True Control (3 page)

Chapter 6 HIM

“So assuming that checks out…that Lucy didn’t seek the help of a doctor or the police. That still leaves you, Jake…you saw her and you continued to see her weekly for the last several months…” Killaney keeps eyeing between Jake and me.

“Yes.” Jake is still reluctant in his answers, but he keeps his eyes on Killaney.

“Because you were worried about her?”

“Because I wanted her to know that she could talk to me…”

I have to close my eyes to get the color red to clear. I don’t care if this is my brother saying it…another man, seeing my wife on a regular basis, behind back! I want to scream and rampage. Instead, I breathe in and out and finally, unclench my fists. That won’t help find her. I need to stay calm, to help her.

“And what did she talk about to you?”

Jake shrugs. “Everything. Nothing.”

“About her marriage?”

“Sometimes.”

Killaney shoots a look of warning at me and glances at Jeff, still standing close by.

“So…were you screwing her?”

Jake doesn’t hesitate in answering, “No.”

“But you wanted to…?”

And Jake hesitates. He fucking hesitates. I push back my chair and tower over him, my fists at my sides. Jeff grabs my shoulder and tries to yank me back. I pull out of his grip and turn towards the terrace, “I need some air.” Jake just sat there. Not moving.

My own brother wanted to fuck my wife?! Everything is colored red.

Chapter 6 HER

He comes back and nudges my head with his socked foot. At least it doesn’t stink. I’m almost hysterical again with this thought. But his words cut into the ether.

“You don’t remember me do you?”

I know him? “I…I haven’t seen your face.” My head hurts with the effort to speak.

He laughs. “Dumb bitch.” But he sounds amused, not angry anymore. “You think that matters to me?” I only shrink in response. He picks me up by my waist again and hauls me to the other side of the sofa, next to the coffee table before dropping me again. I manage to stop my head from bouncing this time.

He sits behind me, putting his feet on me like I’m his ottoman. I start to cry and shake.

“Stop that. Or I’ll give you something to cry about.”

His voice isn’t as commanding as Max’s, but the effect is the same. I stop.

He turns the TV on and I close my eye.

It’s all I can do to block out the pain, the fear. To ignore the truth. I’m in a nightmare and I’ll never see Max again.

Chapter 7 HIM

I stand just by the terrace doors, the cold spring air cooling the heat of my face. The other cops moved away, I don’t care where. Jeff comes to stand next to me. My watchdog.

I can still hear Killaney and Jake though.

Jake didn’t answer him, so Killaney backtracks. “So. Yesterday. Lucy answered the door. You said she was happy to see you. What did you talk about then?”

“She was nervous about her doctor’s appointment. But hopeful.”

Hearing him talk about how Lucy was feeling, what she was thinking… Fuck. This can’t be happening. None of this is real. It’s a fucking nightmare.

“So she wanted a kid?”

“Yes.”

“And she thought she was pregnant?”

“Maybe.”

“Was it your idea to keep your meetings secret or hers?”

“I…we didn’t really…
decide
to keep anything a secret.”

“But your coming here. Her talking to you. It
was
a secret...”

“I guess. Sure.”

“So what other secrets did Lucy share with you?”

Chapter 7 HER

I wake when he grabs my waist again. I’m a rag doll lifted in the air by a giant child. He walks with me under one arm, against his hip. I watch the hardwood turn to tile and a bright light goes on above.

This time I’m ready to be dropped, but I still fall hard and crack my elbow on the floor. I feel warm blood smear under my right elbow and knee as I move to try to sit up. His foot shoves me back down.

“Stay down, cunt.”

I watch as his feet move around the cabinets in the kitchen, but his back is to me. He has dark, almost black hair. Straight and short. And he’s tall. Strong.

He opens a slow cooker and the smell of cooked meat makes my mouth water. I’m hungry. I’m beaten, tied, raped. And hungry. What insanity is the human body?!

I watch as he puts something on a plate and brings it to where I am on the floor. Through my hair, I get a good look at his face. Blue eyes, yes. Slightly crooked nose. Needs a shave. Where do I know you from?!

“You throw this up and I won’t feed you again for three days.” But he rubs my head.

The gentleness of his touch only adds to the stab in my empty stomach at his words. Oh God. Three days. He means that he will keep me here!

