Deadly Illusions(68)

Emma swallowed the sob bubbling in her throat. “I know that when he finally got around to raping you, it was almost a relief,” she said. “Because that meant, when he was done, he would let you down, or at least you hoped that would be the case.

“And, sometimes he would,” she continued. “Sometimes he would just rape you the one time and be done with you. Then he’d offer you something to eat, maybe even a beer to make you feel better. Then he’d let you go and send you on your way.”

Andrew was watching Emma, fury and fear warring for dominance on his face.

“Other times he would leave you up there,” Emma said. “He would go and make himself a sandwich and have a beer of his own while he watched television a few feet away. All the while you would be hanging there – waiting.

“And you knew,” Emma said. “You knew he would come for you again. And no matter how bad it was, you’d just hang there and hope he’d finish that sandwich and that the beer wouldn’t desensitize him so much that the rape would go on that much longer.”

“How do you know that?” Andrew asked. “I never told anyone that.”

Emma ignored him. “And, even after all of that, you felt guiltier about the times he only raped you once,” she said. “You felt guilty because you took the sandwich – and the beer – and then you went on your way and pretended nothing happened. Those were the times you felt dirtiest.”

“How do you know that?” Andrew hissed, stepping closer.

“Because he did it to me, too.”



FINN heard the entire exchange from his hiding spot. After talking to James, he’d been relieved to hear they had a viable suspect. He’d been on the way outside to tell Emma the good news when he realized it was already too late.

He’d seen Emma and Andrew Wayne talking through the sliding glass doors, recognizing him almost instantaneously. As much as Finn wanted to run right through those doors to get to her, to put himself between her and a mad man, he knew that would be a mistake.

So, instead, he’d exited the apartment through the front door and made the long trek around the building so he could approach them from behind Andrew. Since the day was warmer, the snow was melting, making it soft. Thankfully for Finn, the soft snow didn’t crunch under his boots. He’d been slowly making his way closer, taking refuge behind the central-air conditioning units positioned outside of each apartment, as he listened.

Listening hurt worse than trying to get to her.

Emma hadn’t seen him, Finn was fairly certain of that. She was focused on Andrew. As hard as her words had been to hear, they’d kept Andrew fixated on her and oblivious to what was happening behind him. One more unit – just one more – and he’d be close enough to Andrew to take him down. He just had to wait for his moment.

“He did it to you?” Andrew was incredulous. “He liked boys. He only did it to boys.”

“He did prefer boys,” Emma said. “That doesn’t mean he didn’t do it to me, too. With me it was about power.”

“He said he couldn’t get it up for girls,” Andrew countered. “He said that’s why he had to be with me. He said I was helping him, because otherwise he would go crazy. I was stupid. I believed him. I thought I was somehow special. I thought, even while he was torturing me, that I was somehow special.”

“He’s a liar,” Emma said. “He lies. That’s what he does. If he couldn’t get it up for women, how do you think he managed to father two children?”

Finn cursed internally. Emma was purposely baiting Andrew now. While that kept Andrew fixated on her, it also ran the risk of infuriating him to the point where he would attack her before Finn could get close enough to stop him.

“I didn’t think of that,” Andrew admitted.

“Andrew, my father was a monster,” she said. “He did monstrous things, and he didn’t do them because he was hurt or broken. He did them because he liked to. He’s a sadist. That’s what they do.”

“Why didn’t you tell anyone?”

Emma shrugged. “I kept waiting for my mother or brother to come and save me. I didn’t realize … I didn’t realize that they were both his victims, too.”

Finn crawled forward, his hands digging into the snow. It was cold, almost unbearable, but he had to keep low. Once he was behind the air-conditioning unit closest to Andrew, he paused long enough to shove his hands under his shirt to warm them up, and then he focused on controlling his breathing so Andrew wouldn’t be able to hear it.

“They were his victims? But, in court, your brother denied he ever touched him.”