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“Hello, Kimmie. You’re looking grown-up tonight.” Chuck leered at her and shoved his way into the entrance, locking the door behind him.
“What are you doing?” Kimmie could barely stammer the question.
“Just checking up on my favorite stepdaughter.” He let out a grating chuckle as he glanced around the foyer. “Too bad you’re the ugly one of the sisters. You could never get a rich man to marry you and set you up in a home like this. Not with a face like that.”
Kimmie was bombarded with a dozen thoughts at once, which all finally managed to clear their way through the chaos into the single realization: I have to protect Pip.
She figured the longer she could keep Chuck here in the foyer with her, the more chance her brother would have of staying safe. Maybe he’d recognize his father’s voice and hide. Kimmie wished there was a clock somewhere. If she stalled long enough, Taylor would show up. He’d know what to do.
Deciding that the best way to protect herself and her brother was to keep Chuck as calm as possible, she led him to the kitchen, taking the long route so he wouldn’t pass the living room.
“Where’s Pip?” Chuck asked, glancing around as if his son might be hiding in one of the kitchen cabinets.
“He’s not feeling well. He’s got strep throat.”
Kimmie eyed the drawer where the meat knife was kept, trying to edge her way closer to it.
“Is that a phone behind you?” he asked with a snarl.
She nodded.
“Unplug it and slide it over to me.”
She didn’t argue. The movement allowed her to sidle up to the knife drawer, which is where she hoped to stay for the remainder of this conversation.
Chuck slammed the phone against the counter, chuckling as the batteries flew out, then he did the same with the base. “There now.” His eyes glinted in the sunlight streaming in from the windows in the vaulted ceiling. “Any other phones I need to know about?”
Kimmie shook her head.
“I suppose you know why I’m here.”
Kimmie blinked at him. Why was he here? To kill her? To kidnap Pip? Whatever it was he wanted, he wouldn’t succeed. She inched her hand behind her toward the handle of the knife drawer.
“Your sister’s got something that belongs to me.”
Kimmie didn’t know what he was talking about, and she flinched when Chuck snarled, “Where is it?”
“I think it’s in her room,” she lied, hoping he might turn around, distracted enough to let her get at the knife.
Chuck took a step toward her and grabbed her arm, pinching until she sucked in her breath from the sharp pain. “Take me there.”
She took the long way again, praying that God would send his angels to protect Pip. As long as her brother stayed safe, it didn’t matter what happened to her.
Halfway up the staircase, she paused and glanced behind.
“Hurry up,” Chuck snarled.
She led him into her sister’s room.
“Where is it?” he demanded.
“In one of her dressers. She didn’t say which.”
Chuck started ripping out the drawers of Meg’s bureaus, flinging undergarments and shirts and gym clothes across the floor. Kimmie bit her lip. She didn’t know what he was looking for, but as long as he stayed busy, nobody would get hurt. She glanced around her sister’s room, wondering if there might be another phone in here.
“I don’t see it,” Chuck growled, flinging the last drawer against the bedpost.
“She said it was in here, I swear it.” Kimmie had to keep him distracted. He glowered at her, and she realized the sickening truth. He was sober. This wasn’t some kind of drunken rage. This was methodical, premeditated.
Pip, I hope you’re hiding somewhere ...
“Stop lying to me and tell me where that brat put it.” Chuck stepped toward her, and Kimmie automatically inched her way toward the wall.
“There’s another room. Her husband’s. I might have made a mistake. It might be in there.”
With as many rooms as Meg had in her home, hopefully Chuck’s search would keep him busy enough until Taylor arrived or Kimmie found some way to call for help.
She pointed to the door Dwayne had popped out of earlier today, and she marveled that someone like her brother-in-law could have ever frightened her. After what Chuck had already put her through during the past ten years, she should be immune to silly fears.
Her legs were steady as he pulled her behind him, striding toward Dwayne’s door.
“If you don’t find me what I’m looking for, I swear I’ll kill you.” His voice was low and menacing, and Kimmie had no problem believing every word.
Dwayne’s room was different than his wife’s. His king-sized bed took up most of the floor space, and the only other furniture was one small end table. Chuck yanked out the drawers, spilling their contents onto the bed. Just a few sports magazines, a bar of deodorant, and a plastic wrapper.
“Where are those blasted letters?” Chuck was bellowing in her face, and Kimmie felt herself shrink as she tried to inch farther and farther away from his fury.
“You think you can get away with hiding them from me like that?” he yelled. “I told you I’d kill you if you didn’t hand them over.”
He grabbed her hair and yanked down. “You think you’re so clever? I’ll show you who the smart one is around here.”
She shut her eyes as he kneed her in the gut and then the face. Blood spilled from her nose. She tried to swing her arm to push him away, but he grabbed it and kept it pinned behind her back. One small jerk and he could snap her shoulder out of place.
He let his fist fall on her back. She let out a pained gasp as the wind rushed out of her lungs, and Chuck mocked her in his grating falsetto. “Is baby girl hurting? Did precious little princess get a boo-boo?”
Kimmie tried to not to make any noise. Chuck had threatened to kill her in the past, but tonight he clearly possessed the physical stamina and clarity of mind to carry out his plan.
“Tell me where those letters are.” His fist found its way to her gut, driving her to her tiptoes with its force.
She collapsed onto the ground, and he straddled her in an instant. Stupid, stupid, stupid. What had she been thinking? That she could outwit him? That there was any way to get the upper hand? There was no way to escape this. Chuck wrapped his beefy hands around her throat. He was too strong. She couldn’t protect herself. But maybe it was better this way. If Chuck killed her, at least she could join her mom in heaven.
The thought sent a wave of peace spreading through her broken body. As long as she didn’t give way again to fear, it was going to be all right.
Warmth flooded her spirit. A peace far more poignant than anything she’d ever known overcame her senses. Her body flailed beneath Chuck’s weight, but her physical survival instinct was something separate, something distinct. It wasn’t her at all. She watched it as if from above. So this was what it felt like to die. She thought about how many times in the past she had struggled in vain against Chuck and his violent outbursts, striving with a purely animalistic instinct for her own survival. If she’d known death was anything like this, she would have never been so afraid.
I’m going to see my mother again. The realization flooded her with joy, a sense of lasting happiness and contentment unlike anything she’d experienced in the past ten years.
I’m going to be with Jesus soon. No, not even soon. God was here. Right here. Right now. She knew it just as clearly as she knew that once Chuck killed her, she would be in the presence of a Majesty more holy and powerful and personal than any mortal could dare imagine. That glory was hers. It was waiting for her. She could almost hear the sound of her heavenly Father’s voice ready to welcome her into paradise.
Somewhere in the distance, Chuck was roaring at her, cursing her as he drained the life out of her with his meaty hands.
Her body seized. Her brain jostled awake. Wait. What was she thinking? She couldn’t die. She had to help her brother.
She struggled. Strained even though she knew the battle was already lost.
God, help me. I need to save him.
Chuck’s sweat beaded onto his forehead and dripped down on her. She had to get away from him, but it was impossible.
I’m sorry, Pip.
A few more seconds, and it would all be over. Maybe it already was. Through her blurred and blotchy vision, she saw Chuck stand up. He was done?
It was just as well. Just a few more minutes. Then she’d be home.
At the doorway he turned. Something small was in his hands. He aimed it at her.
Kimmie didn’t even hear the gun’s explosion. Chuck’s words and threats meant nothing anymore. She closed her eyes. She was ready to go home.