If Looks Could Kill (32 page)

“Kaila never had an affair.”

“She was seeing someone—”

“Not sleeping with him. If…if she had been, she would be dead now.”

“They've got to be all right. I'm sure the girls are just off with the kids. They went shopping. For the love of God, they must have gone shopping.”

Kyle looked at Dan. “They didn't go shopping.”

“Then—”

“They're headed out to the swamp,” Kyle said. Yes, that had to be it. He remembered holding Madison, feeling her shaking and trembling against him.

I was driving west along the Tamiami Trail. To the hunting shacks…it was me, it wasn't me…

Madison was with Kaila, or following her, not about to let her sister die as her mother had been killed.

M
adison kept low, approaching the weathered old shack that sat on the pine hammock. Insects chirped. Things seemed to slither.

Yet as she neared the house, she was suddenly bombarded with mental images that left her gasping, doubling over for breath. Flashes of a knife wielded viciously in the flickering firelight danced before her eyes. Blood pooling on the floor.

And she knew. He hadn't necessarily killed his victims here.

But he had come here to see to their disposal.

Kyle was always telling her to breathe through her mouth. She did so now. She fought the impulse to be sick, staggering up to the wooden shack. She gained control, and looked through the window.

 

There was a loft inside the shack. Kaila managed to convince the kids that they were on an adventure with their uncle Rafe, and that it was really important for them to take a long nap so they could play games that night.

She was numb, trying desperately to think. Oh, God, if only she could talk to Jassy or Madison now! Just how did you try to placate a raving lunatic? What did she have to do to stay alive? What about the children…

She wanted to laugh. All he had was the knife. She could run! But she couldn't, because she couldn't run with three little kids. This was absurd. She had to play along now and pray.

Pray for what?

That someone would find her in the middle of the swamp before he cut her and the children to pieces?

What about Darryl? What would happen when he came back with Carrie Anne, when Madison came looking for her daughter?

And Dan…Dan would think she had run off with the lover who had sent her the edible underwear. She almost laughed out loud, but she forced herself not to. Oh, God.

He was sitting in a chair in front of the fireplace. Rafe. Looking like himself now. Legs sprawled out, smile on his handsome face, blond hair only slightly ruffled. He had that beach-boy look about him again.

“Kids asleep?”

“Yes.”

“Come here.”

“Rafe, please…”

“Come here, Kaila. Now.”

She inhaled, swallowed and walked over to him. He stared at her evenly. “Kaila, don't fuck with me. Don't turn out to be a bitch and a tease. I don't want to hurt you, and I don't want to hurt your kids. It's all up to you. We've got a chance here. You've just got to love me. Now, come here.”

She was going to break down, Kaila thought. Break down and start crying and screaming. She couldn't believe she had ever thought him tender, sexy, attractive.

“You're almost exactly like her.”

“Who?”

“Lainie. Your mother. She was the biggest cock-tease known to man. I look at you sometimes, and you
are
her. I almost call Madison by her name sometimes. What a bit of irony, huh?”

“I'm not my mother.”

He smiled suddenly. “You're close enough. So, what would you do to stay alive?” he asked her huskily.

“Anything!” she whispered, feeling sick.

“Start doing it,” he advised. “Convince me that I should let you live.

 

Through the broken window of the shack, Madison watched her sister strip off her T-shirt and kneel before Rafe, where he sat in the chair.

For the moment his switchblade sat on the rock ledge of the fireplace.

If she could just lure Rafe away for a few minutes, she could get the switchblade, grab the kids and Kaila and get them all out of there. Take the good boat back and sink the other one.

How could she get him out of the house?

Staring through the window, she saw tears streaming down her sister's face as Rafe stroked her naked torso. She wondered if Kaila was thinking about the amount of blood on those hands. Crouched on the ground, she curled her fingers into the earth. She looked down, realizing she'd picked up a large rock.

She rose swiftly, impulsively, and hurried around to the front of the house. With all her force, she hurtled the rock against the front door of the shack.

