“Why?”
“What does it matter? She pissed me off. What is it you need her for anyway?”
“She has something that belongs to me. Or had it…” He grimaces and leans towards Casey’s cot, running his stubby-fingered hand over her bedding. He lifts her blanket and brings it to his nose. I stiffen as he sucks in a deep breath, closes his eyes, and rolls his head back with a low satisfied groan.
“According to her records, she was tested and labelled gifted.”He speaks after a moment, his tone is one of disinterest but there’s a keen glint in his eye. “What does that mean? Is she smart? The type that would want to know all the answers?” he asks, discarding the blanket but snatching up Casey’s bunny hidden underneath. He shoves it into his pocket as he waits for Eric to answer.
I feel sick.
“She’s got a smart mouth and a smart brain. Not that she bothered to use the second one much. But yeah, she’s got one of them picture memories, and she damn well thinks she’s got all the answers. Doesn’t miss much. If she’d been mine, I might even be proud of her. She’s a lot like me.”
“Good. Good. Gareth…”
A third man approaches the door. “Yes, Sir?”
“Find this man his family. Bring the two girls to me.”
“Consider it done.” The faceless voice answers sharply. The man retreats, but not before casting another long look around the room. I hear the front door opening. A number of men leave before the clown in charge.
“And I get the money?” Dad calls from the front door. His voice echoes down the corridor and distorts. Dax eases the closet door open a touch to hear better.
“After we are finished with her, yes. You will get her share of the earnings from Hanson’s. After the obvious room, rates, andretentionfees, of course.”
“I might just have to come and see that show for myself.” Eric laughs. Realising what they’re saying and that they’re talking about me, I shove my fingers in my mouth to keep from sobbing, but tears stream down my face like twin rivers. Though I’m not so much hurt as furious.
I doubt he ever actually loved me, but I never for an instant believed he would sell me out like this. He always threatened to get me a job at Hanson’s but selling me to them? I always believed they were empty threats. Bullshit from a world-class bullshitter.
How could he do this?
And the notion of Casey being anywhere near that creepy man makes my blood boil.
The elevator doors shut, the mechanics whir loudly in the acoustic corridor, presumably taking his guests down to the ground floor, then Eric shuts the door and silence reigns once more.
Dax closes the closet door again. The resulting squeak makes us both freeze and wince. When no one comes to drag us out of the room, Dax leans into my ear and lays out his plan.
“We’ll stay here until it’s clear to move. We can’t risk him calling them back here.” My skin ignites at the caress of his hot breath against my ear.
I’m too scared to speak and irrationally convinced that Eric is so attuned to my voice that he’d even recognise my breathing. So, I hold as many breaths as I can and nod my agreement.
“I won’t ask if you’re okay…nobody would be okay hearing that, but do you think you can hold it together until we get out of here, or do you want me to steamroller our way out right now?”
“Fine. I’m fine…I want our things.” Truth is, I don’t care about our things, but I don’t know what else to say to convince him I can maintain a grip on this fear. If he thinks I’m being stubborn, then he might also assume I can get through this without freaking out.
“Then we’ll just wait until he’s out of the way. Okay?”
“Okay.”
We stand still, silently listening to Eric moving around the apartment. He spends a long moment huffing and puffing in the living room, probably righting his recliner, which was on its side when I entered. Then he grumbles the entire way to the kitchen, opens the fridge, and pulls out a bottle of beer. It’s the only thing he insists on replacing in the fridge and the tell-tale clink of bottles lets me know he’s grabbed more than one.
“Two?” Dax asks, recognising the same thing.
“He’s saving himself a trip for the second. He’ll down the first in three swallows. The second he’ll enjoy for fifteen minutes or so. Then he usually calls one of us to fetch more or something a littleharder.” I speak barely above a whisper and even that feels too loud. I take a silent breath and hold it while I wait for Eric to come storming in and fling open the closet door. But he doesn’t come. Instead, the same old creak of the chair rings out, followed by a grunt and huff as he gets comfortable.
“Gresh! Fucking stop talking and listen to me,” he snaps into the empty room. “Where the fuck are they now? What do you mean they’re at the bar? My boys too? Good. Good…yeah, you were right. They want Juliet, said she has something of theirs. Too fucking right, I sold her! Do you think I’d pass up that kind of money because of a lousy promise to you? I gave you every chance to do whatever the hell you wanted to her, and you fucked it. Don’t go blaming me because you were too damn sentimental over the cunt to act on your feelings…” Eric bellows a cruel hacking laugh. “What fucking dream world are you living in, Gresh? D’you think she’s just gonna come around one day? Fall in love with a decrepit loser like you? Have you looked in the mirror? She might be a mutt, but she’s not fucking stupid. And neither am I. She’ll be earning me money on her back at Hanson’s by the end of the week. I might even make a bonus on the brat too. Mr Franz took an interest in her for himself, fucking sicko, but he’s got to find them first. You sure they’re at the bar? Fine. I’ll make the call.”
There’s a long huffing noise before Eric mutters, “Stupid fucking arsewipe!” Then an extended silence before we hear thetringof a ringtone on loud speaker.
A sharp tenor voice rings out as soon as the tone cuts off. “You have news?”
