Chapter 22

TWENTY-TWO

SWEAT HAD MIXED with Lahela’s tears, and both were running down her face by the time Mr. Dunn limped back into the garage. She worked to steady her breathing, which was almost impossible to do with the duct tape covering her mouth, but she didn’t want Mr. Dunn to notice she wasn’t in the same spot he’d left her in.

While he was gone, she’d tried to get to the shears on the metal shelf, but they were out of reach. She tried to use her feet to knock them down, but after her third attempt, the only thing she’d managed to do was knock over a plastic watering can that thankfully fell into a laundry basket.

Panicking, she ran out of time to roll her chair back to its original spot before he came back into the garage, and she prayed he wouldn’t notice.

“Let’s try this again.” His face twisted in pain as he limped to the faucet with another glass. Pulling out a bottle of pills, he opened the top, then shook a few into the bowl and began smashing them. “Your friend, I think he really cares about you.”

Her friend? Briggs? She whimpered against the tape. Briggs had come looking for her. Desperation overrode fear and she squirmed in the chair and kicked at anything her feet could reach to make noise.

Mr. Dunn looked over his shoulder at her. “He’s gone.”

Her shoulders fell and she cried, the tape muffling her sobs. This was not how it was going to end.

“I thought he might be the one.” Mr. Dunn refilled the glass of water and then poured the crushed pill powder into it like he had before. “But not even Briggs could keep you safe.”

Lahela kicked angrily and her foot connected with the shelf, causing it to shift a little. Eyes widening, she snapped them to Mr. Dunn to see if he noticed, but his back was to her. Moving over a few more inches, she used her toe and pressed against the shelf a little harder. She felt it give beneath the pressure. With enough force she might be able to kick it over on top of Mr. Dunn. She had no idea how much it weighed, but there were boxes and tools that might just be heavy enough to pin him down. What she’d do after that, she didn’t know.

The only problem was that she’d have to wait until he was closer, and that put her at risk of being caught beneath it too. It was a risk she was willing to take.

“No, that boy isn’t good enough for my girl.” Mr. Dunn took a slow step toward her, his face tight with the pain she had inflicted on his knee. “Briggs can’t keep you safe, but I will. I will prove to you and to Janine that I am a good father and I can keep you safe.”

Mr. Dunn took another step toward her, and she refocused her thoughts on the mission. One more step...

But he stopped and she looked up to meet his smirk. “I’m old but I’m not dumb.”

He stretched his arm out, and she flinched thinking he was going to hit her, but instead he grabbed the edge of her chair and spun her around so that he was at her back. And her feet were nowhere near the shelf.

“Another kick like that first one and you’ll force me to dis cipline you.” He pulled on the chair so it felt like she was going to fall backward. Her heart pounded in her ears, and she gripped the chair with her hands, ignoring the searing pain from the cut on her palm. “I’m going to tell you what’s going to happen next so you’re not scared, okay?”

Lahela shook her head and her eyes filled with tears.

“This can be easy if you want it to be.”

It was like her body was acting on its own accord for survival and she nodded.

“Good. I’m going to grab your hair to pull your head back, but I’ll be as gentle as I can. This will open up your throat and then I’ll pour the water down. It’s best if you don’t fight it, otherwise you might choke and we don’t want that, do we?”

Again, her head moved without her telling it to. She whimpered against the tape again and searched his eyes for any sign of compassion, but there was nothing but an empty void.

“I’m going to remove the tape and I don’t want to hurt you, but if you scream, I will.”

Lahela clenched her jaw and this time she forced herself to nod in agreement, but the second that tape was removed she was going to scream for her very life.