“So you were a deceitful little thief as well as an ingrate. I don’t know why I ever tried to make something out of a piece of trash like you.”
She licked her trembling lips. “Later on, when I knew a storm was coming up, I decided it was time to do what I had planned. Did you ever wonder why you slept the whole night that night? I put some of my sleeping pills in your coffee. Not so many that you’d really notice, but enough to keep you under until I had gotten away. I was always a good swimmer, remember, Annie?”
Annie nodded, and Susan turned again to Prescott.
“Once I was sure you were asleep, I put the boat in toward the coast a bit. When we were about two miles out, I turned it back toward open water and slipped over the side. I had made myself a little packet of clothes and shoes that I put in a waterproof bag I had also gotten at the pawnshop. When I got to shore, I made sure I came up on some rocks so I wouldn’t leave any footprints in the sand. I hid there and rested for a while. Then I went up into the trees and changed into my dry clothes and cut my hair short. I caught a bus that took me into Charleston, and from there, I got the night bus to Atlanta.
“The next day, I had my hair fixed. The salon was one of those cheap places you would have never even heard of. Cut and color cost 25 dollars. I took a few more bus rides after that. Every time I stopped, I changed something about myself. Just some little something that would make me blend in and keep anyone from tying me to you. I earned a little money here and there waiting tables or washing dishes. I spent a few nights in women’s shelters and in a couple of churches where they didn’t ask questions.
“I told people I was Sandy Childress, and nobody ever questioned it. I didn’t drive or vote or buy on credit, so I never needed proof of my identity. Then, after I married Tom, I was Mrs. Maxwell, and he took care of everything else. Susan Morris really was gone.”
Annie tried to imagine the courage that must have required. “Then Tom knew about you.”
Susan nodded, and her calmness crumbled into tears. “Always. I met him in El Dorado, and he was so down-to-earth, and so easy to talk to. It took me a while to trust him, but I never regretted it. He made me feel like I was worth something just the way I was.”
Prescott sneered. “Well, isn’t that just sweet. And in return, you get him his head knocked in.”
Susan started to sob, and his sneer deepened into a scowl.
“Stop crying. You make me sick.”
“Why can’t you just leave us alone?” she wailed. “He never did anything to you! He never hurt anybody!”
“I told you to stop crying!” His face was transformed into an ugly mask of rage. “It’s not going to help! It never helps! It makes you weak, and it makes you ugly! I don’t need ugly people around me!”
She froze, her eyes fixed on him, her body seeming to shrink into itself as he loomed over her. She didn’t make a sound. Didn’t breathe. Didn’t dare.
Annie wanted to shrink back too. No matter what it was that Susan knew and had not told anyone all these years, whatever it was she had found out while she and Prescott were in Brockton, it was obvious why she had wanted to escape this man.
Just then, the phone in Annie’s purse started chirping. All three of them stared at it until it stopped. Then it immediately started ringing again.
“I told you people are looking for me.”
Annie’s voice was low and controlled, and for a moment Prescott only glared at her. Then he snatched the phone out of the bag and threw it into the cracking fire, grinning as the ringing abruptly stopped.
“I guess your number is now unavailable.”
Still holding Susan’s hand, Annie stood up, channeling her fear into indignation.
“Well, you’re a fine bully, aren’t you? Good at pushing people around? Are you proud of having badgered a twenty-two-year-old girl into faking her own death just to escape you?”
He turned on her. “Sit down and shut up about things you don’t know.”
Annie squeezed Susan’s hand, not taking her eyes off him.
“No matter what happens to us, it won’t change anything for you. Look at her. She’s terrified of you. Is that what you want? You can’t get people to love you, so you have to use your money and your power to bribe and bully and force them to do what you tell them?”
“I said shut up!”
“Is your wife terrified of you too? Does she cringe every time you get close to her?”
“Shut up! Shut up!”
He lifted the bat, ready to swing it, and Annie flung herself at him, wrapping her arms around him so he had no leverage. He tried to shove her off, but she clung to him.