She sped back to the window. Rafe had risen. Kaila was still kneeling on the floor, shaking. Madison waited until she saw that Rafe had walked to the front door, opened it and hurried outside, striding toward the edge of the water.

Then she crawled through the window.

Madison looked first for the switchblade. It was gone. Rafe had apparently taken it.

“Kaila!” Madison whispered.

Kaila didn't even look up. She was slumped with her arms crossed over her breasts.

“Kaila!”

At last her sister saw her. Her eyes widened in astonishment, and her lips began to tremble. “Madison, you have to hide. You have to get out of here, or he'll kill you, too. I think he's the killer. I think he killed Mom. Oh, God, Madison, it's not, I'm not…”

Madison grabbed her, dragging her to her feet, thrusting her T-shirt into her hands. “Put it back on!” she whispered. “Fast. Where are the kids? Where's Carrie Anne.”

“In the loft. He'll kill them, Madison. But not Carrie Anne. She isn't here. Darryl has her. Oh, God, my babies…Maybe it's better if I just do…what he wants.”

“He's sick, and he'll kill us all anyway,” Madison assured her. “So get it together and help me! We've got to get them and get back out that window—fast! Come on!”

She dragged Kaila up the loft stairs with her. Justin wasn't sleeping. He was sitting up, his eyes huge and frightened. Madison motioned him to be quiet, and he nodded, instinctively understanding.

“Come on!” Madison told him, sweeping Shelley into her arms.

Kaila took Anthony. Just as they reached the bottom of the steps, they heard Rafe on the porch.

“Fast!” Madison advised. “To the window.”

She balanced Shelley and Anthony while Kaila crawled out, reaching back first for Justin, then Shelley and Anthony. Just as Madison was handing Anthony out the window, the front door began to open. Rafe was there, standing in the doorway. He could undoubtedly see Madison, but in the shadows, he might not realize who she was. It was late afternoon now, and darkening.

“Get the kids out of here!” Madison whispered.

“Madison! I can't leave without you!”

“If I leave now, he'll catch us all. Listen to me, and listen to me good. Get in the boat you came over in and get the hell out of here. Get help!”

“Madison, no!” There were tears streaming down Kaila's face.

“Go!”

Kaila took the children and ran.

Madison backed away from the window.

Rafe was back.

S
he stared at him for a moment, then turned and headed for the loft, running up the steps.

Rafe stood below her, looking up.

“Kaila?”

“Just checking on the kids!” she called down.

“Hurry up!”

In the loft, she paused, breathing deeply. How long did she have? A matter of seconds. She needed to give Kaila a head start.

She closed her eyes tightly for a minute, praying. Were the keys still in Kaila's minivan? If not, had she left her own keys in the Cherokee?

“Kaila, hurry up!”

Time, time, she needed time. She couldn't let Rafe know that she had switched places with her sister, that Kaila and his littlest victims were desperately trying to escape….

Kyle, please, where are you? Do you know that we're missing? Can you remember where to come? Kyle, I love you….

“Kaila!” Rafe's voice was rising with fury.

She tousled her hair, letting it cover most of her face. She looked down the steps. Rafe had moved over to the dormant fireplace, leaning against it.

Rafe.

She felt dizzy, remembering how tenderly he had held her after Harry Nore attacked her. Rafe. Who had smiled, teased and joked with them all, year after year. They hadn't seen it. None of them had seen the other side of the man.

She had to get out of the house and heading in the opposite direction from Kaila, giving her sister and the children a fighting chance.

“Kaila!”

She took a deep breath. “Rafe!” she called back. “Let's play!” she said gaily, and went running down the stairs. He spun around, but she was already passing him. She burst through the front door and headed for the woods.

 

“Where, where, where?” Kyle muttered, swearing.

Dan, ashen, set the cell phone down. “Jimmy and the cops are on their way behind us. No sign of Madison or Kaila anywhere. Carrie Anne is with her father.”

“Thank God for that,” Kyle said. Dan was silent, and Kyle winced inwardly, remembering that Dan's wife and three children were in mortal danger.

“It can't be,” Dan murmured. “It can't be your brother, Kyle.”

“God knows, I wish it wasn't!” Kyle said vehemently.