My mind goes blank. Instinct. “Thank you.” He only laughs and tells me to sit up. He walks over to the counter where he has his plate and watches me.

I’m awkward moving with my wrists and ankles tied. My head swoons.
Go slow, baby.
I finally manage to get to my elbows on my side, ignoring the pain, but I can’t sit up anymore. I pull the plate under my chin and take a small piece with my fingers. It tastes as good as it smelled. I eat everything.

But I almost throw up again when he picks up the plate and says, “Good girl.”

Or was that Max in my head? I fall back to the floor.

Chapter 8 HIM

I turn to see Jake’s face as he answers the question. “She didn’t have any secrets.”

“Just you.” It’s a good thing I’m not standing near the sarcastic fucker.

Jake’s jaw clenches. Dad steps in between them. “I think you have the answers to your questions here, Detective.”

Killaney turns to me and nods back to the table. No. He’s not done. Not yet.

I walk slowly by the table into my kitchen and return with the glass of scotch. I put this quietly on the table before sitting back down, away from everyone. But I see how Killaney licks his lips. I give him a crooked smile and slowly lift the glass to my lips, taking a deep drink. I just as slowly lower the glass back down. I may not be able to punch him, but I can torture the drunk.

“We know that Lucy’s phone and credit cards were left with her purse. You said,” he nods to me, “that Lucy would’ve had some cash, but not much on her. For cabs. We didn’t find any money.” He pauses to let this sink in. At least I’m finally getting some information. “We’ve set up your phone here to record and track calls…in case there is a ransom demand or contact.” I knew Dad had rushed this through.

“We should know more later today about fingerprints and anything we found from here.” He moves his hand in the air to indicate the apartment. “In the meantime, I need you, Max, to think of anyone who might have wanted to hurt you or your wife. Any employees, former or current. Any cases you’ve handled. Anyone at all.” I nod.

He doesn’t move to get up though. “And I am going to check with your wife’s doctors, friends, and family. We’ll keep checking local hospitals; no one with Lucy’s description has been reported so far.” I lower my shoulders at this news. I didn’t realize how tensely I was waiting to hear this. “The news’ll get ahold of this story pretty quick. We’ll want to get ahead of that. A media liaison from the Missing Persons Unit will contact you later today.” I nod again. I assumed this. The zoo’ll be open for business.

My voice sounds far away, “Has anyone reported seeing Lucy on the street…near where we found her phone?” The pathetic weakness in my own voice angers me. I want to throttle someone, something!

Killaney only blinks at me. “We’re still checking.”

And I know the son of a bitch is lying to me! He thinks I’m a suspect, so he’ll keep as much as he can from me for as long as he can.

I hear the house phone ring and freeze.

Chapter 8 HER

He returns with the big knife. I watch it shine as he moves. I’m not as afraid this time. He cuts the rope around my ankles. I only stretch one leg out, experimenting with movement again.

He grabs my arm and yanks me to my feet. Rag doll legs. I almost slip back down, but he has a firm hold on my arms. His fingers cut into me. This close, I see he has a mass of chest hair, dark, curly, sweaty. I raise my one open eye to him.

I know you? …How? From where?

He laughs at me. Yanking me around and dragging me down the dark hall.

We pass rooms to the end of the hall. I’m still shocked to see the normalcy. Bad art on walls, stains on rugs, popcorn ceilings. My prison looks just like the house I grew up in, small and normal.

I shake in his grip, but manage not to cry, manage not to trip.

Chapter 9 HIM

“You need to answer that. Stay calm.” Killaney follows me to the kitchen phone.

I’m disappointed when I see ‘P Shannon Cell’ on the callerid. “It’s Lucy’s Dad.” He nods, but he doesn’t move away. I’m still under observation, I guess.

I clench my jaw and turn away from him as I answer. “Hello.”

“Max! Any news, have you heard anything yet?”

“No, Paul. The police are just finishing up here.” I can hear a lot of background noise on his end, a warbled announcement. “You made it the airport?” My Dad took care of getting them on a redeye here.

“Yeah. We should get in early this morning.”

“Good. Just grab a cab for here. I think Dad has you booked at a hotel nearby.” Dad nods from the doorway. I’m a robot, running on automatic, saying and doing what I need to, but not comprehending anything right now. “Yeah. We’ll get it straightened out when you’re here.”

