Read Online Carved in Darkness by Maegan Beaumont - Free Book Online Page A

pain but shook her head, still refusing to tell him what he wanted to know. He shrugged and brought the hammer down on the second nail.
    One high-pitched hum bled into the next.
    Without pause, he picked up his knife, dragged it up her calf, then down. First one and then the other. Back and forth until her legs were covered in dozens of thin, shallow cuts.
    He took the towel out of the bowl and bathed her cuts in the salty water. Salt seeped into the wounds, and she began to jerk in her chair. He repeated the process. First the knife and then the towel, each time dipping into the saltwater before applying it to her legs—until dozens of cuts became hundreds. They overlapped, creating an intricate pattern resembling the scales on a fish. Using the tip of his knife, he lifted the edge of one of these scales and pulled, peeling a thin layer of skin from her leg. First one … and then another and another until blood streaked her calves and puddled at her feet. Occasionally, he bathed her wounds in the salty water while she hummed and convulsed with pain. She jerked at her feet, tried to escape the relentless peeling, but it was useless. The nails in her feet trapped them in place.
    He gave the towel a final squeeze over her feet, brine pooled around the head of the nails for a moment before sinking in. Now the hums came in short bursts. She sounded like a siren, wailing in the distance.
    He sat back on his haunches and swiped a forearm over his brow and waited. After a while, her muffled screams tapered off into a series of snuffling whimpers, sounding more animal than human. He reached for her face, but she jerked her head away.
    “Be still now, I’m just gonna take the tape off so we can chat.” His hand darted out and snagged a corner, ripping the tape off and some skin along with it. Blood peppered her bottom lip and she cried out from the sting of it.
    “I’ll tell you Miss Lucy, this sure makes for thirsty work. Got any lemonade?” He stood and crossed the room—hammer in hand—to open the refrigerator. Disappointed, he pulled out a pitcher of iced tea. It’d have to do. He carried it to the counter and retrieved a glass from the dish drainer. The cake dome set in the corner caught his eye. “Mind if I cut myself a piece of cake to go along with it?”
    “ … choke on it.”
    “Now, that ain’t Christian-like, Miss Lucy.” He splayed a hand across his chest and shook his head, but truthfully he found her rebellious attitude amusing. He used his knife to cut the cake. Her blood leached into the yellow of it, creating an orange ring around the outside edges. He liked the way it looked. Like one of those bright crayon drawings of the sun kids did in elementary school. He set it on the plate she’d laid out on the tray along with the coffee and grabbed a fork.
    “I’m gonna find her, one way or another. I did it once, I can do it again.” He poured tea into the glass and took a long drink. It wasn’t lemonade, but it was sweet, just the way he like it. “This can all end now, Miss Lucy. I’ll kill you quick, cross my heart. All you gotta do is tell me where she is.” He took a bite of cake and smiled. It even tasted like sunshine.
    “Go to hell,” she said. Her voice sounded strange, garbled from the pain. He nodded his head and took another drink.
    “Figured as much. Obviously, Melissa got her sass from you. She sure didn’t get it from her mama.” He smiled at her when she looked at him. The mention of her daughter surprised her. “Kelly was all talk. She acted tough but folded like a bad poker player the very first time I cut her.” Lucy’s eyes, glassy with pain, jerked to his face. He lowered his tone to an exaggerated whisper. “I did her just like I did Melissa. Just like I’m doing you now—but you knew that, didn’t you? Only difference is, I know for a fact Kelly liked it.” He took a final bite and washed it down with the last of his tea. It occurred to him he’d now had three