See Me (55 page)

Colin pressed his teeth together, his jaw muscles pulsing, thinking that if anything had happened to her…

He’d hunt Dr. Manning to the ends of the earth. The man deserved to die, and in that instant, Colin’s thoughts began narrowing as he felt a visceral, almost tangible urge to kill him.

In his ever growing rage, the speedometer topped 120, and all Colin could think was
Go, go, go
…

C
olin was driving so fast that the images beyond the windows were blurry. Despite the seat belt, Maria was being flung from side to side whenever he made a turn or braked or accelerated. And yet, all she could think about was Serena and that she’d been the target all along. And he’d toyed with her…

The fake scholarship. Interviews. Slowly earning her trust…

But all the while, he’d been planning. Following Serena. Stalking. Not just in person, but on Serena’s social media, too. He’d come to dinner with the family because he’d known Maria wouldn’t be there… Serena had told the world that Maria had a date. He’d known Maria would celebrate their mom’s birthday because Serena had posted about that, too. As the reality of what was happening sank in, Maria felt a mounting sense of panic that began to take on a life of its own. It was getting harder to catch her breath as the muscles in her chest began to compress. She tried to will the sensations away and from past experience knew she was having a panic attack, but she kept thinking about Serena. What if they were already too late? What if Dr. Manning had already abducted Serena and would do to her what had been done to Cassie?

Maria’s mind flashed on the photos from Laws’s crime scene and her lungs suddenly constricted even more, making breathing almost impossible. She told herself again that it was simply a panic attack, but as she tried and failed to draw a breath, she knew that she was mistaken. This wasn’t a panic attack. It wasn’t like this the last time. All at once, she felt a searing pain in her chest that traveled down her left arm.

Oh my God
, she thought.
I’m having a heart attack
…

Colin hit the brakes and the momentum flung Maria hard into the shoulder harness. She was flung again moments later as he made another turn, her head banging the window. Maria barely registered the pain; all she could think about was the pressure in her chest and the fact that she couldn’t breathe. She tried to scream, but no sound came out. In that instant, she was only vaguely aware that her phone had suddenly dinged and vibrated with an incoming text, the thought immediately vanishing as the world began going black at the edges.

“Maria? What’s wrong?” Colin called out. “Are you okay?”

I’m having a heart attack!
Maria tried to say as her eyes began to close.
I’m dying!
But the words still wouldn’t come. She couldn’t breathe, her heart was giving out, and though she heard Colin calling out her name, it sounded both underwater and far away, and she couldn’t understand why Colin wasn’t doing anything, why he wasn’t helping her. He needed to call an ambulance and rush her to the hospital…

Her thoughts were disrupted as she was suddenly shoved upright in her seat and felt pressure on her shoulder; a moment later, her body was being shaken.

“Take control of this, Maria!” Colin commanded. “You’re having a panic attack!”

It’s not a panic attack!
her mind screamed as she fought for every breath, frantically wondering why he wasn’t helping her.
It’s real this time, can’t you see that?

“Maria! Listen to me! Maria!” Colin shouted. “I need to know where Serena went! Manning is with her right now! I need your help! Serena needs your help!”

Serena
…
 

Maria instinctively opened her eyes at the mention of her sister’s name and latched on to the sound, focusing on it, but it was too late…

“Maria!”

This time, it was the sound of her own name that jolted her. She thought;
Colin is talking to me
. She thought;
Serena
. She thought;
Dr. Manning
. Somehow, she was able to hold her eyes open, though she still couldn’t breathe and she was dizzy. But…
Serena
…
oh, God, Serena needed
…

Help.

Every cell in her body continued to hammer its death omen at Maria, drowning out the reality of the situation. She fought to regain clarity; she forced herself to think about Serena and knew they were going to the waterfront to save her sister, and that her phone had vibrated with a text.

It was all she could do to turn the screen faceup and focus, but she was somehow able to make out the words…

Sorry. Ringer off. Walking to interview now. Wish me luck!
 

Serena. Her sister was still alive, and they were racing to save her. Maria forced herself to draw a long, steady breath, and then another.
A panic attack, that’s all
, she thought.
I can get through this
…

But her body was still rebelling, even if her mind had begun to clear. Her hands shook and her fingers weren’t working right. She was able to hit the redial button, but the call went to voice mail. Meanwhile, Colin continued to shout at her from the driver’s seat, even as he skidded through another turn…

“Maria! Are you okay? Tell me you’re going to be okay!”

Though it took her a moment, she realized they’d reached South Front Street and were headed in the right direction.

“I’m okay,” she mumbled, still catching her breath, amazed she could speak at all, realizing that breathing was no longer impossible. “Just need a minute.”

Colin quickly glanced over at her before facing forward again, pressing down on the accelerator. “How much farther?” he asked. “I need to know where she is.”

