Ghost Light (45 page)

“He’s gonna do it to her,” Krissy said in a tiny voice that Billy could barely hear above the ringing in his ears. “Can’t you stop him? He’s gonna hurt her… just like he hurt mom.”

3

A
lex carefully placed his bow and arrow on the counter before stepping forward and grabbing Cindy by the hair again. He pulled up, almost lifting her off her feet. The pain was excruciating. Her scalp felt like it was on fire as he levered her back against his knee and forced her head back further and further until she was sure either her neck or spine was going to crack.

This is it! I’m going to die!
was the only clear thought she had through the whirling confusion of panic and pain.

As the agony intensified her vision became a watery blur, a confusing swirl of colors that blended like smeared watercolors. Off to the side, she had caught only a hint of motion as Billy and Krissy did what their father had told them and left the camp; then Alex’s face, looking as bloated and pale as a fat, full moon, loomed close above her, transfixing her with an enraged stare.

“And
now
, you fucking bitch, you’re gonna pay,” he said in a low, steady voice that sounded like he was thoroughly enjoying this. “You’re gonna pay for all the
bullshit
you put me through these past few months.”

“… you’ll… never…”

But that was all she could manage to say. The backward pressure on her throat was cutting off her words and supply of air. Exploding white spirals of light filled her vision. A heavy, repetitious crashing sound was roaring inside her head so loudly she could barely make out anything he was saying. His lips, terrifyingly magnified, moved in soft, rubbery twitches, exposing his wide, flat teeth.

“Before I kill you, though, I have a little something to tell you.”

Cindy’s mind was slowly blanking out as excruciating pain swept through her like a boiling flow of lava.

“I want you to take this final thought with you on your way to hell,” Alex said.

Every word he spoke sounded sludgy, dragging like a record that was being played on the wrong speed.

“I didn’t just kill your sister, you know. I also killed your fucking husband!”

Through her pain, Cindy barely understood what he had said, but his words filled her with a depth of misery she had never experienced before in her life… not even on that day when she had first found out her sister had died!

“Oh, yeah, I did,” Alex said, snorting with laughter and spraying her face with spittle. “I killed Debbie because she was a royal pain in the ass, almost as bad as you are, but after you took off with my kids, I followed your husband, and do you know where I found him?”

Cindy’s mouth moved but made only a grating, gasping sound.

“I found him at a motel, where he was getting ready to fuck his girlfriend.”

His grip on her hair tightened. Balling it into his fist, he shook her head violently up and down as though she was agreeing with him. She heard something crackle in her neck. Tears streamed from her eyes, and thick mucus clogged her throat, blocking off her air. “Did you hear what I said?” he yelled.

Again, he shook her head, even harder. The pain was like hot irons, piercing her head and shoulders.

“Did you even know he
had
a fucking girlfriend?”

He snorted, then shook his head, regarding her with feigned sadness in his eyes.

“No, you probably didn’t, you’re so fucking dense; but he did, and I found him there and I fucking-a killed him. And your nosy neighbor, too. Shit, I never even knew her name, but I killed her, so rest assured—they’re all waiting for you… in
hell!
”

Cindy hung there, suspended by her hair, watching in silent terror as Alex again raised his fist, preparing to bring it down squarely into her face. But as the import of his words slowly registered in her pain-wracked brain, a sudden fury filled her. Suddenly, she felt as though she was beyond any physical or mental pain he could inflict on her. With a long, trailing scream winding up inside her, she found a reserve of strength—somewhere—and suddenly lurched forward, kicking out wildly at him. She was only dimly aware that she even connected.

But she must have because Alex’s gloating expression suddenly exploded with pain and surprise, his eyes bugging out of his head. The burning pain on her scalp suddenly stopped, and she felt herself plop down hard on the floor. A jab of pain lanced up her spine like lightning.

Alex staggered backwards, coughing and sputtering as he doubled over and grabbed his crotch with both hands. His face turned bright purple, and his lips and cheeks puffed out with a long, agonized groan.

“
You bitch!
” he screamed, his voice shrill with pain and rage. “
You fucking bitch!
”

Cindy’s mind was a blank, white sheet of terror as she scrambled to her feet and, dodging past Alex, started unsteadily for the door. When she banged into the counter once, she felt something snag her leg and tug her back, but she couldn’t tell if it was Alex or if her foot had caught on something else. It didn’t matter. As she pulled away, the single clear thought in her mind was to
run!

Run!

