Rock Harbor Series - 04 - Abomination

  She began to struggle then. Her hands came up to tear at his arm, but she couldn’t begin to match his strength.

  The arm around her waist moved higher until his hand came around her throat. “A lovely neck. Long and slim. Though we know you’re not pure, don’t we, Eve? You have to pay for your sin.”

  She kicked out, kept kicking. Keri was upstairs. Her baby needed her. She would not allow this man to rip her from her daughter. She tore at his arm with renewed vigor, using her nails like talons.

  He flinched and swore under his breath. “Enough. We have to go.”

  Her heels dug into the flooring, but she couldn’t get any purchase, and he pulled her as though she weighed nothing. The door rattled, and the cool breeze rushed into the kitchen. Then she was on the threshold and moving out onto the porch. Even grabbing the doorjamb barely slowed her attacker’s progress.

  A low growl came from the living room, then Samson ran toward them. The man swore again, and his arm relaxed a fraction as he moved to pull the door shut against the dog.

  Eve secured her hold on the doorjamb and tried to lurch back into the kitchen, using her strong legs for leverage, but he ripped her fingers free. She heard him kick at the door, trying to close it as the dog’s snarls grew closer. But he was too late.

  Samson barreled through the door before it latched, then leaped into the air toward them. He came at her attacker with silent intent. The force of the big dog’s leap drove Eve and Gideon against the railing. The man’s leg lashed out past her, connecting with Samson’s flank, but the dog kept on coming. His teeth bared, he sprang toward Gideon.

  Gideon released her mouth and threw his arm up to protect his throat as the dog leaped onto him. Eve managed to wrench out of his other arm’s grip. She dove to the deck, letting her weight assist her.

  A dark blur, dog and man, grappled beside her. Samson snarled again, and Gideon shouted hoarsely. Eve’s chest hurt, and she struggled to draw enough air into her lungs.

  The dog yelped, and the sound galvanized her into action. “Samson?” She grabbed the rough railing and hauled herself up as she heard someone run across the planks. A dim shadow leaped from the porch into the yard, and she saw a man’s stooped form rush away.

  “Samson?” she said again. Something squeezed in her chest. The dog had to be all right.

  She heard the dog’s nails on the boards, then his fur brushed against her. Samson licked her face and whined, but Gideon had vanished. Eve peered into the dark, but the moonlight couldn’t penetrate it. He could be anywhere, behind the bushes, skulking in the well house. Samson was still barking and growling, but he pressed close to her legs as though to protect her.

  “Good boy.” Her voice sounded shaky. “Let’s get inside.” Her fingers in his collar, she pulled him into the kitchen with her. She locked the door and threw the deadbolt.

  She heard Bree call her name from upstairs, then the floor over her head squeaked as someone moved on it. Sinking to her knees, Eve saw a white feather on the floor and picked it up. Gideon must have dropped it. Samson came to her, and she put her arms around the dog. She thanked God he was okay.

  Her eyes widened as memories of another attack assaulted her. She reeled as the onslaught of memories rushed in. Her heart strained against her ribs as terror surged through her veins.

  She remembered the night he’d entered her house.

  THE SCENT OF CHILI HUNG IN THE AIR. EVE STIRRED IT WITH hands still shaking from her scare and glanced at the clock. Late again. Just a half hour ago, she gave the signed divorce papers to her lawyer to give to the judge on Monday. Nick had begged for another chance in spite of everything, and she’d thrown caution to the wind and invited him for dinner.

  He should have been here an hour ago. The phone rang and she grabbed it, noticing it was Nick’s cell number. “Where are you?” she demanded.

  “I’m not going to make it,” he said. “I got a lead on the sniper case, and I have to follow up.”

  A familiar weariness swept over her. “I see.”

  “Look, don’t be mad, okay? This is important.”

  She needed to tell him about the man who had followed her onto the elevator at her loft studio, who had touched her arm, then backed her into a corner for several seconds, but Nick didn’t care. Maybe she’d call Will and invite him over. He might care.

