Cruel Justice

76

ABIE SCREAMED.

“Peek-a-boo!” Mitch thrust his head through the passage. “I see you.”

Clutching Joey in his arms, Abie scrambled to the far side of the eave. Unfortunately, it was less than six feet wide; there was almost nowhere to go.

“You’ve been a bad boy, Abie.”

“I have not!” Tears streamed down Abie’s face. “You’re bad. You told me … bad things.”

“That’s not true, Abie. I loved you.”

“You did not.”

“All I ever wanted was what’s best for you. For us.”

“Then get away from me!”

“Abie … is that any way to talk? Remember what fun we had at Celebration Station? We could’ve had fun like that again. But no, you had to be a bad little boy. A weak, nasty bad little boy.” His teeth locked together. “I bet you wet your bed, too.”

“I do not!”

“And I bet you like to watch your mother when she parades around in her underwear. When she’s … nice to you. I bet you like to touch yourself when no one else is around.”

“Liar!”

“You don’t have to be dirty forever, Abie. It’s not too late. I can … cleanse you.”

“Get away from me!” Abie kicked at Mitch’s hands gripping the opening. “I don’t want anything to do with you. You—you’re sick! That’s what my daddy says. You’re a pervert.”

Mitch’s eyes narrowed to two black slits. “Fine. Then we’ll just proceed to your punishment. Do you want to give me the baby, or do you want it to die in your arms?”

Abie pressed Joey close to him. “Stay away from us! Help! Help!”

“Too late,” Mitch murmured. “Here I come.”

Mitch pulled his other arm through the opening, pushed himself up—

Then cried out in pain.

“Aaaaah!”

Christina rammed the book into Mitch’s crotch again. Not subtle, but it was all she could come up with on the spur of the moment. The discolored lump on her forehead throbbed. She had been groggy, nearly unconscious, but hearing Abie scream brought her back around. She was functioning, though mostly on impulse power, and she doubted her newfound strength would endure.

Mitch peered down into the closet. “What in the—”

She hit him again. He cried out.

“You goddamn fucking little bitch!”

All at once Mitch came tumbling down the closet. He fell on top of Christina, pinning her. His knife spun across the floor.

Christina tried to crawl away. He grabbed her hair and jerked her back.

“I don’t need that to punish you,” he growled.

Christina kicked him in the shin, then reached out with her fingers toward his eyeballs. Mitch jerked his head back, but her nails scratched his cheek. Enraged, he swung his hand around at her head but missed.

“Help!” Christina shouted. “Someone help—”

Mitch clapped his hand over her mouth. Christina bit him. Mitch howled; she sank her teeth in all the deeper. He wrapped his free hand around her throat. Together, they collided into the wall.

Mitch jerked his hand free. Pinpricks of blood showed where Christina’s teeth had been. Mitch looked at the wound and his face turned ashen. Reaching out with the speed of a cobra, he grabbed Christina by the back of the neck and slammed her head against the wall.

Christina’s resistance faded with the impact. Her legs wobbled. Mitch twisted her hair around his hand to hold her up and slapped her face, hard. She tried to twist away, but he was still clenching her hair.

“Please—” she gasped.

“Shut up.” He brought the flat of his hand back and hit her again. “You should’ve stayed out of my way, you redheaded whore.”

“I couldn’t let you hurt my babies,” Christina whispered, slurring her words. She was barely conscious.

“You’re all alike,” Mitch spat back. “You pretend you care, but you don’t. You let the daddies do whatever they want. You pretend you don’t hear when the baby is screaming. You let him be punished. Well, now it’s time for you to be punished.”

He reared back his hand, this time balled up in a fist. It hit Christina’s face with a sickening impact. She fell to the floor with a thud.

“Dirty cunt,” Mitch murmured. He- saw his knife lying where it had fallen on the floor and picked it up. “Now you’re going to wish you hadn’t been bad. You’re going to wish you hadn’t been born.” He straddled her body, clutched her neck with his free hand, and raised his knife into the air.

A gunshot whistled through the room. It missed, but it still attracted Mitch’s attention. “Wha—”

“Drop the weapon!” the voice from the living room commanded.

“No!” The knife began to plummet.

Another gunshot rang out. This time the bullet caught Mitch in the chest. He fell backward, toppling off Christina and onto the floor.

Mike ran into the room, his gun clutched in both hands. Ben entered just a step behind.

“Christina!” Ben ran to her side. “Oh, my God! Are you …?”

Christina turned her head minutely to one side. “No.” Her lower lip was cracked and bleeding. “I’ll be all right. Get the kids.”

“The kids! Where—”

“Lieutenant Morelli!” Abie came scrambling down from the roof as best he could with the baby carefully clutched in his arms. “I knew you’d come! I knew you’d save us!”

“Abie!”

The boy ran to Mike and almost threw his arms around him, before he remembered the baby. He held Joey up for Mike.

“Oh, gee, I don’t—oh, what the hell.” Mike took the crying bundle into his arms, and Abie wrapped himself around Mike’s legs.

“I knew you’d come,” Abie repeated, gasping and sobbing. “I knew you would.”

“Well …” Mike’s expression was torn between embarrassment and relief. “Sorry I didn’t make it sooner.” He patted the boy on the head, then snuggled Joey close against his face.

Ben gazed at this heartwarming tableau, then exchanged a meaningful look with Christina.

With the two faces pressed together like that, it was impossible to miss the resemblance.