Saturday, 3:45 p.m.
In the beam of the flashlight, Grace tugged on the chain lock before turning to Leyna. “Do you have something I can pick this with?”
Leyna considered the flashlight but then shook her head. “In the car, maybe.” She definitely had a ballpoint pen and some bobby pins in the glove box. “I’m not sure what Mom brought besides the wine, the paintings, and her Taser, but I can check her bag too.”
Leyna stood, assuming Grace would want to stay with her daughter, but Grace shook her head. “I’m faster.”
Behind her, Leyna heard footsteps, and she turned the flashlight in that direction. Richard had stopped halfway down the stairs. He brought up his arm to block the light, and with his free hand flipped a switch on the wall. Fluorescent light flickered overhead.
“I heard voices and thought you might be Olivia,” he said. “She ran off, and I’ve been looking for her but—she’s not anywhere.”
His voice broke on the last few words. When Leyna lowered the flashlight, he caught sight of Ellie for the first time. He stilled, face going pale. “My God. Is that—” His voice trembled. “I have a first aid kit in the car. It stalled a couple of blocks up, halfway between here and the house, but it’s not too far.” He made a move to leave, but Leyna shook her head.
“It’s okay, Grace can grab it. Stay.” Leyna looked at her sister. “Check Mom’s stuff. There’s got to be something there that can help us.”
She didn’t add: Run. They didn’t have much time—minutes, maybe—but her sister would know that. Grace had to be asking herself the same question: How had Richard, temporarily blinded, known about that switch?
Leyna shot a glance at Richard as Grace brushed past. He remained on the stairs, frozen at the midpoint, as if undecided which direction he should go. He screwed his eyes closed and breathed deeply. When he opened his eyes again, they welled with sorrow, and Leyna noticed the shadows beneath them. But there was no surprise in his expression, and Leyna knew—Richard had played a part in the violence against his granddaughter. Leyna tried to keep the horror from her face, but she could tell she failed.
Richard backed up a step. “I’ve got more water in my car.”
Unless he had tankers full of it, water wasn’t their most pressing need. She was torn between wanting him to leave and wanting him to pay.
“No. Stay.” Her tone icy.
He backed up another step. “I really need to get going. Look for Olivia. She’s out there somewhere…”
Leyna shifted so she faced the doorway and could keep an eye on him. She scanned the ground for some forgotten tool that might help. Near an old roll of insulation, she spotted a rat carcass. Only that.
On the floor, Ellie whimpered and scooted away from Leyna.
She fought for the words that might reassure the girl, but what could she say—You’ll be okay? That promise wasn’t one Leyna could make. A bruise mottled the girl’s skin at the side of her face, near where blood matted her hair. Leyna saw that at least there were a few empty bottles of water nearby. Not nearly enough. In that heat, it wouldn’t have taken long for her to get dangerously dehydrated.
Leyna switched the flashlight from her right hand to her left as she tested the duct tape that bound the girl. The girl’s whimpering became a keening.
“Almost there,” she said.
She had just managed a small tear in the tape binding her ankles when she heard movement on the stairs. She glanced over her shoulder at Richard, who’d retreated several more steps.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
The tear in the tape must’ve been larger than Leyna initially thought, because Ellie’s frantic scrambling toward the corner ripped it the rest of the way.
Ellie wasn’t trying to get away from Leyna. She was terrified of Richard.
Leyna positioned herself between the girl and him. In the moment, she was grateful that she hadn’t promised Ellie she’d be okay. She understood now that they weren’t getting out of there, not without Grace.
“You would do anything for your sister, right?” Richard’s gaze was beseeching. “Think of what you’ve sacrificed for her. Your life…”
His voice trailed off when he realized his words weren’t gaining traction. It had been Leyna’s sacrifice to make, and she’d been the only casualty of her single-minded pursuit.
But maybe that wasn’t right. She’d hurt others too, including the man standing in front of her now. Still, she had no sympathy for Richard and no patience for his excuses.
He slumped under the weight of—what? Guilt? Regret that he’d been found out? Or anguish over what he felt forced to do next?
“What you’d do for your sister, I’d do for my wife.” He had the tone of a zealot, willing Leyna to believe. “That’s what I vowed—to make all of it all right for her, always.” His voice swelled on a surge of whatever emotion darkened his face. He looked at Ellie. “I didn’t know. Who you were. But even if I had—”
He didn’t need to finish the sentence. Leyna understood. If given the chance, to protect Olivia, he would do it again.
“I found her, and I brought her here. Gave her water.” He gestured toward the pillow. “Tried to make her comfortable.”
“She would’ve been more comfortable if she’d been at home in her own bed.”
His sigh was filled with anguish. “Drop the flashlight, Leyna. It’s useless anyway.”
She clutched the flashlight, feeling the weight of it against her palm. Richard took another step, approaching now, and when she dropped the flashlight and kicked it away, his eyes tracked where it landed.
See, Richard, not useless after all.
The staircase creaked again, and Richard stiffened, but her distraction gave Grace the seconds she needed to return with the item she’d retrieved from the car—the Taser in their mom’s locked box, the one she’d left in the car along with her bottle of wine and portraits of them. The box had been solid. Hard to break quickly. But the lock would’ve been easy for her sister to pick.
“I didn’t do this,” he said.
Leyna thought he might be telling the truth, but they couldn’t take that chance—especially since he’d admitted to dumping her there with a dirty pillow and a dead rat as her only company. No matter his claims of altruism, nothing he’d given her would’ve protected her against a wildfire.
At Leyna’s nod, Grace pulled the Taser’s trigger; the barbs embedded just above his groin, and he tumbled down the last few stairs.