Somewhere in His Arms (77 page)

             
“What did he do?” Lucy asked numbly, feeling sick to her stomach.

             
“They found my precious Timmy two weeks later, or rather what was left of him. Millie had stuffed him in the trunk of a junked-out Chevy and left him to die! He was still alive and screaming when they crushed the car. The medical examiner said he’d died earlier that morning, but I know better! You better believe I know better! Millie had tortured him for days; raping him every which way you can rape a person. He’d taken his time with my boy, beating him one day, raping him the next. The little bastard had even recorded Timmy’s screams. But think the police did anything about that? NO! They said they didn’t have
enough
evidence to charge him as it was all circumstantial and they barely had DNA testing back then, so by the time they figured it out, Millie was long gone.”

             
Corinne stopped and brushed at her tears with a trembling hand. Lucy and Gavin were looking at her pitifully like she was some tragic exhibit in Bedlam, and she jumped to her feet and punched them both viciously in the mouth. “Don’t look at me like that!” she screeched. “I’m not the one who carved up little children for fun and got away with it!” She straightened her bony spine and looked around for Phil.
Where was that idiot?
“They finally caught him six months later in Santa Fe, but by then he’d already caught and murdered twelve little girls at a summer camp. They dragged him kicking and screaming back to L.A. where the newly elected District Attorney had the task of sending his sorry ass to the electric chair and he couldn’t even get
that
right! The first trial ended in a hung jury because some bleeding heart liberal didn’t think poor little Millie had gotten his fair share in life and couldn’t decide if Timmy had suffered enough. I blame Rudy. He didn’t try hard enough. You should have seen him prancing about in his Gucci suits for the cameras.”

             
Corinne waved the gun around erratically to emphasize her point. “It was a goddamned sideshow! People all dressed up in their Sunday clothes,” she spat in disgust. “You should have seen it. Even the judge posed for the cameras at the end of the day. Ryan wasn’t much help, that bastard going off getting trashed each night, and leaving me to pick up the pieces! I had to sit with the other parents and listen to mothers sobbing for their babies while Rudy took center stage like he was presenting at the fucking Oscars! It was quite the spectacle let me tell you! Hell, I’m surprised no one pulled out popcorn while they showed the crime scene photos!”

             
She sat back down across from them and reached into her pocket for a handkerchief. Corinne tossed it at them and glared at Lucy. “It was all
his
fault! Your precious Rudy was so busy trying to impress the voters who’d elected him in the first place, that he didn’t even try to convict Millie. Oh no, his little friend sat there with puppy-dog eyes looking sad, all the while smirking at us when no one was looking! It wasn’t a surprise to me when they didn’t convict, and Rudy just stood there like a fucking wax figure in one of those museums! Did you know he went over and spoke to the little bastard after the trial was over? That’s when I got angry. I hadn’t allowed myself to get mad. I just sort of cruised through the whole thing on autopilot. I wanted to feel numb because if I felt anything, I couldn’t be there for Timmy. I’d brought his ashes that day and stowed him in the car. I would have driven off if I hadn’t seen him posing prettily for the cameras as he spoke to the reporters. It was
all
about him! It was
never
about the children!”

             
“You lie!” Lucy shouted, blotting her mouth with the handkerchief. “Rudy agonized over it! I saw the photo of you tossing the ashes on him. He looked like hell!”

             
“Stupid girl,” Corinne said sadly. “He fooled you too. He fooled everyone. Even me. But I wised up and so should you. I went up to him and begged Timmy to forgive me before I opened his urn. I think he forgave me. You should have seen their faces when the dust had settled. Poor Rudy’s suit was ruined. But that was nothing compared to what we went through. Most of the parents never recovered. Some slashed their wrists and some drowned their grief in booze. As for me, I waited. I waited and there were more children and more promises and Rudy vowed he would bring Millie to justice.” Corinne shrugged. “ I suppose he meant well, but it was too late for that three-year-old he found in the mall up in Vancouver. They found the poor little thing three weeks later torn inside out. Millie had raped her to death.”

             
“Don’t!” Gavin blurted in agony. He didn’t want to hear anymore. “No more!”

             
“But why not?” Corinne’s head tilted to the side, looking at that moment like some ghoulish doll whose head has just been ripped off and put on again in a clumsy attempt to hide the damage. “Don’t you want to hear it? I mean you all worship the ground Rudy walked on. It’s disgusting! If he’d done his job, those children would still be alive!”

             
“How is Rudy to blame for what that maniac did?’ Gavin countered, trying to distract her long enough to lunge for the gun. “He didn’t kill those children.”

             
“But
he
helped!” Corinne shrieked. “Millie would have been put away. He knew what he was capable of long before he took Timmy from me! They all did!” She shook a bony finger at Gavin. “He swore to us parents that not one more child would have to die like Timmy. He looked all of us in the eye and swore up and down that he would take care of it! And did he? No! He couldn’t even do that right! We all got to thinking that Rudy cared more for Millie than our dead children.” She glanced up with tortured eyes, and Gavin almost felt sorry for her. But when he glanced back at Lucy, with her swollen face and bloody mouth, any pity he might have felt evaporated under the murderous rage he felt.

             
“Look, I’m very sorry that man did that to you and hurt your son, but why blame us? We didn’t do anything to you. Lucy didn’t do anything to you…”

             
“That’s where you’re wrong little boy.” Corinne got up and went over to Lucy who was hanging on by a thread. Gavin was scared shitless. She hadn’t so much as uttered a sound since the old hag began speaking. And now she stared straight ahead as if in some sort of trance. Corinne grabbed a handful of Lucy’s hair and yanked her head back. Lucy didn’t blink. “She’s the closest thing he had to a daughter. I wanted him to know what it was like to lose a child, because obviously he’s never known what it feels like to have your heart ripped out.” She let Lucy go and began pacing back and forth, growing increasingly unhinged by the minute. “When they let Millie out, I saw my chance and took it. You think it was an accident Millie found her alone in the house that day?”

