She Belongs To Him

Chap. 41: What Happened

After Barclay had gagged her with his paisley handkerchief and tied Katie's ankles and hands with her own shoe string, he allowed her to sit up. The blonde saw dark buildings that had belonged to the darker side of Pinewood. She spots Lion's Bar on the corner and the Cherry Popper at the end of a road.

Katie turns to Barclay, who has a wicked smile on his face. Where is he taking me? If he's going to hide me someplace here in this part of town, he's stupider than he looks! This area is the first Lane would look for me! If he even looked for me...

"Over on Merles St." Barclay command's, wiping his beard with his hand. "The Sisters of St. Abernathy will take care of her."

Sisters of St. Abernathy? Is that like a Catholic school or something? Katie arches a brow in confusion. Barclay said he couldn't kill me but was going to put me to work...how am I going to work for him in a Catholic school? Lane said that Barclay handles the prostitution part of his three branch business, but how are prostitutes associated with a bunch of wrinkly old nuns?

"I'm a genius!" Barclay burst out laughing, holding his stomach. He turns to the blonde. "West really let you go off all by yourself in the middle of the night without an escort? Or that he allowed his "equal" out of his sight? Bullshit! Complete and utter bullshit! You ran away because he probably smacked you around a bit for wearing ya skirt a little too short! That stupid little bastard will be looking for ya before too long...perhaps he already is."

I wouldn't be laughing if I was you, jerk! Katie mentally screams at Barclay. If Lane knew exactly what you were saying about him, he'd bust your teeth out of that stupid head of yours!

"The bastard won't think to look at Sisters of St. Abernathy...mainly because he doesn't know." Barclay thinks out loud, rubbing his beard.

Doesn't know what? Katie wonders.

"West will probably call every gang in the county to keep an eye out for ya." The Scotsman looks to the blonde, nodding. "I gotta have a good story to throw him off the tracks. And I feel that this necklace won't cut it."

Barclay holds the necklace up, his fingers touching the cool metal chain of the necklace. He arches a brow and looks to Katie. He takes the gang out of her mouth.

"You're stupid if you think you can get past Lane." Katie spits at the Scotsman. "He's smarter that you give him credit for!"

"Ahh shut up!" Barclay whips his hand back and slaps the blonde hard across the face. She cries out as pain surges through her cheekbone. "Now, what does this necklace go to? A safe? A safe deposit box? A fucking treasure chest? No doubt West let you wear it around your fair little neck. It's the last place anyone stupid would look...but not me! I can outsmart that bastard."

"It goes to Lane's heart." Katie tears up at the pain, softly sobbing. "It goes to nothing else!"

Barclay gags, rolling his eyes at her. "Such a wee babe you are! Believing in lovey dovey shit."

"You weren't on your way to do a job, were you?" Katie asks softly, sniffing.

"Oh, I was." Barclay nods to her, "See, West scares me at the bar tonight. He said that he killed Fairfield because he was stealing from West-which was partially true-but what West doesn't know is that McGinness and I have a conjoined side business that makes us five times as much as he makes on the drugs and prostitutes."