Chapter 42
FORTY-TWO
Lock lurched forward, arms outstretched. “Mina,” he said.
I shook my head. None of this could be real. Corrine lay at my feet, bleeding from her nose. She looked pale, her body twisted at a wrong angle. He killed her. She would have killed me.
Lock took a step backward and leaned against the wall. He had trouble standing. He slid partway down the wall.
I felt as if my legs were encased in cement. I couldn’t move. Couldn’t go to him. I needed to call the police.
“Baby,” he said.
I was in a waking nightmare. As if the last two years had been some sort of dream. This was Lock. My Lock. Only his eyes looked hooded, unfocused. I reached down and picked up the knife Corrine dropped when Lock had struck her.
“Did she hurt you?” he asked.
I felt a strange sensation, like a vacuum pull dislodging something from my head. Every part of my body screamed out in agony as I took a step toward Lock. When I touched his shoulder, he rallied and stood upright.
He was real. Flesh and blood. He was here. He put an arm around me, leaning against me for support as we walked down the backstairs together.
“I can’t,” he gasped. He practically crashed through the solarium door and plopped down on the nearest chair.
“What happened?” he said. “What has she done?”
I looked behind me toward the stairs.
“Where are you hurt?” I said.
“I didn’t think she was capable of this,” he said, shaking his head. “I didn’t think she’d do this.”
“Lock, I have to call an ambulance,” I said.
He reached for me, feeling along my shoulders, my head, as if he were trying to convince himself I was real. He shook his head. My brain and heart were at war. I wanted to pull him into my arms. I wanted to wash away the last few months. But I couldn’t unsee what I’d seen.
“I tried to stop her,” he said. “This isn’t what I wanted. I thought I could talk her out of it.”
“What are you talking about? Are you with her? Are you really with her? Those things you said. The divorce papers.”
Lock’s eyes went in and out of focus. He clung to me as if he thought he might drift away if he didn’t. I wasn’t so sure he was wrong.
“Mina,” he said. “Listen to me. I don’t know what she’s told you. I don’t know what she’s done. I thought I had it all under control.”
“Lock,” I said, more forcefully. I shook him slightly. “What are you talking about? I have to call for help. I don’t know if she’s dead.”
“She’s out of her mind,” he said. “I didn’t think she was capable of all this. Of hurting you. I knew she needed help. I should have told you about her.”
“You’re Matt Woodson,” I said. I wanted to hear it from him. “You’re involved with her. You knew what she was doing. You lied to me.”
He dropped his chin to his chest. “You have to let me explain. I didn’t know what she was. She twisted it all. She hurt you. She was going to kill you. Baby… I tried to get to you. I thought I could keep her from you. She put something in my drink. She’s crazy. Don’t you see that?”
His words slurred. He started to lean sideways, about to take me down with him.
“Stand up,” I said. “Lock, don’t go to sleep. You have to stand up and walk. I’m calling an ambulance. I’m calling the police.”
With my help, he got to his feet. He let go of me and walked ahead of me into the kitchen. “I need a glass of water,” he said. I went to the sink and threw the knife in it. I opened the cupboard and took out a glass.
He turned to me, bracing himself against the counter. “I love you,” he whispered. “You’re my life, Mina. I’m not with her. She’s lying.” I stepped away from the sink and moved toward him.
Before I could get to him, Lock’s whole body arched forward from the waist and went rigid. I heard the thwack afterward. The light went out of Lock’s eyes and he crumpled to the ground, staring sightlessly at the opposite wall. I watched in horror as blood began to pool under his head.
Corrine stood over him. She’d struck him with the butt of a pistol. It was Lock’s, the one he kept on the dresser upstairs. She raised it again as she looked down at Lock, then at me. We both screamed together.
I don’t remember turning. I don’t remember deciding where to go.
The next thing I knew, I was running for my life through Lock’s rose garden, past his grandmother’s mermaid fountain, down the stone steps that led to the beach.
My feet hit the sand. Part of me wanted to leap into the vast lake and keep going until I reached the end of the horizon.
Lock’s lifeless face swam before me. His glazed eyes would haunt me for the rest of my life. She killed him. She killed him. And now, she meant to kill me.
Corrine was right behind me. I could still hear her screams. I could feel her hot breath on the back of my neck. She was possessed with rage. With vengeance. With a darkness I could never comprehend. I braced for the gunshot that never came.
But she had me, throwing the full weight of her body on top of mine. She pushed me to the ground face-first. Sand filled my nose and mouth, choking me. I flailed as hard as I could, trying to throw her off my back. But it was no use. The waves came in and I was submerged.
Somehow, I was on my back, looking up at Corrine’s face through the water. I tried to hold my breath. She was going to drown me. I saw Lock’s face. He held a hand out to me. Complete calm settled over me. It would have been so easy to just go to him, even though I knew the vision wasn’t real.
