Freak (35 page)

“You cut me open?”

“Do you see your entrails hanging out?”

Sheila couldn’t bear to look again, so she simply shook her head.

“Then that would be a negative.” Abby cocked her head. “You know, I seriously considered carving a spiderweb into you, considering you’re a giant spider yourself, attracting younger men to you with your beauty and your brains and your goddamn
authority
. You make me sick.” Abby smiled, but it didn’t touch her eyes. “But I didn’t. I just carved a word on you, is all. One that I thought was fitting.”

“Abby, please . . .”

“And now I’m seriously considering eating your heart for dinner.”

Sheila screamed again.

“O.M.G.,” Abby said, mimicking a Valley Girl accent and rolling her eyes. “I was kidding, Sheila. Relax. Seriously, it was a joke. That’s Hannibal Lecter’s bullshit, not mine. Yuck.”

“I’m laughing on the inside,” Sheila said in a small voice.

That got a chuckle out of the younger woman. “Now, see? Isn’t it good to retain one’s sense of humor, even in a situation like this? Nice one, Sheila.”

“Just kill me, Abby. Please. Get it over with.” Sheila knew there was no point in negotiating. This had all been planned from the beginning, from the moment she and Ethan had engaged in their affair well over a year ago.

“Yeah, that’s what Danny keeps saying. I realize we’re a bit pressed for time. But why would I rush? I’ve been waiting a long time for this. You fucked up my life.” Abby leaned over, putting her face close to Sheila’s. “Why shouldn’t you
suffer like I did? My beautiful man died because you couldn’t stay away from him. You got him killed. You brought this on yourself.”

“
He
couldn’t stay away from
me
,” Sheila said, unable to resist a jab of her own.

Abby made a hissing sound of displeasure, and a second later Sheila felt Abby’s blade slide across her thigh. Sheila shrieked, and the room spun out. The pain, sharp and dull and throbbing and steady all at the same time, was unrelenting.

“Ethan didn’t love you, Sheila.” Abby’s voice was hard. “You know that, right? He might have thought he did, but he wasn’t capable of those kinds of feelings. Which is why he did the things he did. He desperately wanted to feel
something
. Anything.”

Sheila barely heard her. The pain in her leg was overshadowing everything else.

“Don’t worry,” Abby said. “You won’t bleed out, I didn’t go too deep. Hurts like a sonofabitch, though, doesn’t it?”

Sheila passed out.

When she came to—moments later? hours?—she could hear voices arguing. But she was dizzy from the pain, and she couldn’t seem to focus long enough on what was being said. All that registered were bits and pieces.

“. . . enough already . . .” Danny was talking. “. . . no time . . .”

“. . . not a game to me.” Abby’s voice, aggressive and irritated. “. . . knew the plan when you started this . . .”

“. . . massive manhunt for you . . .”

“. . . coward . . .”

Sheila forced herself to concentrate, and finally, her mind cleared a little.

Danny’s voice was low and agitated. “If you don’t kill her in
the next five minutes, I’m going to have to. Because we need to get out of here. I’m serious, Abby. They’re coming for you.”

“It’s not up to you.”

“You’re not in charge of the entire goddamned universe,” Danny snapped. Sheila managed a smile through the haze of pain. Never in a million years would Ethan have said that.

Abby laughed. “Says who?”

“You’re not hearing me. I told you, I heard on Jerry’s police band radio that they’re looking for us.”

Abby snorted. “So what? They won’t find her in time.” Raising her voice, she said to Sheila, “Did you hear that, Sheila? They won’t find you in time. Think about that for a moment.”

Sheila was definitely thinking about it.

“Fine,” Danny said, sounding irritated. “I got some last-minute stuff to finish up. I’m not going to stick around here while you do this shit. Mark may have been your bitch—”

“Hey now. Don’t speak ill of the dead.”

Sheila heard the door slam shut.

Abby’s face loomed over Sheila’s once again. “She’s pissed off at me, but she’ll get over it. Now, where were we?”

*     *     *

“Don’t cut my face,” Sheila begged as the knife hovered over her right eye. “Please, don’t cut my face.”

“Why not?” Abby said, sounding genuinely perplexed. “Oh. Right. Open casket. Not my problem. Of course I’m going to cut your face. It’s all I’ve been thinking about for a year. Now don’t move. You’ll only make it worse.” She sliced the tip of the blade across Sheila’s forehead.

