Bonnie - Iris Johansen [105]
I’m coming, Bonnie. I’m going to bring you home. You’ve always said it didn’t matter to you. But it matters to me.
“You shouldn’t have wasted your time looking for her,” Danner said.
“Waste? It wasn’t wasted.”
“It did you no good. And it didn’t help her. You couldn’t keep them away from her.”
He was talking about his demons again, Eve realized, and she was sick to death of it. And she didn’t have to put up with it now. The end was near. Either he was taking her to Bonnie, or it would all be revealed as a big lie spoken by this madman. “I’ve told you before. I can take care of my little girl. There are no demons who could touch her. They’re all in your mind. I’m sure your doctors have told—” She stopped. They had suddenly come out of the pine trees and were standing on a summit overlooking the canyon. She inhaled sharply. “Dear God. Where are we?”
The sun had not risen, but the dawn sky was shaded with pink and violet, and streams of golden light were falling on the canyon and the trees below. A silver ribbon that must have been a creek wound around the land at the bottom of the canyon. Beautiful. Lord, it was beautiful. It took her breath away. “I … didn’t expect this.”
“It’s the place, the canyon. I searched for a long time before I found it.” Danner had already turned away from the canyon and was starting to climb again. “It’s the only place I could find where the demons couldn’t come. But I think they’re here now, too. I … have a bad feeling.”
It was happening again. She could see the tension beginning to grip him. She’d been aware that it was growing for the last ten minutes. The violence was beginning to fester within him as it had once before. She had been able to deter that violence, but could she do it now? How much time did she have before that tension broke, and he turned on her? She’d have to fight him, and whether she lived or died, the knowledge of what happened to Bonnie could be lost.
Make him talk now. Make him tell her. Be bold. It seemed to work with him. Don’t let him think of her as a victim. “Stop hiding behind those tall tales, Danner. You’re a coward. You couldn’t even say her name. You made up a fantasy about those so-called demons because you didn’t want to face your own guilt.”
He whirled on her. “It’s not true.” His eyes were blazing in his taut face. “They’re here, they’re everywhere. I had to stop them.”
“Stop them from what? Killing my Bonnie? But you couldn’t do that. No demon murdered her. It was you, Danner.”
His hands reached out and clutched her shoulders. “It was a demon. A demon killed the child.”
“Bonnie. And it was you. No one else.”
His hands slid to her throat. “I wouldn’t have done it. Why would I do it? She belonged to John.”
“She belonged to me. I told you that I didn’t want John to have her. So you were angry and decided to punish me by killing my daughter.”
His hands tightened on her throat. “I didn’t kill her. I wanted to save her.”
His grasp was bruising, cutting off her air.
“You’re hurting me. You didn’t want to do this, remember? You wanted to take me to her first. And we’re so close now.”
“Close enough,” he muttered. His eyes were glittering. “I can take you to her later.”
“But then you’d break your promise to me. John always said you’d never break your word. Is he wrong?”
His grip was loosening but not releasing her. “I never lied to John.”
“Except about your mental illness.”
“That wasn’t really a lie. I wasn’t sick. They wouldn’t believe me. They weren’t there. They didn’t see the demons kill those children in the mountains.”
“No one is seeing the demons but you. Why should I believe you?”
“Because it’s true.”
“I don’t know that. You’re afraid of Bonnie, aren’t you? You’re willing to do anything to make her leave you alone. Why would you be afraid if you didn’t think there was a reason for her to come after you?”
“Because she doesn’t understand. She thinks I did it. She doesn’t know.”
“Neither do I.” She held his gaze. “Tell me.”
His eyes were glittering. “It was the demon.