AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The noose tightened.
Why? Why was he hurting her?
Blackness converged as she reached the alcove, the curtain parting, her buttocks pushed hard against the edge of the counter. Makeup jars clattered, rolling, falling to the floor, crashing, powder exploding, the room swirling.
Fight! You have to fight!
Her lungs felt as if they would burst.
The overhead light, dimmed, came into view, then seemed to swim away.
She scraped at her neck with her hands, tried to curl her fingers around the chain cutting off her air, but she couldn’t pull on the chain cutting into her throat.
He’s going to kill you. You have to fight, Helene, you have to get away!
She scrabbled and kicked, but her movements were sluggish and he was so strong . . . so damned strong. And agile.
He squeezed tighter.
Help me. Please . . . someone . . . help . . .
His face was near hers as he bent her over the makeup counter, her spine curved back impossibly.
The world swam behind her eyes.
Her hands fell to her sides, limp on the counter.
She saw her own reflection in his sunglasses.
The tip of one finger touched the edge of a bit of rough metal, long and sharp. Her damned nail file.
Gathering all her strength, she forced her fingers around the file, and as his breath was hot against her face, she swung her arm upward and struck, jabbing the file deep into the flesh of his shoulder.
She heard him yowl in agony, felt a jerk on the chain at her neck. And just after that nano second of satisfaction in wounding him, the world went black and the pain was gone.
CHAPTER 9
Bentz stared at the two cards lying on his dining room table. Each was in a plastic ziplock bag, a black rose inked onto thick white paper. He’d read the inside messages, each a veiled threat wrapped in some Bible verse. Each received by his daughter.
His insides turned to jelly.
“One came in the mail?” he said, clarifying what his daughter was saying as he pointed to the first missive she’d received. “And the other one was in your dresser drawer? He’d been in your house and left it there, in your bureau?”
Jesus Christ. The nutcase had been in her house! He tried like hell to quell his rising sense of panic. The whole morning had gotten off to a rocky start. The baby had fussed all night with a runny nose and Olivia had brought Ginny into bed with them. Then after a sleepless night, Bentz had gotten up, run through the shower and just started making coffee when he’d gotten a text that Kristi was outside, that she wanted to talk to him. So here they were in the dining room, two cups of coffee untouched on the table near the damning letters.
Kristi nodded, buried her hands in the pockets of the jacket she hadn’t bothered to take off. “Right. He was in my house.”
Bentz tried to remain calm. Found it impossible. “Why didn’t you tell me about this earlier?”
“I noticed the first one in a bunch of other mail I’d ignored,” she said, meeting his gaze across the table. “Don’t know how long it had been there. Maybe a week.” She shrugged and he knew that she’d lost track of time, had been in a fog since the attack and murder of her husband. “Yeah, it creeped me out, but I didn’t think I needed to come running to Daddy, you know.” She offered him the hint of a sad smile. “I’m a big girl, right?”
“Who was nearly killed less than three weeks ago.”
Leaning back in her chair, she leveled her gaze at him. “Well, yeah, there’s that.”
“And the other card.” He pointed to it. “That was actually in your drawer in your bedroom, tucked in with your . . .”
“On top of my underwear, wedged in there.” She made a face, offended. “Sick-o.”
