Fighting Conviction by Greer Rivers

Chapter Fourteen

Icy fear stabbed Ellie’s heart and she stared up in horror at the shining light on the pine needles around her. Her breath panted out in clouds and she covered her mouth with her hand to keep from screaming.

“Come on down, now. I don’t bite.”

Ellie refused to move. If he wanted her, he’d have to come get her. If he thought she’d go down willingly, he had another thing coming—

A click echoed through the tree and what it implied reverberated in Ellie’s mind. Nausea roiled up her throat and she swallowed back her fear. Thanks to Devil, Ellie had heard that click hundreds of times before. At the shooting range.

“You know, the thing about parks at night… No one’s surprised when bad shit happens. You’d think a place parents send their children would be safe at any time. But it’s not, is it? Terrible things happen all the time in the dark, and people just… expect it. Wouldn’t you agree?”

Ellie checked her text messages, but Dev hadn’t responded yet.

“Not gonna talk, huh? Maybe you don’t believe me. Well, let’s say, for example, if some young woman, which I’m guessin’ that’s what you are from the pink on your tennis shoes. They’re slightly bigger than a child’s. Although, of course we ain’t talkin’ ‘bout you. Just some poor unlucky lady. But if this young woman were to… I don’t know, fall out of a tree in the middle of the night? Or hell, even if shots are fired, and a woman winds up dead… It’d be a travesty, certainly. But, a surprise? Nah. She shouldn’t have been in the park all alone at night. She was careless. Naïve. Stupid. The media wouldn’t go so far as to say she deserved it. But they might speculate what even the best of women woulda been doin’ out that late. They’d probably resort to assumin’ some sexual encounter, and you know how that always goes for women.

“But I’m gettin’ ahead of myself. Bottom line, no one wants to think it could happen to them. Rationalizin’ why it happened to you… I mean her… that’s the game we all play, isn’t it?”

Still lying on her back, cold sweat slithered down Ellie’s forehead, making her shiver as it carved its way to the back of her neck. She checked her phone again, but there was no sign of rescue.

“Why don’t you just show yourself? Then I won’t have to accidentally shoot somethin’ vital. Wouldn’t it be easier to talk?”

Was this really happening? Could this guy really be threatening her right now? Threatening to kill her? In a public park? Ellie wiped her face and clutched her stomach as it twisted in fear.

Not knowing what else to do, she prayed. To God. To Sasha. Literally anyone who would listen.

“Suit yourself.”

A sharp crack of air resounded and Ellie screamed as something thunked into the tree, only a few feet away from her head.

“I didn’t see anything!” she yelled, enunciating the last word as tears streamed down her face. This lunatic was freaking shooting at her. “Please stop! I don’t even know who you are! Please just leave me alone.”

Tskingfrom below rattled her bones.

“That doesn’t do me much good though, does it? See, I don’t know you. Maybe you’re a liar. You are a woman in the park in the middle of the night. Not too trustworthy, if you ask me. I’m gonna need me some insurance. That’s all I do in my business. I learn things about people and decide what to do with them. Sometimes, I’ll even help people out, if they help me. I think we can do that here. All I need from you is to see that pretty face of yours. And I’m sure it’s pretty. I can tell.”

Ellie grimaced as his words coated her and she desperately searched her brain for any way to escape.

“Just peek your head over that there floor you’re sittin’ on. I just need to see your face… for insurance. I need to know when I leave, you won’t go to the police and tell them who you saw. If I know who you are, you’ll know I can find you. And let’s just say if you wind up knowin’ who I am, well then you definitely know I can find you.”

Ellie clenched her teeth to stop their chattering. His proposition made sense. Kinda. Right?

“How do I know you won’t shoot my face if I show it?”

The smoker’s responding chuckle devolved into a cough. She heard rattling like something against plastic and couldn’t imagine what it was. She was racking her brain of what new weapon he was going to use when the man sighed.

“Let me explain how stupid that fear is. I could just send up a couple of shots into that flimsy wood right now and I’m sure I’d hit somethin’ vital. It might be days before someone even finds you. Even if I don’t hit you, you might fall out the tree. Boom!”

Ellie squeaked at his sharp yell but he continued to talk.

“All gone. No more whoever you are. Or I can wait for you to come down. Decide what to do then. You can’t stay up there forever, girlie. And brrr do you feel that chill? It’s supposed to get in the ‘teens tonight. Wouldn’t wanna get hypothermia.

“Or you could just show your face and I get my answers. I keep an eye on you, make sure you don’t know who I am and that you don’t squeal. Bottom line, I don’t need to see your face to end you. The fact I haven’t done it already proves what a nice guy I am.”

Ellie continued to shake her head in indecision. He was right. The nine-square-foot platform she was clinging to like a life preserver was the same size as the targets she’d been taught to shoot on. Even if he was an amateur, twenty feet to aim would be a piece of cake.

The man sighed again. “Fine, have it your way. But for the record, I didn’t want to do this.” At the cock of the gun again, Ellie squealed and rushed to sit up, nearly falling off the platform and using nothing but bark and sap to keep stable.

“Okay, okay! I-I’ll show you. But you h-have to throw the gun somewhere.”

There was a breath of a pause before the man asked, “Throw my gun?”

“Um, yeah. I don’t know. T-toss it over there, so I know you won’t shoot me.”

The man grumbled underneath her before she heard a click. “There, safety’s on. I ain’t throwin’ my goddamn gun.”

Ellie’s stomach leadened. It really didn’t matter if his safety was on, or if the gun was on the ground, or anything. Nothing mattered. He could still wait her out and shoot her. Or she could call 911, but then he’d definitely shoot her. Or maybe he’d run away if he heard sirens…

She mentally kicked herself. Why the heck didn’t I call 911 instead of Dev?

Useless thoughts were coming a mile a minute until a thump farther away made her pause.

“I threw it. Happy? Now show yourself or I get it again and we do this dance all over. Don’t even think of calling the police. You won’t want to do that. Trust me.”

Can he freakin’ read minds? “W-why not?” It was probably a stupid question, but she’d do anything to stall.

“Let’s just say, I’ve got an in there. They won’t come if I tell them not to.”

Ellie groaned and bit her hand to keep from screaming in frustration.

“Okay, okay. You threw the gun?”

She was met with a pause that was one of the least reassuring moments in her entire life, but no crunch of grass, no cocking of the gun.

“Alright… I’m doing it.” Ellie’s hands shook as she hooked them on the edge of the platform again. She leaned over, far enough to feel like she was going to fall from the vertigo. She winced at the bright light shining in her eyes, before prying them open to see who was down there. The flashlight blinded her instead and she brought her hand up to shield her eyes.

The smoker gasped. “You.”

Before she could question his response. Ellie jumped at the deafening sound of an engine barreling into the parking lot and again when a door slammed. The subsequent shout, though, soothed her.

The shine disappeared from her eyes, a balm on her nerves even though she’d been left blind with the afterburn in her retinas. Hasty crunches of grass faded away from the tree. Whoever was in the park must’ve scared the smoker.

A freezing cold gust rustled her hair in her ponytail. She shivered from the chill but was overcome by an overwhelming sense of relief when her name blew in on the wind in a demon’s roar.

Devil found her.