Read Online The Guardian by Bill Eidson - Free Book Online

they needed to let him know. This was her daughter, and she’d come to love her daughter more than any words could explain. And she would pay, no matter what the cost.
    She looked up at her husband and saw the man she loved. Saw what was good and solid and right about him and wondered if he had what they needed. She let her fingernails sink into his back. “You let that man know what she means to us. There must be some way to way to make it count to him, too. So he’s got a reason to let her come home.”
     
     

 
    Chapter 10
     
     
    Janine bit back her question because the man started talking again.
    “We’re going to do it in the cash,” he said to the woman. “You and me, right on a big pile of it.”
    “I like that,” the woman said, laughing. Then she must’ve turned to Janine, because her voice became clearer. “Hey, close your ears, honey.”
    The tape around Janine’s eyes kept her sightless.
    “It’ll be compliments of your daddy, girl,” the man said. To the woman, he said, “Here, these two lines are yours.”
    In Janine’s direction, again, he said, “Now, if your daddy doesn’t come through, maybe we’ll just do it on top of you.”
    “Stop!” The woman’s voice was sharp and then she laughed again, but Janine could tell she was scared, too.
    Janine didn’t say anything. She just sat on the hard chair and kept very still. She’d think sometimes if she just didn’t move, they’d forget about her and walk away. And so the longer she sat silent, the better her chances. Her back, arms, and legs were stiff from the night and day she’d passed tied down first on the bed and then in the chair.
    Time had passed more slowly than anything she could ever remember, worse than any day home sick, any math class, any morning in church. She thought of those times, those boring hours that she had thought would kill her, and wished she could be there now, kicking her feet against the pew on Sunday, her mom and dad telling her to hush.
    But she didn’t complain. She thought how funny that was, in a way. That she could just tell herself to shut up, don’t be a sissy, and she could.
    They’d fed her. She’d had a doughnut ages ago, then a hamburger a long time later, and just now they’d given her another. McDonald’s or Burger King’s.
    So she’d been through the day.
    The woman had said they’d let her go that night.
    The question had been building.
    She licked her lips. Thought about it and started to form the words, then waited. She let a long time pass, and finally said it. “Is it time yet? Is it time for my daddy to pick me up?”
    “Is it time yet?” the man immediately copied her, making his voice ugly and screeching. “Is it time?”
    She heard him stand up, and the woman said, “Don’t.”
    Suddenly he picked Janine and the chair up. Janine shrieked. He put his hand over her mouth, and she almost bit his hand but stopped herself somehow. She cried out behind his hand and could barely get enough breath in, it was so tight against her mouth and nose. “OK, little girl. You want to rush your daddy, that’s OK with me. What the hell, if he doesn’t have the money now, he’s not going to have it later, right? Let’s go call him, find out if he really loves you or not.”
    “Leave her alone,” the woman snapped.
    “You telling me what to do now?”
    Janine felt herself lifted higher, maybe over his head. She said, “No, please, no!”
    “Put her down!”
    The man dropped the chair.
    “Lee!” the woman cried out.
    Janine screamed as she fell forward, struggling to get her arms free to protect her face.
    But the woman was there. Janine’s head hit the woman’s body hard, and together they fell to the floor. The woman cried out again, and Janine could feel the dull thud through the woman’s body and realized the man was hitting or kicking her. “You said my name!” He was raging. “You stupid bitch, you said my name!”
    It was over suddenly.
    Janine could hear him