Chapter Nineteen
Charli walked outside when she heard the sound of a vehicle. A truck pulled up beside her car, stopped, and a moment later, Kyle and Liz got out. They walked to the house and up the steps.
“Come on in.” Charli opened the door and held it for them. “I just fixed a pitcher of iced tea if anyone’s interested.”
“Not right now, but thanks,” Liz replied and then asked, “Sit in the great room?”
“Wherever you want.”
“Great room it is.” Liz took a seat on the sofa. “I love this room.”
Kyle sat down beside her. “Yeah, I guess so since you decorated it.”
Liz chuckled. “Yeah, there is that.”
Charli took a seat on an adjacent chair. “Hey, did you get that new racehorse?”
Liz grinned at Kyle and reached for his hand where it lay on his leg. Charli watched, feeling envious at the look their shared and the way Kyle’s fingers curled around hers and caressed softly.
“Yeah, we got him.” Kyle replied. “And we’re not just going to train him, but Liz is going to race him.”
“Really? That’s great.” Charli was happy for her friends. Even though Liz had taken a break the last year from racing, she’d been honest about missing it. And from what Charli had learned from others, Liz was a hell of a jockey.
“We’re pretty excited.” Liz admitted, then her smile faded. “So, any word from Grady?”
“No.”
“He’ll be back,” Kyle commented.
“We’ll see.” Charli didn’t much want to talk about it. The night she and Grady had returned from the hell she’d been in, she’d not even finished giving her statement before he got a call, turned white as a ghost, begged her forgiveness, and left.
That was eight days ago and she hadn’t heard a word from him. Eight days and she didn’t know when or if he would return. Eight days of wondering and thinking and trying to figure out where she went from here.
Which was why she’d asked Liz and Kyle to come over. She’d made a decision. “Look, the reason I asked you here is that I wanted to ask a favor.”
“Sure, you name it,” Kyle immediately agreed.
“I need to know how to go about raising money.”
“Raising money?”
“Yeah.” Charli looked at Liz. “Maybe you can help. Your family is rich and knows a lot of people.”
“What is the money for?”
Charli hoped they wouldn’t think her idea was silly. “The Zone. You’ve heard of it, right? Where all the homeless gather?”
“Over in Taylorsville, yeah. I hear it’s rough,” Liz said.
“It is, but it’s not.” Charli replied. “I was there and I got to know a lot of those people and they’re not just addicts and hookers. They’re people who need some help and can’t get it. I want to buy The Zone and turn it into housing and businesses the people can run and work in to make a living and have homes.”
“Seriously?” Liz asked. “Can you tell me more?”
“Well, I don’t have a business plan yet, but my idea is that if businesses can be established so people can work, and they have housing, then the area becomes like a community and in time can be self-sustaining.
“The drugs and riffraff can be eliminated and with a little extra funding, maybe another couple of deputies could be hired to help police the area and make the people feel safe. These aren’t bad people. They just need some help. And I want to help them. I just don’t know how to start.”
“You just did.” Liz reached for her hand. “You do know that my mom’s married to a prominent senator, right?”
“No, I didn’t.”
“And that Tom is friends with Governor Legacy and his oldest son, Logan James?” Kyle added.
“No, I didn’t know that either.”
“Well, now you do, so let’s see what we can make happen with this idea, which, by the way is wonderful, Charli.” Liz smiled and this time reached for Charli’s hand. “I’m really glad you came to Cotton Creek.”
“Me, too,” Charli said and meant it, or at least mostly. She did like it here and she’d like to call it home, but one very important thing was missing. Grady.
“So, you’re going to stay?” Kyle asked.
Charli shrugged. “Maybe.”
“Because of what happened?” Liz asked.
Charli looked away. Aside from giving a statement to law enforcement, she hadn’t talked to anyone about what happened. She’d hoped to talk to Grady because she felt he, above everyone, would have a better understanding of what she’d experienced. But that wasn’t meant to be because he’d left before she even finished her statement.
“Charli?” Kyle’s voice had her gaze moving toward him. “Have you talked to anyone about what happened at that farm?”
“I gave a statement.”
“That’s not what I asked. Have you told anyone?”
“No.”
“Then tell us. Tell me.”
She shook her head. “Trust me, you don’t want to hear it.”
“You might be right, but maybe I need to hear it and maybe you need to say it.”
Charli looked at Liz. “Please don’t take this the wrong way. You’re my friend and I love you, but I don’t want you to know what happened there. I don’t want those images in your head and I need you to believe me when I say that you don’t want it.”
Liz nodded. “You don’t have to say anymore. I trust you. But I think Kyle’s right. You should tell him. So I’m going to leave. Kyle, call me when you want me to pick you up.”
Until Liz made the offer, Charli hadn’t realized that she did need to tell Kyle. He’d been through hell and seen death in too many ways. He could take it and she needed to say it.
“He can take my bike,” she offered.
“Sounds like a plan. I’m going to start making some calls about your idea. Let’s do dinner later in the week?”
Charli got up to hug Liz. “You’re such an amazing person. Thank you. And yes, just let me know when and where.”
