The Enemy's Son (5 page)

Sleep? At a time like this?

When she hesitated, he squatted down in front of her and held the flashlight to the side. “We can talk inside. I don’t want to risk Alexander listening to us.”

“He would follow us all the way out here?”

Nick stood and pulled her up, wrapping a small blanket around her shoulders. “That man doesn’t stop for anything. Here, you’ll want to change your shoes to walk up there.”

She didn’t want to go to this cabin at all, but she didn’t want to be out in the night either. She pulled her tennis shoes from the bag and switched into them.

The path was there, but barely there. They had to walk through the ferns and briars up a hill, in the dark, with his flashlight lighting the way ahead of them. She couldn’t see anything outside of the circle of light so she couldn’t say if there really was a cabin up the hill. It seemed more likely that they were hiking into the deep, dark forest. But there had been a shed to park in…there had to be a house to go with it. Her teeth started chattering from nerves.

“Are you cold? Are your legs okay?” he asked, turning and shining the light down on her.

“I actually have much bigger problems than worrying about scratching my legs up.”

He paused and swung the light around, almost as if he felt the same eerie sensation as she did. She tried to see into the blackness and thought about racing off into the trees. Nick took a hold of her blanket and gently pulled her along. He was guiding her. It wasn’t menacing at all. That made her soften toward him but she had to hold onto her anger and keep the distance between them.    

The trees opened and he shined the light up at a small wood building. Really, it was a tiny shack trying to hold its own against the forest.

“I’m sorry about this dump,” Nick said, looking the place over.

The wood structure looked like a building from an oil landscape painting: lots of character but not good for much. Instead of a porch or steps, just a plain wood door marked the entrance. Nick led her in with an arm around her. He shut the door and walked to something – a table maybe. His shadow blocked the light.

“I can’t see anything,” she said, panicking. Why did he bring her here?

She heard something and a light came on. He had a propane camping lamp and it hissed as it burned. “Let’s look around and make sure it’s okay.”

What could he possibly mean by okay? This was not okay.

The dark interior contained a stove, a table, two wooden kitchen chairs and a worn brown couch. There was a tiny bathroom in the corner, and a wall extended from that to create a semi private space for two twin beds. It was just a one room cabin. Cans of food sat stacked next to the stove. No pictures hung on the walls, no carpets padded the uneven wood floor.

“I have to go to the bathroom,” she said, and then glanced at him.

“Oh, here, take the lamp.”

She grabbed that and her work out bag, and left him standing there to go into the bathroom, which was the only room in the cabin with a door. It had running water at least, but it didn’t have a window, so that killed that idea. She changed into cotton shorts and a tank top, stuffing her other clothes back into the bag.

When she opened the bathroom door, she saw Nick trying to light the cooking stove with a match. She set the lamp on the table and went around the wall to the beds. There was a tiny window, but it had boards nailed across it from the inside. If they were nailed form the outside, she might have been able to push or kick them off. They also looked newer and sturdier than the parts of the cabin.

She could hear Nick making noise by the stove, but when she peeked toward the door, she realized he was close enough to easily grab her if she ran.

Who would have built a cabin so far out in the country? It was hard to picture a couple or family living here and being happy. Maybe it was an old hunting cabin. That made more sense. Now the Holloways used it to hold people hostage.

She sat on the bed. The plan was to think up a plan.  Instead she let the tears come, and it felt good to let go. She had every right to be upset, mad and scared.

She fell across the bed, covering her nose so she wouldn’t smell it, and let the tears run down the sides of her face. How could her dad have gotten into so much trouble? Why hadn’t he just quit that job?

“Cora?” He stopped by the end of the bed. She hadn’t heard him walk over. “I have some dinner on the table. Nothing fancy, but you have to be hungry by now.”

Cora didn’t want him to see her wrecked emotional state, so she just nodded. She had her arm over her face, and it was dark, so he wouldn’t see, but she couldn’t find her voice.

“Cora?”

He sat down next to her and touched her leg. That made her jump. Still, he didn’t move his hand.

“You should eat something.” He took her hand and tried to pull her up. She fought at first, but couldn’t find a reason for it and gave in. He pulled her up so quickly she bumped into his chest. His arm came up around her back.

It’d feel so good to lean into him and cry some more. He wiped her wet check and began soothing and rubbing her back. There was a desperate feel to his caresses that revealed his guilt.

She needed someone to reassure her, but not him, not now. “Don’t.” She pushed off the bed and walked to the table. He had set just one metal camping plate and a full glass of water.

“Sit down,” he said, pulling the chair out.

It would feel very strange to sit down and eat with him, but she felt uneasy about the single plate too. She glanced toward the stove and then up at him.

