F Paul Wilson - Novel 04 (38 page)

She hadn’t dared even to
glance at the phones as she’d hurried Katie inside, but now she felt it
might be like safe to risk a peek. As Katie unwrapped a strawberry taffy stick
and began to chew, Poppy stepped toward the front of the store; from within a
cluster of people lined up to buy lottery tickets, she stared south along the
boardwalk.

Bright sunlight from a
robin’s-egg sky glittered off the darker blue of the ocean. White sand,
strewn with seaweed, stretched to the boardwalk where two people hung by the
bank of four phones—one was a woman by a middle phone, the other a tall,
dark-haired man standing by the last phone on the left. The Katie phone. And he
looked a little like Katie.

No… he looked a lot like
Katie.

And then it hit Poppy.

I’m gonna lose her.

Suddenly her throat was tight. She
turned to look at Katie, happily chomping away as she began unwrapping another
stick. She looked up at Poppy and waved, smiling around the huge wad of taffy
bulging the side of her cheek.

Poppy felt her eyes fill with tears.
Only like five days since she first laid eyes on that kid and yet right now she
didn’t know how she was going to live without her. I can’t let her
go. And yet she knew she had to. A little girl belonged with her Daddy. But
still…

She rushed over and lifted Katie in
her arms, hugging her tight against her.

“I love you, Katie.”
Katie’s arms went around her neck.

“I love you too, Poppy. Can
you come home and live with me?”

“Oh, I’d love that,
honey bunch, but I can’t right away. I’ve got a few places I gotta
go.”

“How about when you come
back?”

“Sure. If it’s all
right with your daddy.”

“I’ll ask him,
‘kay?”

“ ‘Kay.” The plan
was to call the phone where Katie’s dad was waiting and tell him he could
find her in the taffy shop to his left. She’d rented a cell phone
earlier—on one of Snake’s cards—just for that one call.

She’d made it pretty clear to
Katie’s dad that no one else was supposed to be involved in this. But she
couldn’t like count on that.

She had to assume that a whole lot of
people were out there waiting for this to go down. And she figured everybody
would be expecting her to act like a typical kidnapper, like in the movies
where they called people and told them to race to another phone to get the next
call, and then to another phone for still another call.

But what if she told Katie’s
daddy on the very first call where he could find her? Who’d be expecting
that?

All right, maybe it was an Appleton
scheme, but it was the best she could come up with. And Appleton or not, it felt
right. She’d leave Katie here, chomping on taffy, and wander out of the
store, off the boardwalk, down to the street, get into the truck, and call
Daddy on her cell phone as she was like driving away. She didn’t feature
leaving Katie alone, but it would only be a few minutes before Daddy got there,
with maybe like a zillion feds and cops swarming into the store behind him.

She’d dump the cell phone
somewhere, and keep driving… and cry all the way home.

All the way home…

Where had that come from? She didn’t
have a home. Not anymore. And nobody in Sooy’s Boot much wanted to see
her again.

Home. Sooy’s Boot
wasn’t all that far from here. Was that why she’d chosen Atlantic
City? So she could run home afterward?

She shook off the questions.
She’d worry about them later. Right now she had to get Katie back where
she belonged.

Sweet Jesus, how am I going to do
this? How am I doing to let you go?

As Poppy closed her eyes and fought
back the tears, she felt Katie stiffen and whisper, “Mommy.”

“I wish I was, honey bunch,
but you’ve got—”

“No. That’s my
mommy.”

Poppy froze. What the hell was
Katie’s mother doing here? In this store? Despite the hair and boy
clothes, had she recognized Katie and followed them in? Poppy couldn’t
see how anyone could spot Katie unless they were right on top of her, but maybe
mothers had like an instinct for their own child.

All right, she told herself, stay
calm.

Still holding Katie against her
pounding heart, she made a half turn, slow and casual like.

The store was filled with.women. None
of them seemed to be staring at her or Katie.

“Don’t point,”
Poppy whispered. “Just tell me who it is.”

“By the door,” Katie
said softly in her ear. “With the big hat.”

Poppy saw her now: Big dark
glasses, wide floppy straw sun hat, the kind you could buy anywhere along the
boardwalk, worn over a silk scarf wrapped around her head. Either she was
allergic to the sun or thought she was like in disguise.

