As thin and frail as Anne appeared, her rage gave her almost superhuman strength, but fortunately it was quickly spent. Panting from exertion, Carrie kept the woman pinned to the marble floor by sitting on her spine. She held Anne's head down with both

her hands pressed against the back of her neck.

'Find something we can tie her up with,' Carrie shouted to Sara so she could be heard over Anne's screeching.

Ten minutes later Anne was sitting in a chair at the round table in the breakfast nook. Her wrists were tied to the arms of the chair with two phone wires.

'How dare you treat me this way. You're not going to get away with this. You just wait and see. I'm going to report you.'

Carrie, exhausted, fell into the chair adjacent to Anne's. She covered her brow with her hand, her elbow propped on the table,

and calmly asked, 'How do you plan to do that, Anne?'

'You bitch,' Anne railed. 'I'll call the police.'

'Be my guest. Use the phone. Oh, wait. You can't because the damn phone's dead.'

'You're lying.'

Carrie turned to Sara, who was leaning against the counter, watching. 'Is she just on another planet? I think her mind's completely snapped.'

'Perhaps,' Sara said. 'Shock will sometimes make a person… irrational.'

'What in God's name are we going to do?' Carrie whispered.

Sara pulled out a chair and sat down across from Anne. She folded her hands on the tabletop. 'Now, Anne, it won't do for you

to continue to pretend that everything is all right. We're all in trouble here, and we need your cooperation.'

Anne's immediate response was a glare. 'Leave me alone, you fat pig.'

'Charming,' Carrie muttered.

'Bitch,' Anne shouted at the top of her voice.

'If you continue to scream every word, Anne, I'm afraid I'm going to have to gag you,' Sara warned. 'Are you going to calm down?'

Anne's glare grew even stronger.

'Anne, where's the letter that was left for you?' When Anne turned her head away, Sara asked, 'Are you giving us the silent treatment now?'

'Wouldn't that be a blessing?' Carrie scoffed.

Sara leaned back in her chair, adjusted her silk robe to cover her gown, and said, 'You know, Anne, if you didn't get a letter…'

'I didn't,' Anne snapped.

'Then you could be an innocent bystander who just got caught up in our… dilemma.'

Dilemma? Carrie was about to take issue with Sara's poor choice of words. For God's sake, they were sitting inside a bomb.

But then she caught Sara's eye and decided to keep quiet when the older woman gave a quick shake of her head.

'You see, Anne,' she continued in a calm tone. 'As a judge, I put away a good number of hardened criminals over the years. I

had a reputation for giving harsh sentences, but in all of those cases, the men and women who came before me were career criminals. I don't have any regrets.'

Anne finally looked at Sara with icy disdain. 'Why are you telling me this?'

'Because it's important. Over the years there have been numerous threats against my life, but I've never given any of them a second thought.'

She went into the living room to get the letters she and Carrie had received. She returned to her seat at the table and read her letter to Anne. When she was finished, she held the paper up in front of Anne's eyes so she could see she was telling the truth.

'And you think one of those criminals is making good on his threat?'

'Yes, that's exactly what I think. Either there's an ex-con behind this, or someone still in jail has gotten outside help.'

'Where would an ex-con or a prisoner get the money to hire a killer?'

'Who cares where he got the money,' Carrie interjected.

'I'm not talking to you, bitch,' Anne hissed.

Sara raised her hand for silence. She didn't want Carrie's temper to trigger another tantrum.

'It's a valid question,' Sara said. 'I don't know how he got the money. Perhaps a relative came into an inheritance or…'

'And maybe you put away an innocent man, and those relatives know it.'

'Yes, that might be how it happened.'

Carrie was gritting her teeth to keep from interrupting. She wanted to tell both women that right now they needed to find a way

to get out of the house, and then, once they were safe, they could speculate on the who, how, and why until the cows came home.

'Carrie's letter wasn't like mine,' Sara said. 'Hers was signed.'

Anne looked intrigued. 'So he wanted you to know how much he hated you before you died?'

'Not 'he,' ' Sara corrected. 'She.'

Carrie nodded. Anne still wouldn't look at her, but Carrie didn't care about that. 'My letter was written by my sister, Jilly.'

The announcement so shocked Anne she couldn't continue her stony silence with Carrie any longer. 'Your own flesh and blood wants you dead?'

'Yes.'

Appalled, she asked, 'What kind of a family do you come from?'

Carrie held her temper. 'Dysfunctional, Anne. I come from a very dysfunctional family. My sister's crazy.'

'Good heavens,' Anne said. 'Wait a minute. Are you lying? I mean, if your sister is really crazy, why hasn't she been locked away?'

'I was told years ago that Jilly died in a car accident. The funeral home wanted to send me her ashes. Jilly, it turns out, was

much smarter than I thought. She's waited and planned all these years to get even with me.'

'Why? What did you do to her?'

'She thinks I stole her child.'

'Did you?'

'No, Jilly abandoned her when she was a baby. My mother and I raised her.'

'And your sister never came back?'

'Oh, yes, when Avery was five, Jilly came back with a sleazebag of a boyfriend named Dale Skarrett. She thought she could just waltz in and take Avery away. She'd already used extortion to get money out of my mother. That's true,' she said when Anne looked so appalled. 'My mother had to pay to keep Avery. I was home when they came, and while I physically tried to shove Jilly out of the house, my mother called the police. When Dale Skarrett heard the sirens, he grabbed Jilly and took off. I moved to California the following morning. While I was off building a career, Avery stayed with my mother. Then, when Avery was eleven, Jilly sent Skarrett to the house to kidnap her. Avery wasn't going to go quietly. She fought him tooth and nail, and he used his belt to beat her within an inch of her life. She was so young… and helpless. I guess I sort of thought of myself as her mother, but when it mattered, really mattered, I wasn't there to protect her the way a mother should.'

'What about your mother? Didn't she do anything?'

Carrie looked down as she continued. 'The police chief was a friend, and he had given mother a gun, taught her how to use it

Вы читаете Killjoy
Добавить отзыв
ВСЕ ОТЗЫВЫ О КНИГЕ В ИЗБРАННОЕ

0

Вы можете отметить интересные вам фрагменты текста, которые будут доступны по уникальной ссылке в адресной строке браузера.

Отметить Добавить цитату