Der Schädelring: Thriller (German Edition)

half of it. If you're in trouble, we can buy your way out of it."
    "I'm scared," the four-year-old inside her said. But she couldn’t rescue that lost little girl. She was a woman now, new and improved and ready to battle for her soul.
    Mitchell's eyes darkened. He raised the gun to chest level, still pointing it at Walter. "You want to stay out here with this redneck?"
    This is it, decision time. The safe and insane world of the past, Mitchell's world, where she could stay in her dark shell forever? Or an unknown and perhaps equally mad freedom with Walter and his bloody past? The devil you know or the devil you don’t?
    Walter stood his ground, eyes fixed on the gun.
    Mitchell spoke to Walter now. "So, you're trying to steal her from me, huh? And the money. I ought to put a few holes in your ugly face. Hell, they wouldn't convict. I know a good lawyer."
    He laughed, a cruel, maniacal sound that was out of place in the still forest. The panic swarmed up the base of Julia's spine, wriggling like a bucket of black worms. Walter was going to die, and she might be next. No telling what Mitchell was capable of. His face twisted into a sinister mask, eyes bright with a secret madness.
    "I'm not one of them," Walter said to Julia.
    "I don't believe you," Julia said to Walter. She kept the lie locked on her face, hoping her eyes didn't betray her. She must have succeeded, judging from Walter's look of hurt shock.
    She moved close to Mitchell, rested her hand on his arm. "You can take care of me," she said. "You can save me."
    Mitchell's lips curled into a sneer of triumph. She felt him relax, and then chopped down on his wrist with all her strength, fueled by the memory of his assault in Memphis. Three loud reports ripped through the forest, and she heard Walter's shout over the roar in her ears as gunpowder smoke burnt her nostrils. Her rage burst forth like the waters behind a storm-swollen dam, and she chopped again. The pistol spun from Mitchell's hand and landed on the carpet of leaves.
    "Bitch," Mitchell grunted, backhanding her across the face. He stooped for the gun, but Julia dug her fingers into his sleeve. Walter dove to the ground, clawed among the leaves, and came up with the pistol. Mitchell flung Julia away and stared at Walter.
    "You going to shoot, redneck?" Mitchell smiled, all white teeth and wickedness. "I don't think you have the balls for it."
    Julia rubbed her stinging cheek. "You sent me to Elkwood, didn't you?"
    Mitchell frowned at her, the slightest hesitation flashing across his eyes. "You're crazy."
    "Not as crazy as you wanted me to be," she said. "You and Dr. Danner set me up with Dr. Forrest. You wanted me to move here. You wanted her to make me so helpless that I'd fall into your arms and stay there forever."
    Mitchell looked at Walter. "Can't you see how loopy she is?"
    "But there was one thing you didn't count on," she continued, glad that she wasn't the one holding the pistol. She might have shot him. "Dr. Danner had his own agenda. He was doing his part to be a good little member of the Brotherhood."
    "Brotherhood?" Mitchell looked confused. But all lawyers were actors on some level.
    "Satan worshippers," Julia said, pleased to see Mitchell's face go pale.
    He looked at Walter and shook his head. "She's crazy. Now she's babbling about Satan. She really fell for her doctor’s shrink job."
    Walter held the pistol and said nothing.
    "You know Snead, don't you?" Julia said. "You knew him in Memphis. I wouldn't be surprised if you helped him get a job here so that he could keep an eye on me."
    Mitchell took a step toward the pistol, but Walter said, "I wouldn't if I were you. Semiautomatic .45 with three shots gone still leaves four in the clip."
    "Did you know Snead was in Satan's little circle, Mitch?" Julia smiled as Mitchell squirmed from the sarcastic nickname. “Maybe you’re just playing Satanist. The truth is that I can't see you bowing down to anybody or anything. You'd never worship anything besides yourself."
    "I'm in it for the money, just like them,” Mitchell said. “Why else would anybody want to marry you?"
    "Money? I don't have any."
    "What do we do with him?" Walter asked Julia.
    "I just want him out of my sight," she answered wearily. "Out of my life."
    Walter motioned with the gun down the forest slope. "You heard her. Get out of here. And I wouldn't plan on coming back, or this here redneck might pull a 'Deliverance' on you." He gave a leering wink that would have