She opened her eyes, camping lanterns glowing across the room. The hood still rested over the person’s head. She tried to talk, but couldn’t with her mouth gagged. Her assailant removed the cloth from around her head and the rag from her mouth.
Cora struggled to move her head away from this person’s reach. “Who are you? What do you want with me? Do I know you? Why won’t you uncover your face?”
“Why all of the questions?” the voice grumbled.
“I’m trying to understand all of this. What is this all about? Why me?” Cora squirmed and tugged, trying to get loose.
“Don’t worry. You’ll figure everything out eventually. I’m just following orders.” The attacker turned out all of the lanterns except one and opened the door, leaving as abruptly as he’d come.
“No! Come back!”
He secured the door and left. There was probably no way out for Cora, but she had to try. First, she had to free her hands and feet. She pulled and twisted, but she couldn’t free herself. How could she get out of here? She tugged a little more and then rested. “I won’t do myself any good if I’m worn out.”
Cora scanned the crude cabin for something she could use to set herself free. She spotted a rickety chest of drawers across from her. Maybe she’d find a knife or scissors in there. She yanked again to free herself from the cot. This time, she was able to pull herself loose from the bed and sit up.
For a moment, she sat still, listening for any sounds of life outside the cabin and gaining her stamina. Then she swung her legs around, touching her feet to the floor. Hopping across the shack to the dresser, she turned her back to the drawers and squatted down. With her hands tied, it took every bit of her strength to open the top drawer. She stood again, turned around, and looked inside.
“Please let there be something in here I can use, something sharp to cut these ropes.” She searched but couldn’t find anything. She shut the top drawer with her knee, turned around again, knelt, and tried to open the bottom drawer. She almost tipped over when the warped drawer finally flew open from the force of her pull. She sat on the floor and looked in the drawer. Nothing in there, either.
Cora struggled to her feet and surveyed the squalid place. The lantern made shadows across the room. Daylight had streamed in the door when the attacker came to the cabin, but it was closing in on five or five-thirty. She wouldn’t make it home for dinner.
She shut the bottom drawer, in case the man came back before she was able to escape. From her vantage point in the middle of the shack, something captured her attention—a cable coming out of the wall. She followed it with her eyes into a wall-mounted cabinet. Could it be a phone cable? Her heart threatened to leap from her chest. Could she be this close to rescue?
Cora hopped over to the cabinet and used her shoulder to pry it open. The telephone sitting on the shelf brought a gasp forth from her. The captor had obviously hidden it so she couldn’t find it. Well, he wasn’t as smart as he thought he was. Now if she could find a way to get herself loose, she could call for help.
She surveyed the darkening room again. A large tool chest, about two feet high, sat near the door. She hopped over to it and knelt in front of it. Yes, it was unlocked. Cora turned around again and pushed the lid open.
Pain seared her wrists. “Ouch! Oh, man, that’s not good.” She’d cut herself on the sharp metal edge of the chest, and blood trickled down her fingers. She tasted bile in her throat. “Don’t give up, Cora,” she admonished herself aloud. “You cannot sit back and let this happen to you. You have to fight your way out of here.”
Cora peered into the chest, and although the corner of the room was draped in shadows, a pair of branch trimmers glinted in the light. If only she could get them behind her back and somehow cut the ropes off of her hands, she could get free. She could get out of here. Cora tried to reach them but kept losing her balance. She had to make this work. If she could cut the ropes off with the same jagged edge of the toolbox she’d cut her wrist on, she could get free.
She turned around, positioned her hands—one on either side of the edge of the chest—and sawed back and forth. Sweat poured off her forehead, making it impossible to see. She was cutting herself, but it didn’t matter. She had to do this.
Finally, the rope tore, and Cora was free at last. She reached inside the tool chest, got the branch trimmers, and cut the ropes off her feet. Her hands and wrists dripped with blood and throbbed. Blood soaked into her clothes, and she almost fainted. She needed to stop the bleeding, but there was nothing clean enough to use as a bandage.
