While You Slept by R. J. Parker

Author:R. J. Parker
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2020-04-29T17:00:00+00:00

Chapter 34

Lily tried to restrain the colliding emotions she felt and reached out to stroke Maisie’s hair. What could she tell her? ‘He was only saying that to make you do what he wanted.’

‘But I thought … we had to do what he wanted.’

Lily nodded. ‘Right now we do. And you did the right thing.’ Lily wanted to scream at the camera. But she had to know. ‘What else did you do?’

‘He made me sit on a stool. It was tall. My feet couldn’t touch the ground.’

Lily’s face was hot, and it felt like she might suffocate. ‘Did he … when he was nearby … did he put his hand on you?’

Maisie nodded once. ‘He lifted me off the stool and stood me on the floor. He took the cloth off my head and I was looking at the wall. He put his hand on the back of my head.’

For the photo. ‘And what happened after that?’

‘He put the cloth back on me and lifted me onto the stool again. Told me not to move or …’ Maisie started crying.

‘OK, you don’t have to go on.’ But Lily wondered if she should get it all out now, while it was still clear in her head. ‘Let me get you a tissue.’

‘He said he’d hurt you.’ Maisie’s chest pumped out the words. ‘That I’d never … see you … again.’

Hatred for him burnt at Lily’s core. She touched Maisie’s cheek. ‘But you can see now, he was making all that up. I’m here, he hasn’t hurt me. And I’m not about to let him hurt either of us. He’s like that horrible boy who picked on you your first day of school. They were just cruel words.’

‘But he … took me.’ Tears ran down Maisie’s face. ‘And … you couldn’t … help me!’

‘Ssshhh, ssshhh.’ She didn’t want him to hear this. Didn’t want him to know how helpless it made her feel. ‘He wouldn’t dare hurt you.’ She realised her voice had risen. She dropped it to a whisper again. ‘Wouldn’t dare. That’s why he let you come back to me.’ She gently wiped the tears from Maisie’s eyes with her fingers. ‘And now he knows how strong you are too.’

‘I just want to go home.’ The words barely grazed Maisie’s throat.

‘So do I. And we will. But sometimes nasty things happen. The sorts of things that make us realise how lucky we are to have each other.’ Lily needed to know about the rest of the time her daughter had been away from her. ‘Do you remember him taking you from here?’

Maisie shook her head.

‘What was the very first thing you remember?’

‘I woke up … and I was in a different room.’

‘What then?’ But what had happened when she’d been asleep or drugged? How many hours did that account for?

‘I called for you.’ Even wrapped up in a whisper, Maisie’s voice was suddenly small.

‘What did the room look like?’

‘It wasn’t a bedroom. It was cold and … empty and dirty.’ Maisie’s sobs were dwindling now.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.