Page 108 of Almost Dead (The Cahills 2)

“I brought him to see his grandmother. Go on,” she urged, pressing a hand to B.J.’s back, but the boy was as reluctant to meet Marla as she apparently was to see him. “She’s been dying to meet you.”

“Mommy,” he whimpered. “Mommm…meeee…”

“This is your Nana Marla,” Elyse told him. This reunion was not going like she’d hoped.

“Why did you bring him here? Do you want us to get caught?” Marla was beside herself.

Elyse decided not to fill her in on the altered plans just yet. Kidnapping B.J. hadn’t been part of their original scheme, but sometimes, when opportunity knocks, you’ve just got to go with it. Couldn’t Marla see that?

“You’ve got to take him away. He can’t be here.”

“He doesn’t know where we are. He’s too little.”

“Somebody will see him. Oh God, look! He’s going to cry!”

B.J.’s face had crumpled and was turning red. Marla was right. The kid looked ready to wail for all he was worth.

“We’ll see your mommy soon,” Elyse said hurriedly. “Don’t worry.”

For an answer, he threw back his head and howled. The noise was loud enough to wake the dead. Marla looked ready to throttle the kid, so Elyse dragged him upstairs. What the hell was she supposed to do now? The little house scarcely had any furnishings apart from what Elyse had found for Marla’s secret room.

There was a beat-up chair in one of the two bedrooms, and Elyse carried the screaming child down the hallway, trying to shush him without scaring him. God, he could make noise! Were all children so loud?

“Shh…shh…,” she said, holding him awkwardly on her lap. What the hell was she going to do?

“Dad-dee,” he cried. “Dad-dee.”

“Make up your mind, kid. Mommy or Daddy.”

She could hear Marla hammering with something downstairs. Now what? Muttering furiously, Elyse hauled the kid back down the stairs while he wailed “No-o-o-o!” and tried to grab onto the handrail. Her head felt like it was going to split in two.

“What are you doing?” Elyse demanded of Marla. “I could hear you! Someone else might hear that pounding too!”

There was a piece of pipe on the floor beside her. “I wasn’t through,” Marla said, glaring at her. “We’ve got to leave. I’ve got to leave.”

“Not yet!”

“Look…” Her gaze centered on the television, where the news was just breaking on the murder of a young woman near Burlingame. Tanya.

Elyse stared in a kind of horrified fascination as Marla said, “You did that. You killed her.”

“It’s all part of the plan,” Elyse said through her teeth. Why did Marla question her? When she knew what had to be done!

“Did they see you? Get your picture? Like when you killed Rory?”

“No.”

“That picture of you in the newspaper? That artist’s composite? They’re saying it’s me. They’re blaming this on me.”

“Well, of course they are.” Elyse was fast losing patience, and the kid’s continued crying was enough to split her head right open. It was all she could do not to shake him.

“You want me to take the fall for this,” Marla said on a note of discovery. “You want to get away scot-free.”

“That’s not true. This is a partnership. Didn’t I help you escape?”

“You never intended to share. That’s why you’ve kept me down here. You want it all for yourself.”

“I haven’t kept you down here. You refuse to go upstairs! For God’s sake, Marla, get a grip!”

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