Finleypulled me down to crouch in the tall grass that bordered the clearing. Iresisted with a firm tug of my arm, but he only tugged harder.
“Wait,”he hissed, as he pulled his mobile out. “Listen.”
Then,he began recording.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
ROSIE
“If yewannaknow the truth, Ididnaeplan to kill ye,” Constable Sharp said, as he turned from me and headed towardthe fire, with a knife still in his hand. “Yewouldnaeleave it alone though, Rosie, and ye weresupposedto leave it alone. Yewere supposed to think she was happy, ye were supposed to think she had a weeaccident, but ye just kept onquestionin’ everylittle thing. And I tried to warn ye, I did. Hell, I tried to warn both of ye,you and Alec, but ye justcouldnaeleave it alone.”He shook his head, as if hewasdisappointed, andsighed into the night.
“So,I just want ye to ken, Ididnaewant it to come tothis. Not for ye, not like the others. I knew I’d kill them. Especially thatone bitch, and Lord, was she a fuckin’bitch. Women should know torespect a man. They should betaughtto, butsomethin’was wrong with that one. She had spit right in my face, and for what? Because Ihad the fuckin’ nerve to speak to her?” He turned toward me, waving the knifein the air, his bewildered eyes gleaming. “A woman who would dosomethin’ like thatdeservesto die! What good isshe to anybody?Noman should be disrespected like that!”
Hewalked back toward me with his glinting blade at the ready. The ropes around mywrists and ankles dug deeper into my raw and scraped flesh, as I attempted toflail against the bindings tying me to the stone, but the knots wouldn’t give.It amused him to watch me struggle and he laughed, shaking his head as if I wasthe cutestthinghe'd ever laid his eyes on. My faceheated with every burst of his hot, stinking breath against my skin as he bentover, looming over my twistedbodyand pressing hisrock-hard erection against my hand.
“Dinnaeye agree, lass?” he asked sweetly, tracing my earwith the tip of his nose. “Yewouldnaedosomethin' like that, would ye?”
Ina frantic burst of desperation, I shook my head and repeated a muffled, “no,no, no,” behind the gag forced between my aching jawbones.
“Ididnaethink so. Ye're a good girl, aren'tye? Just likeyersister. Christ,she was a bonnie lass.”
Myguts twisted painfully as he moaned against my neck and twisted one hand intomy hair, while his other held the knife's threatening tip against my jugular.
“Iwonder if ye're as tight as she was.”
Hottears soaked my face as I pictured my poor sister, desecrated at the filthyhands of this monster. As I thought of her, I prayed. I prayed for her to watchover me, as he eventually acted out the same grotesque deeds to my body as he’ddone to hers. I prayed for her to hold me in her loving palms, as I eventuallymet the end of my life. And I prayed that whatever she had felt was less thanwhat was about to happen to me.
Sharpuntangled his hand from my hair to grasp his erection through his jeans. Hestroked slowly, patiently, as he slowly traced a thin line with the tip of hisknife, from my throat, and all the way down my breastbone, never once breakingthe skin. I sobbed as my bra snapped open, falling to dangle on either side ofmy exposed breasts. As I screamed from behind the gag, desperate for someone tohear me, Sharp laughed, quickening the speed of his hand against his jeans.
Hemoaned again, then said, “Yersisterwasnaenearly as scared as ye are right now. I fuckin' lovethat about ye, Rosie. But Grace put up a fight, mind ye. Feisty little thing,she was. Much more than the others. That surprised me, to be honest. I took onelook at her and thought, ah, there's a bonnie wee bird, it'll takenothin' to clip her wings, but …” He groaned, low and deep,as he finished inside his jeans and against my limp hand. Then, stepping backand catching his breath, he said, “She was a fighter, all right. I liked that,though.Didnaethink I would, but … aye, I did.”
Hestood back, as if to admire his handiwork, and nodded his approval at my bare,goose-pimpled breasts and the tiny slashes against my chilled flesh. Every cutstung in the cold air, sticky with frozen blood. He reached out to palm one ofmy breasts and hummed his grotesque approval.
“Sofuckin' gorgeous ye are, Rosie. Ye truly are,” he muttered, leaning to nuzzlehis face against my neck. “I can see why Alec grabbed ye when he did. I onlywish I'd gotten to ye first. But I'll make this good for ye, much better thanit was for Grace, I can promise ye that. Ye deserve as much,” he said, beforetracing my collarbone with his hot, slimy tongue, “aftereverythin'ye've been through.”
Thesound of a hurt animal tore through my throat, as Sharp's knife drew anotherthin line along the waistband of my jeans, breaking the skin and shedding bloodas it went. In a hazy blend of acute fear and pain, I pinched my eyes shut andscreamed, soaking the gag with my tears, while his meaty, sweaty hand tore atthe buttons and zipper. I begged for him to keep the knife away from the thinmaterial of my underwear, but the words came out as nothing more thanincoherent, muffled nothings against the cloth, and the sheer lace easily gaveway to the blade, cold against my groin.
“Openyereyes,” he said into my ear, as the knife droppedto the ground at our feet. “I want ye to look at me.”
Ishook my head. I wouldn't give him the satisfaction of seeing every ounce ofterror and agony coursing through my violated body, displayed in my eyes. Hecould use my body, he could break it until it was nothing but a sack of tornflesh and weary bone, but he would never know my soul. That was my right, maybethe last one I had, and I would be damned if he took it from me.
ButSharp wouldn't take no for an answer. A villain like him never does. His meatyhand clasped my chin tightly, as his hot breath permeated my eardrum.
“Openyergoddamn eyes before I do it for ye,” he growled.
Therewas no doubt in my mind that he would, and still, I kept them squeezed shut.Disappointed, Sharp sighed and then, something—his fist—hit my gut with asickeningfwack! My eyelids flew openinvoluntarily as my body desperately tried to lurch forward against the ropes.
“Ididnaewant to do that to ye, Rosie,” he said, as ifit was my fault. “But what did I say aboutrespectin'a man? Now, lay back like a good girl, and remember, keepyereyes open.”
Coughingand sputtering against the rag, I did as I was told, for no other reason thanthere was nowhere else to go. I looked up at him, nothing but a blacksilhouette against the blazing firelight. He loomed over me, like a grim reapersent to take me away, and nodded with approval.
“Thereye are,” he muttered, laying his palm over mystomachand smearing the blood. “Now, stay just like that, while I—wha—”
“Touchher again, and I swear to Christ, I'll kill ye.”
Myhead bolted up from the stone at the sound of Alec's gruff voice, to see hisarm wrapped around Sharp's neck from behind. A fresh burst of tears flowed frommy eyes and my heart battered wildly against my chest when his face came intoview, sneering as he pulled Sharp backward, toward the fire, as something heavyand warm was laid over my body.
“Rosie,I'm Inspector Finley,” another man said, crouched beside the stone, as hepulled the gag from my mouth. “Ye'regonnabe fine,lass. We're here now.”
