Chapter 24
CHAPTER 24
S uzi refused to give up hope. Even though it was getting harder to hold on. Deke would be here any minute. He had to be. Her job was to stay alive until he did. She could do that. At least, she hoped she could.
They’d made it to Deke’s house. She’d snuck a glance across the street, but it looked like Breezy and Gage were at Defenses. Life was funny like that. One person’s day could be perfectly normal, while the person across the street could be falling apart.
How her day would end was yet to be determined.
Reaching the front door, she’d stalled for time by typing in the wrong alarm code twice. If she did it a third time, a siren would start blaring, and she wasn’t sure if that was a good idea or not. When sirens blared, people tended to come out of their houses to see what was going on. Innocent people might get hurt. She couldn’t do that.
So, the third time, she typed the alarm in correctly. The General forced her inside and locked the door.
They moved to the counter in the kitchen. The General took out a notebook and pen and set them in front of her before cutting the tape binding her wrists. “You are going to write a note. It’s going to explain that in order to get even with the General for imagined crimes against Jaxon Ruick, Deke forced you to write a letter to your mother. This letter contained fabricated information implicating The Society, the office of the District Attorney General, and the Darling Police Department in crimes they didn’t commit. Crimes that were the delusional ramblings of a bitter, angry man. You are going to confess you complied with his wishes in the hopes he would love you, but he did not. He used you and then planned to set you aside.”
“Who is going to believe that?” Suzi demanded. “What about the files from Rickson Everett? Those don’t line up with this letter you want me to write.”
“You mean Rickson Everett, psychopath, serial killer, and all around evil crazy guy? I see your point. Who would possibly believe a duly elected and honored District Attorney rather than him? Everyone, that’s who.”
“I think you’ve been reading your own press too much,” she said.
She needed to keep him talking to give Deke time to get there. Picking up the pen, she began to write. Of course, she messed up the first several times she tried, misspelling simple words and skipping lines.
Then she made mistakes for real because the General pulled out a long rope and began fashioning an old-fashioned hangman’s noose.
Suzi’s hand was soon trembling so badly she could barely pen the words. She was running out of time.
Retreating into her head, she re-lived every moment she’d had with Deke. She would have had a wonderful life with him if everything hadn’t fallen apart.
“All done?” he asked when she had no choice but to lay down her pen. You’d think she’d just finished some pop test in school.
“Well, only if you think it’s good enough. If not, I’d be happy to write it again.”
He frowned at her and snapped, “This is fine. I don’t have all day.”
Well, excuse her for dawdling and putting off her untimely demise.
“Come with me,” he said. He dragged her to the garage. It really was a large space when there weren’t dozens and dozens of stacks of newspapers.
He moved her motorcycle, the one she had never gotten to ride, to the center of the garage, directly under the bar that held the garage door opener in place.
Suzi’s chest began to tighten when he tossed the untied end of the rope over the bar and fed it into the gears that pulled the garage door up when activated.
No, she really didn’t like where this was leading. If Deke was going dash in to save the day, he’d better do it soon. She didn’t think she had much longer.
The General grabbed her wrists and secured them again, this time behind her back. After that, he put another strip of tape over her mouth. “Can’t have you screaming for help.”
The pounding of her heart against her ribs was climbing to a fevered pitch. It was time for her to face the truth. She was never going to see Deke again. Never get to fix all the problems her article had caused.
“I want you to know this is nothing personal. It’s Dickson’s fault, really. If he hadn’t sent you those damn files, we wouldn’t even be here. I can’t allow his need for petty revenge to thwart the plans I’ve had in place for so long. I wish there was another way, but there’s not. So…”
He pushed the button to open the garage door. Suzi watched in detached fascination as the rope snaked inch by inch around the gears. The teeth bit into the fibers of the hemp, securing them in place.
For a while, she didn’t believe it would ever really tighten enough to cut off her beating. It was like so many other macabre things in life. She was terrified, no, horrified, but she couldn’t look away.
With each passing second, the slack in the rope ebbed away. At first, all she felt was a slight pressure of the rope against her throat. But much too soon, the rope began to bite into the tender flesh of her neck.
It was like walking a tightrope. She was on her tiptoes now. She shouldn’t have refused those ballet lessons her mother wanted her to take as a child. Being able to stand on pointed toes would come in handy about now.
And then the inevitable happened. She twisted wrong somehow and lost her footing on the seat of the motorcycle. She supposed she was lucky to have slid off in such an easy, fluid motion.
But then air ceased to exist for her. It was an odd sensation to be making the correct motions with her throat. Her lungs were certainly doubling down on their effort. But the pressure of the rope now cutting into her skin would let nothing pass.
Black dots, tiny at first but growing larger with every heartbeat, swelled before her eyes until the blackness was all she could see.
She pictured squeezing Deke in a tight embrace, so tight she could hardly breathe. His muscular arms always made her feel safe. They filled her with such peace and comfort. It was good he was finally here. She was right, he did make everything better.
Fire burned in her lungs. As the world around her faded away, she could almost hear Deke’s loving voice say, “Little Help?”
She giggled. It figured her final vision wouldn’t be filled with flowery words of romance, but her big, strong Deke needing help? That would never happen.