“Smile for me, Devy.”
She couldn’t smile any more than she could drag her gaze away from his face. She supposed it was a handsome face, so different from her own. She wondered if he took after their papa, wondered what it would have been like to have been a family, to have known her parents. To be normal. “Why did you kill our parents?” she asked, trying to make sense of the nonsensical.
He grabbed her pinky with his own and yanked hard. Pain shot through her hand. She cried out and tears filled her eyes.
“That’s all that happened,” he said through gritted teeth. “They said I broke your pinky. They said I couldn’t play with you anymore. But I couldn’t let them do that. You are mine. Mine!” He pulled her hard against his chest.
Fear, cold and sharp, snapped through her.
He lifted her chin, so she had to look at him, had to see the insanity alive in his eyes. “They had to be punished. Don’t you see? I couldn’t let them take you away from me. You were mine. I loved you. None of those
other girls could ever be you. They tried, but they failed. They had to stop trying to play our game.”
“Oh, God,” she muttered.
“Come on, Devy. Smile for me, laugh.”
He twisted her pinky again and the tears spilled out of her eyes and ran down her cheeks. “But what about Tommy?”
“Tommy couldn’t have you. He thought he could. I know what he wanted, but he didn’t get the chance. I made sure of that.”
Devra swayed on her feet. The feel of him so close to her was suffocating. She pushed against his chest. “Please, let me go.”
“You let that cop touch you. I saw you. He’s going to have to be punished for that. You’re both going to pay for that.” He clutched her jaw and squeezed. “You need to know, Devra, that you’re mine. No one can touch you but me. Do you understand?”
Horror and revulsion twisted inside her as the meaning behind his words hit home. “But I’m your sister.”
“That makes it more special. You were meant to be mine. I’ve been saving myself just for you.”
She was unable to comprehend how anyone could be so twisted. She looked into his dark eyes, but couldn’t see anything there. Not one speck of humanity, of feeling, of compassion shone back at her. Just a black, empty abyss that made her blood run cold.
He pressed his lips softy against hers and her knees buckled. She would have fallen to a heap on the asphalt had he not lifted her up into his arms and carried her back to Riley’s Expedition.
THEY DROVE for an eternity, down one winding isolated road after another. Devra sat motionless, trying not to think, wondering where Riley was and what he was thinking.
He might never find her. He might never know that it wasn’t her. It had never been her. She bit back frustrated tears and tried to focus. She had to do whatever it took to get out of this situation. To get back to Riley.
“Penny for your thoughts?”
She looked over at Johnny, her brother, her own personal devil. “Where are you taking me?”
“Home.”
“My home’s in New Orleans.”
Something cold and angry moved in his eyes. “Your home’s with me. No one will ever take you away from me again. We’re going to live there with Mom and Dad, just like we used to.”
“Mom and Dad?” she squeaked.
He smiled. “They’re waiting for us. It’s time to go home now. All the fun and games are over.”
Devra started to rock.
What did he mean, They’re waiting for us?
Suddenly, she was certain she didn’t want to know.
They pulled off onto a gravel road that led deep into the forest. As the branches parted, a rundown small wooden structure came into view. She’d seen that house before—in the picture her mama had shown her and in her dreams. An image teased her, flitting in and out of her memories. She knew what the inside of that house would look like, knew that the floors would gleam….
“I can’t go in there,” she said in a voice barely above a whisper.
“This is our home. This is where we’ll live from now on. No one will ever bother us here. I’ll take care of you, just like I used to.”
“You can’t keep me here. My parents know where I am. Riley will find me.”
He looked at her and smiled, suddenly looking normal again. Suddenly looking as if he were in complete control and knew exactly what he was doing. “No one will find you. I’m going to take care of everything, just like always.”
Confusion twisted around her and pulled tight.
“Devra Miller disappeared a long time ago, and Devra Morgan doesn’t exist.”
“But, Riley—”
He laughed. “That foolish cop only thinks about his mommy. He doesn’t know she walks beside him all the time, looking sad, looking heartbroken. Don’t you see it will set them both free? Then they can be together, they can be happy. Like us. Like families should.”
