Give Me a Reason (54 page)

Two hours later as the sun slipped behind the horizon, he
drove back to his apartment and showered the smell and blood off his skin. With
the images still fresh and fertile in his mind, there was no more need for
videos before picking up Alice promptly at eight, and after dinner, they
returned to his place like they had done so many times before.

They had been lovers for weeks, and while he was normally
gentle and attentive to her needs, that night was all about him. Voracious, he
took Alice on the sofa and then on the bed, and after a short rest, he started
again. But in his zeal, in his zest to control, to consume and to own, he
forgot one very important thing...and six weeks later, Alice told him she was
pregnant.

His reaction surprised even him, for he had never considered
having children, but to ask her to abort the pregnancy left a foul taste in his
mouth. This was his child. This was his immortality. This was
his
creation.

So, over a period of two years, he built a new life, complete
with a wife and a child. He had the best of everything...again. When he felt
the urge, when he felt the beast fighting to escape, he would visit towns far
away and do what he needed to do to survive. He never raised a hand to his wife
or to the children, but when a dark-haired whore caught his eye...she was never
so lucky.

Chapter Fifty-One

He turned and glared at the man standing near the hearth.
With the images of the scars on Toni’s back still fresh in his mind, William
MacLeod’s blood ran cold. “You
bastard
!”

Ron didn’t move. He didn’t even blink. Staring into the fire,
he didn’t acknowledge the other man’s presence until Bill shouted again, and
this time everyone in the house heard his voice.

“
I’m talking to you
!”

Slowly turning around, Ron said, “What are you going on
about?”

“You worked there, didn’t you?”

“Worked where, Bill? Honestly man, have you been hitting the
Scotch, or did you get frostbite on your brain running around in the snow?”

“I’m stone cold sober, and you…you’re a
son of a bitch
.”

Tensing at the words, Ron could feel the beast begin to
awaken. Setting his jaw, he growled, “Watch yourself, Bill. I don’t like being
called names I don’t deserve.”

“What are you going to do? Whip me with your belt?”

“What the
hell
are you
talking about?”

Giving the man a subtle sneer, Bill shook his head. “Oh, so
we’re going to play it that way, are we? So now I suppose you’re going to deny
working at Thornbridge.”

“I work for Ross Construction, Bill. I’ve never worked for a
company called Thornbridge.”

“It wasn’t a company. It was a prison.”

“I’ve never worked in a prison.”

“Liar.”

Standing tall, Ron’s chest swelled as a knowing grin crossed
his face. “Call them up. Ask them.”

Bill looked at the cordless handset sitting on the table and
then back at Ron. “You know I can’t. They closed the place years ago.”

The corners of Ron’s mouth turned upward. “Pity. I guess
you’ll just have to believe me then, now won’t you?”

Bill stared back at the arrogant man. Cocking his head to the
side, he considered what next to do and then his eyes drifted to the phone.
Picking it up, he handed it to Alice. “Do me a favor, dear. Call emergency
services and see where they are.”

“Put the phone down, Alice,” Ron barked. “I called them less
than an hour ago and there’s no need to keep bothering them.”

Staring at the phone in her hand, Alice looked at her uncle
and then at her husband. “Maybe I should call—”

“I said put the bloody phone
down
!”

Aware of the tension building in the room, Bill looked at his
niece. “Perhaps it would be best if you go join your sisters for a while. Give
Ron and me a chance to sort this all out.”

“She stays here!” Ron shouted.

“No, she doesn’t,” Bernard said from the doorway. Keeping one
eye on Ron, he walked over and offered Alice his hand. “Come on, love. I’ll fix
you a spot of tea.”

Ron had never laid a hand on Alice in anger, but more than
once she had seen his rage, and it had terrified her. Pausing only for a
second, she took Bernard’s hand, and allowed herself to be led out of the room.

His wife’s defiance fueled his anger, and glaring at Bill,
Ron said, “I don’t know who the hell you think I am—”

“I think you’re an arse, Cameron. I think you’re a vile,
filthy monster who gets off on beating women.”

“And
you’re
a daft
prick
!”

“Am I?”

“Yes!”

Neither man knew much about the other. Having only met at
family functions, their conversations had always been polite but brief, so Ron
had no idea that William MacLeod was a thinking man. A man who pondered and
then reacted, and right now, Ron was the subject under Bill’s microscope. It
was easy for Bill to see the sweat glistening on the man’s upper lip, and that
his face had reddened more than one shade in only a few short minutes, but it
wasn’t until Bill saw the veins in Ron’s neck bulge, that he realized that Ron
wasn’t just angry. He was enraged, and deep down, Bill smiled.

