Dreamscape (9 page)

Knocking on the doorframe, Max said, “Hello?”

Lanie turned to the voice. Pulling the nails from her mouth, she set the hammer down. “Hello. Can I help you?”

The man smiled. “You have quite a busy place here. I install gutters and driving by here today I was wondering if you’ve had your gutters checked recently.”

“I just moved in actually. I hadn’t considered the gutters needed replacing or cleaning.” The thought distracted her. Was there
more
to do outside?

“A lot of people don’t give the gutters a second thought, that is, until they get an ice jam up there and it damages the roof and ceiling.”

Lanie frowned. She was so close to being done, the last thing she needed was damage of that sort. “Okay, then how about you look around and give me an estimate?”

His smile widened. “Alrighty.” He pulled a small yellow pad from his back pocket. “Is there access to any of the smaller roofs from the inside?”

“Yeah, there’s a narrow stairway off the kitchen that leads up to the old servant’s quarters. That will take you to the cupola...”

“I noticed a room on the second floor. The window is open, the only one open as far as I could tell. The porch gutter is just below that. Any way I can go out that window to see what’s what?”

Jason narrowed his eyes.
He’s talking about our bedroom.
The thought froze in his mind. When did
his
bedroom become
their
bedroom? He willed Lanie to remember this
Max
, this dangerous bully who’d kick and spit on a small girl. Chances were that type of character defect would last throughout a lifetime.
Remember, Lanie.

“How about I check the porch gutter first?”

Lanie cautioned. “Yeah okay, follow me, but please be careful.” She pointed to the bunched runner. “Watch your step on the stairs, as you can see I’m still tacking the runner down.” When she was done with this guy she’d better refer to her list. She had the oddest feeling she was forgetting something important.

The man looked up the long winding staircase and laughed. “Wow,
that’s
no small job!”

 “No kidding. I’ve been at it all morning and I’m only halfway up.” Pointing to another lumpy stair she said, “Watch your step here, too.”

Jason immediately popped onto the second floor landing and what he saw from his new vantage point made him seethe inside. Max’s eyes were focused on Lanie’s derriere.

Inside her bedroom, Lanie rushed to pick her dirty clothing and towels up off the end of the bed. She’d started to sort laundry earlier but got distracted by a phone call from Zack.

The black thong fell unseen to the floor at her feet. Lanie stuck her head out the window. “Len, I’ve a guy here who’s checking the gutters.” She called to the man on the scaffold just outside.

“Okay, Lanie, I’ll watch for him.”

“Please
be careful,” she told him.

“Don’t worry, ma’am, I’m a pro.”

Just then a crash came from below. “Oh
what
now?” she said in exasperation. Things were just
off
today. “Please excuse me.” With that she ran down the stairs.

Jason watched the man pick up the black panty and hold it to his nose. His fingers curled into fists as Max chuckled and stuffed the bit of cloth into his pocket. Several minutes later Max met Lanie on the stairs. “I’ll have to come back tomorrow, got a call from the office.” He patted his pocket in illustration.

Jason clenched his jaw. No such call had come.

“All right, Mr.…”

“Cady. Max Cady, from WeatherAll Siding and Gutters,” he told her, making his way to the door.
I’ll bet those panties smell half as good as the real thing.
Behind his back Max laid a piece of tape over the lock to facilitate his return that night.

Another crash came from below. Lanie said quickly, “Tomorrow then. I’m sorry, please let yourself out.” The sound of broken glass was heard. “Oh, what the heck is going on?”

Max chuckled. “Not a problem.”

Exasperated, Lanie hastily ran back to the cellar where crates, broken furniture, and decades of unused window panes made it next to impossible and extremely dangerous to maneuver down there. For the fourth time today she was distracted.”

Max checked the tape covering the lock. “Not a problem at all.”

Chapter 8

Max looked both ways down the street. Rolling up his sleeve, he checked his watch under the roll of duct tape he wore like a bracelet.
Showtime.

It was quiet and deserted this hour of the morning. That made two a.m. his lucky hour. The black panties were in his pocket. He’d beat off twice in anticipation with them pressed to his nose. He wanted to last. She was certainly a pretty thing, much prettier than the last woman he’d met at two a.m. That one did have nice big tits though. His dick got hard remembering her squeals when he’d twisted her nipples. Still, in the end he took her like a dog. It didn’t matter what her face looked like. He’d rather not see their black eyes and bloody noses when he fucked them anyway. Stupid cunts.

The porch step squeaked, and he froze, listening. No sound of her waking so he carefully opened the door. The tape had done its job perfectly. Taking the roll off his wrist, he slowly pulled a length long enough to bind her hands. This he stuck on his pant leg and then tore another, this would cover her eyes. Too bad he had to. She had pretty eyes.

He found her room again. She was lying there, half-covered by her sheet.
Oh good, you sleep nude. That’ll save us some time.
Fucking hell
,
he thought to himself. Seeing her nude made his dick so hard it hurt. He’d take care of that soon enough. Moving slowly, he carefully laid the tape over one wrist then gently placed the strip over her eyes.

She immediately came awake. “Wha…”

He set upon her, clamping his hand tight over her mouth and nose so hard she couldn’t breathe. Pressing all his weight into her chest, he bound her wrists together against her struggles. “Okay, little cunt, we’re going to play a game. The rules go like this, if you scream and fight I’m gonna hurt you.” He emphasized the last words by cruelly grabbing and twisting her breast. She screamed in pain through his fingers. Gripping harder, he hissed again, “No, you’re going to lay quiet-like, and I’m gonna play.”

Lanie clawed at the hand covering her face. She couldn’t breathe and her head was starting to swim.

