Authors: Michelle Love
‘Well, now, I’m sure Sarah doesn’t have anything to worry about – does she?’
‘Of course not.’
‘Perhaps, if you’re making her uncomfortable then you should leave,
Mr.
Bailey.’
Dan stared at him with contempt.
‘What a wonderful idea.’ Molly walked in behind Flynn, a grocery bag in her arms. She winked at Jay as she passed him and, dumping the bag on the counter, went to stand beside Sarah. She linked her fingers with her friend, feeling her tremble. ‘In fact, I think you should leave the island, let alone the coffee house.’
Dan was amused. ‘Really?’
‘Yep.’
‘So, in addition to being an exemplary muffin peddler, you’re also a travel agent? Well, who knew? May I please have a refill, Sarah?’ He held his cup out to her. Molly took it.
‘
No,
you may not. Please leave.’
Dan smirked. Flynn cleared his throat.
‘You heard her, Bailey.’
Dan stood. Molly sneered. ‘And consider this a lifetime ban.’
Dan laughed. ‘My lifetime or yours?’
‘Asshole.’
Dan sighed, still grinning. He looked at Sarah. ‘Careful with that gun, Sarah. I wouldn’t want you to have an unfortunate accident.’ He ran his eyes over her body. Sarah cringed.
‘Get him the fuck out,’ Molly stepped in front of Sarah.
Flynn and Jay stepped forward but Dan held his hands up. ‘I’m going. What’s it come to when a man can’t express his concern for his wife’s safety?’
He walked out of the door. Sarah breathed again and Molly hugged her. She looked at Jay and Flynn gratefully.
‘
Thanks,
dudes. That could have gotten really nasty without you here.’
Jay shook his head. ‘He’s…damn, I don’t know what he is.’
Sarah felt sick. A few minutes was all it took to make her feel so vulnerable, unprotected. Useless. Even with two enormous bodyguards. She rubbed her face, trying to disguise her distress. Her heart was pounding, her stomach twisted. Hopelessness flooded through her.
He’s going to kill me and no-one can stop him.
She felt so weak. Sarah turned away from her friends, the easy tears coming again.
Damn it.
Molly slid her arm around her waist, studied her face, guessed what she was thinking.
‘You did okay, Sarah. If I had been you, I probably would have blown his head off the second he walked in here.’
Jay rolled his eyes and grinned. ‘’Cause that’s the way to go. Not that I’d blame you.’ He added quickly, seeing the expression on Molly’s face. She thawed.
‘You deserve a hug.’ She wrapped her arms around the blushing security guard. Sarah smiled but then she caught sight of Dan watching them from the other side of the street. He grinned when he saw her watching him. She walked over to the window and let the shade down. She turned to Molly and the two men who were watching her.
‘I don’t want you
two
saying anything about this to Finn.’ Her voice was firm and they gaped at her.
‘Why the hell not?’ Molly’s eyes were huge with disbelief. Sarah shook her head at them.
‘Because. I don’t want to make any mistakes because of Dan’s goading. We don’t react, he has no power. But Finn is, well, you both know how he is. Shoot first, ask questions
yadda yadda
…Guys? We can tell Isaac, but not until later, okay?’
Neither Jay or Flynn looked happy but she knew, they worked for her, and would respect her wishes. Molly, she wasn’t so sure of.
Almost on cue, Molly shook her head. ‘I don’t like this.’
Sarah tried to smile. ‘Mols, we have these two Sasquatches here. We’re fine.’
Molly looked doubtful. ‘I don’t know.’
Sarah sighed and sat down. ‘It’s going to be hard but we need to hang back, give him enough rope.’ She rubbed her eyes wearily. ‘I mean it. No missteps.’
‘I get it.’ Jay was nodding, ignoring the little
dig
Molly gave his ribs. ‘And I agree. Steady does it.’ Sarah got up and moved to the counter.
‘Thank you both.’ She sighed and rolled her shoulders. Jay squeezed Molly’s hand and turned to go back to the car outside. He stopped when he heard Sarah speak.
‘Jay? The word you were looking for is monster.’ Her face was pale, haunted as Jay stared at her but her voice was hard. ‘Daniel Bailey is a monster.’
Sarah lay awake next to Isaac. He’d been home when she came back from the coffee shop and had greeted her in such a good mood that she was glad she had made the guys promise not to tell him about Dan’s visit. She did tell him about Corcoran’s
call,
though. She’d called the lawyer back as soon as she was able and he said he would be in Seattle the day after tomorrow. She’d mentioned a restaurant and had agreed to meet him there. She didn’t want him on the island, not where Dan could see him. She’d made it clear to Finn, Molly and Isaac that the last thing she wanted was to ramp up Dan’s campaign by antagonizing him or by putting Corcoran in any danger. If Dan was backed into a corner, he would be lethal and she wanted more time to be
able to
get something real, something that would stick, put him away forever. And above all, she wanted to keep the people she loved safe.
