Silent Killer Page 0,106

there was something I could do. But I can’t change the past, and I can’t stop the Fire and Brimstone Killer. Even the police seem unable to stop these brutal murders.”

She squeezed his hands. “Oh, John Earl, don’t you see? In my heart I know that I’m as guilty of murder as the person who killed Mark Cantrell and the others.”

“Don’t talk nonsense, sweetheart. There is no comparison whatsoever. You were the victim, not the perpetrator.”

Ruth Ann closed her eyes as if she could block out the memories by shutting out the light. “He didn’t scream, you know. He didn’t make a sound. He was asleep, a drugged sleep. And the house burned down around him.”

“I know. I know.”

She opened her eyes and stared right at John Earl. “If I had it to do over again…That’s the terrible part. I don’t think I would do anything different. I would still let him die. God forgive me.”

A soft, quiet voice calling to him alerted John Earl that Ruth Ann’s screams had awakened their elder daughter.

“Daddy, is Mama all right?” Charity asked.

“Oh mercy,” Ruth Ann whimpered. “Go talk to her, explain that it was just a stupid nightmare.”

John Earl eased her backward until her head rested on the down pillow. Then he rose to his feet and turned to face his daughter. Correction, his daughters. Felicity stood directly behind her older sister, both girls peering into the room, their eyes filled with questions and concerns.

He walked out into the hall, shooing them back as he closed the bedroom door. “Your mother had a nightmare. She’s all right now.”

“She’s been having a lot of nightmares lately,” Felicity said.

“She used to have them all the time when we were little,” Charity said. “You just don’t remember.”

“You two go back to bed. Everything is all right,” he told them as he moved in between them and placed one arm around Charity and the other arm around Felicity.

“She’s worried about something bad happening to you, isn’t she?” Felicity asked. “She’s afraid the person who killed all those other preachers might try to kill you.”

“Yes, I’m sure that’s it,” he agreed. “You know what a worrier your mother is.”

“You need to convince her that nothing bad is going to happen to you, not like what happened to those other men,” Charity said. “You’re a good man, Daddy. God will take care of you.”

He leaned over and kissed Charity’s forehead. “Yes, He will. And He’ll take care of your mother, too. So stop worrying. Go to bed and get a good night’s rest. Everything will be better in the morning.”

John Earl wanted to believe what he’d said, but if Ruth Ann continued to have the old nightmares, things would get worse instead of better.

Jack set Cathy on the edge of her bed, leaned down and slowly pulled her pajama top up and over her head. She lifted her arms, closed her eyes and savored the moment as the cool air touched her nipples and hardened them to tight buds. When she heard his indrawn breath, she opened her eyes and found him kneeling in front of her, his gaze on her throbbing breasts. She wanted to scream “Touch me,” but she couldn’t get the words past the knot in her throat.

Mark had wanted her to talk during sex, something she found difficult because she’d been so afraid she would call out Jack’s name. She couldn’t stop herself from thinking about Jack and the way she’d felt when they had made love.

Don’t think about Mark. What I had with him has nothing to do with what’s happening now. This is all about Jack and me. I don’t have to dream that it’s Jack making love to me. The dream has become a reality.

When she reached for him, intending to unbutton his shirt, he grabbed her hands, brought them to his lips and kissed them. She shivered. And before she realized what he was doing, he had unbuttoned his shirt halfway and then dragged it up over his head and tossed it on the floor.

“Might as well get a good look now, honey. It’s not a pretty sight.” He turned slowly so that she could see his chest, his side and then his back. “The scars from Nolan’s beatings are nothing compared to what that explosion did to me.”

He knelt in front of her, his gaze cast downward at the scars covering the right side of his body from shoulder to waist.

As she looked at the thick, discolored scar tissue,