Holding Waters at bay with his own pistol, Cole aimed his.357 at Annelise’s head. “I should kill her. It’s only fair, after what you made me do. Besides, you two need to learn a lesson.”
Lily began to cry. Waters wished he had shot Cole that afternoon.
“Shut up! You simpering little
Lily covered Annelise like a blanket, her face empty of anything but terror.
“Don’t do it!” Waters begged.
“Tell me why I shouldn’t.”
“The Mallory Candler I loved would never do that.”
Cole shuddered. “What?”
“The Mallory I knew would never be that cruel. I hurt her terribly, yes. She was heartbroken. But she never really hurt someone physically. You say you’re Mallory Candler. You may have started as Mallory…but in the ten years you’ve been like this, you’ve changed. Something’s twisted you. Mallory
Fury contorted Cole’s face into something horrible. “I love you more than anyone possibly could!”
“No. You want to
Cole’s lips quivered.
“Yes, I was going to kill you,” Waters said. “I honestly thought you would be better off dead. At peace. God forgive me, but you were meant to die ten years ago. Something allowed you to survive…like this. But it’s not natural. It’s not fair for you to steal someone else’s body, someone else’s life, to live out what you think is the life you deserved.”
A tear streaked Cole’s face. “It wasn’t fair for that man to rape me!” As he wiped away the tear, a savage light came into Cole’s eyes. “Who are you to tell me what I deserve? You gave me children and then took them away. You left me an empty shell.”
The gun shook against Annelise’s head.
Waters closed his eyes. “I loved you once,” he said quietly. “Show me you’re worth loving again.”
Cole gasped, and his eyes locked on to Waters’s face. “You think I
“What choice did you give me!”
Cole’s left hand rose to his neck as if to twist a lock of hair around his finger, but there was no hair there. He seemed suddenly purposeless, disoriented. Waters was about to speak when Cole jerked the gun away from Annelise’s head and leaped out of the truck.
Lily began to sob in the backseat. Waters cranked the engine and threw the truck into gear, roaring out of the little driveway like a man fleeing the scene of a murder.
When they pulled up to Linton Hill, Lily was still crying. Waters had not dumped the pickup as planned; he didn’t think Lily could handle the logistics in her state. He parked the old Ford behind the house and lifted Annelise into his arms.
“Open the back door,” he told Lily. “Go up and get her bed ready.”
Lily ran to the door and opened it with her key, then disappeared into the house. Carrying Annelise up the stairs winded him, more from his nerves than her weight. As he pulled the covers up over her chest, Lily pulled him toward the door.
“What are we going to do? What
Before he could answer, the downstairs phone rang. He bounded down the steps and checked the caller ID on the den telephone: UNKNOWN NUMBER. At 1:20 A.M.
He picked up the receiver but said nothing.
“John?” said a familiar voice. “John? It’s Penn Cage.”
“Penn! What’s going on?”
“I’m sorry to call so late. I’ve been calling for the past hour. I was about to get in my car and drive over there.”
Waters didn’t think it was possible to be more stressed than he was already, but the edge in his lawyer’s voice did the trick.
“What’s happened?”
“Are you on a land line?”
“Yes.”
“The police have a search warrant for your house. I’d expect them there by six a.m.”
Waters felt dizzy. “Why a search all of a sudden?”
“They may have new evidence. There’s just no way to know.”
“Okay,” Waters said, not at all sure what he should do.
“I’m telling you this,” Penn said carefully, “because people often have things inside their homes they’d rather not see made public. Pornography. Recreational drugs. Sexual paraphernalia. Diaries or journals…”
“It won’t do any real good for me to be there during the search, but call me as soon as it’s over. You’re liable to be taken in for questioning again. Things could go south very quickly from here, but stay calm.”
“Yeah. Thanks.” Waters hung up.
“That was Penn?” Lily asked from behind him. “What did he say?”
She had wiped away her tears, but she looked as though she might collapse at any moment. He wished he could spare her the truth, but she had to know.
“The police are going to search this house in four hours.”
Lily’s head began shaking like she had Parkinson’s disease. “What are we going to do?”
“They won’t find anything. I’ll-”
“What are we going to do about
He started to go to her, but then he realized that the fear in her eyes had been replaced by fury.
“How could you do this to us?” she whispered. “How did we
“Lily-”
“You still love her, don’t you?”
Lily was nodding, her eyes flicking back and forth, focusing on nothing. “You still love Mallory. You always have.”
“You know that’s not true.”
Her face was so white that he feared she might faint. “How could Mallory have done any of this if you didn’t still love her? That’s what’s kept her alive all these years!”
Waters stepped forward, his hands held out to calm her, but Lily backed away as though afraid he would strike her.
“What kind of husband are you?” she cried. “What kind of
“Lily, please. Listen to me.”
“She told me about you getting her pregnant! While you were in Sybil’s apartment. She told me about the abortions. She thinks my miscarriages happened because of what you made her do.”
“That’s impossible.”
Lily’s eyes were wild. “When I lost those babies, I knew there was a reason. I searched for some mistake I’d made…some sin I had to pay for. But it wasn’t my sin, was it? It was
Before he could reply, she turned and fled the den.
He stood alone in the roaring silence, his options exhausted, his hope all but gone. The second hand on his watch seemed to be flying.
Chapter 19
