Page 2 of Defenseless
And her mother.
Tied to a chair in the middle of the room, Emer Houseman’s body listed to the side. Her head dangled against her shoulder, and her hair fell across her face.
It would have been so much better if they’d walked in on their mom having sex.
Because this…this was so much worse. This was something her brain grasped but everything inside her rejected.
Violently.
A keening wail filled the room. Bela recognized it as her voice but not where it had come from or how she could stop it. Her mother was dead, and Kevin Jacobs had killed her. It couldn’t be…but it was.
Kevin’s head whipped up, the movement pulling Bela’s gaze from her mother’s body to the man responsible. She was wading through emotions, so many emotions, that she couldn’t move. Not even when she saw the glint of calculation in Kevin’s eyes.
“Run!” Nala said. Not letting go of her hand, Nala pulled her away. Bela jerked as she spun, and her phone fell to the hardwood floor and skittered off to the side. She couldn’t recall if she’d hit Call or not. She didn’t know if help was on the way. If someone would come to stop Kevin.
And she didn’t have time to think about it, because her sister was dragging her through the house. Seconds later, they burst through the kitchen door and out into the night. Leaping down the steps, they landed in their backyard and kept going.
Behind them, Kevin’s feet slapped heavily on the porch then hit the grass. He might be an adult, but she and Nala were runners. Four years of cross-country and track kicked in, and before she knew it—before she even comprehended why they were running—the two of them were flying across the yard and into the woods.
They ran and ran, leaping over roots and logs and ducking under branches. Once again, she was grateful they’d worn tennis shoes. Not exactly running shoes, but they could run in anything that didn’t have a heel.
Blindly, she followed her sister as they flew past familiar landmarks and weaved on and off trails she knew like the back of her hand. By the time Nala slowed to a walk, she had no idea how much time had passed. Both were breathing hard, sucking in air, but Nala kept them moving. A few minutes later, and without question, Bela followed her into the creek that ran along the east side of town. They navigated their way upstream, staying in the middle of the flow as much as possible. In the few spots where it got too deep, they hugged the edges but remained at least calf-deep in the water.
They slogged their way north for twenty minutes before Bela stopped.
“Bela?”
Bela held up a hand to stop the questions. She and her sister had been at the diner with their friends before they’d come home. It seemed that not only was her mind rebelling against the events of the night, her body was, too. Turning away, she leaned over. Everything she’d eaten earlier that night came up, flowing away with the current.
Nala’s hand came to rest on her back, slowly stroking along her spine. When there was nothing left, she remained bent, catching her breath. Then, tentatively, she dipped her hands into the cold water and brought them to her face. The thought occurred to her that she shouldn’t use the creek water to rinse her mouth. But then she remembered her mother was dead—murdered—and none of it seemed to matter.
Filling her mouth, she swished the water around and spit it out. Then she did it again. Staring at the current, she had the urge to just lie down. It wasn’t deep enough to carry her anywhere, but maybe, if she immersed herself, it would wash over her face and nose. Maybe it could take away the pain of the night. The pain her body, and her heart, were beginning to acknowledge.
“Don’t,” Nala said from beside her. “It won’t solve anything, and she wouldn’t want it.”
Again, her sister was right. But what did it matter what their mother would want? She was no longer with them.
A sob tore from her soul, and she spun. Nala was there. Nala was always there. The sisters clung to each other in the middle of the creek and cried. They didn’t have the time to give in to the grief that was swallowing them. But they could take this one moment.
When they pulled away from each other, Bela brushed her hair from her face and glanced around. “Where are we?”
“I think we’re a couple of miles outside of town,” Nala answered. “I’ve never been this way, but I think that’s where we are.”
Bela turned and looked at their surroundings. Dark forest hugged the creek bed, but to her right, she could see a break in the woods and a glimpse of a rolling pasture. “You have a plan.” Not a question. She knew her sister did.
“We’ll go to Chrissy’s. This creek runs alongside the back of their property.”
Bela frowned. “But Chrissy’s….” And then she understood.
“Exactly,” Nala said. Chrissy and her parents were in Europe for three weeks. A graduation present for their youngest daughter. Nala and Bela had grown up with her and been in and out of her house since they were old enough to walk. They knew where the spare key was and knew the family hadn’t hired any house sitters. The property also had the added benefit of sitting well off the road on one hundred acres. There’d be no risk of being seen if they hid there.
Bela looked upstream, trying to calculate how far they had to go. She didn’t think she’d get any sleep tonight, but exhaustion was weighing her body down.
“You don’t think we should go to the police?” she asked.
Nala shook her head. “Kevin Jacobs is the state’s attorney general,” she responded, reminding Bela of the man’s position. “And the chief of police is his brother. I’m not saying we shouldn’t ever go to the police, but I think we need to understand what’s going on before we do. I don’t know if Chief Jacobs is corrupt or if he would cover for his brother. But I also don’t know that he isn’t or wouldn’t. If he does, then it’s their word against ours and…”
“What?”
