by Edina Davis
Laura had already moved a few steps away from her friend’s house when she spontaneously turned around again. At the same moment she thought she saw a brief flicker of light behind one of the windows, like that of a torch. It was instantly pitch-dark again and Laura wasn’t sure whether she had really seen the flickering or had just imagined it. She walked home slowly, frowning pensively.
***
She was surrounded by complete darkness. It was awfully hot, and she had difficulty breathing. Something was in her mouth. She wanted to pull it out but couldn’t lift her arm. Arms and upper body were tied up tightly!
She tried to spit the thing out but couldn’t open her mouth. It was taped up! She panicked. Where was she and what was going on? She had just sat down with her sister. And what had happened then? She couldn’t remember, no matter how hard she tried.
Now she lay curled up in some box, bound and gagged, and couldn’t even stretch her legs. That could only be a nightmare! She had fallen asleep in the armchair and would wake up any moment. Yes, that had to be right!
After a while, when she tried to straighten up, her head violently bumped against something hard and a sharp pain flashed through her head.
Why didn’t I wake up? she thought in wild desperation. That really hurts! I should have woken up! Oh, my God, this is no dream, this is real!!
In panic she pressed her knees up against the hard wood, but nothing moved. She tried the sides, right and left, without success. Close to losing her mind, she alternately hit her knees and head against the hard wood until she lost all strength and could hardly breathe. She wanted to cry for help, but the gag in her mouth prevented her, so she could only manage a quiet, pitiful whimper. Her quiet scream turned into a silent plea.
Help … Help, I’m trapped, please help me, help!! Why doesn’t anybody help me?
The heat became more and more unbearable and sweat was streaming down her body. Her lungs ached; her head throbbed.
Oh my God, I’m dying … No, oh no, that can’t be true! I can’t die! No, please, please! I don’t want to die, I don’t want …
Her sister … the whisky … suddenly she had become tired.
Oh, my God, no!! Nooooooo!!
She screamed in desperation, but only a gurgling sound emerged from her throat before her senses slowly faded.
The horrible realisation of what had happened to her reached her mind before eternal darkness enveloped her.
CHAPTER 68
Laura tossed and turned in bed brooding half the night. Something was wrong! It was highly unusual for Carolyn not to be at home on a Sunday evening. Besides … the atmosphere outside of the house … that was downright eerie. Yes, that was exactly what she had felt.
She blamed herself strongly for not getting to the bottom of the matter. That scraping sound and the flickering light …
But she hadn’t even been sure that there really had been a light. Besides, Carry could do whatever she wanted in her own house! Maybe she had just gone into the kitchen for a drink and hadn’t wanted to turn on the light. She would certainly have been shocked if Laura had suddenly stood in front of her bed. Carolyn had given her the key only for emergencies, not for spying on her.
However, it was a fact that she had not looked after her friend sufficiently in the past few weeks. She had been so preoccupied with herself, her work, the patients, that she had simply pushed aside what was happening to Carolyn. Yes, this time, she had just brushed her friend aside.
Of course, Carolyn had blocked her initial attempts, but she had done that in the past as well and had then eventually allowed herself to be helped.
This time, Laura had given up far too soon, and she alone knew the reason for that. She had grown tired of burdening herself with her friend’s sorrow and worries over and over again. That was the sad truth and Laura was deeply ashamed of it.
She couldn’t, under any circumstances, give up again just because she hadn’t found Carolyn on the previous evening. She had to help her now, so that this new trauma wouldn’t turn into a psychosis.
Until now, despite the traumas in Carolyn’s life, Laura had never diagnosed any psychotic symptoms in Carolyn. Nevertheless, it couldn’t be ruled out that this could happen under certain circumstances, or, in the worst case, had already happened.
During her lunch break the next day, Laura went to check on her friend once more.
When the door was not opened after several rings, she first walked around to the right side of the house, to see if the side door to the garden was open. She rattled the handle, but the door was locked. Since Carolyn had planted a thick, high hedge around the garden at the time, neither the terrace nor the garden could be seen from here.
Pensively, Laura went back to the front door, stood there indecisively for a while, and thought things through. Should she really unlock the door and have a look? Was this an emergency? Her gut feeling gave her the answer, so she quickly dug into her pocket for the key. She was just about to put it into the lock when a loud voice startled her.
“Good morning, Dr Lawrence. How are you? I haven’t seen you in ages.”
Laura winced and turned her head. “Good morning, Mrs. Field,” she returned the greeting when she recognized Carolyn’s neighbour from across the street.
“You want to visit your friend? Well, she’ll be pleased. You haven’t been here for weeks, have you?” Mrs. Field had slowly walked over to her and now stood close in front of her.
Laura instinctively took a step back. She opened her mouth to begin her explanation, but the elderly woman was already babbling on: “She hardly left the house in the past few weeks, really hid herself away. My husband and I were surprised, because nobody ever visited her either, not even you and your husband.”
Once more, Laura started to speak and once more Mrs. Field didn’t let her get a word in.
“And she seemed so happy some weeks ago, shortly after that young man had been to see her.”