But my body rebelled as the water filled my throat. I brought my knee up as hard as I could. It landed between Corrine’s legs, knocking her off balance for the instant I needed.
She clawed at me as I stumbled to my feet. I kicked back, choking, sputtering as I struggled to expel the water from my lungs. But somehow, I got my legs under me and ran again.
I screamed. Someone had to hear me. I knew how well sound carried along the water. From the corner of my eye, I saw Corrine still kneeling at the water’s edge. I put as much distance between us as I could. I vaulted up the steps heading back to the house. I heard screaming but kept moving.
I got to the door at the back of the garage. I tried to turn the knob. It was locked. There was no other entry to the house on this side.
She was coming. I could feel it. Maybe I should have kept running down the beach. But if she caught up with me. If she overpowered me again… did she still have the gun?
“Mina!” she shrieked. I turned. Corrine had just gotten to the top of the steps. She was weaker this time. Her steps faltered.
“Stop,” she said. The rage seemed to have gone out of her. “Please.”
To get to the garden and back into the house, I’d have to run past her. There was nothing behind me but a locked door and fifty yards of sand dunes. I looked for a weapon. There were rocks on the ground. I picked up the largest I could fit in one hand and took a step toward her.
She smiled. She reached behind her and grabbed something out of the waistband of her jeans. That’s when I saw the gun. Blood poured from an ugly gash in her temple. She had to be running on pure adrenaline.
“You’re hurt,” I said. “We need to call an ambulance.”
“How could Lock say those things about me? I’m not crazy. He loves me. He’s lying to you.”
I held my hands up. There was nothing to hide behind. I could run, but she’d have a clear shot at me.
“I know,” I said, changing tactics. She had every opportunity to shoot but hadn’t taken it. Maybe there was still hope. “I’m sorry. I should have listened to you. I’ll do what you say. Lock isn’t who I thought he was either.”
She shook her head and aimed the gun at me. I saw her pull the trigger in my mind’s eye. What would it feel like to be shot? What if her aim wasn’t good? What if she didn’t kill me outright? Strange things go through your mind when you’re staring down the barrel of a gun, it seems.
“He loves you,” I tried again. “He thought I was going to hurt him. He was just saying what he thought I wanted to hear. You were right, Corrine. I’ll leave.”
“He said I was crazy. Why would he say that? I’m not crazy. He’s wrong. PJ and Sylvie are wrong.”
I took a step forward. Corrine put both hands on the gun. I froze.
“You have everything,” she said. “You don’t even know it. You can write a check for anything you want. You don’t know what it’s like to be poor. I bet your parents did everything for you. Came to all your recitals or games or whatever you were good at. You can’t have Lock too.”
“No,” I said. “My life isn’t what you think it is. My parents are dead, Corrine. A horrible mistake. One I’ve lived with my whole life. I know what it’s like to wish you could undo the past. Don’t you understand? I don’t have anyone. Lock is my only family.”
“He’s mine!” she shrieked.
“Please let me help you,” I said.
“I don’t want your help. You don’t know what I’ve been through for him. Do you know what he wanted to do to Lock? What he’d still do if he could. He wanted me to hurt Lock. Oh God, forgive me. Now I have. He knew I had it in me. I broke my promise.”
He?
“Who, Corrine? Who wants to hurt you? Who wanted to hurt Lock?”
She shook her head violently. “I’d never let him. Never. I told him I was done. I told him I’d tell everyone who he was if he ever tried to hurt Lock. I kept all my promises.”
“To who, Corrine?”
“He was so jealous. Lock would have done anything for him. But it didn’t matter. I saw into his soul. It was pure black. I didn’t know what he’d do. I swear I didn’t know what he’d do. I just wanted him to leave us alone.”
“I know. You did the best you could.” What was she talking about? Who was she talking about? Was there someone else who had done all the things I thought Corrine had done to me? To Lock?
“He said he’d kill me. I didn’t care. But when he said he’d kill Lock…”
“It’s okay,” I said.
“He’s dead. I killed Lock. I killed him,” she cried. “But he said those awful things. He said I was crazy. I’m not crazy! I just wanted Lock to save me. I just wanted Lock to see what I saw. I wanted to protect him. And I did. Now he’ll never know it. I didn’t mean it.”
What did she want Lock to see? Who did she think she protected Lock from? She raised the gun, aiming straight for my head.
“Come inside, Corrine,” I said. “We can figure this out.”
“It’s too late,” she said. “Lock’s dead because of me. Now I’m dead anyway. I can’t take it back. I want to take it back.” Then she lowered the gun. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion after that. She took a step back. Then another. Then I realized what she was about to do.
“No!” I shouted.
But she took one more step back until she was at the very edge of the bluff. She dropped the gun off the edge. She stretched out both arms as if she were an angel. Then Corrine fell backward into nothingness.