What kind of condition was Sam in? "How are you, honey?"
"Sick."
Zoe drew a deep, steadying breath. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
"I wanna go home."
"We'll go home, baby. We just...we need to get help."
"He's crazy," she said on a sob. "He's going to kill us!"
"Not if we don't give up. Can you get out of the car?"
Nothing.
"Sam?"
"No."
"Can you roll down the window? Push the button that'll release the lid of the trunk? Anything?"
"My hands are--" she hiccuped "--tied."
"Can you scream, baby? Draw some attention? We'll both scream together. You ready?"
"It won't do...any good, Mom. No one...else is here, except...except the clerk in the minimart, and...he'll never hear us."
Of course he wouldn't. Colin wouldn't have stopped here if there was any risk of being caught.
"Where's he taking us?" Zoe asked.
"I don't know. Someplace called by a--a man's name."
"You've never heard of it before?"
Another hiccup. "No."
"What about his cell phone? Did he leave it behind?"
"Yes, but...I--I can't reach it. And it's a--a BlackBerry. I don't...know how to work it."
"You gotta try, baby. Use your feet, your mouth, anything."
There was a long silence.
"Sam?"
"He's coming!"
Chapter 36
Sam stared out the window as Colin got into the car. She'd nearly had to choke herself in order to do it, but she'd managed to reach his BlackBerry with her mouth. She'd even pressed some random buttons using her chin.
Apparently, it'd been enough to call somebody because she could hear a tinny voice saying, "Hello?...Hello?"
Lucky for her, Colin was too preoccupied to hear it above the crackling of the sack he dropped at her feet. He put his soda in the cup holder and started the car without even glancing at the phone on the console.
Sam wanted to cry out for help, but she couldn't explain where they were, and as soon as she spoke, Colin would disconnect the call. If whoever it was called back, he'd say it was a joke or cover in some other way. He was too good a liar for one crazy call to give him any problems.
So how could she get the person on the other end of the line to help them?
Now that her mother was so close, she felt a huge surge of energy, of hope, despite the situation. They'd been through tough times before. They'd get out of this. Somehow.
"Colin?" She prayed whoever it was wouldn't hang up.
"What?"
"Where...are we?"
He was in a particularly foul mood this afternoon. Probably because of his nose. It was swollen and kept bleeding. And it made him talk funny.
"In the mountains."
That wouldn't tell the person on the phone anything. "Where are we...going?"
He scowled at his reflection in the rearview mirror and gingerly touched his nose. "What is this, Twenty Questions? I thought you were sick."
Samantha had never felt worse in her life, even that time she stayed home from school with the flu and barfed for three days straight. But she had her mother back now. That was worth fighting for. "Are you going to...to kill us?"
"What do you think?"
She purposely avoided glancing at the phone. "I think you are."
"Someone has to pay for this." He motioned toward his injured face.
She wished he was more badly hurt. "You...already...killed Rover, right?"
"Shut up," he groused. "I don't want to talk about Rover. I don't want to talk at all. I can barely breathe."
Struggling to bear up under the weakness and fatigue, Sam closed her eyes. "Why do you...why do you do it?"
"Because I like it, that's why."
She couldn't hear that voice on the phone anymore. Had whoever it was hung up? Please, no..."I thought...I thought a lawyer who worked for...what's the name of that place?"
"Scovil, Potter & Clay. They're one of the most powerful firms in Sacramento."
"Right, I remember." How could she forget? He talked about it all the time. You'd think he'd won the freakin' lottery the day they hired him.
"...Aren't you...afraid of going to prison?"
"Nope."
"Why not?"
"Because that'll never happen."
Keep talking. She had no idea if it was helping, but it was her only chance. She had to get him to divulge as many details as possible. Maybe the person on the phone would call the police. "How do you know...they won't...catch you?"
"Because they're not smart enough to put it all together."
"You told me...you said you killed your..." She was so dizzy. What had she been saying?
His father. That was it. "...your father."
"So what if I did?"
"I guess...that means...you'd kill anyone."
He didn't respond.
What else could she talk about? "Where's Tiffany?" she asked.
"She'd better be at the cabin, telling the police what I told her to say."
"Does she always do...exactly what you tell her?"
"Of course."
"Why?"
He laughed. "Because she doesn't have the self-confidence to do anything but follow my lead."
Sam felt herself slipping toward unconsciousness. She'd already given everything she had. "What...what would happen if...if she didn't obey?"
His answer didn't surprise Sam. "I'd kill her."
"Don't you...love her?"
"She's just a piece of ass," he said and turned on the radio.
What she'd overheard a minute ago hurt so badly Tiffany couldn't breathe. Dropping her cell phone, she clutched at her chest and must've swerved into the next lane, because a car coming up on the right side honked and nearly ran her off the road. She'd almost crashed, but she didn't care. She wanted to die. Without Colin, she had no one. Not her mother, who hadn't wanted her anyway. Not her brother, who'd cared more about revenge than sticking around for her. Not the lousy kids who'd made fun of her in high school.
...I'd kill her....
...Don't you love her...?
...She's just a piece of ass....
Surely Colin hadn't meant those words. He was putting on a show. He did that sometimes, liked to shock people.
But deep down, Tiffany knew she was just making more excuses, the same kinds of excuses she made for him whenever he disappointed her. It was easier to do that than face the truth, but right now the truth was staring her right in the eyes and she could no longer deny it. He was self-destructing and taking her down with him, and he didn't even care.