F Paul Wilson - Secret History 02 (63 page)

           
Suddenly Rob was there, holding her
arm, pulling the knife from her hand.

           
"It's over, Kara," he
said. "Christ, it's over. You can't kill him any more."

           
Her leg gave way and she fell
against him. Rob lifted her and carried her from Gabor's room up to the first
floor where he stretched her out on the settee in the foyer. She saw Jill staring
at her from the kitchen doorway, her fingers jammed into her mouth.

           
"It's all right now,
honey," Kara said, reaching out her good hand to her. "I'm okay, now.
The man in the cellar won't make me do bad things any more. He's gone for
good."

           
Rob went over to Jill and she clung
to him, using him as a shield between herself and her mother. That hurt Kara,
but what else could she expect? It was going to take a long time to heal the
trauma of this morning.

           
"It's okay, Jill," Rob
said, drawing her toward Kara. "Your mother's okay now. It was like you
said, like
Freaky Friday
, but the bad
man who was in your mother is gone, and he can't come back. Give her a hug.
She's a very brave lady, and she needs you now."

           
With a small cry, Jill rushed
forward into her mother's arms. Kara crushed her against herself and began to
sob. They stayed locked together while Rob got a hand towel from the bathroom
and tied it around her thigh. Then he headed toward the basement stairs.

           
"Where're you going?"

           
"Some unfinished
business."

           
He closed the door to the basement
behind him. A few moments later she heard a series of muffled retorts from
below. Like gun shots. Rob reappeared a short while later.

           
"What
…
?"

           
"Five to the head," he
said grimly. "Insurance."

           
Kara, closed her eyes. 'Thank
you."

 
 

           
"What did you do with his
body?"

           
Kara had been afraid to ask, but she
had to know.

           
Rob looked at her from the other end
of the couch in the front room of his apartment.

           
"Food for the fishes. Even if
he's found—and he won't be—he can't be identified. Gabor Gati is officially
dead. The crib and its mattress were left in a vacant lot in the South Bronx.
And the bloody sheet went up in flames in the fireplace. It's done. Over.
Finis
. We can now go about getting our
lives back on track."

           
"Amen," Kara said.

           
She leaned back on the cushions. The
sutures in her left palm and right thigh were starting to pull. The wounds had
been easily explained as glass cuts, and luckily she hadn't severed any tendons
in her hand. The wounds to her body would be healed in a week or so. But the
rest of her… she didn't know if she'd ever get over the past three weeks.

           
And Jill. She was worried most about
poor Jill. But the child appeared to be bouncing back better than either Kara
or Rob. She was having a ball playing nurse to her mother. She came out of the
kitchenette now holding a glass of cola.

           
"Here you go, Mom."

           
"Thank you, Nurse Jill."

           
Kara would have preferred something
stronger, but with the Percodan running through her system for the pain, she
decided to stick to soft drinks.

           
"I'll think I'll make myself a
refill," Rob said, jiggling the ice in his scotch glass.

           
"And I'll pick up this
mess," Jill said. She straightened the newspapers, the magazine, picked up
Rob's key ring—

           
—and twirled it on her index finger.
Twirl-twirl-stop. Twirl-twirl-stop.

           
Kara's stomach plummeted. She leaped
up from the couch and grabbed her arm.

           
"Jill! Jill, look at me!"

           
The big blue eyes turned toward her,
wide and innocent. Kara could barely hear her over the pounding of her heart in
her throat.

           
"Mommy, you're hurting my
arm!"

           
Kara loosened her grip but did not
let go.

           
"Why did you do that?"

           
"Do what, Mom?"

           
"Twirl those keys on your
finger? Tell me!"

           
"I… I saw you do it! Mom, why
are you mad at me?"

           
Kara released her arm and hugged
her.

           
"I'm not mad, bug. I'm just
frightened."

           
Oh, God, was she ever going to be
free of this?

           
Yes!
she thought. Yes, she would get free of Gabor's lingering taint on her life.
She would put this all behind her and start out anew with Jill. And with Rob.
And eventually, she would be able to look at the world without seeing Gabor's
shadow everywhere. Eventually, this would all become a dim memory, a barely
remembered nightmare.

           
But for now, for a while—she hated
herself for even thinking it, but she had no choice—she was going to have to
keep a close watch on Jill.