Nameless

by Joe Conlan

  The search for Damien Drysdale was still a priority though clues to his whereabouts were scarce. Special Agent Christopher Frye was now the lead investigator. Robert Leland was promoted to Assistant Special Agent in Charge, a necessary step for the grooming of a Special Agent in Charge. Frye’s main concern at the moment was Annie. Though there was no substantive evidence to confirm it, he was certain she was kidnapped by Drysdale. They searched her apartment and found nothing to indicate he was there. Frye ordered Annie’s phone records which revealed the last call she received was at 7:55pm from a payphone on Birch Street. As far as he could tell from other information gathered, she disappeared anywhere between one and two hours later. The night ranger for Birch State Park gave a statement indicating he first noticed her BMW parked near the canoe rental pavilion at 10:00pm. Frye was sure that somehow the wily Drysdale lured Annie to that location.

  Nor did it seem much like coincidence to Frye that Annie was abducted shortly after Daniel was tried and convicted of triple homicide. He voiced his concerns to Leland who was adamant there was absolutely no evidence linking the two incidents. Leland reminded him that a jury found Daniel guilty based on a mountain of evidence and it wasn’t Frye’s job to question the American justice system. Leland’s assurances weren’t a great help to Frye. He was still ill at ease about the issue and became even more troubled when he did an extensive review of the Drysdale file.

  Since the hunt for Drysdale began, all murders and disappearances occurring anywhere in the United States and especially within close proximity to South Florida continued to be reported to the task force. As Frye was reading through information stored on Leland’s old computer records for the case, he came across a deleted file the new Assistant Special Agent in Charge neglected to remove from the recycle bin. Apparently one week before the cruise ship murders, two drug dealers were found murdered, shot at point blank range in Carol City. The deleted file was a copy of the Dade County Police Department’s report alleging it was a drug deal gone bad and that traces of heroin were found in the apartment. In a note at the bottom of the file, it was marked, “Discussed with Dallas and discarded.”

  Frye didn’t know exactly what he was going to do with the information. For the moment, he stored it in his own personal file requiring a password to access it. He couldn’t imagine Leland and Dallas deliberately concealed potentially relevant evidence. Perhaps the drug murders were thoroughly investigated and it was determined Drysdale wasn’t involved. Then again, it wasn’t customary to delete or discard reports from the file. In any event, he wasn’t sure he should discuss it with Leland. Not only was Leland his direct boss, he was being groomed for the Special Agent in Charge position. The office scuttle butt was that the agent who temporarily replaced Daniel in the interim was going to be transferred within the next few months and Leland would take his place. If anything fishy was going on, Frye didn’t need to get himself in the middle of it. He wasn’t sure about whether he could ignore the information either, especially if there was a possibility an innocent man, not to mention his own friend and colleague, was on death row.

  Frye turned his attention to a woman by the name of Patty Lawson who was reported missing several weeks ago in the small town of Hazard in southeastern Kentucky. Her ex-husband had been harassing the local police to conduct a more thorough investigation after she wasn’t returning any of his phone calls. It was eventually determined she disappeared more than six months ago. Frye decided it was time to send a team up to Hazard to investigate the incident further.

  The visits to Annie’s room were just as frequent. For a reason unknown to her, the beatings had abated. He continued to cut her and aggressively violate her from the front and rear, but the pain from the broken bones and bruises were beginning to subside. She was gaining some strength and more able to formulate lucid thoughts. It wasn’t really a gift. She was that much more cognizant of her predicament. Her distress had increased exponentially. The fear of more abuse and the likelihood he would kill her was more real. She was now alert enough to even think about what was happening back at home. If her mother wasn’t on the verge of a nervous breakdown, a fatal heart attack wasn’t out of the realm of possibilities. She remembered her scheduled meeting with Daniel. He was probably worried out of his mind. There was nothing he could do from a prison cell and now his appeal would be put on hold. The fact that his problems were nothing compared to hers offered her no comfort. The psychological component was almost as unbearable as her physical suffering.

