Forgive Me by Kateri Stanley (reading strategies book TXT) 📕

She swallowed down hard and pressed the phone speaker hard against her ear. “Okay, what do you want?”

“I want... you,” he said.

“What do you want with me?” Isaac was motioning her to hang up and she shook her head at him. “What is this?”

“If you come and meet me, I’ll let your mom go. I want to tell you a story. I feel with your skills you could give it the justice it deserves. I'm a big fan of your work.” The line crackled briefly for a time. She wondered where he was, he had Beverley’s phone, he must have been near. “Loved the Charles Libby article!”

“Where are you?”

She heard him breathe on the other end. “Your lover wasn’t the only one born at Kaltheia.”

“Kaltheia?” Stripe breathed, her eyes flooding to Isaac’s. “I’ll meet you. I'm coming right now. Please don't hurt her.”

“I won’t, as long as you keep your promise. But if you call the cops, I’ll butcher her and send her limbs to you by post, piece by piece.” She heard him stop for a moment. “Do you understand, sweetheart?”

“Yes,” she whispered.

“Good.”

The phone line went dead and the surroundings slowed around her. She was meant to keep Beverley safe; she was on the run from an unknown crazed killer with a baby in toe, she’d failed both of them. I can’t hold it back, not this time. Stripe burst into tears, waking up her daughter.

Beverley awoke with a vile taste in her mouth. Her head felt like it was ten times too big, as if she’d chugged back ten glasses of prosecco. She squinted through the darkness. If only I’d pulled the trigger. She was a good shot too.

She knew there was something off about the young man outside her daughter's house. She wondered if he was a desperate junkie searching for his next hit, he had the appearance for it. There seemed to be an underlining sense of trouble, there was anguish and pain in his eyes. What was his story and why kidnap her? What was the purpose of her being here?

She was a retired teacher, a widow to a butchered husband with a serious social media and Netflix addiction. She wasn't rich, she didn’t own any businesses, have any real estate or investments. She wasn’t the best ransom hostage. Perhaps he really is one of those Charles Libby lunatics Stripe spoke about. Beverley felt bad for swaying off her concerns, she’d said the cult he’d belonged to had several devoted followers who were still walking about. When the story went public, some of them wanted Stripe's blood. Why? What are they hiding?

When the stranger let his guard down, she went to pull out her handgun but he was too clever, he was one step ahead of her. The last thing she remembered was a yellow cloth closing over her mouth and nose. She remembered the tree outside Stripe's house before she passed out. Now, she understood. She was being punished. She should’ve listened, why did the unlucky McLachlan curse follow her around? Did she do something bad in a former life?

Beverley just didn’t know. “Is somebody there?”

The air changed and her mind raced to the present situation. Her fingers hovered through the darkness. She let out a piercing scream when a cold slithery sweaty hand grabbed her. Two ghoulish faces seeped into view, Beverley jumped backwards out of fright. It was a man and a woman, probably around the same age as her, they looked just as scared as she felt.

“Who, who are you?” she barked.

“Grace Payne,” the woman replied, her hand falling away from hers.

I know that name. “And you?”

“Ted Payne,” he said.

“Where am I?”

“We don't know.”

Beverley traced her fingers along the cold wall, feeling the ridges and bumps in the concrete. Her fingers found the handle and she pulled at it several times but the door wouldn’t budge.

“We've tried that,” Ted said. “It's locked. We can't get out.”

“Why am I here?” Beverley barked again.

“We don’t know why.” The couple looked at each other, the wife stepped forwards. “A man showed up outside our house, said he was gonna fix our plumbing. That was a lie, then we woke up in this God forsaken place.”

“There was a man outside my daughter’s house too.”

“Are you Stripe McLachlan's mother?”

“Yes.” Beverley stared them out, her heart skipping. “Why? Why do you look so familiar? Do you know anything about Charles Libby?”

Grace glanced at Ted. “No, we don’t but we did read her article. Isaac told us they had a little affair a while ago, we didn’t know anything about it, or that she was pregnant. I guess it makes us grandparents. In-laws, in a funny kinda way.”

I wish I had my gun. “How do you know about Sofia?”

Ted wrapped his arms around Grace. “The Night Scrawler told us.”

“What did you say?” Beverley whispered.

There was a bang at the door and it made them twitch to attention.

“Not again!” Grace began to cry as the banging became louder and louder.

Sounds like rough fingernails were being scratched down the door in a rampant primal hunger. There was a roaring noise, like someone shouting but their mouths couldn’t contort into feasible words. Beverley prayed the door would be able to take the weight of the booming violence on the other side. First, the Night Scrawler takes my Peter and now, he's finally come for me.

Chapter Thirty-Eight

My heart races as I drive. My plan was to get you and our daughter to safety. Now it’s quickly crumbling like sand in the breeze right before me. “I’m not letting you near that sicko,” I say.

“He has my mom. I don't have a choice!” The tears trickle down your face. “If I don’t meet him, he’ll kill her!”

“And he’ll kill you. I can’t lose you.”

“All of this started because of what you did.”

Your words slice through like a knife. I know I deserve it deep down. Falling in love with you wasn't meant to happen. I really tried not to. I’m sorry