  She clicked the end button on the phone without answering him. She should have been angry, but instead she was numb. Numb and broken. He’d taken all she had to give, and there was nothing left.

  She bent her head and pressed her fingers against her closed lids. When she straightened and opened her eyes, the lights flickered, then went out. The room plunged into darkness. Eve’s fingers brushed the hot pot of chili. She dropped the spoon and put her burning finger to her mouth.

  Nick had promised to get the house rewired, but of course he’d never gotten it done. She probably had too many things going in the kitchen. She moved through the dark house, feeling her way to the utility room. Something tripped her, a doll or a stuffed animal, and she stumbled over it and nearly fell.

  A sound caught her ear. Stealthy and furtive. It made her breath catch in her tight throat.

  Someone was in the house. The man who tried to grab her in the elevator? She tried to tell herself he couldn’t know where she lived. Clear out here in the country, not even a streetlight shining through the window pierced the deep darkness inside the house.

  She opened her mouth to call out, then closed it. It would be stupid to give away her location. If she could get to Keri, she would run to the car in the garage and escape.

  The blackness watched, waited.

  Without warning, he struck. Something went over her head. The struggle went on in silence. His hands, smelling of peanut butter, pressed her against the wall, and duct tape came around her wrists.

  With her hands bound with tape, he dragged her onto her back.

  “Such a pretty face,” he crooned in a distorted voice. “I’ll take your eyes first, Eve, and then your face.”

  Fingers traced her cheekbones, her eye sockets.

  She was fighting with a psychopath.

  His touch left her, and she sensed him looming over her in the dark. Lying on her back, she coiled her legs to her chest, then kicked out, connecting with his chest. She heard the sound of a table crashing over and the contents toppling to the floor. She scrabbled away on her back. He came at her again. Something pierced her chest, and she cried out. Then a heavy weight crashed against her head. Stars sparkled in her vision, and she felt herself fading.

  “Mommy?” Keri’s voice.

  Her cry had awakened her daughter. Eve fought harder, knowing Keri’s life hung in the balance, as well as her own. She flipped to her stomach and tried to crawl away, but he grabbed her right ankle and began to haul her back. With a hard kick of her right leg, she thrust him back and flung out her bound arms. Her hands touched a heavy brass candlestick. It wasn’t much of a weapon, but it was all she had.

  Grasping it just above its base, she rolled onto her back. She felt rather than saw him approach. Praying for strength, she brought the candlestick down on his shoulder. He fell onto her, and she brought it down again, aiming for where she thought his head was.

  The blow landed square and solid, and he went limp. His weight nearly crushed her lungs. She rolled him off her and sat up.

  He moved, so she hit him again. And again. Then he lay still. Dead, she hoped.

  Something warm and sticky soaked her blouse. She couldn’t think, couldn’t focus. Get away. Take the little girl and get away. Using her teeth, she tore the duct tape away from her wrists. She scooped up the child and ran for the garage door.

  ROCKING BACK AND FORTH ON THE KITCHEN FLOOR WITH HER arms around the dog, Eve remembered it all. A hand came down on her shoulder, and she screamed.

  RED MARKS STOOD OUT IN SHARP RELIEF AGAINST THE WHITE flesh of Eve’s neck. Nick held out a cup of hot tea. “Drink it,” he ordered. He hadn’
t been here. Again.

  Eve started to take the tea, but there was something in her hand. “He dropped this.” She held it out.

  Nick took it and glanced to Kade. “Any idea what kind of feather this is?”

  Kade cinched his bathrobe tighter and took the feather from Nick’s fingers. “Too big for a gull. Maybe a swan. I’ll find out.”

  “Now drink your tea,” Nick said.

  She took it and cupped both hands around it. “Thanks.” She took a sip, and a bit of color came back to her cheeks.

  “I still think we should call the doctor,” Bree said. She carried a blanket with her into the room. Shaking it out, she tucked it around Eve.

  “I’m not hurt,” Eve said. “Thanks to Samson.” The dog’s ears flickered at the sound of his name. He padded to the sofa and pressed his nose against Eve’s leg. She rubbed his head.

