Untainted: (Crime Romance: The Photographer Trilogy #3) (6 page)

Kate heard him clear his throat and moan as he slid his hand up her thigh until he found the elastic waist band.

She was climbing up the ladder to the slide, she wasn’t feeling his hand slipping inside floral underwear. The top of the slide was scary, she had always had a fear of heights. His hand harshly shoved her thighs apart and made their way to a place her Barbie dolls didn’t have.

The slide was cold and stung her legs and the wind pushed through her hair as she flew down, squealing with laughter.

He wasn’t inside her. Sharp pains weren’t radiating throughout her.

She was playing on the slide.

“My turn.” His gruff voice said as his other hand grabbed her wrist and pushed it into his pants. He quickly opened up a file folder in his lap, pretending to look over random papers as her small hand found his warm member and did what she had been taught.

She shuddered in disgust as his breath quickened and he moaned, pushing his hips up into her hand. She looked back over toward the playground, now she was climbing up the ladder to the tree house platform.

She loved going down the pole that reminded her of a similar pole she had once seen a fireman sliding down on their last field trip to the local firehouse. She grabbed hold of it with both hands and pushed off the platform, wrapping her legs around the thick pole.

She swirled around the pole as she slid to the very bottom, plopping down into the mulch and laughing as she looked back up at the platform she had just come from.

She felt his body shake and he grunted, smiling as his body stilled.

She pulled her hand away and hugged her arms around her backpack while he straightened his pants. Annie was still blissfully unaware running across the mulch of the playground toward the merry-go-round that she loved to spin on.

Even playing by herself, she was fully entertained. Annie had always been a happy child and Kate smiled as she watched her little sister’s joy, glad that she was able to keep that look on Annie’s face.

She missed the days that she used to hold that smile on her own face.

The days before Stanley Smith.

“Katie! Kate!” Annie hopped off the merry-go-round, taking a side step with a bit of dizziness but then rushing back toward her sister.

“Mommy’s here!” Annie squealed pointing to the old blue minivan making its way down the small Virginian road toward them.

Kate jumped off the bench in a flash, swinging her backpack around her and slipping her arms through the straps. She ran as fast as her sneakers would take her under her skirt toward Annie, dragging Annie’s things along with her.

Annie grabbed her backpack from her in the middle of the parking lot and stopped to put it on. Kate grabbed her arm and pulled her harshly, causing her backpack to fall to one side.

“Katie! Slow down!” She screeched at her big sister, trying to pull on the remaining backpack strap while trying to keep up with Kate, who was nearly dragging her at this point.

“We have to go, Annie. Hurry up.” Kate said through clenched teeth, although she did slow slightly to let her sister catch up.

The ugly blue Ford Aerostar turned into the parking lot and creaked to a stop as the girls rushed up to the side and Kate grabbed the handle of the sliding door, pulling it open after several yanks.

Annie scampered in first and plopped into her toddler booster seat, pulling the belts down over her shoulder. Kate followed and sat in the empty seat next to her.

“How was school, girls?” Their mother looked back at them, smiling.

“Good.” Kate responded flatly, pulling the van door shut next to her.

“They were a delight today, Mrs. Jackson.” His gruff voice came slipping in the front seat passenger window, followed by his face as he leaned his arms on the lowered car window.

“Mr. Smith! Thank you so much for watching them again today!” Their mother smiled at him, blushing slightly from his charming grin and chiseled looks.

“Happy to do it, ma’am. I really enjoy it.” He chuckled and looked toward Kate in the backseat, giving her a wink.

She felt her stomach turn and she pulled her feet up onto the seat, hugging her knees against her chest as she hid her face in them.

“Oh good, I’m so glad she behaved. She has been on quite the stubborn streak lately.” Mrs. Jackson responded, wagging a finger back at her daughter jokingly.

“Has she? She’s been very obedient today.” He winked in Kate’s direction again as she peeked over her knees at the adults.

“Have a good day, girls. I’ll see you both tomorrow. Bye, Mrs. Jackson.” Stanley Smith stepped back from the car and gave them a wave and a wink, then walked back toward the school.

“What a lovely man.” Their mother mused out loud as she rolled up the window and put the car in gear, turning back out of the parking lot.

“Katie doesn’t like him.” Annie chirped absentmindedly as she looked out the window.

“Annie!” Katie whispered harshly under her breath, glaring over at her sister.

Annie whirled her head around to look at Kate, surprise on her face. Her eyes immediately brimmed with tears and her lip quivered.

“Kate, why do you have to be mean to your sister?” Their mother scolded, looking in the rear view mirror angrily at her as Annie began crying.

“Sorry.” She responded coldly, glaring back at her mother.

“Sorry isn’t going to be enough soon, Kate.  You’ve been rude to everyone lately. Even Mr. Smith, you didn’t even say goodbye to him or thank him when he complimented you. You need to start behaving or I will tell your father.” She chided Kate, sighing in exasperation.

“Don’t be mad at me, Katie.” Annie whispered between sniffles as she leaned out of her booster seat to get closer to her sister.

Kate turned to her sister, a little smile teasing on her lips. She winked at Annie and kissed her on her cheek.

“Never, baby girl. Plus, birds don’t get mad, remember?” Kate grinned at her sister as she whispered and pointed at a flock of birds traveling over their car.

“We’re birds?” Her baby sister asked softly, watching the feathered friends soaring above them.

“Can’t you feel those wings behind you?” She looked seriously at Annie.

“Yes!” Annie beamed at her and clapped her hands, bouncing in her seat.

Kate put her finger to her lips to remind Annie to stay quiet, so their mother wouldn’t hear them.

“Let’s fly away together. We can go anywhere you want.” Kate leaned her head against the head rest, looking toward her sister with a dreamy look in her eyes.