“PJ’s picking us up. We’ll get there as soon as we can.” I start to say good-bye, but Lucy’s Mom gets on the phone.

“Do the police have any idea where Lucy could be, Max?”

“Not yet, Liz. They’re doing everything though. I have to go. Safe flight.” I can’t breakdown. Not yet.

Chapter 9 HER

He pushes me into a dark room and I stumble on carpet, my bound hands out in front of me. My knuckles bang hard into something wood, “Shit!” It takes me a second to open my eye against the pain.

“Bet you don’t talk like that with your
husband
around?” What did he say?

He turned a low light on. I can just see what I hit. A wood footboard to a tall bed. I swallow hard. Instinct. And Max’s voice in my head again. “I’m sorry.”

He smiles and laughs. Oddly making his face harder. A dimple in his chin and one on his cheek dancing on the hard angles of his face. I shake more. “No. I like a filthy mouth on my bitch.” I shake my head. “Why don’t you try this…Ask me real nice to fuck you again…I know you liked it the first time.”

I shake my head. My whole body shakes, my head’s just along for the ride.

He takes one quick step towards me and I almost fall over backwards on the footboard trying to back away. My feet scramble, only my tip-toes touching the carpet, the board painfully arching my back. He grabs a chunk of my hair in his right hand and yanks me forward, but not off the board. Dark dimples, flash of white teeth. Explosion of painful fireworks as he slaps the left side of my face hard. I can’t even scream the pain takes too long to give me back my air.

He keeps his hand in my hair and pulls me up to face him. “Now. Ask me, whore.”

My lips try to form words, but I don’t know what they are. He rattles my head and I’m afraid he’ll hit me again. I don’t think my eye can take that. “Pl…Please…fuck...me.”

He releases some pressure on my head, but keeps his hand in my hair. “We’ll work on that.” He drags me over to the side of the bed and lets go of my hair. I panic, looking around for something to fight him off.

Who am I kidding? My hands are tied. And he’s strong.

He laughs. I hate his laugh. It’s not sarcastic, not evil. It’s a laugh you would hear anywhere. “Oh. You wanna have a fighting chance against me? How bout I untie your hands and I’ll even give you one best shot, Lucy?” He laughs at how I cower away, shaking. God, I would love to be a man right now. To knock the shit out of you! But I only cower.

Then it dawns on me. “You…you know my name?”

His smile twists. “I know a lot about you.”

I try to stall, to think.
Think, baby.
“Like what?”

“You really don’t remember me at all do you?” I only shake my head a little. He sneers, laughing at me, “I’ll make you a deal. If you can remember
my
name, I won’t fuck you…tonight. I’ll even give you three questions to figure it out.” He’s very amused with himself. I don’t believe him, but it’s something to hold onto. “What’s your first question?”

Think! “Where…where do I know you from?”

His look melts from dark smile to dark frown. “No…that’s cheating! Do it again and the games over.”

“Do…do I know you from,”
Think!
“Do I know you from my building?”

“No.” He pulls off his tank top and I can see that he’s strong everywhere. I look away.

“Do you work with…with my husband?” I can’t say his name. Not here. Not after what this man did to me.

“No. But I’ll give you a hint…I have met Max.” He pulls off his pants and kicks them away. He’s really enjoying himself. I only have to glance to see he’s excited again.

I panic, searching around the room for a hint. I don’t even know where I am! I know it’s wooded and obviously remote. But I have no idea how long I was passed out in the trunk. I haven’t heard any cars or other people. No one heard me scream. It’s pitch black outside the window. It was daylight when he took me on the street.

I vaguely remember someone saying my name, turning and feeling dizzy. His arms holding me up and walking me to a car. That was it.

“Tick tock. Last question.”

“What’s the first initial of your first name?” I’m risking that he’ll think this is cheating, but my mind is blank on anything else!

He only chuckles. “B.” He stands a little taller, putting his thumbs in the band of his underwear. I shrink a little more. “What’s my name, Lucy?”

Oh God. I have no idea! I say the first thing that comes to my mind. “Bill.”

He laughs harder and I almost pee myself. You would think I just told him the funniest story while walking home from a nice date. No one so evil should have such a nice laugh.