  “I’m going to get him the biggest steak in the grocery store,” Nick told her. She didn’t look up. In fact, she’d barely looked at him since he arrived after the frantic phone call.

  It had been all he could do to find a place to park with all the sheriff and police cars lining the road along the lighthouse. Dozens of cops roamed the yard, but all he cared about was getting to Eve. Fraser stopped him outside to tell him he was personally going to guard Eve. Nick managed to thank him even though all he wanted to do was get to his wife.

  He sat beside her on the sofa, and she leaned slightly away. His gaze met Bree’s, and he saw sympathy there. He had no idea what the undercurrent meant, but he had a feeling he was about to find out.

  “I remember, Nick,” Eve said, her gaze finally meeting his. “I remember everything.” Her voice was remote and as cool as Lake Superior.

  “Everything? You mean you have your memory back?”

  “Yes. After Samson saved me. You weren’t there again, Nick. Not when Gideon first came for me and not tonight.” She rose and pulled the blanket around her more closely. “You’re never there!”

  He flinched at her words. “Eve, I had no way of knowing he would come here tonight.”

  “It’s your job to protect us!” She screamed the words at him. “Instead, Samson had to do it.” The dog whined and pressed harder against her leg.

  Nick felt the blows hit home. Protecting people was his job, and he’d failed his own family. “I’m sorry, Eve.”

  “Sorry? Do you know how many times I’ve heard that, Nick? Sorry doesn’t change how he cut me. How he almost killed me. Sorry wouldn’t have helped if he’d hurt Keri. I don’t want your apologies.” She sank back onto the sofa.

  “Let it alone for now,” Bree said, sitting down beside Eve and taking her hand. “This isn’t the time to discuss it.”

  “The time is never right, is it?” Eve asked, a weary edge to her voice.

  “Exactly what happened?” Nick asked.

  Eve stared at him again. “When emotions get involved, your cop persona kicks in.”

  “Eve, I’m trying to catch him,” Nick said between gritted teeth. “Do you want me to let him go on killing women? Others haven’t been as lucky as you.”

  Her fingers tightened on the blanket. She leaned back against the sofa. “I’m sorry. Go.” She shooed him away with her hand. “Go see what you can find out.”

  “I want to hear it from you. What happened here tonight?”

  She stared at him, and he didn’t know if he could stand to hear how Gideon had tormented her.

  He glanced at Bree when Eve didn’t answer. “Bree? What happened here?”

  “Good grief, put the man out of his misery,” Kade said from his seat by the fireplace. “Eve came down for some tea. Gideon got in while she was fixing it. I don’t know how—I’m positive I threw the deadbolt. He grabbed her from behind and started to drag her outside. Samson heard them struggling and came to help. He drove off Gideon.”

  “Samson was pacing in the bedroom,” Bree said. “He kept whining, and I told him to shut up. He went out into the hall then. We had the fan on, so I didn’t hear anything from downstairs. If only I’d checked things out. I just thought he was restless.”

  Nick stared at Kade. Could he be the killer? Someone had unlocked the door. He liked Kade and didn’t want to suspect him, but maybe he should.

  “Did you see him, Eve?” Bree asked.

  “No, he grabbed me from behind. And in Bay City, he shut off the lights.” Eve plucked at some threads on the blanket and didn’t look up.

  Nick preferred the Eve who responded to him without all the baggage. He’d hoped to find a new start. Maybe it wasn’t possible.

  THE MEMORIES HAUNTED EVEN HER SLEEP. THE NEXT MORNING, Eve felt hollow eyed and exhausted. Even a shower didn’t clear away her cobwebs. Keri seemed to pick up on Eve’s distraction. She whined and cried until Eve finally put her down for nap. Though Keri hadn’t awakened last night, she surely sensed the tension in the household.

  Samson shadowed her all morning, and his company reassured her. If not for the dog, she would be dead right now.

  Gideon wasn’t going to do this to her again. She would have to save herself.

  She went down the hall to the office and sat in front of the computer. Nick had surely checked out the Web site by now, but she was done waiting for him to protect her. The geocaching site came up, and she scanned down the list of caches in the area.

