Page 116 of The Woman Who Couldn't Scream
“Yeah, poor guy, he tried to kill you. But you’re right—circumstances sometimes drive us all to do things we don’t like.”
Merida continued, “I wasn’t going to accept Nauplius Brassard’s marriage proposal. Not even when I thought you had betrayed me. Then the doctors took the bandages off my face and I walked down the corridor.” Merida always said things to him she had never told anyone else. Her fantasy about Aunt Amelia Earhart. And now, this. “The other patients flinched and little children cried. I didn’t want to be beautiful, but I couldn’t face a lifetime of… that.”
With his fingertip, Benedict stroked the feathers of her falcon tattoo. “I understand. I would have done anything to spare you the pain and the servitude.”
“You did do something.” She clasped his hand. “The doctors said the only thing that saved my eyes were… the goggles. And the leather helmet kept my hair from igniting.”
“Aunt Amelia watched over you.” He kissed her.
She leaned into him, wrapped her arms around him.
“No.” Regretfully, he took her hands away and pressed them to her ribs. “You’re in danger. Carl Klineman gave his life to tell us that.”
His words sparked a memory, and she sat up very straight. “That’s right. You’re right. I saw what he did. What he wrote.”
“What Carl wrote?”
“On the floor. With his blood. He used his finger dipped in blood. I was trying to read it when you came up behind me. He wrote”—she closed her eyes and tried to visualize it—“WAS ON. Or WES UN. Or…” She opened her eyes. “I don’t know. I can’t remember for sure, and there was so much blood it had blurred the… letters.” Her memory of the scene would be forever joined with horror and fear, and she rolled back onto the bed to allow her nausea to subside.
Benedict went into the bathroom and came back with a damp washcloth. He put it on her forehead, then wrote down the letters on a note card and studied them. “Was on…something?” he suggested. “Somebodywas onsomething? Or is it a name?”
“I’m not even sure I’m remembering it correctly. One thing’s for sure. We can’t go back and look.”
“God, no. In fact, we need to leave. Now.” He picked his clothes up off the floor, flung her clothes at her. “Get up. Get dressed. We need to drop out of sight. Forever.”
His urgency sent a jolt of fear through her. “Is that so easy?”
He pulled on his clothes. “You disappeared quite effectively. I discovered you by accident. I suspect the assassins discovered you by watching me. I led them to you. This time we’ll go together. It’s the only way. We’re intelligent. We’re tough. We can make our way in the world. Together.”
She liked the way he talked. She liked his confidence. She believed him when he said it was the only way. “All right.” For the second time that night, she pulled on her workout clothes.
CHAPTER FIFTY
ThreeA.M.and the cops were gone.
Good Knight Manor Bed and Breakfast was quiet.
Benedict and Merida tiptoed through the kitchen and toward the knight-filled dining room. They went through the ritual of unlocking the door. Benedict walked through Merida’s suite and came back to where she stood in the dining room. “All clear. We’re alone.”
“Thank you.” She handed him her computer, showed him the log-in and where she was in her program.
He studied it. He shook his head. “I need my computer. It’s got the security setups to get into the business accounts. But if I can view everything together, I can do this. Move the evidence you piled on me to Rose and Albert. The whole business is going to come crashing down around their ears.”
“Your reputation will remain unscathed?”
“I think I can salvage it, and with it my part of the fortune.” He grinned. “Baltimore Inner City Day Care and Preschool is going to have an impressive nest egg to depend on.”
She had to offer him one more chance. “Youcouldremain and be Benedict Howard, the mogul who saved the family business.”
“Not and be with you. Don’t worry so, I know what I’m doing.” He frowned. “Come back to my room with me. I’ll pick up my computer and work here while you pack.”
“You go back, make the changes on the computers, and I’ll pack. When I’m ready, I’ll call you and if you’re done and ifyou’repacked, we can leave.”
He tried to tell her no.
“It makes sense. We’re in a hurry.” She felt the pressure building to leave Virtue Falls and their current lives behind.
“We are in a hurry.” He pulled her into his arms and looked down into her face. “Lock the doors after me.”
