“Sorry we have to meet like this,” he said in a casual, offhanded tone. Alicia could almost hear his smirk. “But I wanted to act out one of my bondage fantasies. And I also wanted to make it clear in no uncertain terms how disturbed we are by what you did—or tried to have done to the house last night.”

We… he was as much as telling her that he wasn’t in this alone.

“I don’t want this to be a lecture, so I’m going to have my associate here remove the tape from your mouth. If you begin to scream or cause any unpleasantness, it goes back on and stays on. Is that clear?”

Alicia refused to nod.

“I said, is that clear?”

Still she wouldn’t nod.

Finally she heard Thomas sigh. “All right. Take it off.”

The dark figure next to her reached over and tore the tape roughly from her face. From the way her flesh stung, she was sure it had taken an upper layer of skin with it.

“You bastard,” she said in a low voice without turning. She did not want to see him. “You filthy piece of—”

“Ah-ah-ah,” Thomas said. “I warned you about unpleasantness.”

“Just a statement of fact, Thomas.”

“Really?” His voice changed to a hiss. “Then try this statement of fact: If you ever, ever try to do harm to that house again, you’ll—”

“I’ll what? Be run down by a car? Be blown up? Be burned at the stake? What, Thomas? I know what happens if I die. So don’t try to threaten me.”

“Who said anything about dying?” he said. “How about just hurting? You can be hurt. And you can be hurt again. You can be damaged temporarily or permanently. You can be scarred. You can be maimed. You can be blinded. The list goes on, Alicia. Dying is not the worst that can happen to you.”

Alicia licked her lips with a cottony tongue. Was this really Thomas talking? Weak ineffectual Thomas?

“I know what you’re thinking,” Thomas went on. “You’re thinking Thomas is just talking. Thomas is a wimp. He won’t do anything of the sort. But listen well, sister: Thomas doesn’t have to do any of it. He’s got people who will do it for him, and enjoy it.”

Her intestines coiled in fear as she realized these were not empty threats. She hid the tremor that shot through her. How had she got into this nightmare?