Run From Fear (40 page)

You fucking coward!
the beast screamed at him. As his mother turned to leave the room, it was as though he were propelled forward by an unseen force. Moving without conscious thought. But suddenly, he was screaming, “No,” and his hands were around her neck and he was shoving her up against the wall outside his bedroom. Her eyes were bulging, her tongue sticking out like a pink slug between her lips. Her head made a hollow, melonlike sound when he slammed it up against the wall.

His lips pulled into a savage smile and he did it again. She was trying to scream, but nothing but ugly choking sounds emerged. Her fingers clawed at his wrists, leaving raw, red grooves behind, and she kicked at his legs, her blows growing more feeble.

As he felt the fragile column of her neck give to his grip, felt the crunch as her windpipe gave beneath the pressure of his thumbs, he felt the power roar through him once again, sending him high up into the stratosphere where he was ruler of the universe. Where no one could touch him, especially not her.

It was as though he’d flown outside of his body to look down on himself. He was delighted at the sight of his muscles cording in his arms as he squeezed. All that power. She thought he was nothing, was capable of nothing.

He was strong. She was weak. She might have given him life but he was going to end hers.

Her struggles ceased, and as he came back to himself, he saw she was unresponsive, her eyes open and sightless, the whites dotted by bursts of red. He let her go and watched her crumple to the ground.

He stood over his dead mother, breathing hard and shaking as he waited for a wave of grief to settle over him. She was his mother, after all, the woman whose approval he’d spent his entire life trying to gain. The only woman who could make him shake in dread of a single angry word.

But when the pain would have set in, the beast inside him countered, replaying a mental montage of all the hurt and humiliation she’d showered on him his entire life. Insulting him, telling him he was worthless, that he was nothing, would never be anything. Would never get a girl to look twice at him much less love him because he was capable of nothing.

He was capable of more than she’d ever known, but it had taken her own death to make the old witch realize it.

Good riddance.

Gene wanted to bask in his triumph a little longer, but he knew he didn’t have time to spare. His mouth pulled in disgust as he looked at the body—no longer his mother, now a foul heap of rotting flesh and bone. He had no time to deal with it properly right now.

Grabbing her by the feet, he hauled her down to the
garage and wrapped her in a couple dark green heavy-duty garbage bags, his eyes darting around for a likely place to stash her. His eyes lit on the white freezer chest in the corner.

Perfect.

An hour later, he was pulling into the parking lot behind Rosie’s dorm. According to her text, she was leaving at nine, which gave him forty-five minutes before she left. It would be easy enough to catch her coming from the dining room or on the many trips she’d no doubt make to pack the car.

He’d chosen to park in a spot near the back entrance, close to the Dumpsters that would help obstruct the view of his car. Thankfully, at this hour of the morning during exam week, there weren’t too many people up and around. His plan wasn’t without risk, but since he’d missed the window of darkness thanks to his twenty-plus-hour nap, this was the best he could do.

Besides, he thought with a smile, after the events of the last twenty-four hours, he was quite sure he was capable of anything.

It didn’t take long for him to spot her, chatting with a girl he recognized as her roommate Dana as they walked through the courtyard that separated the dining room from the dorm. He called her name, almost laughing to himself as Rosario waved to him, said something to her roommate, and started toward him with a trusting smile.

Her roommate gave him a look that said he barely registered. If anyone ever thought to ask who Rosie was last seen with, even if Dana remembered his name or that he’d been Rosie’s physics TA, he’d bet on his life she’d never
be able to give a good description of his bland, unremarkable features.

For once, that was just fine.

After he was finished with Rosario and her sister, it would make it that much easier for him to disappear and make sure no one would ever find him.

“Hey, Gene, what’s up?” Rosario smiled at him. Her hair was in a ponytail, her face scrubbed clean, and she wore a sweatshirt over her T-shirt and shorts in deference to the chill of the late spring morning. “I didn’t see you at the midterm yesterday.”

“Sorry about that—I had some last-minute things I needed to take care of at the lab. But I have some news about your exam that I wanted to share.”

Her eyes lit up, and he had a moment of doubt. Maybe he should let her go on her trip after all. Let her go away and leave her out of what he had planned.

But before he could complete the thought, her phone rang. “Oh, can you hold on? It’s Kevin. I’ve been trying to reach him for two days and I really need to take this.”

Gene nodded and tried to hide his disgust. She may have a sweetness to her, but she was just as stupid and deserving of punishment as the rest. And when he imagined the look of horror on Talia’s face when she realized that her sister would suffer her fate alongside her…

Nate Brewster may have killed more women, but he’d never instilled the kind of terror Gene was going to rain down on Nate’s final victim.

He listened to Rosario plead with her asshole boyfriend to accompany her on a camping trip, ignoring the little pang in his chest at the thought that no one, ever, had wanted his company so much.

He shoved it away. This was no time for self-pity. He alone would have the pleasure of Rosario’s company for the weekend whether she liked it or not.

Finally Rosario hung up and she met his stare with a wobbly smile. He had no sympathy for her hurt but he pasted on a look of concern. “You two have another fight?”

She shrugged. “I hope you have good news about my test,” she said with a little sniff. “I could use some after that.”

He looked around as though concerned about being overheard, even though there was no one around. “Let’s go somewhere a little more out of the way. I’m not supposed to let any students know before the results are official, but I knew you’d be anxious.”

He motioned her to follow him around the back of the building. “I have your exam in my car,” he lied as they rounded the corner. “I think you’ll be pleased.”

“Oh thank God,” she sighed as he popped the trunk. “After I turned it in, I was sure I totally failed.”

