“You should not lie,” she said.
“I haven’t.”
“Yes, you have. My son is not with you. That’s not possible. That is a lie designed to distract me from my purpose.”
“You know that he’s here,” Lynn said. “It wasn’t a coincidence that he walked out of a motel room at three in the morning. He’s his mother’s son. Tell me this-did he help kill his own wife? Did she try to stop you; did she know too much?”
Violet gave a small shake of her head, but it didn’t appear to be a denial of the statement so much as a desire to push it aside.
“I can’t hear stories like this,” she said. “Not today. Of all days, not today.”
Lynn looked confused. “What’s the point of the game?” she said. “Why are you pretending? We both know the truth. I came here with him, and he set me up. I know it, and you know it.”
Sabrina didn’t think Lynn sounded entirely confident about that. The words said one thing, her tone another.
“If this is real,” Violet said, “tell me something about him. Something that all your data theft and eavesdropping wouldn’t provide. You aren’t able to do that, are you?”
Lynn glanced at Sabrina. Lynn’s face was still perplexed, but she also seemed to want to rise to the challenge.
“He’s your son,” she said. “I don’t know anything about him that you don’t.”
“Exactly.” Violet stepped back, pleased. She ran her palms over her jeans like she was dusting herself off, then turned and stepped toward the door, but she wavered like a drunk trying to walk a straight line. She was halfway across the room when Lynn spoke.
“He still listens to the chant music.”
Sabrina had no idea what she was talking about, but Violet looked like she’d touched that electrified fence.
“I think he hates that he loves it,” Lynn said, “because it reminds him of you. Of a place called Medicine Wheel? Does that mean something to you?”
A tremor worked through Violet’s face. She didn’t speak. Lynn let the silence build, and Sabrina felt an excruciating need to break it, to shout at both of them. Very slowly, the older woman turned to Lynn.
“What does he think happened to his wife?” she asked.
Lynn hesitated. “What he tells people is that Garland Webb killed her.”
Violet returned, the lantern bobbing in her hand, tossing light. She moved in a rush, dropping to her knees at Lynn’s side.
“Garland is only a suspect, a product of lies. They moved her body, your people did, all a lie, all to stop us. You know that, all of your people trade in lies, imprison innocents over lies, go to war over lies, build empires over lies! She was never in Cassadaga!”
Lynn’s voice was a half whisper when she said, “I’ve seen the photos, Violet. She died in a ditch in Cassadaga. Her blood was fresh and her car engine was warm. Nobody moved her there.”
“That is exactly what Eli told me you would say!”
“That’s because Eli is shithouse crazy.”
“Don’t you say that!” Violet leaned closer, her eyes wild and glittering in the light, her finger extended, pointing in Lynn’s face. “What he hears from the earth is the truth, and I will not be told-”
Lynn Deschaine moved in a blur of speed so fast Sabrina didn’t even see her first strike, only the result-Violet’s head snapping upward, whiplashed by a blow under the chin. The second strike was a kick that caught her on the side of the head and knocked her into the wall.
She was unconscious when she fell.
“Got a little too close, bitch,” Lynn Deschaine said. Then she reached for Violet with her free hand, only to be brought up short by her chain. She turned to Sabrina.
“Help!”
Sabrina was staring at her in shock. When they had discussed their plan of escape, Lynn had made no mention of what was now obvious-she was trained in some kind of martial arts.
And she was very fast.
“Keys!” Lynn hissed. “Get her damn keys!”
Sabrina finally went into motion, stretching out to grab Violet’s arm. She tugged her forward and Violet moaned softly but didn’t move. Lynn saw the keys in her hip pocket, pulled them free, fumbled at the cuff around her wrist, and promptly dropped the keys. Before Sabrina could reach for them, they were in Lynn’s hand, and Lynn had her cuff off, and then, in another blur of speed, she rolled Violet over and fastened it to her wrist and clamped the cuff shut.
That fast, the captor had become the captive.
“Hold still,” Lynn said, and then she unlocked Sabrina’s cuff and removed first the end in the bolt in the wall, then the one around her wrist.
They were free.
“My God,” Sabrina said. “How did you do that?”
“I just needed to get her close, but I wasn’t sure how. I guess Mark works well for that.” She paused. “I don’t know what to believe about him. Not anymore.” Then she shook her head, got to her feet, and helped Sabrina to hers. When they were standing, she didn’t loosen her grip on Sabrina’s arm, but tightened it to a nearly painful level. Her eyes seared into Sabrina’s.
“Are you ready?”
Sabrina could only nod.
Lynn handed her the cuffs. “Then let’s get out of here.”
As Violet moaned behind them, they went to the door. Lynn found the right key without difficulty, ratcheted the dead bolts back. She hesitated then, the first and only hesitation she’d shown in the astounding sequence; she’d been so competent, so confident. Now she looked unsure, and Sabrina understood why-everything beyond the door was unknown.
“Straight to the fence,” Lynn said. “Run straight and run fast. Then when it comes to the fence…”
She looked over her shoulder, and Sabrina nodded. The cuff that had become so familiar around her wrist felt strange in her palm.
“I’ll take care of the fence,” she said. Her voice was confident. Her heart wasn’t.
Lynn’s chest rose and fell with a deep breath. “Okay. Once we’re over the fence, just run like hell. We’ll try to stay together, but…if there’s shooting, then we’ll separate.”
If there’s shooting. Sabrina felt bile rise in her throat and swallowed it down.
“Okay,” she said.
Lynn squeezed her arm again, then pulled the door open.
Sabrina was ready for anything-guards, gunfire, Eli Pate looming in the doorway. Instead, there was only a wide-open expanse leading down to the fence. No one was in sight.
“Run,” Lynn whispered.
Sabrina ran. The stiff and wooden muscles didn’t slow her. Pure terror overpowered the aches, driving her forward. If anything, she felt too fast, as if her speed would send her tumbling down the hill. She reached the fence several strides ahead of Lynn and pulled up short-just short, almost colliding with it.
The electrified hum was louder here. She stared at those exposed copper wires, remembering the explosive impact of her first attempt. Beside her, Lynn was breathing heavily but didn’t speak.
The copper strands were held in place by brackets that protruded maybe two inches away from the fence, providing a small gap that would allow the cuffs to hook and hold. It was not much space. But it could be enough, if her toss was accurate.
Two live wires, Sabrina. Bridge them with a conductor and you will cause a fault. It will work, it will work, it will work.
And make that toss count.
Sabrina adjusted the handcuffs so she was holding them spread as wide as the chain would allow. It was long enough. If she hit it right, it was long enough to bridge the two lines. Just a matter of-
Lynn said, “He sees us. He’s coming.”
Sabrina looked back and saw Garland Webb behind the cabin, in the direction of the pole yard. He started running.