Part 28 (1/2)

Chan shook his head. ”Perhaps a fall for you, too. Now, get in the front. My gun and I will get in the backseat with Erny. That way, I don't have to worry about you doing something stupid at the wheel.”

He was going to kill them. There was no reason in the world to think he wouldn't. For a second she thought that maybe the best thing would be to do as he said. Maybe when they were out on the road, she could signal someone with her lights. And then her heart sank. He would watch her every move. And a signal like that would be all he needed to kill Erny. Erny, who had seen the dead body of Nelson Abbott in Chan's car. No. She was not going to get into the driver's seat and let him hold a gun to her child's head. No, she couldn't do that.

In the next second, Tess formulated a crude plan and made up her mind. In one swift motion, Tess stepped close to him, reached into the pocket of Chan's field coat, and jerked out the broken padlock. ”Hey,” Chan protested, startled. Tess smashed the padlock down against his hand that held the gun. Chan let out a cry and the gun dropped from his hand to the blacktop. Tess prayed for good aim and kicked it beneath the car.

Chan dropped to his knees and began to grope for the gun beneath the car. Tess pulled back her foot and kicked him as hard as she could with the toe of her boot. This blow also caught him solidly, but it was cus.h.i.+oned by the thick coat, and he began to rise to his feet, his eyes wild, growling like a wounded bear. She knew she would not be able to fight him. He would overpower her easily. And if he wanted his gun, he could simply drive the car a few feet forward and uncover it. She had to prevent that. Tess only had a moment to think as he turned and came toward her. She reached inside over the driver's seat, grabbed the keys from the ignition, and pulled them free. She straightened up, raised her arm, and threw them, as far as she could, into the pond that bordered the road.

”Erny, run!” Tess cried.

Erny reached up, opened the car door on his side, tumbled out, and took off.

With a roar, Chan grabbed for Tess. Tess avoided his grasp, but fell to the ground on her knees. Chan lunged at her but Tess scrambled to her feet. And then, as much as every instinct told her to follow her child, her poor s.h.i.+vering child who was racing up the driveway toward the road, her brain reminded her that Chan could not chase two of them at once. And she was the greater threat. Tess turned and sprinted as fast as she could in the opposite direction, back toward the Mercedes that was idling in the drive. If she could only get inside the running car and lock him out...The gleaming, black car stood ready to save her. The prize that would go to the swiftest. She rushed toward it, but he was right behind her.

She heard his oaths in her ear and felt his hands clamp down on her from behind, jerking her backward. She saw his fist out of the corner of her eye. She tried and failed to avoid the blow that fell on the side of her head. Dimly, as Tess crumpled to the ground, she raised her hands against a rain of blows.

CHAPTER 31.

Chan secured her hands with duct tape he had in the trunk of the Mercedes. Then he pushed her into the front seat of his car and slammed the door.

He came around to the driver's side and got in. ”I'll find him. He won't get far,” he muttered.

Tess did not reply. She was regaining her senses, although she ached all over from being struck. He pulled up beside Kelli's car and reached beneath the driver's seat of the Mercedes. He pulled out a long-handled ice sc.r.a.per and turned off the engine before he got out of the Mercedes. Locking her inside the car, Chan went over to Kelli's Honda and flattened himself out on the ground. He stuck the ice sc.r.a.per beneath the car and managed to fish out the gun that she had kicked under the cha.s.sis. When he had retrieved it, Chan stood up and held the gun high where Tess could see it.

Tess turned her face away. She lowered her eyes so that he would not have the pleasure of waving it in front of her. He was going to track down Erny and then...She felt overwhelmed by the hopelessness of her situation. Think, she thought. Don't give up. Think. As she looked frantically around her, her gaze fell on a pamphlet, obviously wadded up and tossed into the console between the pa.s.senger seat and the driver. She could see the word ”SHARE” in big red letters. Beneath the acronym logo, the group's name was spelled out: Stone Hill Abuse and Rape Emergency. Suddenly, Tess understood. She thought of the bruised woman huddled in the chair by the dying fire. Afraid to stay, incapable of leaving on her own. Sally's bruises had not all been the result of accidents or her medical condition. She had been the victim of her husband's anger. Sally had finally called for help, and then, at the last moment, she had panicked and sent that help away. And now she lay dead in that house. Tess felt tears p.r.i.c.k her eyelids, for Sally, for herself, for Erny. And then she reminded herself-it was not too late for Erny.