“I don’t know,” Maria answered, her voice still weak, her body struggling to recover. “A few more blocks,” she huffed, feeling dizzy.

“You sure?”

Was she? She looked up the street, wanting to make sure. “Yes.”

“On the left or right?”

“Left,” Maria answered. Straining, she forced herself to sit higher in the seat. Her body continued to tremble.

Colin sped through the next intersection. Staring out the window, Maria vaguely noticed a half-dozen shacks and boathouses closer to the river, looking dark and shadowed. Streetlights barely cut through the darkness. The car’s momentum began to decrease as Colin lifted his foot from the accelerator, and they coasted the next block and through another intersection. Here, the architecture immediately shifted; the flat-roofed buildings were now sandwiched together like row houses, some of the buildings in better condition than others. There were office lights blazing on some floors but most were blackened, and the cars on the street were separated by wider gaps. There was no traffic in either direction. As they drove through another block, the area suddenly began to feel familiar and Maria knew they were close, even as she struggled with a sudden rush of anger and guilt she felt for having a panic attack at the worst possible moment, when Serena needed her most.

She reminded herself that she’d been here before, and despite her body’s continued rebellion, she forced herself to take long breaths as she scanned the buildings. It was hard to tell for sure which was the one they wanted, since she hadn’t been paying that much attention the first time she’d come here. She vaguely recalled that Serena had been standing at an intersection and there’d been some construction workers staring from the opposite side of the street… She squinted, spotted scaffolding on a building at the corner, and then, on the opposite side of the street, Serena’s car…

“There!” she said, pointing. “The four-story brick one on the corner!”

Colin immediately pulled over, braking hard. He jumped out of the car and took off running, not waiting for Maria as she struggled to open her door, furious that her body had gone into revolt and needed to recover. She didn’t have time for that. Not now. Especially not now. Finally pushing the door open, she willed herself to stand and start moving.

By then, Colin had already reached the lobby door. She saw him struggling to open it, finding it locked, then jabbing at something beside the handle. When Maria looked up, there were seven or eight offices still illuminated on various floors, and she watched as Colin pounded the glass. She could tell from his body language that he was debating whether to smash his way in, but Maria instinctively knew that Serena wasn’t in the office building. Nor was Dr. Manning. He’d been far too careful to this point to make that mistake now; he’d been far too meticulous, and there were too many people in the building, too many potential witnesses, too many things that could go wrong. She guessed that Dr. Manning had been waiting for Serena on the sidewalk in front of the building and probably had a story about a pipe that burst or whatever, so the interview would be held elsewhere. She knew that he wanted someplace private, where he knew he wouldn’t be caught, a place that would burn.

“Colin!” she tried to shout. The sound came out weak. She tried to wave her arms, but the dizziness came back in a rush and she stumbled. “Colin!” she called out again, and this time he heard her voice and ran toward her.

“The door has one of those key-code locks! There’s no listing for the foundation, so I just hit all the buttons, but no one’s buzzing.”

“Serena’s not in there,” Maria forced out. “Manning took her someplace else. There are too many people inside, too many people still working.”

“If she got in his car…”

“She texted that she was walking to the interview.”

“Then where’s his car? I don’t see it.”

“Check around the corner,” Maria wheezed, still fighting waves of dizziness. “He probably parked there. If he’s looking for someplace deserted, he took her to one of the shacks or boathouses near the river. Hurry!” she said, feeling like she was about to fall over. “Just go. I’ll get my phone and call the police…”
And my parents, my relatives, Lily, everyone who jumped in their cars to follow us
, she thought.

By then, Colin was already backing up toward the intersection, uncertain, wanting to trust her, but…

“How do you know that’s where they’ll be?”

“Because,” she said, wondering when the police would arrive, remembering the lakeside cabin where Cassie had been murdered, remembering the shacks and boathouses common to this portion of the Cape Fear River, “that’s where Laws would have gone.”

M
aria’s instincts had been right. He found the blue Camry parked on the cross street that ran beside the building. He sprinted past it. Straight ahead was an unkempt field that stretched toward the muddy banks of the Cape Fear River, a black void ahead of him, barren of reflection on this almost moonless night.

The street gave way to a gravel road that forked to the left and right, toward the river’s edge. One way led to a small, run-down marina with a rusting metal structure that was home to a hodgepodge of boats, protected by low fencing; in the other direction stood two decaying barnlike structures near the riverbank, spaced maybe fifty yards apart. Those buildings looked abandoned, with cracked planks and peeling, faded paint, overgrown weeds and kudzu surrounding them. Colin slowed, frantically trying to guess where Manning had taken Serena. In that instant, he saw a ray of light leaking out intermittently between the planks of the abandoned building on the left, vanishing and reappearing.

The beam of a flashlight?