Cora steadied herself for what she must now do. She had to call for help.
Who could she call? She didn’t know the O’Reillys’ number. With trembling legs, she walked to the cabinet to the phone and dialed the operator.
“9-1-1 operator. What’s your emergency?”
“Please—please help me. Someone kidnapped me.” Cora tried to remain calm, but every nerve in her body felt like electricity ran through it.
“What is your location, ma’am?”
“I don’t know. I was driving from Lewistown to the O’Reilly ranch in Southern Hope through some back roads, and I got lost. Then my tire blew out, and someone rammed me in a gray Ford F350 pickup. I was walking for help, and someone attacked me in the woods. I’m in a cabin. An old rundown shack.” Cora’s knees trembled.
“Okay, ma’am, help’s on the way. Stay on the line as long as possible so we can trace the call. Okay?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Minutes later, a rumbling came toward the shack. “I hear him coming back! What do I do? If he comes in here and sees me like this, he’ll kill me!” Cora captured her bottom lip with her teeth.
“Is there a back door or maybe a window you can crawl out of? The officers and medics will be there in a few minutes. Is there a way out of there?” the operator asked calmly.
“There’s a window. But I think I’m going to pass out.”
“Ma’am, what’s your name?”
“C—Cora.”
“Cora, stay with me, okay? Can you get out through the window?”
“I’ll try.”
“Do not hang up this phone. Keep the line open.”
“Okay.” Cora laid the receiver down beside the phone and made her way to the window, which had no glass. There was nothing but some type of handmade wooden shutters covering the opening. She pushed and banged until she got it open, blood splattering all over her and her clothes. With all of her strength, she threw herself out the window and ran into the woods as fast as her bare feet would carry her. Darkness blanketed her surroundings, making it difficult for her to see. Thankfully, the darkness would make it burdensome for the aggressor to see her.
When should she stop running? She needed to get far enough away from the cabin but not too far away from the help that was coming. She tried to be as quiet as possible, to keep the captor from hearing her, and stayed focused on what she had to do. She didn’t worry about her bleeding wrists, nor did she cry. She kept running, despite the pine cones that stuck into her feet.
She ran until she could run no more, then ducked behind a huge pine tree and sank to the ground. The ground felt damp with evening dew, and the bark from the pine scratched her arms. Pinecones and pine needles covered the ground and dug into her skin. Exhausted, she tried to be silent with her breathing to keep herself undiscovered.
She waited behind that tall tree for what seemed like a lifetime. Then she drifted away, off to sleep.
* * *
Cora opened her eyes, grimaced from the pain in her head, and focused on the first thing she saw—a sign, Emergency Room. Turquoise curtains made mock walls on both sides of her. She peered through the opening in the curtain at the people bustling about, muffled sounds came over an intercom system. She squinted in the bright lights and found an IV in her arm. She frowned from the pain but also from confusion. The beeping of the machines by her side irritated her raw nerves.
A nurse came to he
r side and checked her pulse. “Where am I?” Cora managed.
“You’re at the hospital, honey. You’ve been through a terrible ordeal.” The nurse pushed buttons and adjusted tubes.
“Am I okay?” Cora pulled her right hand out from under the heavy blankets and touched her forehead. Her entire body trembled.
“Oh yes. You’re just here for observation. Paramedics found you unconscious, and you had some abrasions, so they brought you in.”
“Is my family here?”
“The O’Reillys? Yes, I’ll get them for you.”
Oh yes, she wasn’t at home with Mom and Dad, nor was she with the Buchanans. She was with the O’Reillys.
The nurse returned promptly with Pearl and R.L. Pearl rushed to Cora’s bedside. “Cora, I’m so glad you’re okay.” Her hands with their long fingers and manicured nails gently patted Cora’s leg.
“Hey, dear.” R.L. patted her leg also, but firmly, exhibiting his concern in a more urgent manner.