“He must have been a kid when Lainie was killed.”

“He was twenty-one. Older than lots of killers.”

“But…why?”

“I don't know.”

Kyle suddenly spun the car in a dangerous circle.

“What the hell?” Dan began.

“I nearly missed it.”

He'd found the road. Overgrown, barely visible. He was amazed that he'd seen it at all. He'd been driving with blind desperation.

But now…

He sped down the road, the wheels sending rocks, grass and gravel flying up around the car.

He nearly slammed into Madison's Cherokee. As his car jerked to a halt and the dust settled around them, he saw Kaila. Running to them, Anthony clutched to her breast, Justin and Shelley running behind.

“Oh, God!” she threw herself into her husband's arms, sobbing hysterically.

“Kaila, Kaila…” Dan whispered.

She gathered herself together enough to pull away. “Kyle, he's got Madison. He thinks she's me. Maybe he thinks we're both Lainie. Oh, God, Kyle, she's alone out there with him!”

Kyle needed no more. He tore down the path.

 

At first it was easy enough to stay ahead of him. But she was trying to make sure he didn't realize that the boat was gone, so she had to keep to one side of the shack, which didn't leave her much area to run in.

“Kaila!”

Gasping for breath, she forced herself to giggle.

“Catch me!”

“Kaila, no more games. I'm tired, and the kids will be waking up soon. I want you, and then we've got to get some dinner going. We've got to make plans. Get back here.”

“Catch me!” Madison insisted, trying to make sure she kept the trees between them. One good look and he would know he wasn't chasing Kaila.

The area around the shack was heavily overgrown. She ran around vine-laden pines and wild orchids. Trees were down, branches were everywhere. It was growing darker and darker.

She suddenly realized that she didn't hear him crashing after her.

She held still, looking anxiously through the trees. She barely breathed. She started to turn and realized that he was coming around behind her.

Playing her game.

He was about to catch her.

She let out a shriek and started running again.

She was ahead of him, too—until her foot caught on a root and she went sprawling, cracking her head on a fallen limb.

Suddenly he was straddling her, laughing. She was stunned at first, unable to struggle when he wrenched off her T-shirt, muttering. “Why's this damned thing different from the one you were wearing before?”

He smoothed the hair from her face, and suddenly she was looking into his silver eyes. The eyes of a killer.

“You!” He grated out the single word.

She blinked furiously, trying to force herself to reason, to find strength. “Rafe.”

“Where's Kaila?”

“Don't you really want
me?
”

“Where's Kaila?”

“I'm more like my mother.”

He sat back on his haunches, staring at her. “Yeah, you're more like her.”

He slapped her suddenly. A cruel blow that made her head spin.

“Bitch! Where's Kaila?”

“Gone. You'll never touch her.”

He was silent for a minute, then he started to laugh. “Fine. I'll touch you. You are right. You're more like your mother. And you know what? I was always afraid you were going to see me. But you didn't want to see me. I'm your stepbrother. No…that's not it. I'm Kyle's brother. Now there's an irony for you.”

“Why?” she whispered.

He smiled, leaning toward her, stroking her hair. “Because it isn't true. That's what Lainie was holding over me.”

“What? I don't understand.”

“Lainie could never let anything be. You never knew where my mother was, did you? Roger divorced her because she was kind of off-the-wall. She was a beauty, too. He always went for beauties. But she ran around. She was wild. She liked to play around herself, but she couldn't tolerate it in old Roger. She tried to poison him once, when she thought he was seeing another woman, and then they got divorced. Anyway, my good old mom wound up in the loony bin. And leave it to Lainie, she went to see her. And lo and behold, Mom lets her know I'm not Roger's kid. And Lainie…well, you know Lainie! She'd tease me like the cocksucking little bitch she was, threatening me all the time. That one night…I guess I just freaked out. She was the first. She was easy. And now…You know, I'm a bright guy. I don't really think all redheads need to pay. It's just that sometimes it's like an itch I just have to scratch…and it's so much better when I see a woman crying, pleading for her life…” He paused, grimacing. “And then bleeding,” he said with a shrug.