She thought back to when Finn had told her about the other women, the ones who had been murdered. The ones who looked like her. She made him tell her everything, every detail. Finn had
balked
but she had insisted. She needed to know what Dan had planned for her, needed to retain some control over her fear. They still had absolutely nothing to tie Dan to those killings but she knew,
she knew,
he had killed before. George. The girls across the country. The poor girl in Seattle. Finn had shown her the cutting from the
Times
. Sarah couldn’t get the dead woman’s face out of her mind. Her chest ached for her, for her family.
I won’t let him hurt anyone else.
Sarah saw him as soon as she entered the restaurant. He sat, straight-backed, an air of
old-fashioned
gentility about him, an oasis of calm amongst the chatter, the noise of a Seattle eatery on a Fall day. Excitable kids and curious tourists. A heavy glass of sour mash sat in front of him, hardly touched. He studied the menu, distracted, uneasy. She approached him.
‘
Mr.
Corcoran?’ He looked up, blinked twice.
‘Mrs. Quinn?’ He stood and shook hands with her, pulled out her chair, waited until she sat.
‘Thank you,’ She smiled at him. He stared at her as he sat, his expression troubled. After a beat, Sarah felt herself flush, embarrassed at the scrutiny.
‘I’m sorry, Mrs. Quinn, it’s that you…well, you remind me of someone.’ He shook his head. ‘I’m sorry - it is a pleasure to meet you.’ He offered her the menu. ‘Can I order you a drink?’
‘Just an orange juice, please.’
He waved at the waitress, politely requested the drink. There was an awkward pause.
‘Mrs. Quinn, I’m sorry to have frightened you like that on the phone, I didn’t mean…’
‘
Mr.
Corcoran, please don’t apologize. If you have any information about Dan Bailey – or Ray Petersen - I want to hear it. Good or bad. Good or bad,
Mr.
Corcoran.’ Her gaze was steady and he nodded. He cleared his throat.
‘Mrs. Q…’
‘Sarah.’
‘Sarah. Please call me William. Sarah, I can give you
some
concrete information about Raymond, other than that, I’m afraid all I can give you are my thoughts, my opinions based mostly on instinct.’
Sarah shifted in her seat as he paused, the waitress had returned with her drink.
‘Are you ready to order?’ Hurriedly, they both made the same choice, and the waitress left.
Sarah leaned toward the elderly lawyer.
‘Please go on. How did you become his lawyer?.’
‘His mother Amelia was the daughter of a rich man, a rich man who had high expectations. She married Yann when she was just nineteen, and her child, Raymond was her world. I mean, the whole world revolved around that little boy. He was doted on by his entire family but Amelia and he shared a bond like none I have ever seen.’
‘Raymond was prone to fits of rage, especially when his mother’s attention was diverted from him. He would scream, even bite her sometimes until she tended to him. Amelia, at first, didn’t see that his
behavior
was extreme.’
His father soon grew tired of being ignored and began to punish his son, never with violence, just by restricting his access to his mother. They started to find animals, dead animals, on the estate.
At first,
no-one suspected – Raymond was only five years old at this point – no one suspected that he could have killed them. Until he brought home a cat that he had killed. Brought it right into the parlor. Amelia was sickened of course, and punished the boy but Raymond didn’t care about the punishment, he had his mother’s attention.
He started to set small fires on the estate, nothing was damaged, really but they were numerous and occasionally their neighbors would complain and Raymond would be punished. In response to the punishments, he would deliberately wet the bed – mostly his own but on several occasions the beds of his family and their staff. Their overnight guests. He seemed to revel in their discomfort.’
William sighed, deep in the memory. ‘Amelia was increasingly distraught. She had adored her son and now he was behaving in such a profoundly disturbing manner. Amelia came to recognize that her son was…’
‘A monster.’ Sarah whispered. William nodded sadly.
‘She was destroyed.’
‘You loved her.’ Sarah studied the elderly man’s face, watched as it creased with pain.
‘With all my heart…Yann was a cold man, a cold, cold man. She was lonely and I was weak.’
Sarah reached across the table, took his hand. ‘I understand, William, believe me.’ She gave a little laugh and shook her head. ‘You wouldn’t believe how much I understand.’
William squeezed her hand gratefully.
‘She was an extraordinary woman, warm, brilliant. Beautiful. Forgive me for saying so, Sarah, but you remind me so much of her, you appear to share many of her qualities.’
She flushed and William smiled kindly at her.
‘Dan…Raymond,’ she corrected for his benefit, ‘Raymond told me that his was an abusive childhood and that’s why he was sent away.’
William sighed. ‘That’s not true. Yes, Yann was not an affectionate father and could be a harsh disciplinarian but no, Raymond wasn’t abused. For a time in fact, when he was six, he seemed to change, behave well.’
‘A new family came to live in the estate next to theirs, Chinese immigrants. A young family, with an infant daughter, she would have been four or five at the time. They weren’t as rich as the Petersen’s but Amelia and the girl’s mother, Suyin, often would visit with each other and Suyin would bring the little girl to play with Raymond. The two children would play
on
the grounds of the estate, making a den out of a little boathouse on the bayou. Raymond’s
behavior
seemed to improve and, for Amelia, the relief was palpable.’
