Look Again - Lisa Scottoline [96]
Ellen froze.
Chapter Seventy-four
“You see your kid?” Moore bent down and drilled the barrel of the gun into Will’s temple. “I’ll blow his head clean off.”
Ellen was too terrified to cry, her emotion strangling the sounds in her throat.
“I’m gonna cut you loose, only because they’re not goin’ away. You answer the door and tell whoever’s there to go. Do one thing wrong, just one, and I blow this kid’s head offa his shoulders.”
Ellen nodded frantically. This could be her only chance. She had to make something happen. Could she risk it? Could she not?
“I’ll kill him. You understand?”
Ellen pumped her head, yesyesyes.
Bing Bong!
“All right then.” Moore raised the revolver, sprang over to Ellen, and reached behind her back. He yanked her into the air by her wrists, hissing into her ear. “Up to you, bitch. One word and I shoot the kid.”
Ellen shook her head, desperate to reassure him. In the next second, her hands were cut free and she fell like a broken doll to the hardwood floor.
Moore cut loose her ankles, flipped her over, and tore the duct tape from her mouth. It stung until he drilled the gun between her eyes.
“Don’t hurt him, don’t hurt him,” Ellen heard herself whisper over and over, like a prayer.
“No tricks.” Moore’s face was six inches from hers, a close-up of bloodshot eyes, greasy mustache, and breath foul with beer.
Ellen scrambled to get her feet under her, her knees jelly. Her thoughts clicked ahead, running the possibilities. “What if it’s my neighbor? What if she won’t go?”
“Make her.” Moore shoved her from the kitchen, and she half walked, half stumbled through the dining room, glancing quickly out the windows. The lights still were off at the Coffmans’. Connie would have let herself in. So who was ringing the bell?
Marcelo!
He was the only possibility. He would help her. Together they’d get Will out of this. She hurried through the dining room. Her heart thundered, and she crossed the living room toward the door.
Bing Bong!
Ellen couldn’t see the face at the door, but a shadow stood silhouetted in the yellowish porch light. She opened the door and stood stricken against a blast of frigid wind.
At her front door was the last person in the world she ever expected to see.
Chapter Seventy-five
It was Carol Braverman, standing in a long black coat, a quilted purse slung over an arm. Her hair was slicked back in a chignon, her eyes glittered with emotion, and her mouth made a glossy line. She asked, “Ellen Gleeson?”
Ellen nodded, stunned as Carol entered the house and began looking around the living room.
“I’m Carol Braverman, but you knew that already.” Carol turned on her heel, the coat making a chic swish. She looked at Ellen with determined blue eyes. “You adopted my son.”
“What? I’m sorry?” Ellen struggled to react. A million thoughts flooded her head. She couldn’t process any of them fast enough.
“I came as soon as I had it verified. He’s my son Timothy. He was kidnapped in Miami right after his first birthday.”
“I don’t know what you mean,” Ellen said, beginning to think clearly. Will was in the kitchen under a gun. Moore could hear every word through the other entrance to the kitchen, over the landing. She had to get Carol out of here. One distraught mother was enough. Carol was a variable she couldn’t predict right now.
“Sorry, but I think you do.” Carol’s eyes softened slightly. “I can only imagine what you must be going through, and I feel sorry for you, I really do. But we both know the truth. You have my baby, and I want him back.”
“No, I don’t.” Ellen stepped toward her, leaving the front door open, filling the room with frigid air. “Please, leave my house.”
“You have my son, don’t pretend you don’t know. You were in Miami two days ago.”
“No, you’re wrong.” Ellen’s mouth went dry. How did Carol know? No matter, a plan was coming together in her mind. She wasn’t tied up anymore. As soon as she got Carol out of the house, she’d be free to move. She said, “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Leave my