“Okay, Daddy.”
“I don’t make many rules, but the ones I do make I expect to be followed. Only way any of this shit works. Okay?”
“Yes sir,” said Carlos, who’d stopped stroking the medallion and slipped it back under his shirt.
Quarry left the men and continued on. A minute later he was sitting across from Willa, who was dressed in corduroy pants and a wool shirt Quarry had provided.
“Got everything you need?” Quarry asked.
“I’d like some books,” said Willa. “There’s nothing else to do so I want to read.”
Quarry smiled and opened his knapsack. “Great minds, you know.” He lifted five books out and passed them over to her. She studied them carefully.
“You like Jane Austen?” he asked.
She nodded. “She’s not like my absolute favorite, but I’ve only read Pride and Prejudice. ”
“That was my daughter’s favorite book.”
“Was?”
Quarry stiffened slightly. “She doesn’t read anymore.”
“Is she dead?” Willa asked with the bluntness of youth.
“Some might call it that.” He pointed to the other books. “I know you’re real smart. So I didn’t bother with crap you’re probably way past. But you let me know what you like or not. I got plenty.”
Willa slid the books aside and studied him carefully. “Can I have some paper and a pen? I like to write. And it would take my mind off things.”
“Okay, that’s not a problem.”
“Did you talk to my parents? You said you would.”
“I sent out a message, yep. Told’em you were okay.”
“Are you going to kill me?”
Quarry flinched back like she’d sucker-punched him, and maybe she had. He found his voice. “Where the hell did that come from?”
“Sometimes kidnappers don’t give the person back. They kill them.” Her wide eyes remained steadfastly on his. She was obviously not interested in retreating off this subject.
Quarry rubbed his jaw with a callused, weathered hand. Then he glanced down at it, as though he was seeing it for the first time. It was the same hand that had ended Kurt’s life, so maybe the girl had something. I am a killer, after all.
“I appreciate that. I can see where you’re coming from, sure. But if I were planning on killing you, I could just lie and say I wasn’t going to. So what does it matter?”
She was ready for him in this little logics duel. “But if you tell me you are planning on killing me it’s probably the truth, because why would you lie about that?”
“Damn, I bet sometimes people say you’re too smart for your own good, don’t they?”
Her bottom lip trembled just a bit as she transformed from Einstein to the frightened preadolescent she was. “I want to go home. I want to see my mom and dad. And my brother and sister. I didn’t do anything wrong.” Tears spilled from her eyes. “I didn’t do anything wrong, and so I don’t understand why you’re doing this. I just don’t!”
Quarry looked down, unable to confront the wide, wet eyes and the terror they held. “This isn’t about you, Willa. Not really. It’s just… it’s just that this is the only way it’ll work. I thought it through a lot of different ways and this is the only one that made sense. It’s the only chance I had. The only cards I had to play.”
“Who are you mad at? Who are you trying to get back at?”
He rose. “You need any more books, you just let me know.”
He fled the room, leaving Willa to cry alone. He had never felt more ashamed.