Lightning Strikes (Hudson 2)

"This is terrible. Who else knows?"

"Nobody," she said.

"Boggs," I said sharply. "He has to know. That was why he was always out there standing guard, wasn't it? Boggs knows it all, too, doesn't he? He knows you're pregnant. Doesn't he?"

She nodded.

"They both ought to be put in the Tower of London," I muttered. "The next time that man even dares look hatefully at me, I'll..?'

"You can't say anything to him," she moaned through her sobs. "Please, Rain, please. Go. Don't let him know you were here. Don't tell him anything."

"What can he do? I'll leave if I have to and he can't do any more to you. You can go to the police and turn them both in as perverts," I said. I was almost ready to tell her who Richard Endfield was to me, but I was afraid that might frighten her even more. "You should, in fact. If you want, I'll go with you."

She shook her head.

"No, please."

"Why not? Boggs is an ogre; he's a monster in a suit and tie. He's no better than Mr. Endfield. He's ..."

I heard the apartment door open. Mary Margaret gasped and pressed her palms to her chest. She whimpered like a little mouse. I turned toward the doorway. The steps were heavy, familiar. A moment later he was standing there, his eyes blazing at the sight of me.

It was Boggs himself.

"What are you doing 'ere, eh?"

"I came to visit her," I said defiantly. "More to the point, what are you doing here?" I shot back. Slowly, I stood up to face him. "We'll call the police."

He smiled coldly and shook his head.

"Call the coppers on me? Ha! Lotta good that would do ya. This 'ere's my home," he said and lifted his heavy arm to point at Mary Margaret. "And that there's my daughter."

It was as if the floor had gone out from under me. A numb, cold feeling ran down the side of my face and my body to my toes. It took all the strength I had to keep myself straight and film. If I was ever to be an actress, this was it.

Years in the projects taught me that sometimes it was better to go right on the offensive and not let your opponent know how afraid you were. It would surprise him or her and surprise was often the best and only weapon.

"She's your daughter and you let all this happen to her? What kind of a father are you?"

"Better than the one you 'ave," he said.

I winced, but stood my ground.

"I'd rather have no father at all than a father like you, a father who let a man do this to his daughter, who stood by and not only watched but protected the man."

"You don't know nothin' about it," he said, now wincing himself a bit. I had at least wounded him. I could see from the way he glanced at Mary Margaret.

"What is there to know? You let her be part of some sick fantasy. What's going to become of her now?"

"Damn you, girl. Don't upset 'er any more than she already is. Nothing bad's going to come of 'er. Besides, what else is there for her? She don't have no profession, no talents. She didn't even go far in school. Now, she'll 'ave money for the rest of 'er life, she will. He'll give 'er a better place to live and me wife will be with 'er. They'll be outta this rat trap."

He smiled and straightened his shoulders proudly.

"I saw to all this, yes. I knew what the guv was about and I says to myself, why not 'ave my family benefit, eh? Is your father lookin' out for you as well?"

He wagged his heavy right forefinger at me.

"Don't you go accusin' folks a bad things. You don't know nothin'. Now get outta here and leave 'er be."

"How do you know she couldn't have a better life on her own? What right did you have to condemn her to this life?" I challenged, still holding my ground.