A Time of Torment Read Online Free PDF

then it’s possible that he might be able to lie his way out of this. People like him are very good at lying. If that happens, then he’ll get away not only with what he did to you, but what he did to all those other children.
    ‘So it’s your choice, Charlie. Can we have the time that we need?’
    She thought long and hard, so long that, for a moment, Parker believed she might refuse, and he would have kept his word to her if she had. But instead she said, ‘Yes, you can talk to him.’
    Parker thanked her, then rose. He reached into his pocket and handed her a cell phone.
    ‘Angel will take you into the kitchen to wait while Louis and I stay here with Mr Ormsby, if that’s okay. Do you know your mom’s number, or your dad’s?’
    ‘I know both.’
    ‘Then pick one, and put it into that phone. If you get frightened, or worried, or feel that we’re taking too long, you just press the green button. Nobody will try to stop you, and no one will be angry. We’re just grateful for the chance you’ve given us.’
    Charlie looked past him to where Ormsby sat, and the purity of her hatred for him shone from her face.
    ‘I’ll wait until you tell me to call,’ she said.
    Angel continued to hold her hand as she climbed from the chair, and accompanied her to the kitchen, leaving Ormsby alone with Parker and Louis. Once she was safely out of the room, Parker placed an upright chair directly opposite Ormsby.
    ‘Do you know who I am?’ Parker asked.
    ‘An intruder in my home,’ said Ormsby. ‘A pedophile who broke in here with his deviant friends after I rescued that little girl from them.’
    ‘My name is Parker.’
    ‘I don’t care.’
    ‘How many others have you taken?’
    ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’
    ‘Elizabeth Keynes.’
    Of all the possibilities, it had to be that one: the favor, the debt.
    ‘Never heard of her.’
    ‘You’re lying. The cries of dying children echo in this house.’
    ‘I don’t even understand what language you’re speaking. It’s just noise to me.’
    ‘Aren’t you afraid of what we might do to you?’
    ‘You mean kill me?’ Ormsby laughed. ‘You won’t do that.’
    ‘Why not?’
    ‘Because if you kill me, you lose. You get nothing.’
    ‘We could torture you.’
    Ormsby stared hard at the man who sat across from him.
    ‘No, you won’t do that either. It’s not in you.’ Ormsby inclined a chin toward Louis. ‘Maybe it’s in your friend here, but I don’t believe you’d let him do the kind of harm that you wouldn’t be willing to inflict yourself.’
    ‘So you do know who I am?’
    ‘Like I told your friend, I read a lot. I’ve seen your picture. I know what you are.’
    ‘What do you think will happen if we hand you over to the police?’
    ‘I’ll tell my story of how I found the girl wandering, and brought her home. Maybe they’ll believe me, maybe they won’t, but a good lawyer will sow enough doubt to get me off. The law will probably go poking into my past, trying to tie me to whatever you or someone else says I may have done, but they’ll find nothing. I’ll move on, and those kids you keep speaking about will remain missing, and their parents still won’t know whether to mourn them or continue praying for their return. I’m not a young man. Death will come for me soon, and the earth will swallow up every secret I’ve ever kept.’
    ‘And what if I don’t hand you over to the police?’
    ‘You mean you just walk away from here with the girl? Yes, I suppose you could do that, but you’ll get nothing in return. This is a seller’s market, Mr Parker, and I’m not selling to you, not for any price.’
    Parker stood. Ormsby couldn’t help flinching, but the detective simply walked away from him and stood at the picture window at the rear of the house. The drapes were drawn. He opened them.
    ‘Mr Ormsby,’ he said, without turning round. ‘Would you come here, please?’
    ‘You heard him,’ said Louis. ‘Get