Lie to Me (28 page)

Her words echoed off the walls of his skull, and he had to think hard to understand them. “Of course—” His voice sounded faraway. “Reese, I don’t feel so good—”

“But I’m here and I’ll take care of you, sweetheart. You shouldn’t have gotten drunk.”

“Drunk?” He had no idea what she was talking about. In fact, for a moment, he felt disoriented. Where was he? Oh, in her hotel room. Now he remembered, but everything seemed…fuzzy.

“I’m sorry that I had to do this to you,” she whispered, and he felt a soft hand brushing his cheek. “I did try, my love. I was happy to upset your family—I hate them, just like everyone else around here hates them.

“Your dad reminds me of mine, and he used to molest me.” Her eyes turned dark, almost evil. “I wanted him to suffer, along with your two brothers, who are probably also child molesters. In the end, my main goal was to scare you about your family; make you think that your presence here was endangering everyone, even Miles—I hoped you’d go to Alabama again.” She sighed, dramatically. “I think with a little more time I would have succeeded, but you didn’t give me that time.”

“You’re not making any sense, Reese. None. What you talkin’ about?” He heard his words, thick on his tongue. He saw four of her, all moving their lips.

“How I tried to get you to come home! To Alabama!” She spoke in the same, steady voice she always did. He tried to respond to her, but didn’t know if he’d said anything or not. “It’s clear that, as I feared, you won’t leave Casey. I had to try to stop you. Now I have to force it.”

He suddenly felt a lightning bolt inside of him and his heart raced into overdrive. “Alex? The shovels? The car tires? The notes?” Everything rushed through his head, but he didn’t know if he spoke his thoughts or not.

He must have. She answered. “I hired a lot of people, at a high price, to watch you and to scare you into leaving town, but you won’t leave
her
. Such a pity. We would have married and been so happy.”

Damian wanted to get up and run like hell to Casey. He had to warn her, but he couldn’t move.

“Did I ever tell you I was once a nurse?” Reese asked, in a wistful voice. “I don’t believe I shared that with anyone from Alabama, not even
you
. They made me quit my nursing job because I drank too much. I went to rehab and stopped the drinking, but they were all against me, even after I was such a good patient.”

She laughed, but an evil glint lit her eyes as her brows slanted downwards. “I did what they said, got sober, and they made up other stuff about me, said I had schizophrenia—they lied about me! Even after I got sober, they wouldn’t let go back to work!
I stopped drinking for them and they lied and said I was mentally ill too! Why would they say that? Why
?” She broke into a string of cusses. He’d never heard her swear like that before…

He knew he must be drunk, just as she’d said. This scenario made no sense. Reese had always been a rock for him…no sign of any craziness…

But he hadn’t lived with her. The kids had hinted to him that she was too hard on them, but he hadn’t thought much of it. Brianna had once said her mother acted strange sometimes, but she’d backed down when asked more about it…

Brianna had probably been scared to death of her mother, just like he was now. Clearly, something was off about her. Reese once a nurse? Well, that explained why she knew how to stop his bleeding neck. He tried to mention that, and didn’t know if he’d succeeded.

He must have because she answered. “Yes, I knew what to do. I also know just what to give somebody to make him seem drunk. For quite a while. You won’t wake up during the entire ride to Alabama. Sam will help get you into my car. Ah, yes, Sam will help. He hates you, or so you keep telling me.” She smiled brightly at him.

“Sam will be here soon and, when he sees how drunk you are, he’ll gladly assist me in getting you out of town. He won’t want you around Miles. Unfortunately for Casey, I think she’ll want you, even when she sees your sorry condition. I have a way to take care of that. Casey can take some of this medicine too. I’ll give her more than I gave you…too much of this and a person can
die
… When you wake up back home, in Alabama, where you belong, you won’t be able to leave. I’ve built a special place for you in my sub-basement. But don’t worry. I’ll take such good care of you.” She paused. “As for Casey…Casey will have tragically killed herself because you left her. No longer a distraction. Sam will raise Miles. He’s always wanted to. Or Alex.”

He felt his heart lurch. He fought to move, but had a feeling he hadn’t…

“I couldn’t order anybody to go after Casey, even though I wanted to. See, I needed you to think Sam was at fault, and I knew that, sadly, he would never harm Casey. You didn’t suspect me, did you?”

Damian thought he groaned.