He left the gravel, cutting through grass and weeds that were shin-high in places, willing himself to move even faster, hoping he hadn’t arrived too late. Still unsure what he was going to do, or what he was going to find.

As he reached the building where he’d seen the light, he pressed himself flush to the side of the wall. Up close, he realized that the structure had once been an icehouse, probably used by fishermen to load blocks of ice into their boats to keep their catch fresh.

There was no door on this side of the building, but a boarded-over window emitted a weak and flickering light. He began inching toward the side farthest from the river, hoping to find the door, when he heard a scream rip from inside…

Serena
…
 

The sound galvanized him. He raced around the corner, but the door on that side had been boarded over. He accelerated past it, to the third side, seeing another boarded-up window. One option left. He peeked around the corner and immediately spotted the door he’d been looking for. Reaching for the knob, he found it locked. In that instant, he heard Serena cry out again.

Stepping back, he drove his heel into the door next to the knob. It was a perfect shot, hard and fast, the frame splintering as the door cracked open. He kicked again and it swung fully open. In that split second, he saw Serena tied to a chair in the middle of a dimly lit room, Dr. Manning beside her with a flashlight in his hand. There was the shape of a body in the corner, surrounded by rusting paint cans. Serena’s face was bruised and bloodied. Both Serena and Dr. Manning cried out in surprise when Colin burst into the room. A beam of light suddenly hit Colin straight in the eyes.

Blinded and disoriented, Colin barreled ahead, reaching out in the direction he’d last seen Dr. Manning. He spread his arms, but Manning had the advantage and sidestepped him. Colin felt the heavy metal flashlight crash into the back of his hand and heard the bones snap. The combination of shock and searing pain kept him from reacting quickly enough. As Serena screamed again, Colin twisted, trying to square his shoulders at Manning, but he was too late. The flashlight smashed into his temple, the sudden impact turning everything black. His body went limp and his legs buckled; he hit the floor even as his mind was still trying to process what had happened. Instinct and experience urged him to get up quickly, and after years of training, the movements should have been automatic, but his body wouldn’t respond. He felt another hard blow to his skull, which shot radiant bursts of agony through his system. His mind was teetering on the edge of coherent thought; he registered nothing other than pain and confusion.

Time seemed to shatter and fragment. Above the steady ringing in his ears, he could vaguely hear the sound of someone crying and screaming… begging… a woman’s voice… and a man’s…

Twilight descended and pain broke over him like a wave.

The sound of whimpering dimly penetrated his stupor; when he recognized his name, he was finally able to somehow open one eye. The world appeared hazy, nothing but a fog-filled dream, but when he thought he saw Maria tied to a chair, it was enough to allow him to finally comprehend what had happened and where he was.

No, not Maria. Serena.

But he still couldn’t move. Still unable to fully focus, he could distantly make out Dr. Manning as he moved along the far wall. He was holding something red and square in his hands. Colin heard Serena’s continued cries and his nostrils were suddenly flooded with the odor of gasoline. It took a moment to put everything together. Dully, he watched Manning toss the gas can aside. Colin saw a flicker of light, a match, and watched it arc toward the ground. He heard the
whoop
of ignition, like lighter fluid on charcoal. He saw flames begin leaping at the walls, the old planks as dry as tinder. Heat began to rise. Smoke thickened.

He tried to move his hands, tried to move his legs, but felt only numb paralysis. His mouth tasted metallic and coppery, and he saw a blur of movement as Manning ran past him, toward the door that Colin had kicked in.

The flames were reaching toward the ceiling, Serena’s cries telegraphing pure terror. He heard her cough once, and then again. Colin willed himself to move and wondered why his body wasn’t working. Finally, his left arm began to inch forward. Then his right. He slid both arms under him and tried to rise, but his broken hand bones shifted. Colin screamed and his chest hit the floor, pain twisting his anger into rage, fueling his need for violence and revenge.

He got to all fours and slowly managed to stand. He felt dizzy, his balance still off. He took a step and stumbled, his eyes stinging in the acrid smoke, tearing up. Serena’s cries had turned to uncontrollable coughing; Colin felt as though he couldn’t breathe at all. The flames had spread to the other walls, surrounding them. The heat was intense, the smoke becoming black, searing his lungs. Colin stumbled the couple of steps it took to reach Serena and eyed the ragged macramé jungle of rope binding her to the chair. He knew that with one hand, there was no way to untie the rope in time, and he scanned his surroundings, hoping to see a knife. An ax. Anything sharp…

Colin heard a loud crack, followed by a roar as the roof of the icehouse suddenly sagged, sending sparks in all directions. A rafter beam crashed within a few feet of them, then another fell even closer. Along three walls, flames seemed to multiply, the heat so intense that Colin felt as if his clothing had ignited. Beginning to panic, he grabbed the chair with Serena still in it and heaved, feeling a burst of pain in his broken hand. His mind flashed white, and it fueled the rage inside him. He could handle pain; he knew how to harness it, and tried to draw on it, but his hand would no longer grip.

