William reached down and stood Susan up by the arm while holding the weapon steadily aimed at her chest. Susan looked at him and was all the more upset by how unconcerned he seemed to be. He had no apparent fear. No worries. He was in complete control. Susan knew it and she was certain that William knew it.
William motioned with the gun towards the door of the room. The gesture's intent was obvious. It was time to walk into the living room. It was time to call Janine. Susan's shapely legs felt weak, as if they couldn't support her. But she managed to stay upright as she slowly made her way into the large well furnished living room.
William pointed to a chair at the left end of a sitting area in front of the fireplace. Susan sat down slowly, hanging her head and doing her best to avoid looking at the man in the room with her. She had seen his face already. She did not need to see it again. And she did not want him to see the defeat in her eyes, even if she knew he already was well aware of its presence.
William walked slowly around the room, closing the luxurious drapes covering each of the three windows on the front wall of the room. The only light coming from a single lamp he had lit before Susan arrived home. Funny, he thought, she hadn't noticed the light on when she was coming up the driveway. But Susan had noticed it. Nothing would have made her think that this was anything but a lamp Janine had left on before they left. As she sat in the chair she berated herself for not realizing that something wasn't right. What if she had? Would she and Janine be in this situation? Feelings of guilt swept over her as William took a seat in a chair on the right end of the three pieces of furniture that made up the grouping in front of the fireplace. That fireplace, he thought, would make a nice backdrop for what he had planned to start the evening's entertainment.
Susan sat silently, defeated. The only sound the gentle ticking of the grandfather clock on the wall of the room opposite the fireplace. The silence was broken when William leaned forward and whispered. "Call her. Tell her to come downstairs." Susan hesitated. Perhaps some small tattered remnant of her defiance remained. But, if so, it was quickly wiped away by the knowledge of what was to come and her helplessness to stop it.
"Janine, I need you." Her voice was quiet, barely audible. Fear evident in the way she was unable to call out.
William leaned forward, whispering again, aiming the gun with a steady hand at Susan's chest as he did so. "Call her!"
"Janine. Please, I need you to come downstairs. Please Janine"
Susan heard Janine's desk chair slide against the floor as she stood up from her work.
"Is something wrong, Mom?"
"Please Janine, please come downstairs and have a seat in the living room"
Janine detected something different in her mother's voice. She was worried. Had something happened to her father? She knew he was away on business. Was he sick? Had he been hurt? What else could be wrong at this time of night? Slowly she came down the stairs, her concerns centered around what she was now certain was some type of bad news about someone she loved. She had heard the anguish in her mother's voice and knew, with certainty, that something was very wrong. But, in no part of her imagination did any thought of what was in store for her occur.
She came down the stairs and saw a stranger seated in the living room. The gun was hidden from her view as William carefully concealed it, still held tightly in his grasp, inside his sports coat. Janine now was certain that her father was hurt. Why else would a stranger be sitting in the living room talking to her mother, who was clearly trying to keep Janine from seeing her crying, something Susan was unable to hide despite her efforts.
"Mom, what's wrong? Is Dad OK" Janine said, her voice quivering in anticipation of the bad news that was surely about to follow.
"Sit down on the couch" said William, pointing with his visible hand at the elegant sofa between the two chairs on which he and Susan were seated.
Janine was taken aback by the stranger's tone. It seemed more demanding than sympathetic. Who was he, she thought as she seated herself in the middle the couch. "Is Dad OK?" she asked.
At that point, William withdrew his hand from his coat revealing the weapon to
Janine for the first time. It took Janine several seconds to comprehend what she was seeing. She gasped, and look at Susan, the fear in Janine's eyes now matching that in Susan's. Yet Janine still had no thought about why this stranger might be in her home. All she felt was shock, fear, and confusion.
William was the first to speak. "Susan, please explain to Janine what is going on. I think she needs to know, don't you?" William smiled. It was an evil grin born of satisfaction for the control he had achieved and anticipation of what was to come, what he had looked forward to for so long.
"Janine" said Susan. "please don't move and don't say anything. I need you to listen carefully and be very brave for me." She looked up at William, hesitating. After five seconds of silence, she bit down on her lip, took a deep breath, and closed her eyes. Opening them again, she looked at Janine and continued, tears now welling up in her already reddened, tear stained eyes.
Janine said nothing, doing as her mother had asked, just as Susan knew she would do.
"Janine, this man is a terrible man. But he isn't going to hurt us. We just need to do what he says."