Sheila whimpered as the blood trailed down over her orbital bones and across her temples. “Just kill me. Please.”

“You said that already. Though I do like that you always say ‘please.’ How very Emily Post of you.” Abby stepped back to admire her handiwork.

Sheila didn’t know how long Danny had been gone. It felt like hours, but for all she knew it could have been five minutes.

Her body burned all over. Letters that Sheila couldn’t make out were carved into her stomach. The wounds were deep enough to hurt like hell, but they weren’t fatal. Yet.

It wasn’t that she wanted to die, but she finally understood that by begging Abby to kill her, it was prolonging Abby’s satisfaction in torturing her. The begging made Abby want to draw out Sheila’s pain.

It was a fucked-up, twisted way to try to stay alive, but it was working.

“What time is it?” she said, her eyes closed and her teeth clenched.

“And why would that matter to you?”

“Danny’s been gone a long time.”

Abby scowled. “Yes, I know. It’s something we’re going to have to discuss once we get out of here.”

“Where are you going?”

“Mexico.
Soy fluido en español
.” Abby smiled. “I learned Spanish in prison, picked it up pretty quick. Gonna work on my tan. If I get dark enough, I think I can pass for a Mexican. Danny, too.” She sighed and glanced at her watch. “I wish I could prolong this a little more, but we’re almost out of time.” She smiled fondly at Sheila. “I feel so close to you right now, you know. Death brings people really close together. It always did for me and Ethan.”

“Danny’s a poor substitute for Ethan, though, don’t you think?” Sheila said. “I mean, she’s nothing like him.”

“You have no idea what you’re talking about,” Abby snapped.

“Ethan was an alpha male. Danny’s . . . softer. How could that possibly turn you on?”

Abby snorted. “You thought Ethan was an alpha male? Wow. You really didn’t know him at all, did you?”

“You and Danny have been arguing half the time we’ve been here. How is that supposed to work?”

“That’s not arguing, darling. That’s foreplay.”

“What if she doesn’t come back?”

Abby paused over the knife. “Why wouldn’t she?”

“Why
would
she?” Sheila looked up at her captor. “You’re the one who’s into this sick shit. Not her. She hasn’t hurt anyone. And now all your game-playing is going to get you caught. Why would she stick around for this? Sure, she might have been fascinated by you when she didn’t really know you, when she only knew the image you were trying to portray, but now that she does know you, I’ll bet anything she’s going to split.”

“Shut up,” Abby hissed, holding the blade to Sheila’s throat. “You don’t know what the hell you’re talking about. We’re in love. And she set me free.”

“Just like you and Ethan were in love?” The blade, cool and smooth, pressed against Sheila’s throat, making it difficult not to gasp. “Look how well that worked out.”

“Oh, shut the fuck up, you stupid, arrogant, petty bitch.” Abby leaned in, moving the knife away so she could get close, her spittle hitting Sheila’s face. Sheila could now feel the cold steel brushing against her hip. “You’re not going to psych me out. She’s coming back.”

“I bet she’s not. So you might as well kill me and move on, because they’re coming for you, Abby. They’re coming for you and they’re going to put you back in prison and you’re never, ever coming out, and everyone will know what a sick, twisted bitch you really are.”

Sheila would have liked to say something more, because she could see that her words were stinging Abby, but the knife was now slicing into her thigh, and she could feel that this time, it was cutting very, very deep.

And then she heard a popping sound.

Before she could decipher what it meant, the world went white again.

You win
, Sheila thought.
You win
.

TORRANCE’S UNMARKED WAS
already parked in the lot in front of Danny’s loft when Jerry pulled up behind him. Jerry got out of the Jeep, his heart on fast-forward but his legs in slow motion. Everything seemed surreal. It felt like this was happening to somebody else. What did Danny know? Had she helped Abby snatch Annie and Sheila? Would she actually hurt them? She was a sweet girl. Why would she do this?

He had a bad feeling. A bad, bad feeling, and no matter how hard he tried to reprogram his brain, the bad feeling wouldn’t go away.

Torrance was watching him closely. “You all right, pal?”

“I think I should go in alone,” Jerry said.

“Absolutely not.”