  Tied to her bed, the muscles of her limbs stiff and aching, her mind working overtime, the sounds of the monster’s footsteps coming up the staircase commuted insupportable stress to pure hysteria. When he opened her door, she froze.

  “Ok, you’re gettin’ up. No more lying around like a fuck’n queen. I’m hungry. I want some breakfast,” Shem ordered.

  Annie was confused, to say the least. She didn’t know what to make of this sudden change in the program. The last thing she wanted to do was speak and get smacked. While she wondered, Shem placed a bizarre mechanical device on her wrist then began to cut the twine tying her to the bed.

  “I wouldn’t think about escape if I were you. That bracelet on your wrist’ll give you a hell of a jolt if you go outside the fence. I built it myself.” He held up a pager and continued, “You try anything, this beeper’ll go off. The shock’ll put you in la la land for at least an hour. I’ll know and you’ll be sorry.”

  Shem finished untying her and dragged her out of the bed. The instant her feet hit the floor, her legs buckled from underneath her and she was down, landing flat on her rear-end. The lack of use of her limbs combined with being in the same position for days had rendered them temporarily useless. The constant abuse wasn’t boosting her energy level either. Instead of giving her the thrashing Annie fully expected, Shem burst into laughter. He tugged her by the hair, his way of offering assistance to stand her up. When that didn’t work, he used both hands to grab underneath her armpits and pull her to her feet. Once again, Annie tumbled to the ground in a clump and Shem roared. As quickly as he exploded into laughter, his expression turned severe, almost demonic.

  “Alright, enough fun. I need to eat. We’re gonna try this one more time. I recommend you do your best to stay on your feet. I don’t want to have to break your face again. It’s time for you to start doin’ some work around here. Come on, get up. I’m not helpin’ you this time.”

  Annie felt like the monster might as well have asked her to fly- there was no way she was going to be able to comply with his request. For a second, she thought about just bracing for another beating. Then, an instinct from deep within made her refuse to concede defeat. She reached up toward the bed to use it for support to help lift her body. The might she exerted just getting to her knees left her gasping for air. The muscles in her thighs burned like they did when she climbed the seventeen flights of stairs to her office in the 110 Tower. No matter how hard she tried to steady herself, her legs and arms trembled uncontrollably making it that much more difficult to achieve her goal. Time seemed to be getting away from her. She was sure he was about to deliver a blow for the excessive delay. Calling on sheer stubborn determination, the feeling in her arms and legs began to return. She felt an enormous sense of relief when finally she was able to stand without losing her balance. Her respite was short-lived.

  “Come on. What’s the fuck’n holdup? Let’s go. I get in a really bad mood when I get too hungry.” Shem gave her a violent shove toward the door. She remained upright for the first two steps. On the third, she stumbled and fell flat on her face. An excruciating shockwave of pain ran up her face to the crest of her scalp. Her nose dripped nickel-sized droplets of blood on the dusty, hardwood floor. Before she had an opportunity to think about picking herself up, Shem grabbed her by the hair and was about to strike her then saw the blood. He was in an instantaneous state of sexual arousal. In a split second, his pants and underwear were off and he was on top of her. Still naked and lying i
n the prone position, Shem’s target was easy pickings. He wiped blood from the floor and rubbed it on his penis. Before he was able to enter her, his body spasmed in orgasm. It had absolutely no effect on his ability to continue. For the next thirty minutes, he plowed Annie’s anus, not satisfied until he reached climax multiple times in his typical fashion. Because of the unusually large size of his penis, each stroke was like being impaled by a sledge hammer. The discomfort was worse than any Annie had ever experienced or imagined, yet she didn’t dare make a sound. After he had enough, he took a few moments to catch his breath then shouted, “You see what you made me do. I made a simple request and you had to go fuck it up. Now look at ya. You’re a fuck’n good for nothin’ mess. Get up and make me some breakfast.”