             
Gavin saw Lucy’s eyes widen a little, but she remained silent.

             
“I’d been following her for days and then she went to the house and I told Millie he could have her. I told him just to rough her up like a warning. The little shit wasn’t supposed to kill her!” Corinne snorted in disgust. “What a mess! There was blood everywhere. He wanted to finish her off, but I told him to be patient. Then that fatso came in and ruined everything!”

             
“How awful for you,” Gavin said absently, glancing at Lucy who was shaking.

             
“Yes, it
was
awful. He wanted to go to the hospital, but they were watching her day and night. If her husband hadn’t taken her up to Point Reyes we might have gotten her sooner. But that’s all right. Millie was so excited to go. I had to practically tie him down. It would have been so perfect if Millie hadn’t screwed up! I mean he let him break his neck!
Who
does that?’ Corinne shook her head and gave a little shudder. “But that’s all right. What’s done is done and I’ll have my revenge. Rudy already got his. This will be the topping on the cake.”

             
“What do you mean, ‘Rudy already got his’?”

             
“Oh, don’t you know?” she informed them brightly. “Rudy went up to that hospital Ryan had me put in and Phil let him have it.” Corinne put a bony finger to her lips and giggled. “They’ll never find the body!”

             
Lucy exchanged pained glances with Gavin as her shoulders slumped in defeat. “You killed my baby,” she said quietly

             
“What’s that dear?” Corinne said.

             
“I said you
killed
my baby!” Lucy screamed at her. “You’re no better than he is. He killed for pleasure, you killed for spite.”

             
“Please,” Corinne sniffed, pulling her hair back. “I didn’t know you were knocked up. But it was certainly a pleasant surprise. How did Rudy take it?”

             
“YOU BITCH!” Lucy shrieked, clenching her fists in rage. “You’re a baby killer! You’re a miserable bitch who killed an innocent baby because of some stupid vendetta! You’re no better than Reese! Worse even!”

             
“Don’t you
dare
compare me with that piece of shit,” Corinne said calmly, her eyes now bottomless demonic pits. “I kill because I have to. Millie killed because he wanted to. There’s a difference. And if you want to blame anyone dear, blame yourself. If you hadn’t been so keen on substituting Rudy for daddy dearest, you might be holding the little brat right now.”

             
Corinne turned away, closing her eyes for a brief moment to savor the brisk sea air and gloating in her victory. That’s when Gavin saw his chance. He looked at Lucy who nodded in agreement and he lurched forward, speeding up and launching himself at the hag. She turned and fired the gun but Gavin reached for her arm and the bullet bounced off the tarmac. The gun fell to the ground and Corinne stabbed Gavin in the eye with her nail. Caught off guard, he cried out in agony and Corinne lifted a booted foot and hoofed him viciously in the ribs. Gavin screamed and fell to his knees. Corinne punched him in the face and when he was out cold, smiled evilly at Lucy who was sitting, taking it all in. Corinne turned her back to retrieve the gun and that’s when Lucy made her move.

             
“You miserable bitch!” Lucy screamed, running and hurling herself at the woman who had killed her baby. “Millie misses you in hell!” She caught Corinne around her waist and shoved her toward the railing. Corinne yanked Lucy’s hair and kicked out her feet, but she lost her balance and fell back, taking Lucy with her. They hung suspended by Lucy’s precarious grip on the iron bar.

             
Lucy gasped and tried to hold on, but her hands were slippery. Corinne hung from her feet like a deadweight and Lucy tried to kick her off, to no avail. The woman wasn’t going to go quietly. “Let go!” she gasped, kicking the bitch in the face. “Just die!”

             
Corinne cackled evilly, her feet dangling above the razor-like cliffs below. “If I’m going, you’re coming with me!” She tugged at Lucy’s feet, determined to take the girl with her into the fiery pits of hell. “Don’t you want to see Rudy again?”

             
“Let me go!” Lucy screamed, trying to shake the woman off and desperately clinging to the rail. Her arms were aching and numb and Lucy didn’t know how much longer she could hold on.
Alec,
her mind screamed.
Help me!
But he wasn’t here and she could hear the violent charging of the surf below as it slammed itself into the rocks. If she let go, Alec wouldn’t have anything to bury. Just when she had resigned herself to dying, she felt something grab her hand and looked up. Her eyes couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

             
It was Rudy!

             
“Rudy!” she gasped. “I’m slipping!”

             
“Hang on, kiddo!” he grunted and began to haul her up. But Corinne had spied him and began laughing, tugging at Lucy’s feet again and making her slip from his grasp.

             
“I thought Phil sent you to hell, old man!” she snarled, pulling at Lucy with all her might and making her scream as she slipped lower. “Well, you can’t have her. She’s mine!”

             
“Let go, Corinne!” Rudy pleaded, and pulled hard on Lucy’s hand. “It won’t bring Timmy back.”

             
“No, but I’ll have the satisfaction of knowing you’ve lost her.”

             
“Don’t you think I don’t know what you went through? What
all
of you went through? The holdout was some crazy woman who fell in love with him. If it hadn’t been for her, there wouldn’t have been a second trial.”

             
“Doesn’t matter!” Corinne screamed and yanked hard on Lucy. “If you’d told everyone what he was capable of, I’d still have my Timmy!”

             
“No one believed how sick he was.” Rudy tugged as hard as he could on Lucy, who was fast losing her grip.

             
“Rudy!” she gasped helplessly. “Tell Alec… I love him.”