Air roared into her lungs, burning in her throat as she leaped through the smashed door and stumbled outside. For a frozen, dizzying moment, she hesitated, looking around like a punch-drunk prize fighter who didn’t know where she was. Then her gaze swung up to the top of the crest, and she remembered.

Yes!… The kids!… They’re up there!… He said he parked his van up on the hill!… That’s where they went!

As she stumbled forward, her entire body was a symphony of pain. She clutched her bruised or broken left hand close to her side as she started to run. Tears blinded her, and she careened off the trees like a pinball as she zig-zagged her way up the slope. Her footing wasn’t very secure, and as the slope got steeper, her feet kept slipping on rotting leaves and pine needles. Whimpering with pain, she dropped to her hands and knees and started crawling, frantic to get away but knowing that Alex would be coming after her the instant he recovered. When she was halfway up the slope, something whistled past her ear with a quick
zip
. Glancing to her left, she saw the feathered shaft of an arrow sticking out of the embankment less than an inch from her hand.

“Hold it right there, or the next one’ll go right through you!” Alex shouted. His voice echoed like thunder in the uncanny stillness.

Cindy skidded part way down the slope when she hesitated and turned to look at him. He was standing on the doorstep with his bow, minus two arrows, gripped firmly in his hand. Slowly, without ever shifting his eyes away from her, he took another arrow from the quiver and notched it.

“You know, maybe I ought to give you a little running start,” he said, smiling grimly. “That way, I could shoot you in the back and make it look like it was a hunting accident. Think that’s what I ought to do?”

Cindy was panting too heavily to reply. The cold air seared her lungs. She just sat there, distantly aware of the dampness from the forest floor penetrating the seat of her pants. She stared back at him wordlessly, hoping that, when death finally came, it would be mercifully swift.

I don’t want to die!… I don’t want to die!

“Well…? Is that it? Do you want a fighting chance?” he shouted, “or do you think I should end it quick and clean right now?”

Right here and now!… Please!… Do it quickly!

That was her only thought, but she still couldn’t reply. Her body was consumed with pain that numbed her mind and spirit.

“Well then…” Alex said finally. “Fuck you!”

He shrugged as though helpless in his decision, then raised the bow and took careful aim at her. “We’ll end it right now!”

Cindy didn’t see or hear the arrow fly.

In a blinding instant, as soon as she sensed that he had released the arrow, she dodged to one side and was up and running, stumbling as she cut across the slope and headed off into the woods. Her only hope… her only prayer was that the trees would shield her, and she could get away from him and somehow find help. The only other clear thought in her mind as she ran was that—hopefully—Alex wouldn’t leave with the kids.

Not yet.

Knowing Alex as she did, she was positive he wouldn’t give up until he had run her down and killed her.

Pursuit

N
early blind with panic, and with no clear idea of where she was going, Cindy ran for all she was worth.

Doubled over, she clamped her swollen left wrist tightly against her side as she ran up the gradually sloping hillside, ducking and dodging low-hanging branches and clumps of pine and beech trees and other brush. Flaming pain shot up her arm like a hot spike to her elbow. Her pulse was like sledgehammers in her ears, drowning out nearly every other sound except the crunching leaves underfoot and her heavy breathing, which came hard and fast, rattling with phlegm in her throat. The cold morning air made her eyes tear up and set her lungs on fire. Several times, her footing slipped, and she almost fell and twisted an ankle, but she pushed herself all the harder knowing that Alex must be following close behind. It took every reserve of strength she had to keep going, but she knew she was going to have to save herself before she’d be able to do
anything
to help the kids.

Her
kids, by Jesus!

She had never forgotten that they were Alex’s and her dead sister’s children, but after everything they had been through, she couldn’t help but think of them as her own. One of the clearest thoughts in her pain-wracked brain was that she had to do anything and everything in her power to keep them away from their own father.

But what could she do?

She had no idea how long she’d been running, but her body was wrung with exhaustion, so she slowed her pace a bit once she realized she must have gained some distance on Alex. There was no indication that he was close behind… not yet, anyway. And even if he was, she was within the relative safety of the dense woods; he wouldn’t be able to get a clear bow shot at her unless he was very close. She still ran, but at a steady, if awkward jog, stumbling on the uneven terrain. Her panic lessened slightly and her mind gradually began to clear—at least enough so she could start to think about everything that had happened and what she should do next.

