The Shadow Box(96)

“Where are you going to send them?” I asked, horrified by yet another of Griffin’s machinations, playing with lives, discarding them when they threatened or had no further use.

“We have friends,” he said. “Who will take care of them. You don’t have to worry, Claire. They will have everything they could ever need or want.”

“Except their parents.”

He laughed. “Listen to you, talking about family. How ironic.” His eyes narrowed. “You were going to abandon us, weren’t you, Claire? I felt it—I could almost read your mind. You knew my political plans—how critical this election year is to my future. A separation, divorce, and whatever garbage you planned to publicize about Ellen would ruin me. It would destroy our future.”

“Our future?” I asked.

“Not yours and mine,” he said. “My sons’ and friends’. My true friends.”

“The inner circle?” I asked. “The men? So you can make them richer, share the power?”

“Get inside,” he said, grabbing my shoulder with one hand, shoving me toward the door. At the same moment, he gestured to Alexander and yelled, “Take them out of here now!”

The children began to cry, and the girl dashed ahead. Emily lurched after her, grabbed her, distracting Alexander and Griffin.

I wrenched myself out of his grip and started to run. I thought of how Griffin had ambushed me in the garage that Friday—and it was him, I was sure now—I had felt that same grip on my arm, smelled his sweat rank with hate and violence.

I heard a boat engine putting along, just down the bluff. Was it here to take the children away? To be flown out of the country? If I could just beat Griffin to the rickety stairs, I could grab the kids away from Alexander. As I started to run, I rounded the end of the stone wall and saw Wade Lockwood hurrying from his house, blocking my way to the beach.

Griffin grabbed me from behind, holding my arms so tight I felt he might rip them out of the sockets. “You shouldn’t have come back,” he whispered.

Griffin put his hands around my neck and began to strangle me. I wrenched away, tried to run, and in that one instant before he caught me again, I looked into his eyes, and they were black. He grabbed me again.

“Stop,” Wade shouted. “Not here.”

“What the hell, old man?” Griffin asked, dropping his hands. I rubbed my throat and saw Ford walking down the hill with Leonora.

“Wade,” Leonora said. “Have you lost your mind? You let her go and all is lost. Do you want victory in November or not?”

“I didn’t say let her go. Just not here. I don’t want this on Catamount Bluff,” Wade said. “Take her somewhere else.”

“I’ll take her somewhere, Dad,” Ford said. “You shouldn’t be involved anyway. We’ll protect you.”

“Good boy,” Leonora said. “Griffin, let’s get the children out of here.”

I was ready to run, but Ford and Wade grabbed me, tried to force me to the ground. I kicked and screamed, and Ford clamped his hand over my mouth. I bit him as hard as I could, and he wrenched away.

“Goddamn you!” Griffin shouted and tackled me.

I fought him with everything I had, scratched his face and kneed him so hard in the groin that he bellowed and rolled off me. I knelt on top of him, gasping for breath. I grabbed his neck with both hands and squeezed with all my might, the way he’d done to me. His cheeks were raked and bloody from my fingernails. He was moaning from the kick in the balls, his eyes nearly rolled back into his head with agony, but I pressed my thumbs into his Adam’s apple and made him look at me.

“You murderer,” I said. “Your life is destroyed, you know that? And women brought you down.”

Ford grabbed my hair and tried to pull me off Griffin, but I had the force of a wildcat in me. I banged him in the face with my elbow; bone met bone, and I heard his nose break. He grunted in pain, but I felt and heard an inhuman roar boil out of me, drowning out his pathetic cry. Sirens wailed, the sound coming from Shore Road, getting louder as the vehicles sped into Catamount Bluff.

“Griffin,” I said, finally letting go of his neck. I stood up and towered over him. “I want you to realize that this is the moment everything changes for you. Right this very second. You’re over. And I’m here to watch it happen.”

Griffin scrambled to his feet. Leonora had called to Alexander and Emily, and they were carrying the screaming children up the hill toward the house. Wade and Ford headed to the Lockwoods’ house; Griffin followed them, limping. They didn’t even wait for him.

Our peaceful bluff hummed with noise. I heard that boat engine idling in the Sound, and now the police cars were so close that I heard their tires crunching on the driveway. The two children clutched each other, crying. At the sound of the sirens, the adults had abandoned them in the middle of the lawn.

I went to the children, crouched down beside them, put my arms around them.

“My name is Claire,” I said, my voice hoarse from Griffin’s hands around my neck. “Are you Gwen and Charlie?”

Gwen nodded, eyes wide with terror.

I glanced toward the main house and saw a dozen state and Black Hall police officers and other emergency personnel streaming onto the property. Conor Reid spotted us.

“Claire,” Conor said, running over.