William coughed quietly, and as he brought his coffee to his mouth, his hands shook. Sarah’s stomach began to roil with unease. William put his cup down slowly.
‘One day, they were playing out in the den when Raymond came back to the house, alone. He was covered in blood.’
‘Oh my God.’ Sarah covered her mouth with her hands, horror sweeping through her, ice in her veins. William nodded.
‘Yann came running from his study when he heard Amelia’s screams. Later he would tell me that Raymond just stood there, smiling, blood dripping from his little hands. He had killed the girl,
Hotaru
, I think her name was, with a knife he had stolen from the kitchen. When they found her, she had been disemboweled.’
Sarah felt the bile rise up into her throat, her head shook from side to side, not wanting but
needing
to hear the rest.
George. The other women.
‘
Of course,
it was all hushed up. The other family
was
paid off, a huge amount, and Raymond was sent away to boarding school. Amelia refused to ever see him again and killed herself shortly
afterward
. As for Raymond, his father visited occasionally but even that tailed off. Eventually, when Raymond left school, they lost contact. He had given him a lump sum allowance that he withdrew from his account on his eighteenth birthday but he never saw or spoke to him again. Yann died just over two years ago.’
‘Where was Raymond?’ Sarah’s voice was gruff, her throat dry. William shrugged.
‘No one knows. It was only after the notice of Yann’s death appeared that he contacted my office. Where he was, or what he was doing is anybody’s guess.’
Sarah remembered what Finn had said.
The invisible man.
William Corcoran was watching her, his face sympathetic.
He cleared his throat. ‘ Sarah, should I have told you all this?’
She nodded, vehement. ‘Yes, William, yes. It’s better to be informed.’ Then, all her bravado disappeared and her shoulders slumped.
‘Do you think he’s killed since?’
‘I couldn’t even begin to...’ He sighed. ‘There’s no evidence.’
‘But you think so?’
‘Yes. Sarah, Raymond Petersen is a malignant narcissist, a bully, a sadist. He enjoys inflicting pain, both physically and mentally. I imagine his victims are…legion.’
Her face drained of color. William looked at her, worry etched on his kind face. She murmured something and he frowned.
‘I’m sorry, my dear, I didn’t catch that.’
She looked up at him then. ‘I said he’s going to kill me.’
William paled. ‘My dear…’
‘It’s okay, William. It helps to say it out loud,
believe
it or not.
Otherwise,
it would be too easy to pretend all this wasn’t happening, that it was some insane nightmare.’ She sighed.
Corcoran finished his drink and signaled to the waitress for another. He leaned across the table, his face serious.
‘Sarah, tell me everything.’
‘I met him in college. He was charming, friendly, loving. I saw nothing in him then that would point to who he became. It was after we married and moved back to the island that he changed. My friends – my family, really – always had reservations but I was blind to them. I had a bad childhood and here was someone who told me he would take care of me. I feel so stupid now. He became possessive, verbally abusive. Then he disappeared and – I can admit finally – it was more a relief than a sadness.’ She shook her head. ‘I can’t believe I just said that. Of course, I was upset, it was such a shock but after a while, I just got angry. I divorced him in absentia. And then, last year, I met Isaac and I finally knew what real love was. I was happy and then my father figure was murdered – just like that poor little girl and things fell apart. I was beaten pretty badly, my life threatened, my best friend Molly was attacked. And then Dan came back and it’s been a living nightmare ever since.’
She could feel the curious glances of the other diners on her. William looked appalled. After a moment, she brushed the tears from her face.
‘I’m sorry, William.’
‘My dear, there’s no need to apologize. I’m just so sorry. I should have gone to the police with my suspicions.’
‘But you haven’t any proof so…’ she almost gagged on the words and William reached across the table. ‘How are we going to stop him when…’ Her voice trailed off, and she couldn’t finish the thought. William squeezed her hand.
‘You married again? Is he a good man?’
‘Yes.’ She said without hesitation. ‘He’s a proud man, he loves me and this is killing him.’
‘I see.’
They sat in silence for a few minutes.
‘Sarah, Raymond is a very dangerous man, and if he’s already assaulted you…my dear, forgive me but when I saw you...you look so much like her. Like little
Hotaru
. For an old man’s piece of mind, please be vigilant. Don’t be alone with him, don’t get into any situation where he could harm you.’
‘I promise I won’t take any unnecessary risks, William. And thank you.’ She smiled at him and he returned it with just a little hesitation. He bent down and pulled a folder from his case.
‘I have something for you.’ He slid the folder over to her. Curious, she opened it and gasped.
‘I took this photograph just a few moments before Raymond was taken away.’
Sarah stared at the photograph. Amelia, her soft dark hair curling down to her shoulders, her ruby pendant crimson at her throat, gazed down at her son with abject horror in her eyes. The tears poured down her face as she looked at the unbearable, searing grief on the face of a mother who knew her son was an abomination.