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“You want to know why I lost the baby? Do you?” Janice hissed as she waved the gun in a wild gesture. “Because you exist!”
Bethany’s eyes, looking a lot less foggy now that some of the medication was wearing off, shot back and forth between her kidnapper and her mother.
Janice screamed again. “And then you had the nerve to come back!”
With a sinking heart, Lacey realized she wasn’t going to be able to reason with the woman, and focused on trying to figure out how to disarm her.
But Janice said, “I found him looking at your pictures. The ones in the yearbook.”
Confused, Lacey just kept her mouth shut.
“Oh, yes,” Janice continued. “I found him. Six years ago, sitting on the sofa around Christmastime. He was looking at the yearbook. I asked him what he was doing and he just shrugged and snapped the book shut. I sat down next to him for a trip down memory lane, but—” she wagged a finger “—memory lane didn’t have anything to do with me. It was all about you!” The finger jabbed in Lacey’s direction and spittle flew from her mouth.
Lacey felt compassion mix with her fear.
Janice paced the floor, the pain on her face horrible to see. “I was so mad,hurt.Here I was,finallypregnant with his child and he was looking at pictures ofyou.”
“Oh, Janice, I’m so sorry.”
“You should be!” The gun waved wildly and Lacey cringed.
“But I wasn’t there,” she stated softly. “I didn’t have anything to do with that. I didn’t have any control over that.”
“You weren’t there?” Janice gave a laugh filled with disbelief. “Oh you were there, all right. You were everywhere. In the church, in the grocery store, in my own house!” She mocked, “Those are pretty flowers. I think they were Lacey’s favorite.”
Oh, Daniel, what did you do? Lord, please…
“I was never interested in Daniel, Janice. You know that! How many times did I say how much I wished he’d just leave me alone?”
“That’s what you said.” Janice sneered. “But you never did anything to discourage him. You just kept letting him hang around you. And you loved it. All the attention you were getting from two of the best-looking guys in school. Don’t deny you ate it up.”
“I did not!” Lacey protested, but for a brief moment, a little piece of her mind questioned whether or not Janice was right. She sputtered, “But he was Mason’s best friend and I didn’t want to hurt his feelings.”
Skepticism twisted Janice’s features. “Right.” She stepped closer and shoved the gun at Bethany who flinched and gave a cry. Lacey held up a hand in supplication. “Don’t! She’s never done anything to you.”
“No, she didn’t,” Janice said, her suddenly calm tone sending darts of terror through Lacey. “She didn’t, but her mother did. Because of you, I ran out of the house seven months pregnant, intending to get in the car and go to a motel. But do you know what happened? Do you?”
Lacey refused to cringe. She had a pretty good idea of what Janice was getting ready to say and wanted to tell her to stop. She didn’t want to hear it.
But she couldn’t. Janice had to say it. And if she stopped talking, she might start shooting. “What?” Lacey whispered.
“I fell. I slipped on the stupid ice my husband didn’t scrape off the steps and I nearly bled to death at the bottom of my front porch.” Janice ended the sentence on a whisper. She raised the gun and pointed it at Bethany’s head. “And it’s all your fault. You, who had a perfect little girl after killing mine.”
“No, Janice, don’t do this, please.”
CHAPTER TWENTY
Mason felt his heart beat in a way that threatened to punch a hole in his shirt. Hand wrapped around his gun, he started for the door as soon as Catelyn pulled to a stop. Daniel simply sat in the backseat, defeated as his wife’s words sunk in.
At the door, he felt a hand on his arm. “You’re too close to this. You need to hang back.”
Mason hardened his jaw. “No way.”
“If you jeopardize this in any way, you could get them killed.”
He stared at her, her words impacting him. “I won’t,” he promised. “Professional all the way.”
Catelyn drew in a deep breath and nodded. “Fine.”