There was no doubt that Alex intended to kill her. She realized that it may have been a mistake to leave Portland and come to an isolated place like this, but it was too late now to change that. Alex could easily fake her death to look like a hunting accident and leave her body out here in the woods to rot. It could be months, possibly years before anyone would even find her; and by then, Alex could be back in Nebraska with the kids, and the authorities would have no idea who she was or low she had died. Besides, now that Debbie and Alice and Harry—the three most important people in her life—were dead, who would miss her?

Dead! How can Alice be dead? I saw her just the day before yesterday!
she thought.

Sweat streaked her face, and cold, tingling chills raced up her back and shoulders.

Could it REALLY be true, or had he just been making that up to torment her before he killed her?

Well, at least as of right now, the kids were safe; but she had no doubt that, once Alex had finished her off he would turn his sick anger against them… especially Billy. He had said as much back at the camp. Cindy felt especially badly for Billy, who had to stand there and listen to his father—his own father!—berate him like that, calling him a pansy and then slugging him. The blow to the head had to have hurt, and if that’s how his father treated Billy and his sister, no wonder over the past few months she’d heard so few complaints from either of the children about wanting to go back home. And if Alex was capable of killing three people, as he had so gleefully admitted, what would stop him from beating and possibly killing his own children?

Cindy knew the answer to that.

Nothing!

And although she had to do something to save them, she also knew that it would be absolutely foolish to go up against Alex directly… even if she didn’t have a broken wrist or was in as much pain. He still had his hunting bow and a handful of arrows, and she knew ii he caught even a glimpse of her he’d kill her on the spot. So she had to come up with something!

She was panting so hard her throat made loud, gasping sounds as she ran. She kept on a straight course parallel to the dirt road. In between breaks in the trees, she caught flashes of the dull gray lake off to her left.

Think of something!… Come on, damnit! You’ve got to think of something!

She couldn’t very well leave the kids behind and run just to save herself, but what in God’s name could she do?

The most obvious thing would be to head out to the main road, which considering how far she had run, couldn’t be more than a mile or so more through the woods. There she would eventually find a house, hopefully with somebody home so she could use their telephone to call the police. If she had to, she was determined to break in to use the phone. The situation warranted it. So if she could just stay close to the road o she would see if he left in the van with the kids, she just might have a chance of stopping him before he got away. She had to hope that he was so angry he wouldn’t think clearly and would come after her, forgetting for a few moments about the kids in the van.

She was near collapse; so she slowed her pace and looked back the way she had come. Right now, for all he knew, Alex could be trailing after her, steadily closing the gap between them. She realized she might never even hear him over the noise she was making, panting like a race horse as she plowed through the thick underbrush. Whether she saw him or not, she could feel his presence closing in behind her like the swelling, dark pressure of the rain storm that was bearing down on the lake. She had no woodland skills and wasn’t any good at running silently or hiding in the forest; she knew she was leaving a trail even an idiot could follow, so—for now—the best she could hope for was to keep moving and try to outdistance him.

If she could.

But as she ran, with branches swatting her face like stinging whiplashes and exhaustion burning in her lungs and leg muscles, she began to have her doubts. She knew that what she hoped to do was probably the most obvious thing, and Alex was no doubt smart enough to second-guess her on it. The dirt road was her easiest and, possibly, her
only
way out of here short of hiking—how many miles through the woods? As exhausted as she was, she wouldn’t get very far, so all he had to do was make sure she didn’t get out to the main road. Christ, he might already be stationed up where the road first turns onto Campbell Shore Road, just waiting for her to show up so he could finish her off.

So maybe she should consider something else—something that might have an element of surprise to it.

Maybe, if she could elude him by hiding and staying quiet until he passed by, she could circle back around to the camp and get the kids out of the van. Her car was still parked down by the camp. She always kept a spare key under the floor mat on the passenger’s side. As long as Alex hadn’t taken the time to sabotage her car, they could leave.

She ran on, knowing that Alex might be only a few paces behind her. She expected, any second now, to hear him call out her name and feel an arrow pierce her from behind, bringing agony and death.

Sharp, stinging waves of pain consumed her left wrist, radiating all the way up to her shoulder. Her scalp felt like it was bleeding, and her neck and back throbbed in time with her racing pulse. Sweat ran down her face, stinging her eyes. There wasn’t a square inch of her body that didn’t feel bruised, sprained, or bleeding.

Still she ran, pushing all the harder, but after a while, as exhaustion began to set in, she slowed her pace to a fast walk. Then, casting fearful glances behind her, she stopped and leaned over, bracing herself with both hands on her knees as she panted so heavily her throat made raw, choking sounds.