That made Laura prick up her ears. A young man had been to see Carry. So she and Johnny were right that there was a man in Carry’s life again. But why then had Alex’s death thrown her off course?
“And then, suddenly, out of the blue, that elegant lady came for a visit,” the neighbour’s voice interrupted her thoughts.
Elegant lady? It was getting more and more mysterious.
“When was this lady here?” Laura asked with interest.
“Oh, that was just yesterday afternoon … yes, around five. I know so well because I was making tea in the kitchen and happened to look out of the window. The young woman came by taxi and had luggage with her.”
“Can you remember what the lady looked like, Mrs. Field?”
“Well, she was tall and slim, had brown hair … or was it dark blonde? Well, in any case, she wore it pinned-up … and she wore a dark grey dress, very elegant. Unfortunately, I couldn’t see her face, sorry.”
“Do you happen to know when that lady left again?” Laura asked, her voice quivering.
“Well, I’m not one of those people who watch their neighbours’ every step.” Mrs. Field was indignant.
“Of course, you’re not, Mrs. Field. I didn’t mean it like that. I’m just worried about my friend,” Laura tried to placate the offended woman, “and it might have been possible that you, completely by chance of course … I’m sorry, Mrs. Field.”
The older woman smiled forgivingly and said: “That’s alright, dear. I was just saying … Well, you mustn’t think that I lie in wait all the time, keeping an eye on my neighbours. But my husband happened to see the young woman getting into a taxi late this morning with all her luggage. She wore a bright red, tight costume, obviously extremely expensive. Well, the skirt was a bit short, but very elegant, one has to admit …”
Seeing Laura’s amused expression, she quickly added: “That’s what my Arthur said.”
“Yes, of course,” Laura hurried to say. She definitely didn’t want to annoy the woman again. “Was my friend there as well? I mean, was she outside to see the lady off?”
“No, she wasn’t, but about half an hour earlier, she brought all the luggage outside. My husband said that the lady probably thought herself too fine to carry her luggage herself. Yesterday afternoon your friend carried everything into the house all by herself!”
Mrs. Field shook her head. “But that’s how these posh ladies are, they want to be waited on hand and foot. By the way, the lady didn’t leave long ago. If you’d have been here just an hour earlier, you’d have met her yourself.”
“Thank you very much, Mrs. Field,” Laura said quietly. “Then I’d like to check on my friend now.”
“Do that, my dear, do that,” the elderly woman purred. “Have a lovely day.”
“Thanks, you too,” Laura murmured absent-mindedly.
Judging from what Mrs. Field had just told her, Carry had to be home. Laura put the key back into her pocket and rang the doorbell. Nothing! She rang again and again, but nothing could be heard from inside. What in the world did that mean? Laura quickly got out the key again and quietly unlocked the door.
“Carry, are you home?” she called out, but there was no reply. She quickly ran through the hall and opened the small connecting door to the garage. Laura heaved a sigh of relief when she saw Carolyn’s small sports car there. She then checked the kitchen, the living room and finally the dining room. She opened the door that led to the terrace and her glance immediately fell on the beautiful white rose bush in the back of the garden on the right. She couldn’t remember ever seeing it there. She just knew that there had been a white rose bush on the terrace. Carolyn loved sitting close to her roses when the weather was good and inhale their scent.
Now, instead of the rose bush there was only the empty pot. A large shovel covered with loose earth and a hoe leaned against the wall, a handcart stood next to it. But no sight of Carolyn …
Again, Laura’s gaze fell on the beautifully blooming rose bush. Why hadn’t she just bought another rose bush for the garden? Sometimes it was hard for her to understand Carry’s line of thought.
Shaking her head, Laura closed the patio door and was just about to leave the room when she suddenly stopped short. The antique oak chest Carolyn had once bought at a flea market for a bargain price was gone. The last time when Laura had been here, it had still stood in its usual place.
That was strange, as Carolyn was incredibly proud of this acquisition that was more than a hundred years old. It was hand-painted and the lock as well as the handles on both sides were made from real bronze. Presumably, it had also been used as a steamer trunk in the nineteenth century. Well, chest or steamer trunk, it was, in any case, a very nice antique, and Carolyn would never have sold such a gem, Laura was quite certain of that. Really very strange! She started to get worried. What was going on here? Wherever was Carolyn? Something was obviously not right.
Laura hurried upstairs. Carry would surely not lie in bed sleeping in the middle of the day!? It didn’t fit in with her usual habits at all. Or did it, after what had happened to Alex? She ran to the bedroom with a ray of hope and pulled open the door. The room was empty. Laura opened the large wardrobe which stood slightly ajar. As far as she could tell, not a single piece of clothing was missing. Even Carolyn’s elegant dark blue favourite costume hung amidst all the other clothing. Hesitantly, Laura opened the door to the bathroom, but everything there seemed unchanged as well.
The matter became more and more puzzling! Why had Carry moved the rose bush and then left the house on foot shortly after the visitor had left? She was also a fanatic of order and under normal circumstances would never leave her terrace so dirty and untidy, not even if she wanted to do some quick shopping. That was more than unusual!
Laura stood in the door, irresolute and completely clueless, before she left the house in great worry of her friend.
