Charming (30 page)

“Did you know that PCP is an analgesic and disassociates pain from regularly functioning thoughts?” Walter placed his foot on Haley’s arm and rolled her back over. He smiled; blood covered his teeth. “Scientists researched it to use in surgeries as an early form of anesthesia. But the drug had terrible side-effects. Women fried their babies in cooking oil, some patients pulled out all their teeth, while others took pictures with polar bears, or sat in front of trains. They felt like superheroes, invincible. And to some extent, they were. Unless they did something like get eaten by a bear or hit by a train. You can hurt me when I’m using the drug, Haley, but you can’t stop me. You can beat me, break my ribs, my nose, but I won’t feel it.”

Tears rolled down her cheeks. She searched for Christine, Richard, Joce, Niles, and Chris… but nothing but darkness surrounded her. Darkness and trees and ferns and leaves and cold.

And Walter.

“I bet you’re wondering where all your friends are.” He glanced back. “I’ll go get them… right after I sit you up.” Walter grabbed Haley’s shoulders and slammed her back against a tree, knocking the wind out of her lungs once more. He secured zip-ties around her wrists, then disappeared into the darkness.

She writhed, screamed into the gag and pulled at the zip-ties, heart pounding, so fast.

“You’re wasting your time, Haley.” Walter carried Christine and propped her against a tree about ten feet away. She had a cut over her eye, a bruise on her cheek, duct tape over her mouth and zip-ties on her hands.

No.

He left, the darkness swallowing him whole, then came back with Joce. She wasn’t tied up or gagged. She was pale and not moving.

No. No. Haley stared. She tried not to show fear but cried uncontrollably, ignoring the fucking pain in her chest. That didn’t compare. Did. Not. Compare.

Walter returned with Niles, who fought and struggled and cursed, and Walter flung him against another tree, kicked, and screamed and raged and threw punches until Niles was quiet. Now, Niles wasn’t moving.

Haley couldn’t watch, but she had to. She had to face what she created, what she could have prevented if she’d gone to the police that first day. Joce and Dad would have suffered but no one else. Not like this.

Walter returned again with Richard, a silent, pale Richard. Then again with Chris who sat wide-awake, tied, gagged, and staring at Haley. He held her gaze and told her so many lies with those eyes. She wanted to believe; she wanted to believe they’d all made it out and this was just a dream.

Just a dream, dream, dream.

Wake up
.

Chris shook his head—Was he telling her not to watch? Was he saying he forgave her for dragging him into this?—and Walter shot him in the leg. Chris lurched forward and screamed into his gag, face red and veins bulging, and Haley pulled against her restraints, fighting to get free, to get to Chris, to do something. Anything.

“Be right back.”

Walter returned with Gran, Gran who looked at him like the piece of crap he was. Gran who noticed Haley and nearly crumpled. Gran who squared her shoulders and didn’t make a peep when he slammed her to the ground.

Haley cringed, not sure if she could handle watching him bring Gran any harm.

“Nice trick I played on you with that TV screen. Oh, sure, she had been there, but when I tracked your movements via your cell phone and knew you were coming to me, I thought I should make a trip to pick her up. Poor thing didn’t enjoy sitting in the bed of my cold pickup, but she’ll be over all that soon. You love her, don’t you?”

Haley shook her head. No. No. No. She forgot to ditch the phone like Chris had said. She’d be responsible for all their deaths, for all their injuries, for Gran.

“Sure you do.” Walter shot Gran in the leg, too.

Screaming, Haley fought to get up; she pulled and pulled and pulled until the zip-ties cut through the stitches in her arms and blood ran down her hands. She couldn’t take her eyes off Gran. Gran who rocked forward, hands pressed to her bleeding thigh. Gran with her teeth secured on her bottom lip.

Gran, so strong.

Walter stepped in front of Haley and blocked her view. “So much fun.”

Must watch Gran.

Must not let them die.

Joce. Joce.

Chris.

Oh God.

“… but I thought this would be so much better, such an easier way to harm Mr. Charming—and you for crossing me.” Walter knelt in front of Haley and grabbed her face, forcing her to look, look into his horrible, cruel gray eyes. “I’m going to kill every single one of them in front of you, and I’m going to make sure it’s slow and painful. And I’m going to make sure you watch. I’m going to let you live, let Mr. Charming live. Live with the guilt, the pain, the knowledge you could have stopped this. Your mother would want this. She’d want that man dead, and she’d want her employees avenged. And she’d want her piece of shit daughter taught an important lesson.”

Haley pulled away from Walter and closed her eyes.

He slapped her. “Open up, bitch.”

God, he planned to kill them all, and she couldn’t do a thing, couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe. Haley couldn’t even tell them she loved them.

Please. Please, Mom, God, whoever, please help
.

Walter paced the circle of trees, rubbing his chin with his thumb and forefinger. “Who should I shoot next?”

Me. Shoot me
.

“Freeze!” a man shouted from somewhere deep within the shadows. “Don’t move.”

Walter raised his hands over his head but kept walking, growling.

“Now, drop the gun!”

