Stone Cross by Marc Cameron

Author:Marc Cameron [Cameron, Marc]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mystery
ISBN: 9781496727329
Google: 2eP7xgEACAAJ
Amazon: B07R6P9BRJ
Goodreads: 49344699
Publisher: Kensington Books
Published: 2020-03-30T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 22

Sarah Mead’s shoulders felt as if they’d been wrenched off her body. Her hips were on fire from the pressure of the hard bed. As she was on her side, her head lolled, straining the muscles in her neck. She’d lapsed in and out of consciousness ever since glimpsing the toes of David’s boots. She would wake up in a sort of painful oblivion and then the memories came flooding back. Bitter, gut-wrenching sobs wracked her body until she couldn’t breathe. Overwhelmed and in shock, she’d pass out to repeat the process over and over. Awake again, she tried to blink away the agony of betrayal, worse even than the physical pain of her shattered teeth and injured jaw.

There were two of them. She’d been able to suss out that much, even blind and deaf. She could smell David’s body wash, but there was someone else too, someone more musky, like he needed to put on deodorant. This made no sense. How could her husband be involved? Why had they taken her? And why were they now keeping her alive? Her family had no money to speak of. David knew that. Why hadn’t he just killed her if he wanted her dead?

Her mind on fire, she rolled over, wobbling on her bound hands at the small of her back, bucking her hips to thrash like a beached fish. She screamed, past caring.

“Daawiid!”

Something slammed into her thigh. A barked command followed, too muffled to understand.

Stunned but not deterred by the blow, she screamed again, louder now, like a child having a tantrum, completely undone. At least she was getting a reaction. Maybe they would just kill her and this would be over.

“Daawwiid!”

A shadow loomed over the top of her, nose to nose. She could smell the sickening sweetness of chewing tobacco on rancid breath.

“Hey!” A cruel hand grabbed her by the jaw and squeezed.

She froze, despite the unbearable pain. “Shut your mouth,” he said, in a gravel hiss brimming with savagery and hate. “Or I’ll nail it shut.”

The hand held her this way for what seemed like forever, thumb and fingers cruelly gripping her jaw, grinding the inside of her cheeks against her teeth. Her body went limp, her mind reeling. Blackness crept in from the edges of her consciousness, but for some reason, she didn’t pass out.

A second voice boomed, somewhere in the distance. The cruel hand relaxed, slowly, reluctantly, finally letting her slip away.

She scrambled backward, but the log walls trapped her on the narrow bed. She barely had time to catch her breath before a shadow fell over her face again. “Relax,” a voice said, this one deeper, more precise. It wasn’t David, nor was it the tobacco chewer.

She shuddered, wincing at the pain even this small movement caused her damaged teeth. Her head lolled, too heavy for her neck. There were three of them? Why? What was happening to her? She broke into uncontrollable sobs.

“Stop,” the deep voice said. “You’ll break a rib.”

A hand pressed on her shoulder, almost gently, then coaxed her to the end of the bed and helped her to her feet.

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