Silent Screams - C. E. Lawrence [97]
“It’s okay,” Kylie said.
“The victim always protects the abuser,” the shorter one said, folding her flabby forearms over her formless bosom.
“He was just upset because he didn’t want me to disappear like my mommy,” Kylie said.
Both women stared at her.
“What?” one said.
Lee considered telling them about his work with the NYPD, but since he had no badge and no gun, felt it would be unconvincing. Instead, he explained about his sister’s disappearance.
“Just leave us alone, please,” he begged.
With a sniff, the polyestered protectors of justice relented, albeit reluctantly, and retreated back to the dining room, leaving Lee and Kylie alone in the hallway.
“Look, I’m sorry I got upset,” he said to her. “It’s just—”
“I know,” Kylie replied. “Fiona says when you act strange it’s because of Mommy.”
And what’s her excuse when she acts strange? he thought, but said nothing.
“When do you think she’ll come back?” Kylie asked.
Her voice was calm, matter-of-fact, as though she were asking when her mother would return from the grocery store. The question put Lee in an impossible position. If he answered it, he would be lying. But if he disagreed with the premise—that his sister was still alive—he would be going up against his mother. Kylie was much too young to be burdened with the disagreement between him and Fiona. He also would be doing his best to shred any lingering hope that Laura could still be alive and might return some day. He bit his lip and took the coward’s way out.
“Tell you what, Kylie, why don’t we go back in and see if we can catch the last part of the show?”
Kylie took his hand in hers.
“I know why you were being weird. You didn’t want to lose me—right, Uncle Lee?” she said as they passed a grinning skeleton hanging on the wall. The skeleton wore a crimson fez and a matching bow tie.
He felt his throat thicken. “That’s right. I didn’t want to lose you.”
Chapter Forty-two
When they left the restaurant, there was no sign of the plainclothes officer who had been tailing him. Lee figured his shift had ended and the cop who was supposed to relieve him hadn’t shown up. He should have called it in, but he was glad to be alone for a change. He drove along the dark country lanes in rural New Jersey as Kylie slept in the backseat. He had promised his mother to bring her back that night so she could go to a school fair the next day. It was a long drive to make at night, but he didn’t mind. It gave him a chance to think.
The dark sedan was upon him before he registered what was happening. It seemed to come out of nowhere, its headlights on full high beams, so close behind his car that they reflected into his rearview mirror, blinding him. At first he thought it was his surveillance protection, catching up to him, but when the driver remained close, high beams on full, he realized it wasn’t a cop behind him.
“Christ, what is it with these people?” he muttered as he adjusted the mirror.
His first thought was to pull over and let the car pass him, but that thought was shaken out of his head when he felt the jolt. The sickening realization came instantly: the other car had hit him.
There was no doubt in his mind that it was intentional.
His hands gripped the steering wheel tighter, squeezing it hard as sweat oozed from his palms.
“Oh, God,” he said under his breath. “Goddamn it.” This time it was more of a prayer than a curse.
The car hit him again—harder this time. He heard the crunch as the bumpers met, metal against metal.
In the backseat, Kylie stirred and woke.
“Uncle Lee? Are we there yet?”
He took a deep breath and tried to will the panic out of his voice.
“No, honey—go back to sleep.”
Another bump, this time sending his car into the opposite lane, so that he had to fight to control it.
Kylie’s voice came from the backseat, wide awake now, sounding as panicked as he felt. “Uncle Lee, what’s going on?”
He had no idea what to say to her, how to explain that there was someone trying to kill them both.
“Go back to