Spoilt (25 page)

“
The walls are sound proofed. It’s so no-one can hear you
scream.”

Her blood went cold.

He took her into a room containing plastic on the walls and
floor. The only furniture was a dirty mattress. He hauled her
towards it and she was relieved to see it was free of blood.
Pointing the gun at her, he told her to lie down.

“
W
hy
are you doing this to me, to them, to Elle?” she choked the last
name out. She was really scared now. Cold shivers ran through her
veins as her imagination ran rampant at what he wanted to inflict
on her. With a resolve buried deep inside her, she urged herself to
stay alive long enough for someone to find her. Lucas.

“
You need to know what it feels like to have nothing. All your
life you’ve had everything you’ve ever wanted. I never had
anything. I wanted you to see what that was like.”

“
My parents worked hard for everything they had, as did my
grandparents. What’s it to you?”

“
It’s everything to me.”

“
Who are you? What am I to you? I’ve never seen you before
in my life.”

“
I’m not surprised you don’t remember me.”

“
Why
would I know who you are? Have we met?”

“
Oh yeah, we’ve met
, many times. But of course you don’t remember me
at all, you spoilt bitch. I’m nothing to you.”

“
But I don’t know who you are.” Tears welled in Chelsea’s eyes
from the combination of the terror and the frustration.

“
Well, I’m sure going to make an impression on you this
time. Now shut up and lay down or I’ll kill someone else you
love.”

She reluctantly lay on the filthy mattress and told herself to
remain calm. She did not want him to see she was afraid.

He tied her wrists and ankles to the mattress with a nylon
rope already fastened to the sides. From underneath, he pulled out
a long thin knife. He slowly cut open first her t-shirt, then her
skirt, but left her underwear untouched. She was thankful for small
mercies. He started to undo his pants and the fear rose to rest in
her throat.

“
P
lease don’t do this.”

“
I have been waiting a long time for this, a very long time,
and nothing is going to stop me from enjoying doing what I did to
those other girls with you. I promise it’s going to be a whole lot
better with you.

“
Please don’t.”

He emitted a short
manic laugh. “I told you not to beg it really
doesn’t become you, Chelsea.”

Chelsea
studied him, trying to place his face. Something about him
reminded her of …. No, she couldn’t think straight. “Why are you
doing this?”

“
Because you are a spoilt bitch and need to be taught a
lesson.”

“
I never did anything to you.”

“
Oh but you did.”

“
What?”

His expression changed. The wild look
suddenly returned to his eyes.
His stare caused her heart to beat frantically but she continued
on, hoping to reason with him. “Tell me why you are doing this
….”

The blow surpri
sed her. Her cheek burned and she could taste the
blood in her mouth where she bit her tongue. Tears pooled in her
eyes and stung her face as they fell. As the ringing in her ears
cleared, Chelsea heard another voice calling. Although faint, it
was definitely a call for help coming from somewhere else in the
house. The other missing girl!

“
Dammit, I guess I better go deal with her. Don’t you go
anywhere.” He laughed snidely.

Screams and cries followed and Chelsea couldn’t block them out
no matter how hard she tried. She tugged at her wrist restraints
until they tore her skin, as she tried to pull them to cover her
ears with the inside of her arms, anything to block out the pleas
for mercy. The horror behind those screams was something she didn’t
even want to think about as her blood crawled and her skin went
cold. Abruptly the sounds ceased and Chelsea knew what this meant.
It was all over.

“
Did you enjoy the show?”
He asked when he returned.

“
I can’t believe you .... This can’t be happening.”

“
I’m going out for I bit. When I come back it’s your
turn.”

* * *

Lucas bolted out the door with one intention, to find
information on whoever had Chelsea and fast. Sarah and Charlotte
had said that it hadn’t been Wesley Robinson, but he wasn’t
convinced. Perhaps it was Chad Wilson, working with Robinson in
some way. It couldn’t be just anybody who had Chelsea, someone she
didn’t now. That didn’t make sense. Wesley Robinson had to be
behind it somehow. He needed that artist’s impression of Chad
Wilson to show to Sarah and Charlotte.

He dialled Maggie’s number as he jumped into the
car.

“
Lucas,” she answered.
“I was just about to ring you, one of the
waitresses remembered Wilson and ....”

“
He’s got Chelsea,” he said, cutting her off.

“
Who has?”

“
I don’t know. Sarah and Charlotte didn’t recognise him, but
I’m my gut tells me that Wesley Robinson is behind this, and that
Chad Wilson has something to do with it. We’ve got to show that
sketch to Sarah and Charlotte. I should have shown it to Chelsea
while I had the chance. I wasn’t focused on the job. I got
distracted. I should have been there to protect her. I could’ve
stopped him. I should have done more. It’s all my fault.” His words
were all rolling into each other in his panic. He couldn’t think
straight or get his head around it all.

“
It’s not your fault, Lucas. It wouldn’t have helped to show
the
sketch
of Chad to Chelsea because she probably doesn’t know who it is
anyway. We don’t even know if it’s him that took her and even if we
knew, we don’t know where he is anyway. We also don’t know if this
has anything to do with Wesley Robinson. It wasn’t him that took
her. If you’d been there, you’d probably be dead by now, like
Lewis.“

Lucas cursed.
“I’ll meet you at the station,” he told her. “We
have to see if we can find out who Chad Wilson is and where he
lives. Either he is Wesley Robinson or he is the kidnapper working
with him. We have to find out one way or the other. Only Sarah and
Charlotte can tell us that. And I’m positive Wesley Robinson is
behind this. I can feel it.”