  Shem sat at the dining room table watching Annie as she stumbled and fumbled her way around the kitchen trying to prepare his order of two perfectly poached eggs, two slices of lightly toasted Ezekiel bread with no butter and a bowl of mixed fruit cut in specific proportions. He could feel the stress and tension emanating from her body as she tried to get everything right. Even his power over her generated a sexual attraction to her. If he hadn’t just climaxed multiple times, he would have considered taking her again. At the moment, he was giving it his best effort to control his insatiable urge to fuck her and feel the heavenly pleasure of her blood against his skin. His restraint had nothing to do with any concern he had for Annie. He was nowhere ready for this arrangement to end. If he continued to bleed her and abuse her at the current pace, her body could break down. He wanted her alive and vigorous. It was providing him with great satisfaction to have this woman at his disposal to service him and all his needs. Ultimately, it would maximize the bliss he expected to experience when he cut off her head.

  The bracelet he made to prevent escape was a stroke of genius. It was the perfect back-up security measure if she ever happened to escape the room when he wasn’t present. Her ability to get some exercise would also help keep her body from atrophy. Now that she would have more freedom around the cabin and perhaps if she behaved, outside, he couldn’t be one-hundred percent sure she wouldn’t find some way to sneak some tool to get loose when he locked her up. He would certainly keep his eye out for it and do whatever he could to prevent it. It gave him peace of mind to have the alternative stopgap. There were always the unavoidable times when it was necessary to leave the house to purchase food and other provisions. Those trips would have been a risk without his invention. The nearest shopping was a twenty minute drive. If she tried to go outside the boundaries of the property, the electric shock would knock her into next week. He would be able to make it back to the cabin before she regained consciousness. As a secondary deterrent, he had a special surprise for Annie. Shem was a firm believer in the old adage, “an ounce of prevention was worth a pound of cure.”

  In fact, no time was better than the present to put his plan B to the test. Annie’s clumsiness in the kitchen only made Shem hungrier and more irritable. The eggs were overcooked, the toast cold and the fruit not cut to his standards.

  “Come with me,” he directed after he tossed the entire breakfast in the garbage. The calm, emotionless tone of his voice frightened Annie more than if he had shouted his command. She wanted to ask where he was taking her, but didn’t dare open her mouth. The two times she had spoken without permission, she paid dearly with violent punches to her stomach. She followed him obediently to the front door ignoring the pain in her legs to keep up with his big strides. The thought they might be going outside nearly gave her the courage to protest. She was still naked. She had no idea she was in the mountains of North Carolina, there were four inches of snow on the ground and the temperature was less than thirty-five degrees. Whenever he let her out of the room up to that point, the few windows in the living area were sealed by locked, commercial grade, rolling, security shutters.

  Shem opened the door. A blast of cold air struck Annie by surprise. It felt as though she had jumped into a pool of ice water. Her skin bloomed with goose bumps making it look like that of a plucked chicken. It didn’t escape Shem’s notice that the nipples of her breast were standing at attention. He had to concentrate hard to avoid looking at them so that he wasn’t diverted from his purpose.

  “What the fuck are you waiting for? Get the fuck out.” Shem grabbed his coat from the rack beside the door and put the gloves on his hands that were in the pocket.

  Once again, Annie considered asking his intentions then thought better of it. She had been through too much. Her body was weak and fatigued. She didn’t know how many more beatings she could handle. If she made her punishment worse by speaking, she felt like it was possible she may not survive. She stepped over the threshold onto a pathway cleared of the snow that led to a driveway also recently shoveled. The lack of snow didn’t seem to relieve the sting of the icy cement on the soles of her bare feet. She tried to focus on her surroundings to keep from obsessing about the discomfort. This was definitely not Florida. For the first time, she saw the mountainous landscape and the stream running within feet of the front porch. Shem had insulated the cabin so well, covering all windows with thick soundproof material, she was unable to hear the rush of the rapids from inside.