Bringing his eyes up to meet Cameron’s, Bill said, “Fine,
then take off your belt.”

“Why?”

“Because Toni says—”

“Toni? Toni!” Ron yelled, waving his arms in the air. “Are
you telling me this is about that lunatic in there?”

“She’s hardly crazy.”

“Well, she’s hardly sane, now is she, or do you know lots of
women who take off running through the snow like she did. Christ, she almost
killed herself
and
Steve. If you ask me,
someone should lock her up and throw away the fucking key.”

“I think it would better suit the world if you were the one
locked up.”

“Old man, I’ve had enough of this!” Ron said, heading toward
the doorway.

Quickly blocking his path, Bill said, “Not so fast.”

“Bill, seriously, that woman in there is delusional. She’s
wrong, I tell you. She’s wrong!”

“Then you won’t mind taking off your belt.”

“Yes, actually I do,” Ron said, looking down his nose at
Bill. “I don’t need to prove myself to you or to anyone.”

“I’m afraid you do,” Bernard said as he appeared in the
doorway. Holding up the phone in his hand, he said, “I took it upon myself to
call emergency services. I spoke to two different supervisors, and they checked
their logs. No calls came from this number today.”

Looking Bernard square in the eyes, Ron shrugged. “They made
a mistake.”

“Jesus Christ, Ron!” Bernard said, tossing the phone on a
chair. “What the hell were you thinking? They could have died!”

“I’m telling you—”

“There’s a simple way of proving us wrong, Cameron,” Bill
said, getting in between the two men. “Take off your belt...
now
!”

Ron’s eyes turned to slits as he stared back at Bill, but
arrogant and confident, he hid his rage behind a forced smile. “Fine, and then
I expect an apology from all of you, especially that crazy bitch in the other
room.” Pulling the belt from his trousers, he placed it in Bill’s hand. “There
you go, old man. Satisfied?”

Surprised by the weight of it, Bill focused on the buckle as
he turned it over, expecting to see evidence that would prove him right, but
instead, there was nothing except a single hook protruding from the edge. The
buckle was scratched and worn, but as he inspected it this way and that, he
couldn’t see anything that would have made the triple marks on Toni’s back.

Rubbing his chin, he paused and then turned his attention to
the belt itself. It was broad and bulky in his hand, and as he ran his fingers
over the leather, he stopped when he noticed steel grommets wedged in the belt
holes. Flipping over the buckle again, Bill ran his finger across the hook, his
breath catching in his throat when the barb cut him like a razor.

After putting the tip of his finger in his mouth to clear
away the blood, Bill studied the small gouge the hook had made. Looking up at
Ron, he said, “It’s a bit sharp, don’t you think?”

“It came that way,” Ron said, holding out his hand. “Now give
it back.”

Once again, Bill put his finger to his mouth, letting his
tongue run over the cut on his fingertip as he tried to unravel the mystery.
After a few moments, he said, “Bernard, keep him company for a minute, will
you?”

Leaning against the door frame, Bernard crossed his arms. “It
would be
my
pleasure.”

The doors to the library slid open, and all eyes were on Bill
as he walked over to the sofa and knelt in front of Toni and Laura. “Ron says
you’re wrong,” he said quietly, looking at Toni.

“I’m not wrong,” Toni said, shaking her head. “I’m not.”

“I don’t think you are, lass, but I need your help,” he said
as he brought the belt from behind his back.

“Christ!” Toni screamed, jumping to her feet. “Get that away
from me! Get that fucking thing away from me!”

Laura got to her feet in an instant, and standing by Toni’s
side, she glared at her father. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” she
shouted. “Get that out of here!”

“I would, but if this is the belt—”

“
It is
! Goddamn it, why
don’t you believe me?” Toni yelled as tears filled her eyes.

“I do, Toni. I do...but I can’t see anything to prove it.
It’s just a normal belt with a normal buckle.”

“That’s not right,” Toni said, wiping the tears from her
face. “That’s what he used. It sliced me like a knife!”

“I can’t see how, lass” Bill whispered. “I honestly can’t see
how.”

Everyone in the room was focused on her and in their eyes
Toni saw doubt and pity staring back at her. They thought she was crazy and for
a split-second so did she...but only for a second.

It had been the one memory that had been the most difficult
to block from her thoughts, but closing her eyes, Toni willed herself back to a
night in a dimly lit cell, remembering every detail, every smell…and every
sound.

Opening her eyes, she looked down at Bill. “He did something
to it. Just before...just before he started, he did something to it. I remember
there was a sound...a scraping sound....”