“No, I did a good job. And nobody will ever suspect me, no matter what you say because you’re drunk.” She grinned, and to Damian, it looked like her mouth spread to the tips of her ears. “I’ll keep giving you shots on the drive home, so you’re dopey. I have to do it. I’m sorry—can’t have you trying to escape. When I get you to my house, you’ll still be very drugged, and I’ll direct you to your room in the basement.”

Damian tried to fight blackness. Did she really think he’d go? Maybe, in this confused state of mind, he
would
go. Who knew? If he could only talk his way out of this…

“I made it comfy. Stuffed chairs, television with cable, CD player, lots of magazines and books—a place for you and I. Nobody will know you’re there, and I’ll be able to be with you whenever I like. You’ll be my prisoner of love, but you’ll learn to like being with me. I’ll be your world, and take great care of you.” She paused. “I’ll have the only key. Since the kids don’t live with me anymore, it will work.”

Damian felt bile collecting in his throat. He tried to muster up the strength to get up, and Reese laughed.

“Don’t even try,” she said. “You aren’t going anywhere.”

He knew she was right and it frightened him.

“Your darling Casey has to die,” Reese went on, and his heart stopped. “I can’t allow her to live or you’ll foolishly run back to her again.” She paused and, in Damian’s drugged mind, an eternity seemed to pass, as he wafted in and out of consciousness. “…The old man I tried to kill in the hospital I worked at was going to tell on me…that I hit his roommate. Well, his roommate deserved it. He threw his pills across the room. I had to punish him… I don’t have a clear memory of trying to turn off his respirator—I wasn’t taking my meds at the time.” She paused a long time, or he thought it was forever. Then she said, “Sometimes people just have to die. It’s their destiny.”

Damian, when he could string together a coherent thought, realized that she meant to kill Casey because he loved her. If only he could talk…

“I don’t love her,” he tried to say, and, in his mind, he did say it. “I love you, not her.”
Anything to save Casey’s life!

“You’ll love me once she’s dead,” Reese said, with confidence. She patted his arm a few times and spoke to him as if he were a baby. “Now you relax. I gave you
my
old medicine—an anti-psychotic. I don’t need to take it anymore, so I gave it to you…and Casey will get some, even if I have to crush it down her throat. I know the technique. I can make somebody open her mouth and swallow. You do it to babies when they won’t take drugs. I can do it to Casey too. Sam will help.”

He knew Sam wouldn’t help. Her delusions knew no boundaries. However, he did believe she knew how to make a person swallow pills against their will, and it rocked him.

“No.” He actually thought he’d said that out loud, but by now he was so confused, he couldn’t tell reality from a dream. He tried to fight the mist in his brain, but to no avail.

The last thing he remembered hearing, before he lapsed into blackness, was Reese’s voice right against his ear. He could feel her breath. “I mixed the drug with vodka, dear. You’ll have to detox all over again, but you know how good I am at helping you over that hump. So you really did get drunk as well as take my medicine. It’s a heavy duty combination…”

Chapter Fifteen

Sam got out of the car and rested his palm on the edge of the door. “You coming in with me?” He quirked a brow at Casey.

She shook her head, her stomach clenching. “Reese has been so good to Damian. I have to give her time without me. She asked for you, not me.”

“You’re a lot nicer than I’d be.”

“Everyone is a lot nicer than you, Sam.” She grinned. “Although maybe that’s changing now.”

He grinned back. “Thanks. I’m afraid that I’m going soft—like I’m turning over a new leaf or something. We can’t have that.” He suddenly scowled. “I don’t really want to have this little meeting with Reese and Damian though.”

“She’s trying to help. Let her think she succeeded, at least a little.”

Sam averted his gaze. “I’ll try.” He slammed the car door shut, strode toward the hotel, and then disappeared inside, without looking back.

Casey felt her heart speed up as she unzipped her purse. She reached for a stick of gum and, as she reached for her package, her fingers brushed against the metal of her gun. It had gone everywhere with her since Alex’s attack. She always made sure the safety lock was on and she kept its key inside a special zipper compartment so she had easy access to it if the need arose. With people after Damian, and maybe her, she felt she needed it. Sad that a gun should comfort her, but it did.

