The Black Coats(42)
Tears were streaming down Raphael’s cheeks as he stared into Louise’s twisted face, his eyes unblinking and terrified.
“We ordered pizza.” Louise leaned back. Her anger was so potent, Thea felt it washing over the team. Thea met Casey’s gaze. She gave a slow nod to Casey, acknowledging that she would step in if she needed to. Raphael was muttering some prayer, his sloppy sobs filling the room. Louise looked disgusted. “Don’t you dare cry in front of me. I’m not the one who deserves to see your tears.” With that, she brought her elbow down hard across the bridge of his nose. A loud crack resonated across his defaced living room.
Thea leaned forward. “Calm down.” Her stomach turned uncomfortably for a reason she couldn’t understand. Wasn’t this what they had prepared for?
Mirabelle gently pulled Louise back, but not before Louise grabbed Raphael’s face and turned it to the side, the blood from his nose pouring out onto his expensive rug. “Look at those pictures.” Raphael let out a cry as she forced his eyes open. “Look at what you did to the women you swore to love.”
He was screaming now, his eyes closed. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry! You’re right! I didn’t mean to hurt them, but I did. They left me because I deserved it!”
Louise’s hands were lingering over his neck now, tracing over the jugular. “You deserve to die, you know.”
Raphael let out a wail, his tears mixing with blood and snot as they poured down his face, his mouth distorted, his pathetic howls reminding Thea of a wounded animal. “I’ll do better; I swear that I will.”
Louise was gritting her teeth now, her body coiled and ready to strike. Thea put her hand on Louise’s shoulder.
“Enough.” Louise could break his neck if she wanted to. “I said, that’s enough,” she whispered, turning Louise to face her. “He deserves it. But it’s not ours to give.”
Raphael let out a moan. “Oh, thank you, God! Please have mercy on me.”
With a cry of surrender, Louise let Thea turn her away. Casey had stepped toward Raphael when they heard a loud thud from upstairs. Team Banner went silent. Terror shot through Thea. “I thought you said no one was home!” hissed Mirabelle.
Raphael leaned his head back and laughed, his lips curling to reveal his bloodstained teeth. “They’ll save me, I’m sure of it!” He laughed some more, his mind lost to fear.
Thea looked up the stairs, her eyes searching for a shadow, for movement. There was nothing. She motioned silently to Casey. “Come up with me. You guys, stay on him.” She pointed to Bea. “It’s time to make sure that he never does this again. You’re up.” Thea stepped onto the first stair, the antique wood creaking under her feet as they circled up the staircase.
“What do you think it is?” At Casey’s voice, the sound stopping suddenly. Someone was inside.
With Casey following close behind her, Thea ran up the stairs and burst into the hallway. She began kicking open every door, with nothing in her hands to defend herself. After seeing a few over-the-top bathrooms, Thea stepped back into the hallway when she heard the sound again—a hollow thump, like someone dragging something. Thea froze, her eyes on the door at the end of the hallway. Behind her, Casey slipped on her brass knuckles. “No,” Thea ordered. “Put those away! We are here only for him. He is the only one who pays today.”
“Arggh!” Casey muttered, slipping the knuckles back into her pocket.
Thea paused outside the door with her heart thudding in her ears, her hand hovering over a blown-glass doorknob. Nixon’s voice played in her head: Indecision is not your friend. Pausing can mean losing control. Thea took a deep breath and slammed her foot hard against the door. It flew violently open, scaring the daylights out of two fat black cats that were seated just inside the door.
On the floor, an unfazed orange tabby paused from batting a hanging rubber ball against the wall. She looked at Thea with annoyance before returning to her ball. Thump. Thump. One of the black cats darted down the hall while the other turned and hissed at Thea. She hissed back before stepping through the door. Casey gave a hearty laugh. “He has a room just for his cats. Unbelievable. Beats his daughter, spoils the kitties.”
Thea had opened her mouth to reply when a huge crash from downstairs interrupted her thoughts. Everything after that happened so fast. There was the sound of glass breaking and a hard thud, followed by Bea screaming, “No, no, no . . .”
There were the sounds of chaos and then Mirabelle’s loud voice, rising over the commotion, screaming her name. “Thea! Oh my God, Thea!” Then words that cut through her like a knife: “He’s running!”
Bea’s voice: “He’s outside!” Thea ran forward into the cat room, shoving aside an overstuffed sofa to look out the south-facing window. From there the tiled roof slanted downward and ended near the pool. Directly below her, Thea saw a flash of movement: Raphael. He was bolting away from the house in a white shirt spotted with blood. His movements were frantic and desperate.
Before Thea said a word, Casey was already at her side and ready to provide a boost. Without a second thought, Thea stepped onto Casey’s palm and was promptly heaved up and over the ledge, her body tumbling out the window. Thea shoved her feet out in front of her and then she was sliding down on her bottom, her body flying over terra-cotta tiles, which broke under her weight, shards of red clay slicing through her black leggings. A stream of pebbled tiles went before her, plunging off the edge of the roof as Thea tried to find a way to slow her momentum. She was going to fall, but it wasn’t far, and she didn’t even have time to take a breath before she was on the edge of the roof. Using the training that Sahil had taught her, Thea leaned forward and the moment her toes hit the ledge she leaped, using her speed to twist her body in midair, giving herself the pause and the control that she needed. A second later, Thea landed hard on her feet and then on her knees, and the impact of the pavement ricocheted up her legs. Pain sliced through her like a hot wave through her hips, her ribs, and finally her teeth, which ground together with a painful crack. Then it was gone. Thea gave herself a shake. She was okay, and Raphael was ahead of her now, running toward the latched gate at the end of the pool. Thea let a nasty smile curl across her face as she crouched down. Fear had made him fast. She was faster.