“I will. Talk to you soon.” Liz gave Kyle a quick kiss, then headed out.
Once she was gone, Charli sat back down. For a bit of time, neither of them spoke. “Tell me,” he finally said.
Charli clasp her hands together as she lowered her forearms to her thighs. She stared at the floor and let the images come. At first it was overwhelming. She wanted to cry or scream, to somehow erase those things from her mind.
But she knew that wasn’t possible. All she could do was figure out a way to live with the memories.
“When I woke up, my wrists were shackled and I was hanging from a post in what looked like a basement. Concrete floors and block walls. My legs were taped together at the ankles and there was tape over my mouth.
“Across the room and along about half the length of the wall was a cabinet. On it were saws and knives, chisels, hatchets—and instruments I couldn’t identify. On the wall to my left was a long cage, like something you’d put a big dog in. There was a woman in it, bound and gagged, but alive. I could see her eyes all wide with fear.
“There was another woman, too. She was secured to a metal table that sat in front of the cabinets. She was naked, her mouth was taped, and she looked either dead or unconscious. I’d find out later that she was unconscious at the time.”
Charli looked up at Kyle. “I’m not going to run through a minute by minute with you. I’m just going to tell you that what happened to the woman on that table had me more scared than I’ve ever been and so desperate to escape I think I’d have chewed my arm off.”
She got up and walked to the window, staring out. “They butchered that woman. Literally dismembered her while she lived. It was the most gruesome, brutal thing I’ve ever seen and I didn’t want to see, but they taped my head to the post and then taped my eyes open. They did the same to the woman in the cage. They wanted to make sure we saw and heard everything.”
Charli turned to look at Kyle. “I remember thinking that if I only had a gun, I could kill that poor woman, end her misery. But I couldn’t do a damn thing but hang there.
“When they finished with her, they shoved her remains in a big canvas sack and the man hauled it out. The woman told him to feed it to the hogs. Then they dragged the other woman from the cage and strapped her to the table, promising not to make her wait too long, but it was time for them to have a drink and something to eat.
“When they left, I continued my attempts to get free. I’d been hanging on, pulling and jerking on my chains in an effort to bend the nail the chain was looped over. I managed to do it, untaped my feet, and freed the woman.
“We came up with a plan that she’d hide and when the couple returned, I would pick a fight and she’d run for help. That’s what we did. And that’s when Grady and Ranger Zeb Childress showed up.”
Kyle nodded and for a long time neither of them said anything. Then he stood and held out his hand.
“What?” She asked.
“Come on.”
Charli took his hand and let him lead her outside. He headed around back to the woodpile. There was a big stump with an awe embedded in it. He pulled the ax free, put a log on the stump, and handed her the ax.
“I know you wanted to kill them. I would have too.”
“They deserved to die on that fucking table.” She said what she’d been carrying with her. “To suffer every pain they inflicted on others.”
“Then give it to them. Right now.”
“This isn’t—“
“Do it!” His normally soft voice boomed and before she even realized she was yelling a guttural sound and in motion. She drew back and swung the ax. The blow sliced clean through the log and the two halves flew off in different directions.
“Again.” Kyle put another log out.
For the next hour, Charli shouted her rage and swung the ax. She did it until she was too hoarse to yell and her arms could no longer lift the ax. Sweat poured from her, running down her body in rivulets.
She dropped the ax and then sank to her knees. That’s when the tears came. In great shuddering gulps and sobs that shook her so hard she could barely stay upright. Kyle dropped down on his knees in front of her and wrapped his arms around her.
“I’m here.”
Charli nodded against his shoulder and clung to him as the fear and horror poured from her. And when it was done, she fell limp against Kyle, robbed of strength mentally and physically.
“Come on.” He got up and pulled her to her feet, wrapping one arm around her waist.
Charli didn’t argue as he walked her inside, helped her undress, and got her into the shower. When she finally got out of the shower and dressed, she found him in the kitchen, sitting at the table. There was a bottle of bourbon in the center of the table and two glasses.
She walked over, took a seat, and picked up one of the glasses. Kyle lifted his as well. “To surviving hell and friends who help us go on.”
Charli clinked her glass against his. “Amen, brother.”
When their glasses were empty, he refilled them both. “You gonna be able to shoulder this one, sister?”
“I hope.”
“How can I help?”
“You already have. I owe you, Kyle.”
“No, we’re not even close to being even. You walked me out of hell, Charli. I think I’d have ended up eating a bullet if it weren’t for you.”
“We were even the day you stood again. I’m so glad you found Liz and have a good life. I envy you.”
“Grady will be back, Charli.”
“I hope so. I really hope so.”
“And are you going to tell him the truth when he comes home?”
“The truth about what?”
“That you’re in love with him.”
“I don’t know. I mean, what if he doesn’t feel the same?”
“Then you’ll know and you can move on. But what if he does?”
She couldn’t say it out loud, but that was her wish. Charli was just terrified that it was a wish that might not come true. And if it didn’t she was at a loss as to what to do.
Which was the most frightening thing of all. When had Grady Judd claimed so much power over her and her life?