*Anything!" Marty cried. *Anything! Just please don"t do it! G.o.d! Don"t! Whatever you want! Anything! Just please, please G.o.d, don"t hang me!"
*Okay. Here"s what. Phone that p.r.i.c.k boyfriend of yours and tell him to haul a.s.s over here."
*What?" She sniffed and wiped her runny nose. *What do you want with him?"
*A little payback."
*Okay. Okay. I"ll do it. I"ll call" - she dropped backward - *him." Dropped backward grabbing the rope with both her hands.
w.i.l.l.y let go of his end to keep from being tugged off the top of the stairs, and Marty sat down hard. An odd, tickling pain jolted through her.
Before w.i.l.l.y could bring in the slack, she jerked the noose off her head. She got to her feet and ran for the door. Her hand found the k.n.o.b. She twisted and pulled. The door swung open. Looking over her shoulder, she saw w.i.l.l.y leaping down the stairs three at a time.
She slammed the door and sprinted across the lawn.
At the street, she turned around. The front door opened. w.i.l.l.y stepped halfway out, then took a backward step and shut the door.
He"s staying inside!
Afraid to come out and chase her?
She supposed he would probably sneak out the rear of the house.
Unlessa He knows I"ll have to come back, sooner or later. What if he decides to wait?
No, he"d be crazy to stay inside. He would have to figure she would call the police.
Marty started running toward Hedda"s place. She could phone the cops from there.
As she started to cross the street, Dan"s car suddenly rounded the corner and pulled to a stop. *Where you going?" he asked, reaching across the front seat to open the door.
*No place special."
*Can I give you a lift?"
*Yeah. Okay." She climbed into his car and pulled the door shut. *Did you get my message?"
*Message?"
*Guess not. I called you abouta ten minutes ago?"
*Really? No, I didn"t get any message. I thought I"d drop by anda you"ve been crying."
*Yeah."
*What"s wrong? It"s not because of oura?"
*Yeah. Of course it is."
He shook his head. *I was just coming over to see if we couldn"t manage to straighten things out."
*Nice idea. I had the same thing in mind. That"s what I phoned about."
*You must"ve just missed me." He smiled at her. *Well, where to? Your place?"
*That wouldn"t be a good idea. Mom and Dad are there. I want to be alone with you."
He put his hand against the side of her face.
*How about your place?" she suggested.
*My place it is."
An hour later, Marty was stretched out face down on the bed, naked and sweaty. She felt languid and wonderful. w.i.l.l.y seemed like a problem from long ago and far away.
Dan, sitting on her rump, had been gently rubbing her back for the past few minutes. Now, he swept her hair sideways so it fell over her shoulder.
She was glad to have the hair away from the hot nape of her neck. She supposed Dan was about to kiss her there.
But he asked, *What"s this?"
*What"s what?"
*This mark."
She suddenly felt sick.
*I don"t know," she said.
*Marty?"
*It"s nothing."
*It looks like a rope burn." His hands clamped the tops of her shoulders. *How did it get there?"
*I don"t know."
*Tell me!"
*I don"t know!"
*It is a rope burn, isn"t it?"
Marty didn"t answer. Dan"s fingers tightened on her shoulders. *That hurts," she said.
He squeezed harder. *Who did it to you?"
*Stop that!"
*Who?"
*Who do you think?"
*He put a rope around your neck?"
*It doesn"t matter. I got away."
*When? Tonight?"
*Yes, tonight. Forget about it, okay? It doesn"t matter."
*When tonight?"
*d.a.m.n ita"
The hands clenching her shoulders suddenly jerked up and down, shaking her.
*d.a.m.n it!" she cried out.
*Just before I showed up, wasn"t it?"
*Let go of me."
*The motherf.u.c.king b.a.s.t.a.r.d. Where was he?"
*I"m not telling you anything. He wants to kill you, you know."
*He was in your house, wasn"t he?"
*No."
*That"s why you were out in the street. That"s why you wanted to come over here. Your parents weren"t in the house, he was."
*Go to h.e.l.l," she said.
Dan climbed off her. *You stay here," he said.
Rolling over, she watched him scurry off the bed. He rushed about, s.n.a.t.c.hing his clothes off the floor and putting them on. When he was dressed, he pulled open a drawer of a nightstand beside the bed. He took out a holstered revolver.
*No, don"t," Marty said. *Put it away. Don"t go over there. We can call the cops and have thema"
*I"ll handle this b.u.m. What the f.u.c.k was he going to do, hang you?"
*He"s probably gone by now."
Dan took a box of ammunition out of the drawer, opened it, and grabbed a handful of cartridges. He dumped them into a front pocket of his jeans. Then he met her eyes. *What else did he do?"
*Nothing."
*Did he rape you?"
*He didn"t do anything. I got away. Don"t go over there, Dan. He wanted me to call you. He wants you to come over. I think he wants to kill you."
*Good. Hope he tries. You stay here till I get back." Leaning over the bed, he hooked a hand behind her neck and drew her toward him.
She resisted for a moment, then leaned forward and kissed him. *Be careful. Don"t let him hurt you."
*I"ll be fine," he said, and then he was gone.
Sitting cross-legged on the bed, Marty listened to his footsteps.
The front door shut quietly. For a few moments, only the chirping of crickets came to her through the open bedroom window. Then she heard Dan"s footsteps by the road. The car door thumped shut. The engine whinnied and started. Gravel crunched under the wheels and the sounds of the car began to fade away.
17.
w.i.l.l.y sat in the darkness of Hedda"s kitchen, watching. He"d been sitting there for a long time. He didn"t mind the wait.
Marty would have to come back. Wherever she"d gone after running off, she couldn"t stay away forever. Sooner or later, she"d come home.
Then he would have her.
Nice of her not to call the cops. Stupid, though. Maybe she went off to find that p.r.i.c.k boyfriend of hers, get him to handle it.
w.i.l.l.y hoped so.
He got up from the table, stepped over Hedda, and went to the refrigerator. Not much inside. He grabbed a package of cheese, swung the door shut, and returned to the table. There, he unwrapped a thin slice of cheese and began to eat it.
He was working on his fifth slice when a car stopped in front of Marty"s house. A Ford. The same Ford that he"d followed to the lake last night.
w.i.l.l.y pulled the plastic wrapping off another slice of cheese as the headlights died and a man climbed out of the car.
The p.r.i.c.k.
And he had something in his right hand. A gun?
Figures. c.o.c.ksucker likes to play hardball.
w.i.l.l.y folded the slice of cheese in half, then folded it again, making a small, thick square. He stuck it into his mouth.
Across the street, the p.r.i.c.k was rushing across Marty"s front yard. He disappeared around a corner of the house.