He reached into his backpack and palmed a syringe full of Rohypnol as he simultaneously pulled out a blue exam book. He handed it to her and her eyes lit up at the score written across the top.

“Oh my God, I got a ninety-eight?” she exclaimed. Then she looked a little closer. “Wait, Eugene, this isn’t my test. This is from—”

The needle sank into her carotid and he depressed the plunger before she could finish. She gave a squeak of surprise and looked at him in shock, which quickly went blurry as the drug went rapidly to work.

“Whannareyoo dooin’?” she slurred weakly, pushing
at his hands as he tipped her back into the trunk. She barely put up a fight as he pulled her phone from her hand and slammed the trunk shut.

Talia spent most of Friday moping around, too depressed even to work out.

So depressed, part of her wondered if she shouldn’t have taken Rosie up on her offer to join her on her camping trip to Yosemite. Rosie had texted her at ten-thirty to let her know they were on the road, and again three hours later to let her know they’d arrived.

Even so, Talia had called a few times, thinking that hearing her sister’s voice might help comfort her. Her calls went straight to voice mail, and Talia forced herself to give it up for the day. Even if she wasn’t the victim of spotty cell phone coverage, it was likely Rosario didn’t want to get stuck on the phone with her anxious, heartbroken sister when she wanted to enjoy time with her friends.

Though it stung, Talia couldn’t exactly blame her. Still, Jack’s call last night after she’d dropped Rosie off was unsettling on multiple levels. First there was Jack’s voice. Even over the phone, it had the power to reach down to her very core, touching her like a caress even as the sound of it ripped her to shreds.

God, she missed him.

Then, of course, there was the news he’d shared about Sutherland’s death. And though he hadn’t spelled it out, despite his denial and her belief in it, it didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that the police were going to take a
serious look at Jack for the murder. She resisted the urge to call Jack and check in.

Instead she kept an anxious eye on the local news, which was abuzz with the story of the violent hotel murder in an otherwise quiet part of town. So far there had been no stories about anyone being arrested for the murder.

She spent some time on the Internet looking for a likely retreat for the weekend, which only added to her depression. The only places with any appeal were way out of her price range, and the only places she could afford were either campgrounds or crappy motels. Neither of which would provide her any security if anyone came after her.

And that was assuming Jack was correct in his theory that (a) Margaret Grayson-Maxwell had sent someone after Sutherland in the first place and (b) she would have that person come gunning for Talia too.

So far nothing had happened, which seemed to support Talia’s decision to shut herself in her house all day and night, nursing her wounds, wallowing in her loneliness and generally feeling sorry for herself.

Saturday she woke up late, determined to kick yesterday’s depression aside, or at least beat it into submission with a brutal workout at Gus’s gym. After a quick text exchange with Rosie in which her sister gushed (as much as one could in a text) about how beautiful the view was from Yosemite Falls, Talia gathered her stuff and headed out.

As she climbed out of her car and walked through the front door, she got that strange little tickle on the back of her neck, that tightness between her shoulders like someone was watching her.

She whipped her head around and did a quick scan
of the parking lot and the street that paralleled the front. There were two guys getting out of a car, talking as they approached the entrance, and a handful of women Talia recognized from some of Gus’s classes. Other than giving her a nod or a quick smile in acknowledgment, no one was paying her any particular attention.

Talia was about to step inside when she heard a voice calling her name. She turned to see Susie, rushing across the parking lot as she waved. “I was hoping that was you I saw pulling in ahead of me.”

Talia gave herself a mental eye roll at her own overreaction at being tracked by her friend. No, wait, she thought with a wave of bitter sadness. Susie wasn’t her friend. The only reason Susie had ever given her the time of day was because Jack had paid her to.

Even so, as Susie jogged up to the entrance, her blond ponytail bobbing with every step, Talia couldn’t help returning her timid but sincere smile. Whether it was a lie or not, Susie had treated her well. Even if her friendship wasn’t genuine, Talia had to give her credit for being a good person, and she felt pretty bad for her part in Susie’s restaurant getting trashed.

There was an awkward moment of silence; then they both started speaking.

“I’m sorry for—” Susie started.

“I’m so sorry about—” Talia said at the same time. She stopped. “You go first.” She opened the door so they could go inside.

“Okay,” Susie said with a smile. “I’m sorry I was such a bitch the other night,” she said as they walked toward the locker rooms.

“Are you kidding?” Talia asked as Susie held the locker
room door open for her. “I’m sorry the psycho who came after me ended up trashing the restaurant.” She stashed her bag in a locker and waited while Susie did the same.

Susie looked at her, her blue eyes wide with concern. “I can’t believe he was murdered.”

Talia nodded. “Does Nolan know if they’re any closer to finding out who did it?”

Susie looked uncomfortable for a moment, then shook her head.

Talia got it. They were still looking at Jack as the main suspect. They were just waiting to get the evidence together to make an arrest. Talia looked at her watch. “We better get to class or we won’t get a good spot.”

“The good news,” Susie said with a falsely bright smile as they started for the studio for the cardio kickboxing class, “at least I guess you can call it good news, is that they found some things in his room to link him to the rapes. Philip can’t give me the details yet, but he’s pretty certain Sutherland was the one behind the attacks. Thank God they were able to catch him before…”

Her voice trailed off.

“Before he could take me,” Talia finished for her.

“I shouldn’t have brought it up,” Susie said, reaching out to pat her shoulder as they paused in front of the studio.

Talia gave her head a rueful shake. “It’s not like I haven’t had the same thought a thousand times in the last few days.”