He got out of the truck and walked around to open her door. She didn’t move. Couldn’t. Something cold had taken control of her limbs. Was it possible? Were the dead constantly around us? Could he really see them?
He grabbed her arm and pulled. She almost fell out of the truck, found her footing and righted herself. “Please,” she whispered. “Please don’t make me go in there.”
Blood. If she closed her eyes, she could see it inching across the floor, filling the seams, darkening the wood.
He pushed her toward the door, opened it and forced her in. The floor wasn’t golden or gleaming, it was old and weathered and beyond repair. A rat scurried across the room, making her skin crawl.
“We can’t live here!” she cried. A dark corner of her mind beckoned. A deep abyss where there was no light, no thought, no visions. It was someplace she could go, her mind whispered, someplace she could hide.
He continued toward the kitchen. She stood rooted in the doorway, refusing to move. Then she saw the table set up in the corner, with the lace tablecloth and wooden bowl. So much like the one Tommy was carrying that day. Something red stained the inside of the bowl. Raspberries? Blood?
Next to the bowl sat a baby dress and hairbrush, an old stuffed bear and a music box, the kind with a crank where the lid opens and a clown pops out. As she stared at the box, a chill worked its way inside her and she began to tremble. “Please,” she whispered.
“Mama, Papa, we’re home!” he yelled.
Horrified, she stared at her brother. “They’re not here,” she insisted.
He turned to her. “Of course they’re here. They’ve been waiting for you.” He grabbed her arm and pulled.
Please don’t let them be here, she begged. The room shifted and as she moved closer to the kitchen doorway, she could almost see her mother lying on the floor, her long golden curls resting in a puddle of blood.
Her brother turned to her, his eyes glazing over—the
blank dead stare of a corpse. “They’re right there in front of you. In the kitchen, can’t you see them?”
The warped music box began to play.
“No,” she whispered, shaking her head.
“We’re a family again, now that I’ve brought you back home.”
A shudder passed through her.
He was never going to let her go.
“Let’s go into the nursery and play.”
As he reached for her, images from the past circled round her. Suddenly she couldn’t tell which images were her memories and which were fragments from his shattered mind. “Stay away from me.”
He tugged her harder. “Come on, Devy! Let’s play.”
“No!” she screamed, placing her hands over her ears to block out the music box, to block out the screams of a toddler crying for her mommy.
The room spun.
She turned and ran out the door, away from the house, away from the nightmare.
Away from him.
“You can run, but you can’t hide, Devy! I can always find you!”
She ran. Like so many times before. But she knew it was no use. She knew he would find her, he always did. Despair choked her. Her parents knew where she was. He was there, he knew that. Would he kill them, too?
Riley.
Pain and fear squeezed her heart, and she doubled over as the breath choked in her throat. He was going to kill them all.
Sobs racked her soul. Suddenly, she heard the whis
per of water moving on the breeze, pushing through the trees, circling around her and she knew what she had to do, where she had to go.
It was her only chance.
Chapter Seventeen
“There’s my truck,” Riley said as they rounded the corner and saw his Expedition pulled up in front of an old, abandoned house.
“We’d better park back here and walk in,” the chief said.
Riley agreed. The front door was wide open and the house was too quiet, making him edgy. The chief handed him a gun and they moved in and made a quick sweep of the house. No one was inside.
“Damn!” Riley muttered, stopping as he spotted a gun on the old, splintered mantel above the fireplace.
“Yours?” the chief asked.
Sickness twisted inside Riley’s stomach as he said, “Michelle’s.”
“Good, then it’s possible Devra still has yours. Let’s split up and head into the woods.” The chief turned, but stopped in front of a small table in the corner. His hand trembled as it hovered over a wide, decorative bowl. “I haven’t seen this bowl since…” The chief didn’t finish the thought.
Next to the bowl were several little girl things: a dress, a hairbrush, a broken music box. Instinctively, Riley knew they were Devra’s. An angry sense of frustration overwhelmed him. She’d been this man’s obsession for years. He had to find her.
He remembered something she’d said about feeling cold, and her dream about drowning. “Is there a river around here?”
“Yeah, back behind the house,” the chief said still staring at the bowl.
