The Big Bad Wolf

CHAPTER 16

LIZZIE CONNOLLY COULDN_T BELIEVE any of this awfulness was happening to her. It

still didn’t seem possible. It wasn’t possible. And yet, here she was. A hostage!

The house where she was being kept was full of people. Full! It sounded as if a party was

going on. A party? How dare he?

Was her insane captor that sure of himself? Was he so arrogant? So brazen? Was it possible?

Of course it was. He’d boasted to her that he was a gangster, the king of gangsters, perhaps

the greatest that ever lived. He had repulsive tattoos on the back of his right hand, his

shoulders, his back, around his right index finger, and also on his private parts, on his testicles

and penis.

Lizzie could definitely hear a party going on in the house. She could even make out

conversations: small talk about an upcoming trip to Aspen; a rumored affair between a

nanny and a local mother; the death of a child in a pool, a six-year-old like her Gwynne;

football stories; a joke about two altar boys and a Siamese cat that she had already heard in

Atlanta.

Who the hell were these people? Where was she being held? Where am I, damn it?

Lizzie was trying so hard not to go crazy, but it was almost impossible. All of these people,

their inane talk.

They were so close to where she was bound and tied and gagged and being held hostage by a

madman, probably a killer. As Lizzie listened, tears finally began to run down her cheeks.

Their voices, their closeness, their laughing, all just a few feet away from her.

I’m here! I’m right here! Damn it, help me. Please help me.

I’m right here!

She was in darkness. Couldn’t see a thing.

The people, the party, were on the other side of a thick wooden door. She was locked in a

small room that was part closet; she’d been kept in here for days. Permitted bathroom breaks

but not much else.

Bound tightly by rope.

Gagged with tape.

So she couldn’t call out for help. Lizzie couldn’t scream except inside her head.

Please help me.

Somebody, please!

I’m here! I’m right here!

I don’t want to die.

Because that was the one thing he’d told her that was certain he was going to kill her.