped back his beer. His erection was rock hard and he just wanted to fuck her. He didn’t really give a shit what she was saying.

He moved to her and lifted up her skirt, then pulled down her panties.

“Come to the bed,” he ordered.

She followed him, and he lay her down with her legs dangling over the edge of the bed. He spread her legs and lowered himself so he could lick her pussy. She lay motionless on the bed until she became aroused and her legs started to twitch. He kept licking her until she came, moaning with pleasure.

Then he stood and lifted her thighs a few inches in the air so that she was perfectly positioned. He slid his cock inside her and began thrusting, easy at first but then harder and faster.

He knew she liked it, and he liked it too. He was treating her like a piece of meat and just fucking her as hard as he could.

He came and pulled her body toward him as hard as he could, ignoring her cries as her shoulder scraped the bed when he pulled her. Really, all that mattered was how he felt.

Monday, August 1 was the hottest day of the year in Seattle. As Cin took off her headphones in the control booth, she glanced down at her computer. It was showing the outside temperature at 103, and it felt like 108 when the humidity was taken into account. This was 7:00 in the evening.

Her car was in the underground parking lot, and her air conditioner worked perfectly, so she wasn’t really worried about the drive home, but she wondered how Avril had been doing all day at Mrs. Estahazy’s place. The old woman only had a ceiling fan in the kitchen and a couple of other stand-up fans she moved around the house.

Cin mentally added the “dy” to her name as she waved good-bye to Ryan and vowed to take Avril out for an ice cream at Baskin-Robbins.

“Catch ya tomorrow,” Ryan called out to her.

Even with the heat, Cindy felt better than she had in weeks. The crisis with the Manipulator seemed to be behind her and she could be back to focusing on her life again. For now, she was going to just sit it out with Tony. Even though he was one of the worst parts of her life, she needed time from the mess she’d created before once again trying to find some way to escape.

Next year, for sure
, she promised herself.

The drive home was fast, with the highways feeling empty, everybody hiding inside their homes to escape the heat. She clicked the radio on, not to her own station (which was now broadcasting some boring sports talk show), but to a station that played quiet classical music. She’d discovered it a few months ago and found that listening to Bach and Tchaikovsky really relaxed her.