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“Dad, you’re not a cop here,” she said. “Can’t you get in trouble with that?”
“Don’t worry, I don’t intend to use it,” I lied. “It’s just to scare them a little.”
“Them? You said you were going to meet one person. Who’s them?”
“He may have a few friends with him.”
Kelly came up to me and put a hand on my arm. “You’re scaring me.”
I reached down and hugged her, kissing the top of her head. “I’m going to be okay, I promise. No death wish here.”
“That gun sure makes it seem otherwise,” Kelly protested.
“Like I said, it’s just to scare them,” I assured her, hoping I sounded convincing enough to calm her down. “Now, come one, we have to go.”
I pushed her down the hall and towards the front door, already picturing myself blowing the top of Heaths head off with the rifle.
“Where am I supposed to go?” Kelly asked.
“I’m going to take you to the hospital,” I replied, pulling on my coat. “You stay with your grandfather until I come back to pick you up.”
“Will they let me stay with him?” Kelly asked, clearly flustered. “Won’t they say refuse, you know, visiting hours and all that?”
“Don’t worry, your dad’s very convincing,” I replied, urging her out of the house and closing the door behind us. “Besides, your grandfather’s a hero now. They’ll make an exception.”
“I don’t like this,” Kelly protested as we made our way down the steps and to the car. I waved at her to hurry up and get in, and quickly started the car, shifting into reverse. “Dad, seriously, I don’t.”
“You’re going to have to trust me, chipmunk,” I said.
“You usually say that when you’re going to do something stupid,” she said. I could see the tears well up in her eyes again. “I thought you said you weren’t going to do that anymore. You promised me.”
I stopped the car, shifted it into neutral and held Kelly with both hands. “Listen,” I said. “You want me to be honest with you, right?”
Kelly nodded, a tear rolling down her cheek.
“Some really bad people have Jenni, and I need to go make sure she’s okay,” I explained. “Do you understand that?”
She nodded. “But why don’t you call the police.”
I hesitated, hating to wreck the perfect image of the law that I had worked so hard to make her believe in. There were some things about her being a child that I wanted her to hang onto for as long as possible, even if she knew what happened to little girls who were left alone by the side of the road. “Because the police aren’t going to do anything this time.”
“What?” she asked, frowning in confusion. “Why?”
“When I get back, I’ll tell you all about it,” I assured her. “Now, can we go?”
She nodded.
I shifted the car into drive and pressed down on the gas, hoping that when I finally got to Little Harlow, I would have calmed down enough to not just shoot everyone and kill them all.
Chapter 23: Jenni
The restraints cut into my wrists as I wrestled against them, twisting and turning my hands around in hope that somehow, they would just magically break loose. The more I struggled, though, the more the skin burned, and I had to stop my efforts while fighting back tears that were being brought on by the pain.
The single lamp that lit the living room cast shadows across the walls and left an eerie glow against the walls. From my position on the couch, I could barely see past the door into the hallway where Heath was humming a tune to himself while fiddling around with the drawers. I had no idea what he could be looking for, but his attitude made one thing clear.
He was bored.
Use that. Find a way out.