What had happened here, and where in the world was Carolyn?
CHAPTER 69
Laura felt terrible and as she had no appointments that afternoon anyway, she called in sick for the rest of the day. Her assistant was able to handle the accounting by herself.
Laura lay on the sofa, exhausted, and racked her brain. At intervals she kept trying to reach her friend, to no avail.
What had happened? Who was this mysterious visitor who had been at Carry’s the previous evening? And where was Carry now? Mrs. Field had claimed that her husband had seen her that morning, carrying the visitor’s luggage in front of the house. Well, there was a possibility that Carry had left the house after her visitor’s departure without the Fields noticing. They probably sometimes had other things to do than lurk behind the curtains.
But where could Carolyn have gone on foot? If she had only wanted to stroll through the forest, she would have been home long ago. And if she had to take care of something in town quickly, she would have taken the car and would also have been back by now. A trip planned at short notice, however, was also completely out of the question, as nobody travelled without luggage and Carry would never go anywhere without her beloved little speedster!
No … however you looked at it, nothing made sense. Many inexplicable things had happened, and Carolyn had disappeared off the face of the earth!
Laura’s thoughts wandered back to the ominous visitor. Could it have been Carina? But that was unlikely as Carolyn had broken off all contact with her sister ten years ago. She never wanted to see Carina or her parents ever again and therefore hadn’t even attended Alex’s funeral, but had instead visited Alexander’s parents shortly after the accident to express her condolences to them personally. She had taken her vacation shortly afterwards and then withdrawn completely.
Laura now remembered the issue with the young man who had visited Carolyn several weeks ago. All this didn’t give her any peace and her instinct told her that all these events were somehow connected.
On the spur of the moment, Laura picked up the phone to call Debbie Harris. Maybe she knew if Carina had planned to visit Carolyn. If, contrary to expectations, she had been this visitor after all, she could possibly shed light on the mysterious events.
Already after one dial tone the phone was answered. “Deborah Harris,” came Debbie’s squeaky voice.
“Laura Lawrence speaking. Hello, Mrs. Harris. How are you?”
The line was silent for several seconds.
“Ah, Mrs. Lawrence, Lynn’s friend, if I’m not mistaken. You’re surely not calling to inquire about my well-being! So, what do you want?”
“You’re right, I’ve a question. Did your daughter Carina happen to mention to you that she was planning to visit Carolyn?”
“What, have you lost your mind?” there was a scream to be heard on the line.
Laura winced.
“You, as Lynn’s friend, ought to know that my fine daughter didn’t even bother to attend her sister’s husband’s funeral, don’t you?” Debbie Harris screamed like a madwoman.
“Um, yes … but …” Laura didn’t get any further.
“How can you then ask whether my Carrie had any intention of visiting Lynn? Carrie’s through with her, for ever, just so you know! And my husband and I are also through with her! After all, it’s her fault that our Carrie’s leaving us again. She wants to go abroad again, far away from everything.” Debbie Harris started to sob loudly.
“Calm down, Mrs. Harris,” Laura said. “Please, could you tell me what Carolyn has to do with Carina’s decision to go abroad again?”
“Oh, don’t pretend you don’t know! First, my Carrie loses her beloved husband and then her own sister accuses her of lying and cheating on him! And surely you have known the reason for this defamation much longer than my poor daughter!”
“No, Mrs. Harris, you’re mistaken!” Laura said, in a cutting voice. “I haven’
t the slightest idea what you’re talking about.”
“Lynn threw herself at Alex again behind Carrie’s back and the two of them even met secretly, oh yes! It was her guilty conscience that kept her away from her brother-in-law’s funeral. Oh, my God, to have to live through something like this!” Debbie’s sobbing was heartbreaking.
“Carrie only found out about their ugly deception after the funeral. Anonymously, with relentless frankness! My poor little girl! She can’t cope with all of this and urgently needs some distance, as she confessed to me in tears. That’s why she’s leaving … maybe even for ever. Oh God, my poor little Carrie!”
“I’m very sorry about that, Mrs. Harris,” Laura said. “I’d like to talk to your daughter before she leaves. Could you maybe give me her …”
“But she’s already gone!” Debbie cried. “Her plane leaves in three hours. She called me an hour ago and told me I shouldn’t worry about her; everything would turn out well.”
“There you see, Mrs. Harris. Your daughter will be fine. All the best to you and your husband,” Laura hastily ended this unpleasant conversation before she would have to endure more whining. Debbie Harris and her little Carrie, it was just too much for Laura now. But what she had heard from Debbie just now was very enlightening.
So, the young man who had visited Carry some weeks ago had been Alexander Carpenter! That explained Carolyn’s happy disposition at the time and her deep sadness when she had heard of his death.
Laura nervously looked at her watch. Johnny would come home any moment and she could hardly wait to discuss the whole matter with him. Perhaps he had an idea what was going on here. Together they might come a little closer to the solution. She had hardly finished this thought when she heard the door unlock.
She jumped up and ran into the hall to welcome her husband. “Hello, Darling. It’s nice that you’re here. There’s something I urgently need to discuss with you.”