And she didn’t even know they
were here, right behind her. She was too busy staring out the door, watching
the man who had to be Katie’s father.

That was it. Dear old Dad must have
told Mom that they were getting their daughter back today and the poor woman
just couldn’t stay away.

That lump in her throat again: She
absolutely had to give Katie back to her folks. It was the only right thing to
do.

And suddenly Poppy realized
she’d been presented with a totally golden opportunity to do just that.

“Look, honey bunch,”
she whispered, “I’m gonna put you down and let you go to your
mother. You—”

“No!” Katie’s
arms tightened around her neck. “I don’t want to!”

“You gotta, honey
bunch,” Poppy said, deeply moved that Katie wanted to stay with her.
“You gotta go back. Your mom will take you back to your dad.”

Katie straightened and looked
around. “Daddy? Is my daddy here?” Poppy wondered at the change in
Katie at the mention of her father. This was definitely Daddy’s little girl.

Like I was… once.

“Not right here. But
he’s close by. You go with your mom and soon you’ll be with your
dad too. Okay?

“ ‘Kay.” Poppy put
her down and straightened her Jets shirt.

She bit her lip to keep from
crying. I gotta get out of here before I start blubbering.

“You be a good girl,
now,” she told Katie, crouching before her and smoothing her Chopped
hair. “And you have a good life. And maybe you think of me once in a
while, okay?”

“ ‘Kay.”

Poppy gathered her in her arms
again and held her tight, never wanting to let her go, but knowing if she
didn’t get out of here right now she’d explode.

“I love you, little
girl.”

“I love you too. Poppy.”
She forced herself to release Katie.

“Why are you crying?”

“Because I’m going to
miss you.” She wiped her eyes on her flannel sleeve. “But
here’s what you do. Wait a second or two while I go outside, then go up
to your mother and say, ‘Hi, Mom.’ Can you do that?”

Katie nodded, her blue eyes
flicking back and forth between her mother and Poppy. “But where will you
be?”

“I’ll be
outside.” Not a lie. She would be outside—far outside, and getting
farther every second. “Got that? Wait till I’m outside; then go up
to her.”

“Kay.” Poppy
straightened and took one last look into that little face.

She touched her cheek, then
somewhere found the strength to turn and hurry past Katie’s
mother—still fixated on the phones outside—and stumble into the
afternoon sunlight.

Feeling as if she’d torn out
her heart and left it behind, among the souvenirs, she made a sharp right and
kept her head down as she forced one foot in front of the other away from the
boardwalk.

She made it down the ramp to street
level, was vaguely aware of the mass of Rally’s on her right and a vacant
lot to her left, but then the building pressure in her chest wouldn’t let
her go any farther. She stumbled into the shadow of an empty loading dock,
sagged against a wall, and began to sob.

“Hi, Mom.” Mamie
started and turned. This little boy, this ragamuffin with orange hair was
tugging on her skirt and looking up at her. She brushed his hand off.

“Get away,” she said.
“I’m not your—” Those eyes… those blue, blue
eyes…

She looked closer.

“Oh… my…
God!” It was Katie! Feeling faint, she dropped to one knee and grasped
both her shoulders.

“What has he done to you?
Your hair! Your clothes!”

“Poppy—”

“Is that what he has you
calling him now? Poppy? What else does he have you doing?” She wrapped
Katie in her arms, but the child didn’t return the embrace. She remained
stiff, wooden. Almost as if she were afraid. John’s work—no
question about it. Here was proof positive of how he’d been filling the
child’s head with terrible lies about her mother.

Suddenly Mamie was furious. John
was such an expert at twisting the truth. And now he was twisting
Katie—in body as well as soul. Look at her! How could he do this to his
own daughter? What sort of perversion was this? Coloring her hair and dressing
her like a boy? She sensed sickness here.Deep sickness. Sickness the courts
should know about, should see with their own eyes…

A wonderful idea leaped full blown
into her mind.

“Katie,” she said.
“I’m going to take you home.”

Suddenly Katie seemed to relax.
“Goodie! I want to see Daddy!”

Poppy… Daddy… the poor
child didn’t know what to call her father.

