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Restraining a soft laugh, she tiptoed through the living room and made her way into the kitchen. Despite the television, there was a heavy silence in the house that bothered her, made her wary. The moment she entered the kitchen she knew why.
She stopped in shock at the sight of Natches, facedown on the floor, a trail of blood oozing from his temple to stain the floor beneath him.
Her heart slammed into her throat, stealing her breath and the screams that tightened her chest. She gasped for air, certain she was going to smother, knowing the terror filling her would kill her before anything else could.
Rowdy. Oh God, she had to get to Rowdy. She turned, the blood rushing through her veins as her mind screamed at her to run, only to slide to a stop as she moved back into the living room.
Eyes wide, her lips parted in shock, she stared at the form standing in the middle of the living room, a gun pointing toward her chest.
TWENTY-THREE
It took Kelly a moment to realize that she knew him. She blinked in surprise as she recognized the young deputy who had come to the apartment with the police the night of her attack and again to Ray’s house the night her bedroom had been destroyed. He had been so quiet she had barely remembered him being there.
“They thought they could catch me. ” He smiled back at her, his hazel eyes gleaming with triumph as he waved the barrel of his weapon toward where Dawg lay on the couch. “They thought they were better than me because they were big, tough Marines. ”
His voice was soft, almost girlishly so. His expression was benign, calm, terrifying.
Deputy Carlyle. He hadn’t been on the force long, a few years maybe. He was easy to overlook with his nondescript, plain features and quiet voice.
“Deputy Carlyle?”
“Barnes-Carlyle. John,” he answered her then. “My mother’s maiden name was Barnes, did you know that?”
She shook her head.
“Why are you doing this?” Oh God, had he killed Dawg and Natches? From the corner of her eye she tried to make certain Dawg was still breathing, but she just couldn’t be sure. Natches h
ad seemed to be breathing, but was that wishful thinking or had he been?
He sighed as though in regret.
“I didn’t mean to make them pay, but I guess the past is catching up on all of us. ” He glanced at Dawg before his gaze came back to her. “I lost count of the beatings I took from my father because of what your lovers did with my mother. ”
“What are you talking about?” She shook her head, confused.
“Loren Barnes was their lover,” he snickered. “She was my mother. Dad stole me away from her a few years before she seduced them into her bed. She was such a whore. One man was never enough for her. ”
Kelly remembered Loren Barnes. She had died several years before, an older woman, perhaps her mother’s age. There had been a rumor that the Mackay cousins had been her lovers years before, but Kelly knew none of them had ever confirmed it.
“That doesn’t tell me why you’ve done this. ” She couldn’t breathe, fear was strangling her, weakening her, and she knew right now she couldn’t afford to be weak.
He looked at her in surprise, his thin lips curving into a smile.
“You don’t know who I am, do you, Kelly?” he asked her.
She shook her head slowly, suspicion and horror beating at her.
“My poor little girl,” he whispered, confirming her worst fears. “And you were such a good girl at one time. You know I’m going to have to punish you now. You were supposed to be mine. ”
Her eyes widened as his finger tightened on the trigger.
“How was I yours?” She was desperate, knowing there was no way to run from that bullet or from him. “You wanted to rape me. ”
A frown edged at his brows as she fought to remember everything she had heard Rowdy and the others talking about concerning the other rape victims. What had they said? He made them beg for it, made them swear to love him.
“I didn’t ask you to touch me. ” She forced the words past her numb lips. “You know I didn’t. ”
His hand trembled.