  “Move it” Shem ordered. “Up the driveway to the gate. And don’t even think about screaming for help. No one’ll hear you and you’ll have to deal with me.” From where she was, Annie couldn’t see a gate. The trees and hills blocked her view. She headed up the driveway not daring to speak, receiving a shove from behind every so often. Hugging herself, covering her breasts, she braced against the chill as she advanced. She didn’t think it was possible to feel any colder until the icy mist from the rapids sprayed her body as they passed over its bridge. It nearly paralyzed her. Going faster was helping her keep her mind off her pain. She considered breaking into a jog then decided he might think she was trying to escape.

  Due to the size of the property, it took almost ten minutes to get to their destination. Annie’s fingers and toes felt like blocks of ice as did most of the rest of her body. She didn’t realize she had been shivering so violently until she actually stopped just in front of the gate. Even her eyes were shaking in their sockets making it difficult for her to focus. She tried to memorize the landscape in spite of her blurred vision. Just outside the fence, she could make out an unpaved country road. She turned her head both ways to see if there was any adjoining property with neighbors or any vehicles approaching. A mailbox caught her eye.

  “Don’t even bother,” Shem said. “There’s no one around here for miles. This is a private road. It belongs to me. I’d shoot any trespassers...Give me your arm.”

  Annie held her left arm out toward the monster.

  “Not that one, you dumb bitch. The one with the bracelet.”

  Suddenly, it dawned on Annie what he had in mind. In a panic, she threw all caution to the wind and shouted for help at the top of her lungs. Shem grabbed her right wrist, pulled her to the gate and forced the wrist through the iron bars. Annie received an excruciatingly painful discharge of electricity that sent her flying backwards several feet. She landed on her back, hitting her head on the rock-hard cement. She was unconscious before she hit the ground. Shem checked her pulse to be sure her heart was still beating. It was somewhat erratic though not enough to be of any concern. He knew she would survive. This test might have been counterproductive as far as her health was concerned, but it was necessary and actually quite fun. He doubted she would ever consider escaping during one of his excursions to town. He hurried back to the cabin to fetch two blankets to cover her and pull her on. Exposure in this type of weather was always an issue.

  Chapter 25

  No matter how hard Daniel tried to stay motivated to fight for his life in the New Year, circumstances were making it practically impossible. Over the past few months, his wife and in-laws were murdered, his children were taken from him and he had been sentenced to death, hardly reasons to be inspired. Although there were sever
al lawyers willing to take his case, their fees were prohibitive. His brothers offered to help, however, they weren’t wealthy. The amount they could muster up would barely cover the filing of the paperwork. His father would forbid his mother from contributing. He hadn’t even attended the trial, not that Daniel expected he would. Daniel could count on one hand how many words they had spoken to each other over the past twenty years or so.

  The icing on the mud pie of his life was that Annie was now missing for more than three weeks. From what Daniel learned from Mrs. Bryan, the FBI had absolutely no leads and weren’t even sure she was still alive. Daniel maintained his belief that Annie’s kidnapper had no immediate intentions of killing her. He just didn’t know how long the maniac would keep her around. In the annals of the FBI’s in depth research of serial murderers, those that showed the type of unusual, obsessive interest in their victim typically viewed them as a valued possession. Jonathan Frazier described the subject as a hybrid of a hedonistic and power/control serial killer. They derived pleasure from exercising dominion over their captives. There were enough examples in history where the murderer would keep the victim alive for extended periods of time to at least give Daniel hope. The unfortunate part was that some form of torture was often, if not always involved. His frustrations about being helpless to offer any assistance to Annie only made it that much more difficult to find the energy to work on his own behalf. The idea that the killer was winning was one of his few incentives. But, it was a big one.