“Rafe, I never did anything to you.”

“Well, you know, you married Kyle. The good son. The real son. That should be enough.”

“He's probably on to you, Rafe.”

“You think? I'm not so sure. You were all such a blithering pack of blind idiots!”

He sat back again and reached into his pocket. He produced his switchblade and snapped it open.

“You know, I did Lainie with a butcher knife. Then there was Harry Nore, standing in the middle of the street, begging. I tossed the knife into his hat. Turned out to be a good idea, huh?”

He laid the flat side of the blade against her cheek, then moved it across her face, down to her collarbone, around the swell of her breast above the lacy cup of her bra, without drawing blood. She kept her eyes on his, swallowing tightly.

“You really are beautiful.”

“Rafe, please don't kill me,” she whispered.

“You sound like your damned bitch of a mother, too!”

“Rafe…”

He stood up suddenly, reaching his free hand down to jerk her to her feet.

“All right. I'll give you the same chance for a few more minutes of life that I gave Kaila. Come on. Convince me that you deserve to live.”

She stared at him, then turned in a panic. He dragged her back, whispering against her ear. “Oh, come on, Madison! Cheat on the great Kyle. Make love to me. Isn't it worth it to breathe? Feel this? Feel the blade against your throat…?”

All he had to do was twitch his fingers and the razor-honed blade would slip into her. She closed her eyes.

She thought of Kyle, crying out his name silently in anguish. She thought she heard his voice and opened her eyes.

Kyle hadn't called out to her, not with words. But, to her astonishment, she saw him. He was dead still, hunkered down in the bushes. He put a finger to his lips as her eyes fell on his.

“Rafe!” she whispered.

The knife eased slightly.

“Whatever you want,” she whispered huskily.

“So you'll buy time. You're pathetic.”

“I want to live. Let me…let me get my jeans off. Let me show you how I can make love to you.”

“You run again and I'll put this blade right through your heart when I catch you.”

“I'm not going to run.”

His hold on her eased. She backed away from him, keeping her eyes locked with his as she gained a greater distance, unzipping her jeans.

“That's it, freeze!” Kyle commanded, stepping from the bushes, aiming his .38 special at Rafe.

For a moment Rafe froze. It was long enough for Madison to cry out and race to Kyle. He slipped his free arm around her while she shook, but he kept his gun leveled at his brother.

“Madison?” he murmured.

For a split second he looked at her, and in that split second Rafe sent the switchblade whistling through the air. It caught Kyle in his right biceps, and the gun fell from his hand on impact.

Rafe hurled himself across the few feet between them, wrenching Madison from Kyle's arms. But Kyle let out something like a roar, catapulting himself after his brother, and they all went down. The weight of both men slammed Madison to the ground. Then they went rolling off her, down toward the marshy water. Madison staggered up, looking for Kyle's gun. She could see the two figures wrestling desperately at the water's edge, and she couldn't find the gun. Groans, thuds and shouts rose from the two men struggling so desperately. Then, even as Madison continued her frantic search, she heard a cracking sound.

She looked toward the two men. One of them rose. In the semidarkness, she didn't know who. She got slowly to her own feet, watching, barely breathing, waiting.

Then she heard sirens. The cops had arrived.

The man kept walking toward her. It was Kyle, she realized, weak with relief. Kyle, covered in mud, his arm bleeding fiercely, though he didn't seem to notice.

“Oh, Kyle!” She threw herself against him. “Oh, Kyle, Kyle, come on, let's go. The cops are here, but I can't find the gun. If Rafe gets back up…”

“You don't need the gun,” Kyle told her wearily.

“But—”

“And he won't be getting back up. I broke his neck. But yes, let's go get out of here!” He took off his jacket and wrapped it around her.

There was so much pain in his eyes. She wanted to say something. “Oh, Kyle…”

“Let's get out of this darkness,” he told her, and kissed her forehead.

“How did you find us?” she whispered.

“Hocus-pocus. I followed your dreams. My wife is a witch,” he told her.

“Oh, Kyle…”

“I wouldn't have it any other way.”