Starstruck (33 page)

After jumping into the runabout, they puttered across the
shallow inlet. Small droplets started to fall from the sky and thunder rumbled
behind the nearby mountains. Caitlin shuffled closer to Rick as he slipped his
arms around her waist.

Avoiding sand banks, they finally reached the picnic area,
all three helping to heave the dinghy onto land. Jesse grabbed the flashlight
from the front compartment of the boat and they crossed the grassland to the
table where they’d enjoyed lunch. The place held a sinister eeriness now. It
was dark and deserted. The roar of the ocean the only backdrop.

“Which way?” Jesse frantically scanned the beach in both
directions.

Caitlin hopped onto the table, stretching to stand as tall
as possible, and did the same. “This way, I think.” She turned to her left and
jumped back to the ground.

He couldn’t see a lighthouse in either direction but went
with her instincts. It was all he had.

They followed the shoreline, running for as long as they
were able. Closer to the surf’s edge, the sand was wet and firm, quickening
their pace. Unfortunately, Rick’s stamina was failing. He’d been attending more
parties than workout sessions and started to fall behind. Jesse thanked the
heavens for his personal trainer. He’d been beaten into the greatest shape of
his life and hardly broke a sweat, even with the handicap of his broken toe.

Caitlin skidded to a halt when rocks came into view ahead.
“We’re getting closer. Look up there. It’s the beam from the lighthouse.”

A span of light dimly reflected across the water’s surface
though the lighthouse was hidden behind the trees.

“It’s around the corner of the next point, but there’s not
much sand, mainly rock. I think it’ll be too dangerous to go that way at
night,” she predicted, turning her attention to the hilly bank that led into
bush land scrub on her left.

Rick followed her line of sight. “And going through there
isn’t? Hasn’t this country got the world’s deadliest creatures or somethin’?
You want us to trudge through
that
in the dark?”

“Not scared of a few spiders and snakes are you, Ricky?” She
smiled despite the dread in her eyes.

Rick’s mouth opened, but he quickly snapped it shut with a
glare.

“I’ll take that over slipping on wet rocks and crackin’ my
head open…or worse. Lead the way,” Jesse swung his hand forward.

Trudging through the soft sand away from the rocks and
ocean, Caitlin pointed out a dirt track that curved through the bush. “My best
guess is we follow through here. If we keep to the dirt, we’ll move faster.
Shouldn’t be too difficult.”

Not wasting time, he raced in that direction.

The rain grew steadily. They walked as fast as they dared,
huddled together against the strong gusts sweeping through the trees. Jesse
repeatedly checked the lighthouse beam was still visible through the gaps. Some
twenty minutes later, tiny lights appeared ahead. They were nearing the end of
the track.

* * * * *

She seated herself on the floor in front of Sleeping Beauty.
Sarah had managed a few hours of rest while the opportunity presented itself,
but she hadn’t been able to sleep for very long. She was too buzzed, wanted to
get back to completing her project.

She’d planned on giving Samantha a few more hits of the
wicked drug, maybe enough for addiction to take hold and let the problem sort
itself out…but that would take time. No. Her own need was peaking, forcing her
to proceed swiftly.

She tied the black piece of cloth around Sam’s head,
covering her eyes, and jerked her forward as she knotted it a little too
tightly. Then she went to work on Sam’s feet.

Her teacher would be so proud.

* * * * *

At the end of the dirt track paralleling the coastline, the
scrub thinned to cleared land. A row of houses lined the beach right up to the
next rocky point. Once across the length of grassy paddock, they stopped
outside the first house. With its darkened windows it was either empty or the
occupants were sleeping.

“Caitlin?” Jesse pleaded.

Her searching eyes appeared to contemplate the span of beach
homes as lightning cracked above the ocean. With a boom of thunder the sky
opened up, the rain sheeted down in waves. He followed Caitlin’s gaze to the
lighthouse in the far distance.

Squeezing her eyelids tightly shut, she pressed two fingers
to her forehead. “Help me, Sam. Where are you?” she murmured.