“What happened to me? All I remember is running in the woods and hiding behind a tree.” Cora tried to sit up.
“Lay still, darlin’,” R.L. said. “Your call saved your life. You evidently escaped the cabin just in time.”
“I was so scared. All I could think about was getting home. I mean—back to the ranch. Am I really okay?”
“I believe so. The doctor said as soon as you regained consciousness you'd be able to go home. He wanted to ask you a few questions and make sure you were not harmed in any way other than what’s obvious.”
“Pearl, I think I’m fine other than these cuts and the concussion. I don’t—I didn’t get attacked like that.” Thank you, Lord, that he didn’t rape me! “I remember getting lost. And then I blew a tire. But then I don’t remember what happened. Wait! Someone crashed into my car!” She shook her head. “I don’t understand. If only I hadn’t decided to ride through those back roads, taking my time getting home, none of this would have happened. I didn’t have my phone with me, so after my car got hit, I had to walk to get help. Out of nowhere, someone came up behind me and knocked me over the head. The next thing I knew, I was in that disgusting place all tied up.”
“You poor dear.” R.L. clasped her hand.
“I struggled to get free. I cut my hands on a metal tool chest in there. Then I found the phone hidden in a cabinet. While on the phone with the operator, the truck came back. It was so loud, almost deafening. That’s when the operator told me to get out of there. I knocked open the window and ran for the woods.” Cora cried as she recounted her ordeal, shaking uncontrollably.
“Honey, don’t think about it anymore. What’s important is that you’re safe now.”
“I know. How did they know to call you?”
“A nurse recognized you from Ms. Lottie’s, and they called her.”
“Good evening, sir, ladies.”
Everyone turned to see a mid-forties man in a dark suit standing in the opening of the curtains. His loosened tie languorously hung around his neck. R.L. stood. The man shook his hand.
“How are you?” R.L. said.
“Fine, just fine. I’m Detective Ikeson, Ms. Buchanan. How are you doing?”
“I’m better, now that I’m safe.” Cora wiped tears from her eyes.
“I came to let you know we have a lead on the person involved in your kidnapping.” He loosened his tie a little more.
“You do? Is it anyone I know?” Cora started crying.
“I don’t think so. There’s a gang of guys kidnapping and”—he met her eyes—“raping women as some kind of initiation. We’re pretty sure your incident had to do with them. Did you hear the reports on the news about the missing women?”
“I did hear something the other day. Oh, my gosh!” Cora threw her hands up to cover her mouth. “Why would they have wanted me?”
“Any number of reasons. Wrong place at the right time. Maybe you wandered into their territory. We’re investigating the cabin where we found you, searching for any DNA we can find. We have a good lead on the other missing women. We’ve turned it over to the FBI.”
“Wow, I can’t believe it!”
“You’re a lucky young woman. I have to get back to the office. Here’s my card. Please call if you have any questions.”
When the detective walked out through the opening in the curtains, Cora let out a sigh. “I can’t believe this. I guess it was all worth it, though, if they have a lead on the criminals.”
“You could have been killed. You’re so lucky you got away.” Pearl shuddered.
“Luck had nothing to do with it. God was guiding me the whole time.”
“Praise the Lord,” R.L. said.
“I bet you all were panicking when I didn’t make it home for dinner.”
“We were worried even before that. Cook got home hours before dinner and said you should have been home after your errands. We were about to send Rex out to look for you when the police called,” Pearl said.
A nurse came to check on Cora, and then a doctor came in. The doctor reassured her she was okay to go home, but she needed to take it easy for several days. The bump on her head was bad, and the cuts on her wrists would take time to heal.
Cora was thankful to be going back to the ranch. “What about my car? Did they find my purse? What about all my boxes from home?”
“Don’t worry. They retrieved everything,” R.L. assured.
* * *
When Cora got home from the hospital, Rex was sitting on the front porch swing with Susie. “Hey.”
“Hey, Rex.”
“Cora! You’re home!” Susie jumped down from Rex’s lap, her face framed in ringlets from sweat.