“Your candle lit dinner,” he said, trying to smile. When he stepped back to the stove, she finally spotted the other plate full of food. She was staring, and he might have even figured out her line of thinking. He took a bite of his food and raised his fork in her direction. “It’s not as bad as it looks.”

That wasn’t what she was worried about…

She smelled rice and her mouth watered. Saying a prayer, she took a bite.

The plate contained a cooked box dinner and canned vegetables, but she didn’t taste it much. She was a little surprised at his politeness in letting her use the table by herself. It appeared he was nice enough not to poison her as well.

He rinsed their plates and then boiled them in a large pot due to the lack of any dish soap. She went around the wall to the beds and laid down on one, surprised at how tired she felt.

Nick came in and sighed as he sat on the other bed. He set the lamp down on the ground and its glow spread up into the room. It sounded a bit like a campfire when she closed her eyes. She could still feel him looking at her. 

 “Your father isn’t completely alone,” he said. “I’m not the only one in the family that disagrees with what they’re doing. My cousin is trying to keep tabs on Jerry.”

“If you think this is wrong, and you want to help, why won’t you and this cousin grab Jerry and me and run? We could get away and go to the police.”

“We can’t get you and Jerry at the same time. Keith might do something awful if-”

“If what?” She wasn’t going to let it go.

“Alright. If one of you gets away, Keith might hurt the other one. It won’t keep him at up night to have Alexander kill someone.”

“Have you ever killed anyone?” she asked without opening her eyes. She wanted distance, and maybe to hurt him, and that’s why she asked. A part of her also wondered if he’d admit to hurting anyone before.

“What?” He asked slowly, sounding hurt and insulted. “I really scare you?”

She opened her eyes.

“Cora…I’ve never purposely hurt anyone in my life. I’ve never done anything like this before.” He sat on the edge of his bed, leaning over and resting his elbows on his knees. The pleading in his eyes made her want to believe him.

“Then why start now?”

“To fix all this. I didn’t plan on having anything to do with my family, but I couldn’t stay out of it.”

“You could have called the police,” she accused. “Or told me what was going on when you stopped me at the restaurant.”

“I wanted to go straight to the police with all this, but I can’t be certain Keith doesn’t have some of them on his payroll. Or Alexander might have been watching me. I couldn’t figure out a way to get help without putting Jerry or you in more danger. This bought us time.”

But was it enough time?

She closed her eyes and willed her body and mind to relax, remembering a day long ago spent on the beach with both her parents. Like always, the memory brought tears to her eyes. Thinking of Nick watching her, she rolled the other way and wiped her eyes. She pretended to be asleep for so long she actually started to drift off.

***

She woke with a start. The cabin was pitch black. Nick must have turned the lamp off.

He was asleep!

She jumped up and felt her way to the door. It creaked as she opened it, and the entire cabin complained at any movement, but Nick didn’t wake up. She stepped outside, into more darkness, and took a deep breath of fresh night air. It could have been midnight, or two, or four, and she had no idea.

The frogs and crickets were even louder out here. The moon had set so there was just millions and millions of endless stars, suspended above, amazing her with their brightness. Staring straight up, she felt as if she could reach up and touch them. After a minute spent in awe, she looked down and found herself in complete darkness. Her breathing sounded very loud. And then, she heard soft footsteps coming toward her.

She froze.

“Cora?” His soft whisper caused her to jump. “Cora? You’ll scare yourself silly. Come on, let’s get inside.”

She let Nick guide her through the door before she demanded, “Why are you sneaking around like that?”

He shut the door behind them. “Someone else could be sneaking around out there. Besides the two of us.”

She felt his hand on her arm and let him guide her back to the beds.

“Let’s get some rest.” That’s all he said as he sat her on the bed. She lay down, feeling relieved that she didn’t have to make a run for it into the black night. She needed to escape… but she knew she wouldn’t be able to find her way under a moonless sky, through the forest.

The relief quickly turned into irritation. She wasn’t doing anything to get away from Nick and back to her father.

She felt a blanket fall over her and realized he was pulling her blanket up. A strange guilt hit her about planning to sneak away from him. His bed creaked when he sat down.

“Goodnight…And Cora, somehow I’ll fix this.”

***

The breeze brushed the outside of the cabin walls, gently waking Cora in the morning. The room appeared out of focus and dark, and only after a confusing minute did she remember the cabin. The night before rushed into her memory like a pounding migraine.

The dark room felt overly warm as the sun shone on its weathered walls. Reaching above her head, she stretched for a long minute to pull some of the tightness out of her body. She felt as if she’d slept too hard after a restless night, but cold water from the bathroom sink helped clear her mind. She rubbed her temples and ran her fingers through her hair. So last night wasn’t a nightmare after all.

She opened the front door to let some light in. It was so dark and depressing in here, as if the situation itself wasn’t enough to make her want to curl up and cry.