Mortal Pursuit

71

It took all of Trish’s strength to limp along the dirt path in the cold starlight.

Cain was directly behind her, Tyler farther back. She’d cut him pretty badly. The wound might prove fatal if untreated.

Of course her own situation was looking fairly terminal as well.

She didn’t want to think about Ally. Lilith must have found her by now. Killed her, perhaps-or captured her alive.

Trish wasn’t sure which prospect was worse.

“I almost didn’t do her,” Cain said abruptly.

Momentarily confused, Trish thought he meant Ally, then realized it was Marta he was thinking of.

“Why not” she gasped without turning.

“Because of you. I knew you could describe me to the police. Did you”

She covered another yard, suffered another spear of agony through her leg. “Yes.”

“And”

“Nothing.” Each word, like each step, was an effort. “No computerized searches back then. And …” She sucked air, blew hard. “And I didn’t get the license plate.”

A grunt of humor. “Not real observant for a cop.”

“Wasn’t a cop. I was … nine years old.”

They marched higher up the trail. Black oaks formed an irregular colonnade on either side, silhouetted trunks standing out like bands of India ink against the faintly glowing mist.

“I should’ve taken you when I took her.” Cain again, remorselessly worrying the open wound of their shared past. “Should’ve grabbed you and pulled you into the car.”

“Why didn’t you”

“You never got quite close enough. You were just out of reach. One more step, and I would’ve had you. Then I wouldn’t have had to worry about the police.”

“If you were so worried, why’d you go through with it at all”

“Some things you just don’t pass up.”

Although she couldn’t see him, she knew a cruel and hungry leer had spread across his face.

“Your little friend was so cute, so cuddly.” He made a lip-smacking sound that sickened her. “I like ‘em young, you know. The younger, the better. Marta was real good, Trish. A man would pay serious money for a taste of what she had.”

The ache in her leg was worse, but it couldn’t compete with the sudden furious throbbing of her skull.

She saw it again: Marta in the weeds, a roach crawling on her unblinking eye. Heard her own voice keening: I told you. Marta, I told you …

“You didn’t just want her,” she whispered. “You needed her. You had to have her.”

“Just like I gotta have you, blue eyes.”

“It’s a compulsion with you-killing young girls.”

“Sort of a bad habit I’ve never been able to shake.”

“How many have there been”

“Believe it or not, I’ve lost count. Maybe … couple dozen.”

Couple dozen. She shut her eyes.

It was only a number, but behind it lay suffering impossible to calculate. The agony of victims, the grief of parents, the hurt of friends.

And all because of this one man, roaming the back roads, passing uninvited from town to town, stringing his daisy chain of corpses through a line of weedy fields.

“Did one of them give you that scar” she hissed, hoping the answer was yes.

“My little beauty mark No, that’s a souvenir from prison.”

“At least you can’t pick up schoolgirls anymore.” Anger made her harsh. “Not with that face.”

He merely laughed. “There are other girls. Runaways. Underage hookers. They’re not too particular about their escorts.”

“So you still do it”

“Every now and then. Got this trailer, real isolated, soundproofed.” Chuckle. “You’ll be seeing it soon.”

I’ll bet, she thought, acid trickling in her belly.

“There was one girl,” he went on, “cadging quarters at an interstate rest stop. All of thirteen years old. I took her back to my place for the usual treatment. But this girl, well, she liked pain. She got off on it. So I let her live.”

“Lilith,” Trish breathed.

“You catch on quick. Officer. Maybe you’ll make detective someday.”

The path grew steeper. Her wounded leg wobbled. She knew what would happen if she fell. Cain would sling her over his shoulder like a sack of garbage … but first he would blow out both her knees with Black Talon rounds.

Or maybe he would decide carrying her wasn’t worth the trouble, and simply end her life with a bullet to the brain.

That way would be better-quicker-than what she had in store at that trailer of his.

No medals for quitters. She kept going.

“You know, it’s funny.” Cain’s words, low and thoughtful. “Back then you tried to talk Marta out of going with me. Tonight you nearly shot down this whole operation. Every time we get together, you mess with my plans. You’re like a bad penny, Robinson. You just keep turning up.”

“You’re the bad penny,” she whispered, jaws clenched.

“Maybe so.” A pleasant laugh. “But you’re the one who’s being taken out of circulation.”

She crested the rise and found herself at a parking lot, empty save for a dark van and the Porsche she’d seen in the Kents’ driveway earlier.

Lilith stood near the Porsche. For a frightened moment Trish didn’t see Ally.

Was she dead

Then her wavering gaze fastened on a white dress, a pale face-Ally, alive, seated on the passenger side of the Porsche.

“Go.” Cain gave her a shove, and she stumbled forward.

Lilith, fists on hips, drilled a cold stare into Cain. “Why didn’t you ice her”

“Turns out she’s an old friend.” Cain’s voice was merry. “We’ve got a lot of catching up to do.”

Trish hobbled alongside the Porsche. Through the open window Ally gazed up at her. She was buckled into her seat, hands bound with what looked like a cut-off segment of the shoulder harness. Despair shadowed her face.

Meeting her eyes, Trish mouthed three words: There’s always hope.

The same words she’d said in the cellar. She wondered if Ally would remember.

She did. A faint smile flickered on the girl’s lips.

Then the car was behind her, Cain steering her to the van. Automatically she tried to identify the make and model. Either a Chevy Astro or a GMC Safari. Three or four years old. Black or dark green. California tags.

Couldn’t read the plate, but she supposed it didn’t matter.

Cain slid open the door panel on the passenger side. A dome light winked on, illuminating a cloth-upholstered bench seat.

“In,” he ordered.

She paused, unsure she could manage the upward step into the rear compartment, and unwilling to leave the open air, the smell of woods, the lake breeze, all the things she might never know again.

“Do it, Trish,” Cain said softly. “This is one ride you’re not turning down.”