  “Anything new?” Bree asked, coming to the doorway.

  “Nope. It’s all the same as the last time we looked.” She didn’t know what she was expecting—some grand revelation maybe.

  “Nick will find him. You’re being too hard on him, Eve.”

  “You don’t waste any time, do you? Get right to the point.” Eve could feel the sermon coming.

  “Maybe all the memories coming at one time made it hard to sort through,” Bree suggested. “You have to give Nick credit for trying.”

  “Our marriage went through some pretty rough times the past two years. I don’t see it changing.”

  Bree didn’t say anything for a long minute. Eve peeked up at her. “I can see your wheels turning. Just say what you’re thinking.”

  “No marriage rises or falls on the actions of one person. How does Will fit in?”

  Heat rushed to Eve’s face. That was one memory she hadn’t wanted to examine—the nights she met Will at the studio and danced until ten while Keri slept on a blanket at the edge of the dance floor. The way she lit up when he told her she was beautiful. Only by the grace of God had she not fallen into bed with him. At least there was that much. But realizing how close she’d come made her squirm. She’d actually gone to meet him at a hotel once. They talked for about an hour, but when it came down to breaking her bent wedding vows, she pulled back and rushed out.

  She didn’t love Will. There was relief in that realization at least.

  Had Gideon followed her that night?

  Eve realized Bree was still waiting for an answer. “I didn’t have an affair.”

  “What was it, then?”

  “A flirtation, I guess you’d call it. Nick was gone more than he was home, and I was lonely. I was used to adulation in the ballet, and suddenly I was a just a wife whose husband barely noticed her. That went on for five years.” She looked down at her hands. “I’m not proud of it. Will and I shared a passion for dance, and he came from humble beginnings just like me. At the time, it seemed we had more in common than Nick and I did.”

  “You had Keri.”

  The sound of her daughter’s name brought the first smile to Eve’s face. “We both love her so much.”

  “You still love Nick.”

  “It doesn’t matter. He’ll never change,” Eve said.

  “Was he a cop when you married him?”

  “Yes, but I thought . . .” She stopped, realizing what she’d been about to say.

  “But you thought he’d change,” Bree finished for her. “What do you want from a husband?”

  “A man who loves me unconditionally. Who puts me above his job an
d everything else. I went to church alone almost every Sunday because he got called into the office.”

  “There’s no doubt Nick loves you.”

  “He doesn’t show it. No wonder I couldn’t get pregnant. I hardly saw him.” Eve realized how bitter her words sounded. Was any of this her fault?

  “How were things when you were first married?”

  “Our honeymoon was the only time I had him to myself. Work always intruded on everything we tried to do.”

  “Aren’t you proud of what he does though, Eve? He saves people every day. There’s a sacrifice in that. Just like a soldier who leaves his family and goes off to war. The family pays a price for our safety. You knew he was created to be a cop when you married him. Did you think that would just fade away because he loved you?”

  Eve thought about what Bree said. “Maybe I did,” she admitted. “I don’t think I realized what it would be like to be a law-enforcement wife.”

  “Let me ask you something—would you feel the same way about Nick if he were a store owner? What if he worked in an office? Left in the morning at nine and came home at five. Wore a suit to work every day. Talked about numbers on a spreadsheet instead of criminals he’d tracked down. How would that affect your feelings?”

  Eve wanted to flippantly say she’d love it, but would she really? The thought felt vaguely distasteful.

  Bree was watching her face. “The same thing that drives Nick to love you so completely is also what makes him good at his job. Focus and determination. Passion. He’s rather heroic. What if he were just a normal man who hid behind a counter when a bank robber broke in?”

  Eve didn’t want to admit it, but Bree was right. “I wouldn’t have nearly as much respect for him.”

  “One thing I’ve seen is how wives want to change who they’re married to. You fell in love with Nick’s passion and commitment. He hasn’t changed. He can’t. But you can change how you react to him. You can partner with him instead of fight him.”

  “You make it sound so easy. I don’t know if I’m strong enough.”