Unable to carry Serena, he had no other option. There were five, maybe six strides to the door, and grabbing the back of her chair with his good hand, he spun it around and began dragging it toward the doorway. He needed to get there before the flames did. He tugged and dragged, every jerk sending pain through his hand and his head.

He burst through the open doorway. Smoke and heat followed them out, and he knew he needed to get Serena a safe distance away from the smoke. He couldn’t drag her through the field or the mud, and spotting gravel to the right, he went that direction, toward the other building. Behind them, the icehouse was nearly engulfed in flames; the sound rose in volume, magnifying the continued ringing in his ears. He kept moving, resting only when the heat from the fire began to diminish.

Serena hadn’t stopped coughing, and in the darkness, her skin looked almost blue. He knew she needed an ambulance. She needed oxygen, and he still had to get her out of the chair. He saw nothing he could use to cut the rope, and he wondered if there might be something in the other building. Just as he started toward it, he saw a figure step out from the corner and move into firing position. The barrel of a gun reflected the fire…

The shotgun Margolis had mentioned, the one Manning had said might not even work
…
 

Colin knocked Serena and the chair over and dove to block her in the same instant he heard the explosion. The shotgun had been fired from forty yards, pushing the maximum range, and Manning’s aim had been high. The second shot was slightly more accurate. Colin felt the pellets tear through his shoulder and upper back, blood spilling. He went dizzy again, fighting to remain conscious as he blearily watched Manning start running for his car.

There was no way Colin could catch him. Manning’s figure receded and there was nothing Colin could do. He wondered why it was taking so long for the police to arrive and hoped they’d catch him.

His thoughts were interrupted by a roar as fire suddenly mushroomed through the roof of the icehouse, alive and screaming, the sound almost deafening. Part of the wall exploded, sending burning pieces of wood and sparks in their direction. He could barely hear Serena crying through her coughs, and he realized they were still in danger, too close to the fire. There was no way Colin could drag her farther, but he could get help, and he forced himself to rise. He needed to get to a place where someone would see him. He staggered forward a few dozen steps, losing blood, his left arm and hand now useless, his nerve endings radiating agony.

By then, Manning had reached his car and Colin saw the headlights flash on. The Camry tore away from the curb, heading directly toward him.

And toward Serena.

Colin knew he couldn’t outrun the car; no way he could so much as dodge it. But Serena was even more helpless, and Manning knew exactly where she was.

Gritting his teeth, Colin staggered forward as fast as he could, creating distance between him and Serena. Hoping Manning would follow him. Hoping Manning would flee. But the headlights remained aimed in Serena’s direction. Not knowing what else to do, Colin stopped and began waving his right arm, trying to draw Manning’s attention.

He flipped Manning the bird.

The Camry immediately veered away from Serena and toward Colin, accelerating and closing the distance. The icehouse continued to emit an eerie high-pitched shriek as fire consumed it. Colin staggered as fast as he could away from Serena, knowing he had only a few more seconds, knowing he was about to die. The car was almost upon him when all at once, the ground in front of him was bathed in another set of headlights racing up from somewhere behind him.

He barely saw the blur of Evan’s Prius as it crashed into the Camry with ear-splitting force, pushing both cars toward the fire. The Camry smashed into the corner of the icehouse, the Prius bulldozing it forward. The roof of the building began to collapse as flames leaped farther upward, toward the sky.

Colin tried to rush forward, but his legs gave out. Blood continued to pulse from his wounds, and as he lay on the ground, he could feel himself growing dizzy again. He could hear sirens now, competing with the sound of the fire. He suspected they were too late, that he wouldn’t survive, but that didn’t matter to him. He couldn’t take his eyes from the Prius, and he watched for the door to open or for the window to go down. Evan and Lily could escape the fire if they moved fast, but the chances of that happening were slim.

He had to get to them, and tried again to rise. Lifting his head nearly caused him to black out. He thought he saw swirling red and blue lights on the side streets and bright headlights moving closer. He heard panicked voices calling out for Serena and for him, and he wanted to shout at them that they should hurry, that Evan and Lily needed help, but all that came out was a raspy whisper.

He heard Maria then, heard as she screamed his name and reached his side.

“I’m here!” she cried. “Hold on! The ambulance is coming!”

Even then, Colin couldn’t answer. Everything had begun to spin and images became disjointed, nothing making sense. In one instant, the Prius was swallowed whole by flames; when he blinked again, only half of the car was gone. He thought he saw the passenger door creak open, but there was too much smoke and there were no other signs of movement, and he couldn’t be sure. He felt himself slipping away, darkness settling in, and in his last moment of consciousness, he prayed that the two best friends he’d ever known would somehow make it out alive.