Cora knelt down and received the child in a big hug.
Rex walked to the porch steps. “Are you feeling better?”
“I guess. But still weirded out a bit. I can’t believe I was kidnapped.”
“Yeah, that's weird. Well, I’m glad to see you’re up and moving around. I thought maybe you’d decided to leave unexpectedly.”
“No, I wouldn’t do that.” Cora searched Rex’s eyes. There was something in the dark mirrors. But what?
“I wouldn’t blame you if you did. After the way I treated you.” He looked away.
“Don’t worry about it, Rex. We’re good.” She batted the thought away with her hand. “Listen, I’m pretty tired. I’m going to lay down for a while.”
“Okay. I’ll see ya after a while then.”
* * *
Cora played blocks with Susie in the playroom. Somehow a month had passed, and the August sun now blazed down and cracked the soil of the Southern Hope Ranch. Cora’s physical wounds from the kidnapping had almost healed. Her nights still included dreams of the cabin and her captor but were slowly improving. Rex was cordial with her now, and that solved her only issues with remaining there. She no longer felt she had to prove herself to him.
“Knock, knock.”
“Come in, Pearl. We’re playing blocks and just finished up our tea party a little while ago.”
“That sounds like great fun. I’m sure Susie is enjoying herself. Did you ever call your parents or your in-laws and tell them about the kidnapping?” Pearl sat in the chair by the window.
“No. I figure I can tell them about it when I go home to visit. Since my name wasn’t in the news, I decided to keep it under wraps for now.”
“I guess you’re right. We’re taking good care of you anyway.” Pearl smiled, but there was a hint of sadness in her eyes.
“You sure are. How are you doing, Pearl?” Cora placed a book on the shelf.
“Oh, I’m fine.” She sighed.
“You sure? Something seems to be bothering you.” Cora studied Pearl, the woman who usually spread light all over the house.
“Gramma, do you want some tea?”
“Sure, Sweetie.” Susie offered Pearl a tiny cup of imaginary tea, held carefully with her chubby fingers and then ran to her dollhouse to play.
“Thank you.” A tear
slid down Pearl’s face.
“Pearl? What is it?” Cora sat beside her.
“I’m worried about Rex. He has so much on his mind with the ranch. And Susie. And I’m disappointed with his choice in women. I’ve prayed his relationship with Veronica wouldn’t last long. But it seems they’re getting serious.” She sighed.
“I’m sorry. He’s a fortunate man to have parents who love him so much.” Cora could offer no more. She had her own opinions about Rex and his problems, and they were better kept to herself.
“I’m not so sure he feels that way these days. I think he resents our involvement in his life.”
“I’m sure that’s not the case, Pearl.” Cora offered a smile.
“We had so hoped once he began to date again, he’d date someone like you.”
“Like me? You mean a homeless woman who borrows trouble? I’m not so sure I’m a good catch right now, Pearl. I’ve got my own issues I’m dealing with.” Cora laughed.
Pearl chuckled softly. “None of that matters. You’ve got a good heart. It’s evident in the way you’ve taken so much care of Susie.”
“She’s an easy child to love, Pearl. You all are easy to love.” But a twinge ran through Cora’s heart at her untruth. Rex wasn’t as easy for her to love as the rest of the family.
Chapter 6
Cora watched the late-night news in the family room with R.L. and Pearl after getting Susie to bed. She snuggled up on the loveseat with a blanket and a cup of decaf coffee. Even though summer graced their days, fall gently crept into Southern Hope, and the air conditioning kept the house too cool for her liking.
When the news anchor announced a report on another missing Columbus woman, and the reporter on the scene alluded that the incident was tied in with Cora’s kidnapping, she and Pearl exchanged a knowing look. Following the missing woman story, the news anchor told of the death of a drug dealer who’d been missing for a year. She said the name wouldn’t be released until family members were notified. Cora needed no name. The details given described only one person—Clark Buchanan.
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