* * *

Maggie strode in and joined him at his desk. She stood behind
his chair and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.

“
Dammit Maggie
,
I didn’t protect her,” he said, his voice thick with
despair.

“
We had an officer on the door, Lucas. What more could we have
done?”

“
I should have done something, Maggie. I dropped my game and
now Lewis is dead too. I should’ve been there. I should’ve shown
Chelsea the sketch, then we would know who we are dealing with, and
whether there is one or two of them.” He banged his fist on the
table. He took several deep breaths.

Maggie
waited until he lifted his eyes to hers. “We were only
speculating, we didn’t know for sure she was a target.”

“
What about the calls? She was being threatened.”

“
Yes but the calls couldn’t be traced. We were hitting dead
ends everywhere. We couldn’t even find out where Chad Wilson lives,
or anything about him whatsoever, and we have no positive ID on
Robinson either.”

“
What are we going to do? I can’t lose her.”

“
Let me go and canvass the street, I’ll take Peterson and
Stewart with me. Maybe someone saw which way they went or what he
was driving. Then I’ll take to sketch over to the hospital to show
Sarah. You won’t be of any use to us tonight. Go home, go see your
sister, but for tonight let
us
try and find her.”

“
I can’t sit around and do nothing,” he shouted.

“
You’re no good to us like this, Lucas.” She leant against the
desk and placed a hand on his face. “Let me do this for
you.”

“
No, I’ll stay here and look over everything again, see what
we’ve missed. Maybe there is something, some piece of evidence that
will point us in the right direction.”

“
Fine, Lucas, I’m not going to argue with you.” She left to
round up the other detectives.

* * *

Sarah rode in the ambulance with Charlotte gripping her hand.
The concern for both her daughters became a vice around her
heart.

“
Oh God, Chelsea,” Charlotte cried. “Mum, we can’t lose her.
If that man does anything to her, I’ll kill him.”

“
Please don’t talk like that, Charlotte. Just you get better.
Chelsea will be fine. Lucas will find her,” she assured her and
prayed she was right.

* * *

Something heavy was pressed down on her chest and Chelsea
opened her eyes. She yelped when she realised the killer was
sitting astride her.

“
Time to scream,” he said to her as he held the knife
aloft.

He knelt up and began to cut an
S
with slow precision into her chest. The
sharp, searing pain took her breath away and she bit her lip to
stop from crying out. Chelsea didn’t want to give him the
satisfaction. She hoped it would end swiftly. She clenched her jaw
and went somewhere else. Lucas. She thought about his hazel eyes
and his gorgeous little giggle ... Oh God it hurts! She screamed
out in pain and he offered her a disturbing smile.

“
Finally, a full-on scream. I was hoping for that. You’re
quite tough for a rich bitch.” He stopped and she could feel the
blood flowing in rivers down her chest towards her
stomach.

“
I wanted you to feel what it's like to have something done to
you, something you didn’t want. I want to hear you beg me to stop
but there’s plenty of time for that later.”

“
Please,
untie me. We can sort this out.”

“
I don’t think so, sweetheart.”

His face is vaguely familiar
.
I have seen him before ….

He hit her again and this time everything went
black.

* * *

Sarah sat anxiously waiting for Charlotte to be brought from
recovery. The doctors informed her they had removed the bullet,
repaired the damage and that she was going to be alright.
Charlotte’s shoulder would be stiff and sore for quite a while and
she may have trouble with it from time to time but overall she
would come through it alright. When they wheeled Charlotte in, she
was sleeping. Sarah stroked her hair waiting for her to wake.
Relief over Charlotte surged through her as her desolation over
Chelsea consumed her. Sarah’s hands shook and tears saturated her
cheeks. Her baby, her Chelsea.

“
Have they found her yet?” Charlotte asked the moment she
opened her eyes.

Sarah discreetly wiped her tears.

“
No, honey but I’m sure it will be soon. Please don’t worry
about that now, just rest.”

Charlotte closed her eyes. She was just so tired. She was
afraid of life without her sister.

As Charlotte lost consciousness,
Sarah heard someone enter the room.
She turned to see a tall blonde approaching her.

“
Mrs Summerville, I’m Maggie, Lucas’ partner. How is she?”
She said, indicating towards Charlotte.

“
Please call me Sarah. She’ll be sore but she’ll be fine,
thanks, Maggie. How is Lucas?” She furrowed her brow.

“
About the same as you.”

Sarah smiled slightly.

“
I told him to go and see his sister and let us try to find
Chelsea.”

Sarah nodded once before speaking. “What can I do to help,
Maggie?”

Maggie
sat in the seat beside her. “I need to show you something.”
She handed her the sketch of Chad Wilson. “Do you recognise this
man?”

Sarah frowned. “He looks a little like the kidnapper.” She
studied it a moment. “He looks a bit like Wes too, not really like
either of them. Who is he?”

“
He’s a man we are trying to locate called Chad Wilson. He’s
a suspect.”

“
Well, it could be the kidnapper. It’s hard to say. These
sketches can look like lots of people really, can’t
they?”

“
So you think it could be either of them?”

“
Yes. I really can’t say for sure. I don’t suppose that
helps ….”

“
Could Wesley Robinson have changed his appearance? Could it
have been him that kidnapped Chelsea?”

“
I don’t think so. I don’t think it was Wes, and Chelsea
didn’t appear to think so either, and she would have known.
Charlotte didn’t recognise him either. It all happened so fast ...”
Her voice faltered and she clasped her hands together tight in her
lap.

“
From what you know of Wesley Robinson, was he capable of
doing anything like this?”