He studied her face for a sign of hope but what he found did
nothing to appease the sinking in his stomach. Fat tears rolled down Caitlin’s
face. Rick placed his hand on her shoulder but she shrugged it off, holding her
hand up, silently asking for no interruptions. His eyes were full of concern as
he turned to Jesse. The only explanation he could offer was the universal
symbol for silence, holding his finger to his lips.

“Blind!” she gasped, clutching her chest.

He and Rick both reached for her shoulders in tandem panic.

“What is it?” Jesse barked.

“How do I find her blind? She can’t see anything.”

“What do you mean? Caitlin, what’s happening?”

“She can’t see where she is. Her eyes must be covered…I
think.”

“Can’t you feel her or something? I don’t know how all this
works! What do I do?” he begged.

“I’m sorry, Jesse. I’m trying!” she shouted above the wind
and rain.

He pulled her by the arm, pointing to the dry cover of a
nearby carport. They ran the short distance to get out of the storm.

“Just tell me what to do and I’ll do it!” he pleaded.

“If it were that easy, don’t you think I’d tell you? It’s
hard to explain.”

“Well…
try
!”

“I’m a thinker, Jesse. Sam’s the feeler.”

“What the hell does
that
mean?”

Holding her fingers to her temple and scrunching her nose,
she let out a frustrated sigh. “We’re kind of the same, but also very
different. My gift is more through thought. Sam’s is more through feelings,
emotions, though she can get thoughts as well. I haven’t got time to explain it
all, but… Okay, this might work.” She shuffled a few steps back and forth.

He wanted to squeeze the explanation out of her. Nothing was
moving quickly enough. He held back the hurtful words that threatened to spew
from his mouth.

She finally paused right in front of him. “We used to play
this game when we were kids, kind of like the clairvoyant version of
hide-and-seek. Sam was always better at it than me. She always found me no
matter how well I hid. Once I even cheated and went outside the boundary we’d
set. I ran four streets away from my house and hid behind the dumpster at the
back of the corner store. I was totally invisible to everyone but Sam. She
still found me in no time at all.

“You see, she not only picked up on my thoughts, but she
smelled the sweets and the freshly baked bread coming from the kitchen of the
store. She smelled the rotting garbage from the dumpster through
my
nose. When it was my turn to find her, she’d try to block me from her thoughts.
Sometimes it worked, sometimes not. We were just kids, mind you. We’re stronger
now, but my point is, I need Sam to think something for me to receive it. She
showed me the light from the lighthouse before, but now she can’t
see
anything,
so neither can I. Do you understand?”

“I think I’m starting to, but—”

“But I can feel her heartbeat. She’s awake now and she’s
frightened. We don’t have much time. I have to…
no
!”

Rick grabbed for her, trying to pull her to his chest, but
she held him at arm’s length.

“They want to hurt her. Oh God…really, really hurt her. They
want to…we have to find her! Now!” Caitlin screamed.

Jesse paced in front of her like a caged animal. He clenched
his hair in his hands and tugged with vexation at the roots. He’d never felt so
helpless.

“Which way?
Please
tell me!” she cursed the sky.

Not a moment later her eyes brightened with sudden
enlightenment, as if someone had whispered the answer in her ear. “Yeah maybe,”
she muttered.

Her head whipped toward the lighthouse and she actually
smiled. “Jesse, I can feel her heartbeat. I can almost hear it. Maybe if I get
closer, it’ll get louder.”

He stared at her, jaw unhinged.

“You know. The game where you have to try to guess where
something is and you’re told if you’re hot or cold, if you’re moving farther
away or getting closer? It might work like that. Telling me if I’m going the
right way.”

“Okay, then which way?” he implored, losing his last thread
of patience, his feet itching to run.

“I want to go this way.” She nodded in the direction of a
narrow road running behind the row of houses near the sand.

* * * * *

Sarah paced the dusty wooden floorboards, kicking Sam’s
thigh when she passed. She ambled to the open window and gazed into the night
sky. The rumble of the ocean’s waves crashed and swelled against the shore and
nearby cliffs. She missed her friend, her mentor. He no longer spoke to her as
often as he used to. Why? Was this another test?

“Rain’s picking up,” she whispered. “How perfect. Don’t you
just love the sound of rain and the waves?”

She lifted the decaying window frame higher, breathing the
salty night ocean air deep into her lungs.