Bill’s brow furrowed as he flipped the buckle over again, and
getting up, he went to the fireplace and held it close to the light. Feeling a
tap on his shoulder, he looked up and his eyes met Stephen’s.

“Do you mind?” Stephen said, holding out his hand.

“Of course not,” Bill said, handing him the belt.

As a firefighter, there were times when Stephen had ridden in
an ambulance holding the hand of one of his colleagues injured in the line of
work, and he had always been amazed at how compact and neat the vehicles were.
Everything had a place. A cubby-hole or a shelf designed specifically to hold
one particular item, so with the flip of a switch or a turn of a lever what was
needed was freed in an instant. Looking at the belt in his hand, Stephen
flipped over the buckle and examined the back.

Seeing it covered by a steel plate, Stephen’s brow wrinkled.
Why would a brass buckle need steel to back it up? Pausing for a moment, he
bent the buckle away from the leather and looked at the edge. Spying two small
v-shaped openings, he glanced at Bill for a second, and then he pressed his
thumbs against the buckle’s back.

Toni’s head popped up as a shiver ran down her spine, the
familiar click a sound she hoped she’d never hear again. Grabbing Laura’s hand,
Toni held on tight.

Nancy and her daughters crept closer, and as they held their
breath, their eyes darted back and forth from the buckle in Stephen’s hand, to
Bill and then to Toni. In a room warmed by a crackling fire, no one moved and
no one breathed.

Stephen Wallace risked his life every day. Walking into
buildings engulfed in flames or scrambling across rooftops to cut openings for
the fire to escape, dozens of times he had felt fear...a slight inkling that
danger was near. As he looked at the plate in his hand, the same feeling washed
over him. Holding his breath, he flipped it over and a collective gasp filled
the room as everyone saw the two razor-sharp hooks welded on the back. Shaking
his head at the brutality, Stephen slipped the plate back into the buckle, and
as it snapped into place, Laura began to cry. It was the most evil thing she
had ever seen.

In an instant, Bill bolted from the room. Reaching the
lounge, he slowed not a step as he charged the man wearing a smirk.

“You
son of a bitch
!” he
shouted as their bodies collided, landing on the carpet with a thud. “How could
you do that?” he screamed as he drove his fist into Ron’s face. “
What kind of monster are you
?”

Bill managed to get several good blows in before Ron got the
upper hand. Twenty years younger and with muscles that still bulged, with one
shove, he pushed Bill to his back, and while Bill’s punches were hard, Ron’s
were brutal.

In stunned silence, the family remained in the library for a
few moments, but when Eleanor realized Bill had stopped shouting she ran up the
hallway. Entering the lounge just in time to see Bill’s face turn bloody, she
screamed at the top of her lungs, “
Somebody stop him
!
Oh, dear God…please…please,
someone stop him
!”

First to the chest and then to the face, Ron’s fists hit
their targets with destructive precision, but as he pulled Bill up by the front
of his shirt to land another punishing blow, someone grabbed him by the collar
and pulled him back.

In a flash, Ron jumped to his feet. Twisting away from
Stephen’s hold, Ron landed a solid punch to Stephen’s jaw. Staggered, Stephen
shook off the cobwebs and grabbed Ron in a bear hug, and together they fell to
the floor. Wrestling on a carpet now speckled with blood, Stephen could feel
his energy begin to dwindle as he tried in desperation to block the flurry of
punches being thrown his way.

Ron was relentless. The beast was now free. Feasting on the
pain it was causing, it was quickly becoming ravenous. Commanding him not to
stop,
never
to stop, as each blow landed and
more blood was spilled, it begged Ron for more. It needed more...and Ron was
going to give it all it wanted, but as he was about to land the next brutal
jab, he was grabbed from behind.

Bernard tried his best to pull Ron away, but he was no match
for the beast and within seconds, he was knocked out cold by a powerful
uppercut that sent him slumping to the floor. Without missing a beat, Ron
turned back around and zeroed in on Stephen again.

Finally managing to get to his feet, Bill reacted instantly.
Scrambling over a sofa, he threw himself on top of Ron, breaking his hold on
Stephen, but the ex-prison officer was just too strong. Fueled by adrenalin and
hatred, it only took a few moments before Bill, once again, was on the
receiving end of Ron’s brutality.

One by one, the other women in the house joined Eleanor at
the doorway. Looking on in horror as the fight continued, it wasn’t until Ron
began beating Bill again when something inside of Laura gave way. Mindless of Ron’s
obvious strength, she rushed into the room and jumped on top of the man
pummeling her father.