Casey squirmed. She couldn’t just sit in the car and wait, yet she truly didn’t want to interfere with Reese and Damian’s good-bye, or in Reese’s grand plan to reunite the two brothers. Casey felt a stab of jealousy, aware of how much Reese loved Damian, and found herself getting out of the car and slamming the door hard behind her. She didn’t have to invade on their tender moment, she mused, aware that her thoughts were sarcastic, but she could listen in.

Why not?
Reese wouldn’t know she’d heard and, when she told Damian later on, he’d laugh about it. Feeling a grin crossing her face, she took long strides toward the hotel and stepped inside. This wasn’t the front entrance. A feeling of being swallowed up in white encompassed her. White walls, high white ceiling with chandeliers, mostly white, and a white rug. Even the doors were white.

“It’s like walking into a hospital,” she mumbled out loud, and uneasiness shrouded her. Why had she thought of a hospital? Casey shook off the strange feeling, and then she headed toward the room number Sam had mentioned while on the phone. 108. Gold brass numbers signified the rooms. When she reached 108, she tensed and put her ear to the door. The first thing she heard was Sam’s cursing.

“He fuckin’ arrived here drunk? In this condition?”

Casey’s jaw fell and she stopped breathing.
No way had Damian gotten drunk. No way!

“I’m afraid so,” Reese said, in a fretful voice. “I tried to sober him up. See the coffee cup? He passed out first. Sam, he’ll never change. You don’t want him near Miles. Help me load him into my car. He needs to go back to Alabama with me. I know how to deal with this.”

Casey was so confused that at first that the words didn’t register. She’d seen Damian maybe an hour before and he hadn’t been drinking. A feeling of cold dread washed over her.
Why didn’t Damian say anything to defend himself?

“Something’s not right.” Sam’s voice, further away. Maybe he’d moved toward Damian, wherever he was. “Did you drug him?” he demanded.

Casey’s heart raced as she grabbed for her gun and the key lock for the safety. Her fingers shook, and she dropped the key a few times before getting a grip on it, and she let her purse drop to the floor.

“Did you drug him, bitch?” Sam asked again.

“Not me.” There was an ugly laugh. “
You
did it, Sam. Everyone knows you hate him. Now cooperate and help me drag him into my car—”

“Shit! Reese, put the gun away!” Sam’s chilling words carved into Casey’s brain and she spun into action. “We can settle this a better way—”

Casey shot the lock on the door and barreled inside, pointing her gun at Reese.

Reese instantly turned and aimed her gun at her, firing wildly. Casey hit the floor on her belly, still leveling her gun at Reese, trying to stay focused and controlled. For a moment, she locked eyes with her tormenter, and pure hate flashed in the tiny woman’s eyes. With an ugly smirk, she said, “Checkmate.”

From the other side of the room, Sam lunged for her, but she whirled and shot at him and he flung himself into the wall, his head slamming against the concrete. He fell to the floor, stunned, unable to help her.

Casey felt her breath coming fast and was just about to shoot Reese in the knee when she swung her gun toward Damian, who was still lying helplessly on the sofa. Casey’s breath caught and she had to hold back. If she shot at Reese and missed, or didn’t wound her badly enough, the crazed woman could kill Damian. God help her, no way!

“He should die for leading me on.” An ugly smile stretched across Reese’s distorted face and her hand trembled a little. “Now you can watch him bleed to death, my dear.”

“Reese, you just couldn’t compete with me!” Desperately, she taunted her to get her to focus off of Damian.

Reese swung around, eyes blazing, and fired another shot at her. Casey rolled out of the way and jumped to her feet, her body in full attack mode, aware that Reese wasn’t shooting accurately. She felt a stinging burn on in her left shoulder and heard Sam yell, “You’re shot!” She was glad that Sam had recovered, and the warm fluid running down her arm didn’t distract her.

Out of the corner of her eye Casey could see Sam inching slowly toward Reese, ready to grab her at any opportunity. In all, the entire scenario had taken less than five seconds.

Casey squeezed the trigger, as if in a dream, and the world slowed to a CD on the wrong speed. The blast from her gun echoed in her head and the bullet traveled ever-so-slowly toward Reese, striking her in her thigh. She crumbled, dropping her gun, and screamed curses at her as Sam grabbed her gun and then fumbled for his cell phone. Casey felt the world spinning around, but she had to get to Damian. In the same slow-motion movie, she dropped her own gun, turned, and ran very slowly to Damian, who lay unmoving on the sofa.