Catherine Coulter - Hemlock Bay

But it wasn’t enough.

She turned her head when she heard the door slowly open.

She saw a woman standing in the dim light. “Hello, little sister. How are you doing with the duct tape? Loosen it up a bit yet?”

And Lily said, “I’m not your little sister.”

“No, you’re Dillon Savich’s little sister and that’s more than close enough. That’s just dandy.” Tammy walked into the small room, sniffed the air, frowned for just a moment, then pulled one of the rickety chairs away from the desk and sat down. She crossed her legs. She was wearing huge-heeled black boots.

“I’m very cold,” Lily said.

“Yeah, I figured.”

“I also have to go to the bathroom.”

“Okay, I don’t care if you’re cold, but I wouldn’t make you lie there on your side and pee on yourself. That would be gross. I’m going to unfasten your feet so you can walk. You can go out in the barn and pick your corner. Here, I’ll put the duct tape around your wrists in front of you. I wouldn’t want you to pee on yourself.” Lily didn’t have a chance to fight her. Her ankles were bound. She could do nothing, just wait for the duct tape to go around her wrists again. At least they were in front of her now, even for just a short time.

“Here’s a couple of Kleenex.”

Lily walked ahead of Tammy into the large barn. It was a mess-overflowing rotting hay, random pieces of rusted equipment, boards hanging loose, letting in snow and frigid air. She quickly saw the big, black-painted circle. It was starkly clean. That was where Tammy and her brother had forced the two boys to stay while Tammy called her Ghouls.

“How about the corner over there? Hurry up now, you and I have lots to do. I don’t trust you not to be stupid but it won’t matter if you are. Move, little sister.”

Lily relieved herself, then turned to face Tammy, who’d been watching her.

“How did you get into the house? The alarm system is one of the best made.”

Tammy just smiled at her. Lily saw her very clearly now in the shaft of strong morning light that speared through a wide slash in the wall. She was wearing black jeans over those black boots, and a long-sleeve black turtleneck sweater. One sleeve dangled where her arm should have been. She wasn’t ugly or beautiful. She just looked normal, average even. She didn’t look particularly scary, even with her moussed, spiked-up dark hair. Her eyes were very dark, darker than her hair, in sharp contrast to her face, which was very pale, probably made more pale with white powder, and her mouth was painted a deep plum color. She was thin, and her single hand was long and narrow, the fingernails capped with the same plum color that was on her mouth. Even thin, she gave the overwhelming impression that she was as strong as a bull.

“I’ll just bet your brother and that little redheaded wife of his were chewing off their fingernails waiting for me. But I didn’t come when they wanted me to. That announcement the FBI character made on TV, I didn’t believe it, not for an instant. I knew it was a trap, and that was okay. I took my time, found out all about the alarm, how to disarm it. It wasn’t hard. Sit down, little sister.”

Lily sat on a bale of hay so old it cracked beneath her. “I don’t think you could have done that alarm yourself, alone. It would require quite some expertise.”

“You’re right. People always underestimate me because they think I’m a hick.” Tammy grinned down at her, then began pacing in front of her, every once in a while looking down at her empty sleeve, where her other hand should have been. Lily watched her and saw the look of panic, then bone-deep hatred, cross her face.

“What are you going to do with me?”

Tammy laughed. “Why, I’m going to put you in the circle and I’m going to call the Ghouls. They’ll come and tear you apart, and that’s what I’ll deliver back to your brother-a body he’d rather not see.” Tammy paused for a moment, then cocked her head to one side. “They’re close now, I can hear them.”

Lily listened. She could hear the faint rustling of tree branches, probably from the constant fall of snow, the movement of the wind. But nothing else, not even early-morning birds, no animal sounds at all. “I don’t hear anything.”

“You will,” said Tammy. “You will. We’re going to walk over to that black circle. You’re going to sit down in the middle of it. I won’t even tie your hands behind you. Now, move it, little sister.” Tammy pulled out a gun and aimed it at Lily.

“No, I’m not going anywhere,” Lily said. “Will the Ghouls still want me if I’m not in the circle? What if you’ve already killed me with that gun of yours? Will they still want me then?”

“We’ll just have to see, won’t we?” Tammy raised the gun and aimed it at Lily’s face.

• Simon wished he were on his motorcycle, weaving in and out of the heavy, early-morning traffic. Why didn’t Savich have a bloody siren? Why were there so many people at this hour?

When there was finally a break in the traffic, Savich pressed his foot hard on the accelerator. Simon looked out the back window, saw six black FBI cars, one after the other, coming fast, keeping pace with them.

“Tell me, Sherlock,” he said, his heart thudding fast, hard beats. “We’ll be there soon. Tell me about Tammy.”

• Slowly, Tammy lowered the gun. “You think you’re pretty cute, don’t you?”

Lily slowly shook her head, so relieved she was nearly sick. She’d been ready to feel a bullet go right through her heart, to just be gone, and that was it. Sudden and final and she was dead. But she was still here, still alive, with Tammy, who was still holding that ugly gun.

The circle-it appeared Tammy wanted her in that circle, still alive. “Where is Marilyn? She’s your cousin, isn’t she?”

“You want to know about my sweet little cousin? I’m not real happy with her right now. See, she told your brother everything about me. Then he used her for bait. That was ruthless of him. I like that in a guy. She was waiting for me right there in the open, in that airport, standing next to that stupid agent who was supposed to be guarding her. From me. What a joke that was. I cut the agent’s throat, and everyone saw a crazy young man do it. Everyone believed it, but it was really me.

“You want to know why I hate your brother? It’s not hard. He killed my brother, shot my arm off, just left it dangling by a few strips of muscle, and I saw it hanging there and I thought I was going to die. And they strapped me down to this bed because your brother told them I was bad trouble, and then they cut the rest of it right off in the hospital and I nearly died. All because of your damned brother.”

Then Tammy let loose, screamed to the rafters, “One goddamned arm! Just look at me-my fucking sleeve is empty! I nearly died from the infection, damn him to hell. He shot my arm off! After I set the Ghouls on you, after they’ve gnawed you to a bloody mess, I’m going to get him, get him, GET HIM!”

Lily kept her mouth shut, tried to pull herself together enough to work on the duct tape. She wished she could raise her hands and use her teeth, but Tammy would notice that for sure. At least her hands were still bound in front of her; that might give her some chance.

Tammy drew a deep breath as she slowly lowered the gun. Her eyes focused again, on Lily. “You’re like him-stubborn.”

“How did you get past all the agents guarding the house?”

“Stupid buggers, all of them. It was easy. There’s hardly any challenge anymore. I didn’t let them see me.”

Lily didn’t want to believe anything that outrageous, but she said, “And they couldn’t see me either?”

“Oh yes. Nothing to it. Just dragged you out, wearing that cute little nightgown-sorry I didn’t get you a coat. But I figured after you realized what was going to happen to you, you’d want to feel the cold, better than being dead and not feeling anything at all. Now, little sister, move into the goddamned circle!”