Be quiet … Be quiet, goddamnit!
she told herself.

Her breath wheezed in and out of her throat as she looked all around, scanning the suddenly silent woods. A gentle breeze stirred the yellowing beech leaves overhead, and through the leaves she could see splashes of the overcast, gray sky. There was a hushed calm in the air that she should have found soothing, but it was fraught with pressing menace. She cringed inwardly, imagining that—at any moment—Alex would suddenly appear from behind a tree or bush, aim at her and shoot her with one of his honed arrows. But, except for the distant squawking of a blue jay and the hissing rustle of leaves overhead, the woods remained perfectly silent.

No thrashing of dead leaves.

No snapping of branches.

Moving closer down the slope to the road, Cindy strained to hear any indication that Alex was nearby. She suspected, if he was after her at all, that he was a stealthy hunter who was sneaking up on her silently. She probably wouldn’t even know how close he was until she heard the twang of his bowstring and felt the piercing sting of his arrow. After several seconds of agony, she started to wonder—and fear—if he might have already decided to hell with her and had left with the kids.

Her
kids!

Sweet Jesus, what would she do then?

She would have to go to the police and report Alex now, but even in spite of what he had done, what kind of case would she have to keep the children? No matter what Alex had done to torment her, she couldn’t very well expect the authorities to let her keep Billy and Krissy. No doubt they’d be turned over to the state. Then again, she had a confession from Alex’s own mouth that he had killed Alice as well and his own wife and her husband back in Omaha. The newscaster had said the Portland police chief would like her to call again with more information, and by God, she would have to do just that. Why, she could give him the name, address, and complete description of Alice’s murderer!

But first, she had to get back to the camp and find out if the kids were still there. Beneath all of her frantic thoughts and worries was that clear, overriding concern for their safety and a single, terrifying thought.

What the hell am I gonna do to save them?

A gnawing fear filled her that Alex would be frustrated at not being able to run her down, and so would turn on his kids. He had already committed murder, so maybe he was crazy enough not to care
what
he did anymore. He might even realize that he had already gone too far, and his only thought now was to kill Cindy and his kids before he was brought down.

“Jesus … Jesus… Help… me,” she whispered, panting heavily. Her ragged voice hissed like a snake, sliding through the dead leaves.

Tears blurred her vision as she looked up at the lowering gray rain clouds and took a deep, rasping breath. Fighting back her tears, she turned and started back down toward the road. Her plan was to go all the way down to the lake shore and then head back to the camp, staying out of sight as much as possible. Maybe, if she was lucky, Alex would be looking for her there. He might still be off in the woods somewhere searching for her. If the kids were still in the van and Alex wasn’t anywhere around, then she would do whatever she could to get them all out of here.

If
Alex wasn’t there!

And if he
was
…?

Well, she would just have to hope to hell he wasn’t!

2

“S
o what are you gonna do?” Krissy asked.

“What do you mean, what am I gonna do about it?” Billy snapped back. He started to turn to look at her put, ashamed that she had seen him cry, looked away and sniffed loudly as he wiped his nose on the back of us hand.

“What do you
think
I oughta do?”

“I dunno… but… well… you gotta do
something
!”

“Oh, yeah? Like what?”

Billy was sitting in the passenger’s seat of the van. He glanced at the dim reflection of his sister in the windshield. She was sitting scrunched up on the back seat with her feet up on the seat as she hugged her legs protectively against her chest. Billy’s ears were still ringing from the blow to the head his father had given him. His chest hitched painfully every time he took a breath, and tears streaked down his face, making it feel greasy. It struck him as sort of strange that Krissy seemed so calm, considering everything that had just happened, and he was angry that she was seeing him upset like this. Usually,
she
was the cry baby.

“Well,” Krissy said, sounding almost scolding, “I don’t think you should just sit here doing
nothing
!”

The trace of impatient anger in her voice bothered Billy, but nothing she said and nothing he thought gave him any idea what he could do. As far as he was concerned, they just had to sit here and wait for their father to come back, and when he did…

Well, he preferred not to think that far ahead.

Sniffing loudly, he slouched in his seat and, hardly blinking, stared out at the front of the van. Off to his left, he could see the flat surface of the lake and the roof of the camp. Straight ahead was the winding stretch of dirt road that led out of here.

He was close to crying again but held himself back so Krissy wouldn’t see him cry.

“There’s nothing we
can
do,” he said but he spoke so softly, he was pretty sure Krissy didn’t even hear him.

3