My heart snagged against my chest as we walked down the hall and rounded a corner, blinking into the burst of light. I moved past a large spiral pillar and slammed to a halt.
They were up on a platform like some demonic stage play. A woman hung limply; she was tied by her wrists to chains hanging from a steel pipe above. Her feet dangled loosely on the concrete floor, soaked in her blood. Her head was dropped down, her auburn hair, damp with sweat and blood, curtaining her face. Her pale jumper was ripped in slashes and coated in red. The wounds were no longer bleeding; they had healed themselves. The knife had been plunged into the woman’s body countless times, not to kill but to cause immeasurable pain. Disbelief thumped into me like a punch. Even though I was expecting it, I guess a part of me didn’t want to believe he’d becapable of such cruelty. I tried to call out, but no words could get out over the swell in my throat.
Karson turned around slowly, a blood-stained knife in his hand, his eyes widening at seeing me and then narrowing.
“What are you doing here?” His growl rumbled against the walls. But it was his eyes that tore at my soul. They were as black as the river. More beast than human.
The woman moaned and her body trembled as she dragged her head up before it flopped back down again. She looked nothing like Marg. She was not the portly grandma with the permed graying hair, wrinkled skin, and the kind, warm smile. She was deathly pale, and looked in her late thirties.
Ethan’s entire body stiffened as claws appeared on his fingertips. His hands clenched into fists so tight, blood dripped from his palms.
Michael touched Ethan’s arm. “Steady.”
“Jesus,” Georgie whispered.
Karson’s lip curled. “How dare you bring them. Get them out of here!”
Michael stepped forward, placing himself between Karson and Ethan. “You are making a mistake. You need to think this through. There are more people than Sarah that are being hurt by your actions today. People you care about.”
Karson erupted, his voice so loud both Georgie and I jumped. “Sarah needs to pay for what she has done! If the only way to get her out of hiding is to hurt her mother, then that is exactly what I will do.”
Karson paced back and forth in front of Marg, never moving more than half a step either side of her. So I couldn’t throw him. So if anyone moved, he could kill her before they got close.
“Karson.” My voice came out shaky. “This has to stop.”
He wheeled abruptly, his eyes softening but only briefly, then they were steel again, unyielding and inflexible steel. “Did youbring her to talk me down? You two would betray me and use her as some kind of manipulation?” The rage seeped from his body and swallowed the room. “I will put an end to this tonight one way or the other. I should have done this right at the start like I wanted to, and this would have been over, and Mary …” His voice tapered off.
Marg raised her head again and rasped, “Sarah won’t come, she’s not stupid.”
His hand stiffened subtly around the handle of the blade and he half turned back to her, keeping us in his vision. “But she will. She won’t let her dear mother suffer for her sins. She won’t be able to live with herself if you were killed because she was too weak to show up.”
Amongst the fear and pain, anger filled Marg’s eyes. “Is it not enough you took one child of mine, now you would take two?” She yanked so vigorously against her chains the steel cuffs tore into her wrists. Blood trickled down her arms and dripped to the floor.Tick-tick.
To hear the agony in her voice almost broke me. I wasn’t sure why he didn’t correct her. Maybe he thought it was pointless. Maybe he didn’t care what she thought.
“Let her go, Karson,” Ethan snarled. I’d heard rabid dogs give kinder warnings.
My legs felt weak as I shifted closer, beside Ethan. “Let her go, there are other ways.”
His hands flew out, blood splattering from the blade to the floor. “Other ways? What other ways? You want your freedom back? I nearly lost you because I had to keep you under guard because of Sarah.” He sucked in a breath and looked away. When he looked back, tears swallowed his eyes. “And she killed Mary. And yet, you all stand there and stare at me like I’m the one to be judged.”
“You don’t have to torture anyone.” My voice was soft, pleading. “Marg is innocent. This isn’t the way to get back at Sarah.”
“Rumors spread fast in this town. Sarah would know by now I have her mother, and she would know exactly what I would be doing to her. Her mother’s pain will pull her out from the shadows she cowers in. The longer she leaves it, the more her mother suffers.” His fingers tightened around the handle, and before I could blink he plunged the knife into Marg’s stomach. Her head flew back, her arms yanking against the chain, as her scream echoed through the building. He pulled the knife from her and she dropped her head, her breaths rapid and hard, fresh blood spilling onto her top.
“Stop, stop!” Georgie cried.
“That’s enough!” Ethan shouted, moving up beside Michael. “How are you any better than Sarah for what she did to Mary if you do this to another innocent woman?”
My eyes welled as they fixed on the blood easing from Marg’s body as the wound slowly healed. How many times had he stabbed her? “What if Bob decides he will get revenge on you for hurting his wife. Where does it end, Karson? How many people have to die over an accident?”
His gaze moved between us, hurt shuddering through his cold veneer. He expected us to side with him. He expected loyalty and support. But we couldn’t support this.
His chest heaved. “I will end it. I will put an end to all of this.”
“Let her go and I promise you we will find another way,” Michael appealed.
I felt a rush of energy, a chill as if a door had opened and sleet rained against my body. I didn’t have time to turn. My hand barely had time to rise.