“Katie?” Annie whispered after a quiet moment of staring out the window together.

“What?” She looked at her sister, her little face deep in thought.

“I think I would be happier if we were birds. Then we could fly away anytime someone tried to hurt us.” She whispered to Kate, surprisingly insightful for her age.

“Me too, baby girl.” Tears stung at Kate’s eyes as she whispered in response to her sister, while Annie dropped her head to lean against Kate’s small shoulder.

“One day we will, I promise.” Kate spoke softly, caressing her sister’s hair as they both stared out the window and watched several flocks of birds flying over the field they were passing.

She felt Annie smile at her words, bringing a warm sensation to her heart. Her sister was everything to her and she had long ago made it her life’s mission to shield Annie from the evils of the world.

The evils that a six year old girl shouldn’t be aware of, and yet Kate was.

She kissed the top of Annie’s head and Annie reached for her hand, sliding her stubby little fingers into her palm.

The sisters held hands as they flew off to play with the birds.

~~~~~~

“You know, you really fucked things up for me, Kate.” A sharp pain radiated up and down her side as a pointed boot collided with her ribs.

Kate groaned and rolled over onto her side, trying to pull away from her attacker. She squeezed her eyes closed tighter as another kick spiked her hip, making a cracking sound that she couldn’t identify but knew wasn’t good. She shrieked in response, unable to keep the pain from bursting out of her.

“So you said already, asshole.” She spat angrily at him as she glared at him through narrowed eyes after she got her breath back.

“And yet you still haven’t put the pieces together. Not as smart as I thought apparently.” He chuckled as he grabbed her hair and pulled her up into a seated position.

Kate screamed at the sharp pain in her skull as he yanked harshly on her now messy locks. Her sounds of agony only made Frank grin with pleasure as his eyes hooded over with desire.

She felt her stomach threatening to heave again at the very idea of what he might be thinking. He lowered his head down to close the distance between them and she could smell cigarettes on his warm breath.

“I’m going to make you scream a lot more before I’m done with you.” His voice was husky and his face was adorned with a huge smile.

She grimaced and rolled her eyes at him as he let go of her and walked over to the wooden wall of the stable and grabbed a large coil of rope off a hook. She pushed back on her ankles as much as she could being bound, attempting to get as far away from him as possible. He glanced over his shoulder at her and chuckled, then brought the rope over to her.

“You’re not going to get away, Kate.” He laughed, standing over her.

“Fuck you.” She said through clenched teeth, doing her best to hold on to her inner strength, refusing to let him have that too.

“Oh don’t worry, you will.” Frank laughed, bending his knees to come down to her eye level again.

His face suddenly went serious, his eyes darkened, and only the hint of a sickly smile appeared.

“You’re going to die today, Kate.” He whispered to her in an ominous voice, full of hatred and bitterness.

Kate felt the color drain from her face as she struggled to figure out why her lungs had suddenly stopped working. She felt her hands and feet tingle with a numbing sensation under their binding, and chills ran down her spine as her skin broke out in little bumps.

Gulping, she forced herself to inhale, shuddering as she did so. Frank licked his lips at her reaction, clearly aroused and making no attempt to hide it. Just as quickly, he stood up and uncoiled the rope in his hand, smiling at her again.

“But not in here. I’ve got a special place just for you.” He was laughing again and Kate was sure that she had never heard a more frightening sound in her life than that laugh.

Grabbing the bindings on her hand, he deftly spun the rope around it and around both of her wrists. The restraint became tighter and Kate could feel her pulse through her fingertips.

Giving it a yank, she launched forward and fell onto his feet, only to be quickly met with the muddy tip of his boot pushing her face into the stable floor. She squirmed, attempting to breathe, but felt dirt and hay entering her nose as she screamed into it.

Suddenly, she was up and being pulled forward, across the dirt floor and out of the stall she had been imprisoned in. She attempted to get her feet up underneath her so she could stand, but Fran was dragging her so quickly that she couldn’t manage to do it.

The smell of copper flooded her nose and Kate whipped her head up to find the origin. They were passing other stalls in the stable and each one had a more horrific scene than the next. Fear pulsed through her veins, thundering in her ears so loudly that she could actually hear how terrified she was.

A young blonde woman was in one stall, dangling from a rope in the center, clearly dead. The next stall just had blood, a dark and congealed shine to it. Another had a stack of hay with flies swarming around it, something indistinguishable laying across the middle of the pile.

That was it, she couldn’t hold it a second longer. Kate vomited right in the middle of the stable hall as she gave up all attempts to stand and just allowed herself to be dragged.

“Damn it!” Frank grimaced, disgusted at her.

She moaned in pain as he came to a stop to survey her, then grabbed her up by her hair and pulled her to her feet.
      “Come on, I’ve got something to show you, half wit.” He growled as he shoved her toward a door on the left at the very end of the long hall.
      They entered an office, maybe twice the size of the stall she had been in previously, but this room was lined with concrete on every surface. Industrial furniture filled the room, metal desks and chairs alongside metal cabinets.

One side of the room clearly had a window, but a large cork board had been tacked up over it. Sun was shining on all sides of the board, attempting to creep in, but the board itself is what Kate’s eyes became stuck on.

Photographs lined every inch of it. Instant photos of women, some completely unaware of their stolen image, others looking terrified, and some looking as if they had given up all hope.

There had to be several dozen different women on there, yet all the woman had a similar look to them. He had a type.

Every woman looked like a variation of Kate.

She was his type.

      “Figured it out yet?” He tied her bindings around a metal pipe that went from the floor to ceiling on one wall as he watched her take in his trophies.

A warm feeling of pride seemed to spread through him, satisfied at the horrified look on her face. She blinked as she turned back to look at him, trying to understand what was going on.