Maybe cooling the room a little will help princess wake
up faster.

As she strolled across the room, she passed Sam and kicked
again—hard.

* * * * *

Pain exploded in Sam’s hip and her head reeled with a silent
scream. A second explosion on her thigh made her bite back a gasp. Instinct
told her to keep quiet and stay limp for as long as possible, but it wasn’t
easy. She was in no condition to fight off an attack, even if she had the use
of her arms and legs.

She listened. Lazy steps, boots scuffing across the floor.
Heavy breathing. As far as she could sense, there was only one other person in
the room. She was female…and familiar.

Sam’s feet were restrained and something hard and heavy was
fitted between them.

Excruciating pain burst through her ankle and white flames
sizzled behind her closed eyelids. She screamed, unable to feign sleep any
longer. My God, had the bone splintered?

“Why, hello there! You’re awake now, I see.” The woman
laughed and pressed her boot down on Sam’s ankle. “Would you like another
needle, hon, or would you rather just feel the pain?”

Sam sucked up the agonizing throb in her foot and turned
toward the voice. “Who are you? What do you want from me? Why are you doing
this?” she croaked.

Her throat was as coarse as sandstone. Every part of her
body ached and begged for relief.

The woman had spoken with conviction, authority, but her
tone was soft and calculated. Panic seized Sam by the throat. Madness was ripe
in the room and she lost any confidence of making it out alive.

“Who am I? Don’t concern yourself, pet. It’s
inconsequential, really. No you, princess, should be more concerned about what
I’m going to
do
with you,” she purred with glee.

“Y-you broke into Jesse’s house. You k-killed the bird. You
drugged me at the party. Why?”

“You are a bright spark, aren’t you? Most of them aren’t,
you know. The women he’s dated before, not so clever. But you, my dear, you
are
a surprise. I had planned all this for little Miss Sampson, of course, but this
way is much more interesting, don’t you agree? You’re more of a challenge. You
were meant to die in New York but… well…things don’t always go as planned, do
they? No mind though. All good things come to those who wait.”

But more than the woman’s voice, another, more penetrating,
sound sent chills down Sam’s spine. Something heavy continuously hit the floor,
again and again. The floorboards vibrated beneath her with every thud. An image
of the source filled her mind. The woman was playing with a very large
sledgehammer, holding it by the end of its long wooden handle. Raising it a few
inches off the floor before she let it drop, repeating the action over and over
as she spoke.

“It worked out for the best really. Now by the time they
find you, you’ll be just another dead junkie. You forced me to be creative. I
like that. Thank you.”

Hate and violence radiated from the woman like heat off a
furnace. It boiled underneath her cool exterior. Her mind was pure,
unadulterated evil. Sam had to keep her talking if she stood any chance of
getting out of here without further damage…like death. At least long enough to
try to figure out what to do.

“How did you find me? How have you tracked me? Are you some
sort of psychic?” She already knew the answer. A big fat
no
.

“Oh I wish. No, just good old-fashioned detective work. It’s
not that difficult when a person knows what to look for. That, my dear, is
where intelligence comes in rather handy. I have an IQ of one fifty-one, you
know. Not that I’m bragging…just putting it out there. I wonder what yours is.
I doubt it’s higher, but still it would be interesting to know.”

Thump. Thump. Thump.

“Tell me how you did it. At least give me that. You say
you’re so smart, prove it,” Sam coaxed. If the woman was eager to gloat, she
would help her along with a little motivation, a little push.

Keep her talking. Keep her talking. Keep her talking.

“Very good, princess. Some would say even clever to keep me
talking. But it won’t stop the inevitable.”

Thump. Thump.

“In light of that, I suppose it can’t hurt to indulge you a
little. It would be a shame not to share, even if that person won’t live to
retell the tale. Yes…why not.”

Thump.

“You see, Jesse has a very good PA but not particularly
loyal, it seems. Has a history of dating bad seeds, gravitates toward men who
cheat, men who are no good. You know the type, I’m sure. Her current plaything
had some hefty gambling debts. She was desperate to keep him. That’s where I
came in. Didn’t cost me anywhere near what I expected or was prepared to pay.”