I swore at him in a loud voice. My eyes burned with defiance as I stared back at him, but he just laughed, because he was the one with the gun.
Physically, he’d changed since he’d been away. He’d shaved his bushy mustache, which only made his damaged nose more prominent. His blond hair was shorter. He’d lost the lazy flab he’d put on while he was unemployed, and he looked tough and muscled again. His stomach was taut, his forearms rippling, his fingers thick and strong. But the menace radiating from him hadn’t changed at all.
“I heard you were in Pennsylvania,” I said.
He shrugged. “I was, but only for a month or two. Then I moved on. I figured I’d try the desert for a while. I’ve been working construction in Nevada. There’s good money out there if you don’t pour it all into the slots.”
“So why come back?”
He dragged the barrel of the gun down my neck to my breast. “You and me. We have unfinished business, Bec.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I called a friend in town,” Ricky said. “Just to see what was up. Just to get all the news. Naturally, I asked about you. I wanted to know what was going on with my wife. He told me about that.”
Ricky moved the gun lower, until it pointed into the swell of my abdomen. He pushed the barrel in hard, making you kick. I felt my breathing coming harder and faster, terror and fury rolling together like the swirl of ocean waves. He slid the hammer back, cocking it. I didn’t doubt for a second that he would pull the trigger. Shooting me, shooting my daughter, would mean nothing to him.
“Who will it look like?” Ricky asked me.
It. Like you were an alien. Like you weren’t a person at all.
“Who will the kid look like?” he asked again. “Like I don’t already know.”
“Me,” I spat at him, while I squirmed on the sofa. “She will look exactly like me. Not you. Definitely not you.”
“Are you saying the kid’s not mine?” he asked, poking at my stomach with the gun again. “Is that what you’re telling me? Then why don’t you just admit that you’re a whore? You had it coming, Bec. I gave you what you deserved.”
“Get out, Ricky. Get out of here, and go back to the desert. As soon as Darrell sees you, he’ll put you in prison where you belong.”
“Yeah? You think I’d be convicted of anything because I slapped you around a little? A wife cheats on her husband, he’s entitled to payback. Put any man on the jury, and he’ll see things my way.”
“Get. Out!”
Ricky removed the gun from my belly. He undid the hammer and slipped the revolver inside his belt. Then, reaching out with the swiftness of a snake, he pinched my face until I had to cry from the pain.
“I’m not going anywhere. I’m here to stay, Bec. This is my house. You’re my wife, and you’re carrying my baby. You may as well get used to the idea. You’re going to get the charges dropped. That’s the first thing. I don’t care what you tell Darrell, but you let him know that if he sees me, all he’s going to do is smile and say ‘Welcome home, Ricky.’ And then you and me are going back to church. You’re going to apologize to God for your sins and make a new vow to obey me. Got it? I’m going to move back in here, and I’m going to sleep in our bed again, and you’re going to spread those pretty legs of yours for me every single night.”
He let go of my face. “Understand? Tell me you understand.”
I worked the stiffness out of my jaw and snarled at him. “I’ll never take you back. It’s never going to happen.”
He sat down heavily in the chair again. “Oh, yes, it will. Soon enough, you’ll beg to take me back. Do you think I can’t hurt you? You’re wrong. I’m the one with all the power here. Look at me, Rebecca. I can take everything away from you whenever I want. I can take away your life. I can take away your baby. And there’s nothing you can do to stop me.”
My hands curled into fists. My aching jaw clenched down, my teeth biting together. My nostrils flared as air pumped in and out of my nose. I wished I could spring off that sofa, fly across the room, and wrap my fingers around his neck. But all I could do was sit there, not moving. He snickered at my weakness and then got up and headed to the hallway that led out of the house.
When he got to the doorway, he looked back.
“Remember what I said,” he warned me. “You’re mine, Bec. You always will be. The sooner you accept that, the easier it will go for you. I own you. I’ve owned you from the very beginning.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
“I’ll find him,” Darrell said, trying to reassure me. “There’s no way that son of a bitch can hide from me.”
Darrell rarely swore, which told me how upset he was. I was pretty sure he’d made Richard Petty time driving to my place after I called him on the phone in my bedroom. He searched the house top to bottom and soon found the window in the basement that Ricky had broken to make his way inside. He nailed it shut with a few pieces of plywood, but we both knew that all Ricky had to do was break a different window next time. Or kick in one of the doors.
I realized that Ricky was right. If he chose to, he could take away my life anytime he wanted, and there was nothing I could do to stop him.
“I’ve alerted everyone to be on the lookout,” Darrell went on. “Every deputy on our team, plus state patrol and cops in the neighboring counties, too. Anyone spots Ricky, they haul him in. I’ve let them know he’s armed and dangerous.”
We sat in the living room of my house. It was midmorning on what was going to be a cold, bright day. I huddled on the sofa with coffee, and while I kept a calm smile on my face for Darrell’s sake, I felt stress stabbing through my whole body. Plus, a couple of times, a labor pain.
“I’ve got people reaching out to every mine worker to see if he’s been in touch with them,” he continued. “Plus high school friends, drinking buddies, whoever — anyone who knew Ricky when he lived here. He’s got to be staying nearby. Someone knows where he is, or someone has seen him around town. It won’t take us long to track him down.”
I wanted to share Darrell’s confidence, but I knew Ricky. He knew this area inside and out, and he knew every hiding place around the county. If he didn’t want us to find him, we wouldn’t. Not until it was too late.
“Until we lock him up, you’ll stay with me,” Darrell said.
I shook my head. “No. No way.”
“It’s not up for debate. You aren’t staying in this house.”
“All I need is a new gun.”
“I can get you a gun, but I want you out of this place.”
“So I let him chase me out of my own home?” I asked. “He threatens me, and I run away scared? That’s what he wants, Darrell. He’s trying to terrorize me, and I won’t give him the satisfaction.”
“It’s just until we arrest him.”
“I appreciate the offer, but the last thing I’m going to do is put your family at risk. You’ve got Marilyn and the girls to think about.”
“Then you’ll go to a motel,” Darrell said. “You can stay there for a few days while we look for him. No one will know where you are. If there are other people around, it’s less likely that Ricky will want any trouble.”
I sighed. “I can take care of myself.”
“In most circumstances, yes. But right now, I’m sorry, you can’t.”
I couldn’t really fight him about that. So I finally gave in. I packed a bag so that I could be away for several days. Darrell put the suitcase in my trunk, and I followed him to a motel not far from the 126, where he got me a room and insisted on paying for it. I had to admit, it did make me feel better to see other cars in the parking lot and realize that there would be people in the rooms on either side of me. I liked knowing I could get help if I needed it just by shouting.