“Danny has worked for me for the last year, Mike.” Jerry looked up at the warehouse. He had never understood why anyone would want to live here. He supposed a twenty-three-year-old would find it cool in a grungy way, but he was a long way from being in his twenties. There were lights on in some of the converted residences, but other than that, the whole street was dark. And quiet. “We have a good relationship. I can make her talk to me.”

“Talk to her all you want. But you’re still not going in alone.” Torrance’s eyes lingered on his backup Glock, which was holstered to Jerry’s side. “You know how potentially dangerous this could be.”

“Danny’s probably not even in there.”

“Probably not. But the warrant says we can search, and we will. It’s gonna be okay, pal. We’ll find Danny, we’ll find Annie, we’ll find Sheila, it’s all going to be fine.”

His former partner’s reassurances were not helping. If anything, they were grating, like nails on a chalkboard or the sound balloons made when they rubbed together. He didn’t want to hear it.

“After you,” Jerry said, gritting his teeth.

They entered through the main doors and buzzed Danny’s apartment. Of course there was no response, so Torrance pushed all the buttons until the inside door finally buzzed open.

Danny lived on the second floor, and they took the stairs two steps at a time until they were outside her door. A quick knock, again no answer, and then Torrance used his shoulder to push his way in.

Empty. A few bits of mismatched furniture, a bed that was neatly made, but the whole loft was one large space and it was clear there was nobody here. Torrance checked the apartment’s one bathroom, then pulled open the doors to the freestanding wardrobe in the corner.

“She’s gone,” the detective said. “Looks like most of her clothes are gone, too.”

Shit. They really weren’t here. Where the hell could they be?

“Let’s start canvassing the neighbors.” Torrance was already heading toward the door. “There were only a dozen names on the buzzer downstairs. Shouldn’t take long.”

“We’re not going to find them, Mike,” Jerry said, his voice faint. He could feel his hope slipping away with every passing second. “We’re not going to find Annie in time.”

“You can panic later.” Torrance punched his arm. “Right now, we’ve got a job to do. Start moving. I need you, pal.”

WHEN SHEILA OPENED
her eyes again, it was Danny’s face that loomed over her. “Hi, Dr. Tao,” she said.

Sheila tried to speak.

“Don’t try and talk. Just listen.” Danny looked down at the floor and grimaced. “I shot her. God, I hated to do that. I love her, I really do, but this was just getting ridiculous. Vendettas get people killed. Abby’s always been too emotional. It’s the reason she got caught in the first place. I’ve been telling her to chill out when it comes to you, but she’s just so obsessed with you, you know?”

Sheila blinked and tried to focus on the young woman through her haze. She opened her mouth to say something but all that came out was a moan. Every part of her body was screaming, especially her face. The paralysis was wearing off, but she didn’t dare try to look down again. She didn’t want to see how bad it was.

“Try not to move too much, okay?” Danny said. “There’s a lot of blood, and I’ve wrapped your leg really tight so you won’t bleed out. I hate to leave you like this, but I gotta go.” Her voice seemed filled with regret, or maybe that’s what Sheila wanted to hear. “You’ll tell them I saved you, won’t you? You’ll tell them that, okay? I never wanted this. I just wanted Abby.
This wasn’t part of my plan. I hope you believe me. And tell Jerry . . .” A pause, and then in a softer voice, “Tell Jerry I’m sorry about Marianne.”

Somewhere in her delirium, Sheila thought she could feel her head nodding, but whether she was actually moving, she didn’t know.

“Hang in there, Dr. Tao.”

Those were the last words Sheila heard as she drifted out of consciousness and into a warm place where there was no more pain.

TORRANCE WAS LEANING
against the unmarked, smoking a cigarette. His efforts to quit hadn’t lasted long. The detective was annoyingly calm, lost in thought.

Jerry, on the other hand, couldn’t stay still. They had opted not to leave Danny’s parking lot just yet, on the off chance she might show up. It was a long shot, but hey, stranger things had happened.

And frankly, they had nothing else to do. They were fresh out of leads. A whole goddamned police department was searching the city for Abby, Danny, Sheila, and Annie, and yet nothing had turned up.

He paced the side of the road, feeling hot and bothered despite the chilly night air. He was trying to think of something, any possibility for where they might be. There were four of them, for Christ’s sake, and one of them was a high-profile escaped convict. How the hell could they all just disappear?