“Looks like you win, Haley,” Walter whispered, “But that doesn’t mean I can’t take one more on my way out.”

He lowered the gun slowly.

Haley held her breath.

A little lower.

The gun almost by his side.

Pause?

Not pausing, aiming at Niles.

Haley struggled to get free and warn someone, but she didn’t have time.

Walter pulled the trigger—

And missed.

The cops rained shots on him. A bullet hit Walter’s leg, his shoulder, his stomach. He fell, got back up, then lifted his gun and pointed.

A bullet pierced his arm, the gun thudded on the dirt, and cops swarmed the area. One man turned Walter over and checked his vital signs and muttered something to his partner.

Let him be dead. Please.

Taking a shallow breath through her nose, Haley found Chris and met his eyes. He cast a sideways glance at Gran.

Be strong
. Haley looked.

Gran nodded, a small indication she was all right. But what really mattered was she was alive.

Haley took in the state of everyone else. Christine, Niles, Richard—even Joce—all of them alive. Bright floodlights blinked on all around them, and paramedics rushed onto the scene with their latex gloves, stretchers, and serious gazes. They loaded Joce onto a stretcher first as she stared at Haley, immediately poking Joce’s arm with a needle and hooking her to an IV.

Haley’s heart soared high above this mess, well into the future, a future without an abusive dad. A future with a sister who knew, she
knew
about Mom. And Gran and Chris and friends.

“You’re going to be okay, miss.” A paramedic cut through the gag in Haley’s mouth. “Everything’s going to be okay.”

“Get them first. All of them.” Haley leaned her head back against the tree. Everything
would
be okay. Everyone was safe. “Then come for me.”

“There’s more than one of us here.” The paramedic cut through the zip-ties. “I’m not leaving you.”

“Chris?” Mr. Charming ran through the trees with a woman carrying a flat stretcher-like board next to him. “Chris? Where’s my son?”

Mr. Charming spotted Haley and kept running until he reached her, then fell to his knees. “That son of a bitch isn’t the only one who knows how to track phones.” He grabbed her hand and kissed it. “You’re moving in with me, sweetheart. I’ll give you a home, a family.”

Home. Not a house, a home.

Haley screamed as the paramedics moved her onto the flat board and strapped her down. She took the deepest, calming breaths she could through her nose and breathed out her mouth, chasing away the stars dancing in her vision.

Mr. Charming pat Haley’s shoulder. “Oh, and Gran, too.”

“Thank you.”

“No, Haley. Thank you. You saved all of our lives.” He squeezed her hand and let go, then went in search of Chris. Mr. Charming’s shoulders relaxed as soon as he saw him and they made eye contact. He returned his attention to Haley. “Your mother would be proud.”

aley trembled everywhere. The inside of the Cessna wasn’t anywhere near as warm ten thousand feet in the air as it had been on the ground. She pressed her nose against the bubble window and swallowed hard at the sight of the brown grass below, far, far below.

Tiny.

Like a speck.

Who was Haley kidding? The cold barely registered.

How had Chris
freaking
Charming convinced her to do this? To jump from a perfectly good airplane with an instructor attached to her back?

Because he’d sat on the granite countertop in the kitchen and begged.
“Please, please, Haley. I swear you’ll love it. I swear you’ll never experience anything else like it. Flying, Haley. It’s like flying.”

She crossed her arms, but Chris slid off the counter and pulled at them, a crooked smile lighting his face.

Those eyes, those bright blue eyes, staring at Haley… electrifying her heart.

“What will you give me if I go?”

Chris held tight to Haley’s wrists, tugged one arm, took a step closer, tugged the other arm, took another step closer. Their bodies touched, not pressed hard to each other, touching enough to brush when taking a deep breath. This wasn’t reckless and rushed, or frantic rubbing because they were afraid of being caught. This was time, tenderness, respect.

This was love.

“Easy. I’ll stop asking you.” He dragged a finger up the scar on her right arm. “Isn’t that gift enough?”

Haley shivered. “We’ll see.”

“I’ve never felt someone tremble with so much fear.” Martin, Haley’s tandem instructor, rubbed her shoulders. “You’ll be screaming with pleasure in no time.”

Why did that sound sexual?

Chris doubled over laughing, and Mr. and Mrs. Charming weren’t much more mature.

Great. Haley was about to jump out of an airplane with a bunch of perverts, perverts she couldn’t imagine living without.

“Oh, hell. I realize what I said. Sorry, Haley.”

“Don’t worry about it, Martin.” She glanced back at the middle-aged man and faked a smile. “From what I understand, we won’t be able to hear anything but wind in a few minutes.”

Martin nodded and chuckled softly. “Relax. You’re lucky, Haley. It’s a gorgeous, warm day, beautiful blue skies with plenty of sunshine… in the middle of March.”

Means nothing.

Chris pat Haley’s knee. “Ready?”

“All right, folks. You’re in for a real treat today. Time to put on those gorgeous goggles, check those harnesses and jump out of this bad boy.” One of the younger crew pulled a string and opened the thin, plastic door, smiling with way too much energy for what they were about to do. Stupid kid. He didn’t know any better.