Lanie’s attacker let go of her abruptly. “What the
fuck?
No!
Get
the fuck away from
me!
Get
away!!!
Ahhhh…”

She heard the screaming man’s footsteps running down the hall to the stairs. The sound of feet on the stairs turned into a crashing noise below and suddenly all was quiet. She tore at the tape over her eyes, feeling the smaller hairs of her eyebrows ripping free along with it. She ripped the tape from her wrists with her teeth, tearing the skin as well but she ignored it. With a shaking hand, she reached for her cell phone and dialed 911.

“Emergency Services, how may I help you?”

Lanie could barely talk, she stammered, “P–please help…I’ve b–been attacked in m–my house...”

Minutes later a squad car screeched into the driveway, followed shortly by two more patrol cars. They found the intruder at the bottom of the stairs. Apparently something had interrupted him, for rather than completing his planned attack he’d fled and in so doing tripped on the loose stair runner and fell down two full flights of stairs to break his neck.

Lanie refused to go to the hospital, but one of the female officers stayed a while longer to finish the report and to make sure she was okay. Her breast was terribly bruised, as were her ribs where his arm had pressed all his weight into her. The skin on her wrist wept blood where the tape had peeled the layer of skin away.

The kindly officer patted Lanie’s arm. “You’re going to be okay. This creep won’t be bothering anyone ever again.” She felt the lock and pulled the tape away. “Try to get some sleep, Doctor.”

Lanie saw the tape and blanched realizing he’d put the tape there earlier. He’d planned this from the start. “I will. Thank you, Officer.”

Alone again, Lanie went to make a cup of chamomile tea. She dropped the first cup into the sink where it shattered. The second cup sloshed hot water all over her so she poured half out and, holding the shaking cup with both hands, gave up trying to drink it. She pushed it aside and shakily sat down. Drawing her knees up, she hugged herself and sobbed.

Her sobs were tearing Jason inside. Never did he feel more useless. He’d watched the wretched scene as it was happening and threw himself at Max repeatedly, but his formless body passed right through him. He tried to grab the man and pull him off of her, but without substance his ghostly hands wouldn’t grip. At last he’d done the only thing he could think of, he materialized and scared him away. His meeting his end on the unfinished stairs was a bonus. At least the bastard wouldn’t bother her again. He shuddered inside. Had she been alone, there’s no telling what that animal might have done.

Moving to stand behind her, he silently spoke to her mind,
You’re all right now. It’s over. He’ll never hurt you again.
With everything he had he wrapped his arms around her tightly and poured his comfort into her. A moment later, her crying ceased. Again he whispered to her mind,
Come, come into the study.

Met with an overwhelming urge to go to the study, Lanie left the kitchen light on and headed to the other room. Taking the plaid comforter from the overstuffed chair, she wrapped herself in it and curled up on the sofa. There was no way she could sleep in her bed tonight. Her tears spent, the adrenalin crash hit her hard, and she soon fell asleep.

Waiting until she drifted off, Jason kissed her forehead and whispered, “Sleep, my love, no dreams tonight, just sleep.”
It hit him then. He’d called her his love because she was.

Chapter 9

“Oh, my god!” Lexie exclaimed, feeling her friend’s fear and pain. Her eyes filled with tears. “Those bruises…Lanie, he
hurt
you.”

Nodding, Lanie buttoned up her shirt. “He did. I didn’t want to show you, but you insisted.” Before she could finish the task her friend crushed her in a fierce hug.

She patted Lexie’s back. “Please don’t cry, Lex. Listen, it was
three
days ago, bruises always look worse a few days after you get them. I’m okay now.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

“What a monster…” Lexie sniffed, wiping her eyes and nose on her cuff.

“He was.” Lanie didn’t add that at least three of her mother’s boyfriends could have been the gutter man’s siblings. Some people were just bullies, some were dangerous bullies. Fortunately there was one less in the world. Lexie sniffed again. Lanie handed her a tissue.

“Thanks.” Lexie blew her nose in a gurgling honk. “I’m
glad
he’s dead. I’d push him down the stairs myself if he were standing here right now so he could break his neck all over again.” She went and dropped the sodden tissue into the toilet then reached for another. “
Please,
Lanie, you live all by yourself here. Get an alarm service or something, a dog maybe, a big one, a pit bull or a Rottweiler…”

Lanie laughed. “You’ll be happy to know all my locks have been changed.” She pulled a key from her jeans pocket and gave it to her friend. “And this one’s for you. I did get an alarm system by the way. They put it in yesterday, but there’s some sort of weird electrical issue and the alarm keeps going off when it shouldn’t.”

“Great. So until it’s working like it should, how about that dog…”

Lanie laughed. “Not right now. I’d love a dog but until all this is done, I couldn’t give it the attention it needs.”

“So what have you found out about the creep, anything yet?”

“The police are thinking he’s responsible for a string of attacks in the last year. Apparently all occurred in the span of time the guy worked for WeatherAll. It’s a small family business. Needless to say, Bill Bradley, the owner, was beside himself when he heard what his employee had used his company for.”

“No kidding…”

“He came in person to apologize with flowers and a certificate for new gutters.”

“Sounds like a nice man.”

“Yeah, I felt bad for him. In a week’s time several jobs were canceled, but it wasn’t
his
fault.”

“Well he
does
own some of it, doesn’t he? Who hired the nut?”

“I suppose. He reminded me of my pop a little.” Her eyes started to glisten. She wished her foster parents were alive. She’d always felt safe with them around. She didn’t feel safe anymore and she didn’t like it. There were too many bad memories associated with feeling that way, too many uncertain times in her early years.