Chan popped the locks, opened the driver's-side door, and got back into the car. He jammed the gun into his inside jacket pocket and turned on the engine. ”All right. Now, I'll find that kid.”

”My car is right there in the middle of your driveway,” said Tess, feeling some satisfaction that she had left such a huge, immovable clue.

”I can hot-wire it,” he said. ”Once I get rid of the two of you. First I have to find your...stupid kid.”

”He's a good boy,” said Tess, trying to keep her voice from wobbling. ”None of this is his fault. How can you even think about hurting a child?” And then, she realized what a foolish question she was asking. This was the person who had killed her sister. It had to be. And even though her heart was thudding with fear, she needed to make him confirm it. ”What am I saying? You killed Phoebe, didn't you?”

Chan did not reply.

Tess felt the old fury bubble up in her chest. ”Why, Chan, why? What possessed you?” she said.

Chan was driving at a snail's pace, peering into the trees like a hunter. Watching for any sign of movement that would betray Erny's whereabouts.

Tess was frantic to distract him, engage him. ”What I can't imagine,” she said, ”is how you and Lazarus Abbott ever became partners in crime. You, the golden boy, the heir to the Whitman farm, getting involved with a disgusting pervert whom everyone made fun of...what were you thinking?”

”Oh right,” said Chan, scanning both sides of the road with narrowed eyes. ”Your theory. That Lazarus had a partner.”

Tess stared at him. ”Don't try to pretend you weren't involved,” she said.

”We were never partners.”

”But you killed my sister,” Tess said.

Chan put his foot on the brake and yanked the gears.h.i.+ft into park. ”I can't see anything from here. I'm going to look for him on foot. You stay here.”

”No,” Tess protested. ”Please, Chan. Answer me. Can't you tell me that much? I have to know.”

Chan studied her for a moment and he seemed to be weighing his response.

”Please. Tell me what happened. For twenty years it has tortured me.”

”I'm sure you two will be together soon,” he said with a soulless smile. ”You can ask her yourself.”

Tess knew what he was threatening. She didn't care. She wanted Erny to get away. And she wanted an answer. ”Please,” she whispered.

He frowned and then he sighed. ”Lazarus did abduct her. You were right about that. He took her, and he stashed her in that shed where you found Erny. As I was coming home from the dance that night, I saw him putting her in there.”

Picturing Phoebe, terrified and helpless, Tess felt the horror of it afresh. ”I don't understand. You saw him do that. And you didn't try to save her...”

”Who said I didn't try to save her?” Chan countered.

Taken aback, Tess stared at him.

”At first, I didn't know what was going on,” Chan said. ”So after he left, I went in. The minute I walked into the shed she started begging. Begging and crying. Pleading with me not to hurt her. To let her go.”

”So you killed her...?” Tess cried. ”That doesn't make any sense,” she said. ”You went in to help her and ended up killing her?”

”I had my reasons,” he said.

”What reasons? Because a terrified girl pleaded with you to help her? Or was it the fact that she was at your mercy and you could rape her? Was that it? Was it the s.e.x? A bondage fantasy that just got out of hand?”

Chan raised his hand and smacked her face with his open palm. Tess felt her teeth rattle in her head.

”That's not it. I'm not a pervert like Lazarus,” said Chan.

”How did Nelson know it was you?” she said. ”The DNA proved that it was a relative of Nelson's and you're not...”

Tess gazed at Chan's cruel, handsome face and felt the same nagging sense of something forgotten that she had felt earlier in the day. And then she remembered when she had felt it. It was when she had invaded Rusty Bosworth's rented condo and saw the plaque of the fish-and the accompanying photo. And then, suddenly, she began to see. She understood, at least, why Nelson Abbott was killed. She understood what he had really told Chan when he learned the DNA results. When he visited Chan at the newspaper.

”What are you looking at?” said Chan. ”Stop staring at me.”

Tess nodded. She had to be right. The nagging sense of something forgotten, of some connection hidden in her mind, fell away when she thought of it. ”You look just like him,” Tess said. ”When he was young.”

Chan glared at her. ”What are you talking about?”

”Your father.”