Silver Falls - Anne Stuart [102]
“Let them go, David. You know this is between you and me, and always has been.”
David giggled, and the sound made her skin crawl. “Don’t be naïve, Caleb. All you are is a scapegoat. I couldn’t care less who gets blamed—you’re just the easiest one to use. I’ll find someone else once you’re gone. Stephen Henry might be a good choice. He can walk, you know. He’s been hiding that fact for years, just to get attention.”
“And he’s been covering for you for years. Do you think he’ll keep covering for you if you try to frame him?”
“Yes,” David said simply.
“Then just let Sophie go. She’s too young—you never wanted to hurt anyone that young.”
“She loves me,” David said airily. “I know that she does, she just hasn’t been brave enough to tell me. I owe this to her.”
“Owe her death?” Rachel demanded.
“Shut up!” David shrieked in a lightning change of mood. “It’s all your fault. I was going to wait until she grew up, I was going to start to train her, but you kept interfering, trying to turn her against me. If it weren’t for you none of this would have happened. You’re the one who’s responsible for your daughter’s death, not me.”
“And you’re batshit insane,” Rachel spat back.
But David had regained his calm. “I’m finished arguing with you both.” He walked back to Sophie’s limp body and hoisted her into his arms effortlessly. He was much stronger than he looked. “I promise you I’ll wait until after she’s dead. After all, she loves me.”
“She hates you. She thinks you’re a disgusting creep,” Rachel said, desperate.
“Don’t lie. She’s just shy.” He started up the stairs to the front door, Sophie in his arms, her long blond hair hanging down. “You know, I’m really looking forward to this. It’s been so long since I’ve enjoyed myself with a child.” And the door closed behind him.
Caleb immediately began to move, struggling against the ropes. “We have to—” the explosion silenced him. From a distance she could hear the crackle of fire, see the sinister swirls of smoke as the house started to burn. He looked over at her, a bleak expression on his face. “I don’t know how to get you loose.”
“There’s a knife over there. You can cut yourself free.” She nodded in the direction of the kitchen knife David had made her kick away. It was an unexpected mistake. Maybe there was a chance he’d make more.
Caleb inched his way to the spot, somehow managing to pick the knife up with his hands tied behind him. He was cursing beneath his breath, and fresh red blood was running down the side of his head, and all she could do was watch, and pray, until a moment later his hands were free, and he was sawing away at the ropes that bound his ankles together. And then he looked up at her.
She forestalled him. “The only thing that matters is Sophie,” she said. “Don’t even think about it.”
“I can’t leave you here. You won’t be able to get free.”
“You can’t stay. Get the hell out of here. If I’m supposed to die then I’m okay with it. As long as Sophie is all right.”
For a moment he didn’t move, looking down at her with a bleak expression.
“Get out of here!” she screamed at him, as she felt the heat coming at her from the back of the building.
He moved then, fast. He caught her chin in his hand and kissed her, hard and fast, and then he was gone.
Leaving her to die.
21
She spent precisely fifteen seconds panicking. And then she spun around and began kicking at the pipe, her heavy boots making little difference. She pulled at her wrist, trying to twist it, but her bones were too big and she couldn’t slip out of the cuff. She could feel the heat from the fire, the flames getting closer, and she kicked harder, hard enough to bend the pipe, not hard enough to break it, and she kicked again, screaming with rage and frustration, and again.
She heard his voice from a distance, and for a moment she thought she was imagining things. Stephen Henry, playing to the third balcony, his voice coming through the gathering smoke, calling for David.