Page 96 of Little Girls Sleeping

Katie sat up, very aware that she was only dressed in her bra and panties. She watched Charles as he waited for her to obey him. She used her hands to brace herself and balance as she stood up. A wave of dizziness blanketed her, and she fought to keep her equilibrium. Standing up made the back of her head pound harder, and she realized she was in an extremely weakened state. She fought the rising nausea as she stepped from the coffin, her bare feet pressed against the cold dirt.

“Very nice,” he said, looking her up and down. “You are a very pretty girl.”

Katie flinched, revolted by this man staring at her, a killer of young, innocent girls.

“It’s not too late,” she said. She glanced at the open coffin, which had been haphazardly assembled with mismatched pieces of wood and secured by two-inch screws. It was a reminder that she would probably be buried alive if the situation didn’t change—and soon.

“Don’t worry, I’m not going to bury you,” Charles said. There was a slight sarcasm to his voice; it was more morbid than funny. “I have something else in mind for you.”

Katie stood her ground. Her physical and emotional strength was creeping back as the dizziness faded. She knew she couldn’t overpower him, but there would be a moment—most likely only a second or two—that would prove to be in her favor. She would have to wait patiently and have faith it would come.

“You’re not good enough to get a special burial. You are going to fly,” he said.

Katie assumed that meant she would be pushed to her death. She remained silent, waiting for her opportunity to arise.

He added, “When you’re gone, I’ll make sure your dog meets his demise too. There will be nothing left of you.”

“You surprise me, Charles,” she said. “I expected more from you. This is pitiful, even for you.”

“Shut up and walk.” He gestured to a narrow path leading to a cliff.

“You know you can’t take away the memory or the pain?” She was assuming something terrible had happened to him in the past—she guessed it was the loss of someone close before he came to Pine Valley.

“What are you talking about?”

“You know what I’m talking about,” she said.

He stopped abruptly. His chest raised and lowered at an accelerated rate. “You never speak of her. Youneverspeak of Dottie.”

“Would she have agreed with what you’re doing? If I had to wager a guess, my answer would be no.” She didn’t know who Dottie was, but it didn’t matter. She had managed to push Rey’s distress button to draw him out.

He shoved the barrel of the gun into her back. “You know nothing of what she went through. What they did to her.”

“Would she approve of who you are today?”

“They tortured her, raped her, and left her to die.” His voice wavered in grief. “What they did was pure evil.”

“What makes you different from them?” She wanted to keep him talking.

“I may not have been in her life, but that still didn’t change the fact that I was her daddy.”

“You couldn’t protect her.”

“I never had the chance!” he cried. “Never… ever… Things might’ve been different. She would be alive today.”

As Katie neared the cliff, she knew she had options. She had to keep Charles talking about his daughter; it would give her time to think. The area overall was unfamiliar to her and she didn’t think she had visited it before. It was difficult to figure out where she was, but from the position of the sun, she could tell they were moving southeast.

Think, Katie.

Think, dammit.

The cliff kept getting closer… closer… and closer.

Now or never.

She spun around, using her right arm and elbow to smack away the shotgun. The timing was perfect and achieved the exact result she wanted. Charles must’ve relaxed his grip, and the gun flew sideways and landed several yards away, just out of reach.

He let out a weird strangled yell of dismay.