“Let’s start there.”
DEVRA KNEW John was behind her. She could hear him laughing, could hear him enjoying himself. One last fatal chase through the woods. Despair threatened to overwhelm her. She was running again. She’d always be running.
“Caught you, Devy!” John said as he grabbed her arm and spun her around. “I always will.” He pulled her against him. Suddenly, his smile disappeared and his face screwed up into a mask of hate and anger. He yanked at her skirt, almost ripping the fabric. “What is this?” he asked, holding up Riley’s gun.
She closed her eyes as her last hope was ripped from her pocket. He pushed the muzzle up under her chin. “Little girls shouldn’t play with guns.”
She stared him in the eye, but didn’t say a word. For a moment, he watched her, then he let her go. He chucked the gun into the woods. As he did she turned and, not knowing where she’d go or what she’d do, ran
toward the river. It wasn’t far now, she could hear it whispering through the trees.
“Devy!” he yelled.
Her stomach flip-flopped at the maniacal intensity of his roar. She could see the water now—sparkling, inviting. This river was so much wider than the one by her parents’ home, the current much stronger. Not far downstream, a large bridge crossed to the other side. She ran toward the bridge and up the embankment, her legs burning, her chest heaving.
“Stay away from there, Devy!” He was gaining on her. “You know you’re not allowed up there.” An edge of panic entered his voice.
She reached the top and ran out onto the bridge. She thought she heard Riley calling her name. But that couldn’t be, could it? Hope filled her, but she pushed it away. She had to keep her head. No one was there to save her, no one ever had been.
Within seconds, John was on the bridge, moving closer. “You know better than to come out on the bridge. Mama and Papa have told you many times.” Panic twisted into anger and fury filled his face. “You’re going to have to be punished, Devy.”
The dead calm in his tone as he said the words turned her blood cold. He stepped toward her and she knew she was going to die. This time, he would kill her. She’d seen that deadly look in his eyes too many times before—in her dreams. Fear and helplessness choked her. She held tight to the rail to keep from plummeting into the fast-moving river.
“Please, John, if you ever loved me, let me go.”
He stopped and stared at her, his head cocked to the side as if he didn’t quite understand. “Love you, Devy? I’m the only one who has ever truly loved you. I’ve brought you back home. I’m giving you back your family.”
She shook her head as tears burned the backs of her eyes. There would be no escaping him, nothing she could do.
“Devra!”
Devra gasped, her eyes searching the trees. “Riley, over here!”
John’s face distorted into a mask of hate. “You will not have him,” he said through clenched teeth. “Do you understand, you will only be with me?”
Riley ran out of the forest and onto the river’s path. The sight of him filled Devra’s heart with joy. He was coming for her. Everything would be all right now. He’d come for her. Happy tears filled her eyes.
“It’s over, John,” she said softly.
He stepped toward her, something cold and deadly moving in his eyes. Suddenly he lunged, grabbing her, pulling her up against him. “It will never be over,” he gritted, then lifted her off her feet and threw her over the side of the bridge.
Devra screamed with panic, then gulped a deep breath. Ice-cold water shocked her system as she plunged below the surface. She closed her eyes and let the numbing coldness wash over her as she sunk farther toward the bottom. Don’t panic, she told herself. Riley’s here. Riley will save her.
As the current grabbed hold and tried to sweep her
downstream, her eyes flew open. She couldn’t let that happen. She had to stay close to Riley. As she passed by one of the bridge’s large metal pilings, she hooked her legs around it and held on tight against the current.
A splash sounded above her, sending shock waves through the water. She peered through the darkness. Riley? Her heart squeezed painfully at the sight of her brother. She held tight to the piling and tried to fade into the shadows, hoping the current would carry him past her downstream. His dark gaze locked on hers as he swept by her. He reached for her, his long, bony hand stretching.
She cringed, pulling back as far as she could. Luckily, he sped past her. Lack of oxygen burned her chest. Her eyes widened as she saw him in the gloom kicking his strong legs, pushing toward her.
Lord, help me.
She tried to climb the piling, but the current was too strong and she was too tired.
Riley, where are you!