Mamie glanced out at the boardwalk.
John was still by the phones. The negligent bastard! Leaving poor Katie alone
in here while he waits for a call. But from whom? Some bimbo? Or
worse—someone who liked little girls dressed up to look like boys?

Her stomach turned. It was a sick,
sick world out there, and little girls like Katie needed to be protected from
exploiters—especially if their father was doing the exploiting.

John was staring out at the ocean.
Now seemed like the best time to move. Mamie lifted Katie and carried her from
the store, keeping Katie’s face and her own averted from John.

A matter of fifteen seconds and
they were down on the street and out of sight of the boardwalk.

Mamie breathed a sigh of relief and
set Katie back on the ground. She took a firm grip on her hand and led her
toward Bally’s parking garage.

“Where are we going?”
Katie said.

“To get the car.”

“And then we’re gonna
see Daddy?”

“No. Then we’re going
to the airport. We’re flying back home.” I’ve got a lawyer
and a judge who’ll be very interested in seeing you just as you are. And
then they’ll change their exalted opinion of Dr. John Vanduyne.

Katie pulled her hand free.
“No! I want to see Daddy!”

“You will. I promise
you.” When he has to appear in court.

“I want to see him
now!” Mamie grabbed Katie’s upper arm and yanked her to ward the
garage’s glass-enclosed elevator area.

“No arguing now. Come
along.”

“No!” Mamie felt her anger
rising. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed people standing nearby on the
sidewalk. She didn’t want a scene here. As she pulled Katie inside the
glass enclosure, she raised her voice, yet kept it cloyingly sweet for the
benefit of anyone within earshot.

“Come on, baby,” she
said. “You can press the button when we get into the elevator. It’s
three. You know three, don’t you?” An elevator stood open and Mamie
gave Katie the bum’s rush through the doors.

“No!” Katie cried.
“I don’t want to be with you! I want to be with Daddy!”

That did it. Before she knew what
she was doing, Mamie jabbed the“3” button herself, then gave Katie
a well-deserved slap across her whiny little face. The sound echoing harshly in
the tiny elevator cab as the doors slid closed.

“That’s just about
enough,” she said. She glanced down at Katie who was holding her face
with her free hand and sobbing softly. “One thing you’re going to
learn and learn well is to do as you’re told and keep a civil tongue in
your head.”

The car stopped on the third level,
the door slid open; and Mamie stepped out, pulling the still-sobbing Katie
after her. Another glass enclosure. She stepped through the doors into the
parking area and looked around. Now where had she left her car?

Suddenly a noise to her left as the
exit door slammed open; a slim young woman in jeans and a plaid shirt was
moving toward her, breathing hard as if she’d been running.

She had short, jet-black hair, and
red-rimmed eyes.

She looked as if she’d been
crying. Those eyes blazed as they found Katie. She never stopped moving as she
spoke through clenched teeth, bared in a snarl.

“You bitch!” And then
Mamie’s face exploded with pain as the woman smashed a fist into her
nose.

Mommy dearest staggered back as
blood began pouring from her nose. She let go of Katie and raised her hands to
her face. She began to scream and so Poppy hit her again, right in the bread
basket.

She grunted, doubled over and
lurched away, like she was going to run. Poppy started after her, fists raised,
itching to hit her again.

Poppy had been crouched in the
loading bay, bawling, feeling sorry for herself, when she spotted the mother
dragging Katie down the street toward Bally’s garage.

Immediately she’d sensed
something wasn’t right. Why hadn’t Katie been reunited with her
daddy?

Poppy had followed them into the
garage and seen her slap Katie just as the elevator doors shut.

What followed was mostly a blur
running up the steps with murder in her heart, pacing the elevator, getting to
level three and seeing Katie with tears on her face and a big red slap mark
across her cheek.

Something snapped in Poppy then,
and Jesus it had felt so good flattening that bitch’s nose. She wanted to
keep on pounding her, let her know how it felt.

And now the bitch was trying to
run. Still bent over, she staggered away. But she didn’t get far. She ran
the top of her head dead on into a concrete support. Poppy heard a meaty smack
and then the bitch was crumbling to the floor like an empty burlap sack.