by Angie Martin
“I think there’s something else you can look at while you’re waiting on ballistics,” Cassie said. “I said at the beginning of this that he’s killed before now. That was just educated conjecture then, but now I know Wichita is not his first time on the merry-go-round.”
“How do you know?” Shawn asked.
“He told me.”
Chapter Sixty-one
Emily moved her head from side to side and rubbed her forehead. Her eyelids fluttered open and she yawned. The dark room helped ease her pounding headache, but it took a few moments for her eyes to adjust. The shape of a lamp on the bedside table next to her caught her attention, and she groped the lamp’s base until her fingers fumbled over the switch.
The blurry bedroom was completely unfamiliar to her, but her memory of events in the early morning hours came back to her. Though he had Emily, David had still shot Cassie. She had no way to know if Cassie survived the gunshot that threw her to the ground, but she didn’t feel a sense of loss like she would have expected if the gunshots had been fatal.
She had to trust that Cassie’s survival instincts had kicked in and she found her way to safety. Emily didn’t have the luxury of wondering what may or may not have happened to Cassie. She needed all her faculties to focus on getting away from David.
Her vision cleared. She lifted her body up and balanced on her elbows to get a better look at her surroundings. A flowered comforter covered her body, and the aged dresser across from her needed to be refinished. The heavy drapes that blocked out the world from view were covered in the same flower design as the comforter.
Emily rolled over on her side and saw three doors. One was slightly ajar, and she could see enough of the room to tell it was a bathroom. The door next to it had a hook on the outside with a light blue sundress hanging from it. Emily surmised there was a closet behind the door. The third door was near the bedside table, and she guessed it led to the rest of the house.
On the bedside table, next to a vintage alarm clock whose second hand failed to tick, Emily noticed a piece of paper folded in half with her name on the outside. She picked up the paper and recognized the handwriting as the same one from the automatic writings. She opened the note and read it out loud. “Dear Emily. Take your time getting out of bed. You will be weak from the drug I gave you. When you’re ready, you can clean up with a shower and put on the dress I picked out for you. I can’t wait to see you wearing it. David.”
She placed the note back on the table. The note made the nightmare real. He had used the women to call to her, to connect with her. Once he was in her mind, he took Cassie to bring her to him. And now she was here, just as he planned.
The window caught her attention. She would never be able to escape through the front door, but maybe she could get through the window. She swung her tingling legs over the edge of the bed, realizing for the first time that she was barefoot. As soon as her weight shifted onto her legs, they turned into gelatin. She grasped for the edge of the unsteady bedside table and pulled it down with her. The lamp shattered on the hardwood floor and the table knocked against her head. Her arm landed on the shattered glass and cut her skin, while her head crashed into the hard floor.
Heavy footsteps closed in on the bedroom door. Despite the pain from her fall, Emily bounced into a sitting position, scrambled back against the bed, and pulled her knees up to her chest. She wrapped her arms around her weak legs and put her head down. Drops of blood from the wound on her head dripped onto her bare forearm while her upper arm stung from the cuts.
The bedroom door flung open and she kept her body secure in a tight, protective ball.
“Oh no,” David said. “What happened?”
She lifted her eyes toward the deep voice and saw legs moving in her direction.
David crouched in front of her and touched her arm. “It’s okay, Emily. I’m not upset with you. It’s only a lamp that we can replace. I’m more worried about you.”
Her body shuddered so hard she thought she might start crying. She was really here with David, a killer who had mutilated eight women and shot her best friend. Tears spilled from her eyes and she lifted a shaky hand to her face.
“That Ketamine really has you a mess, doesn’t it? Let’s get you back into bed. After you rest, you’ll feel so much better.” He put one arm around her and slipped his other arm between the backs of her calves and thighs. She swung her arm around his shoulder, and he lifted her up and laid her down in the bed.
He knelt down beside the bed and caressed her cheek. “You’re going to be okay, it will just take a little bit for the Ketamine to wear off. That’s why I left you the note, so you wouldn’t accidentally hurt yourself.”
The note, Emily thought. She should have listened to the instructions on his note. Eager to find a way out, she didn’t realize his words were intended to help her.
His fingers touched the side of her head. When he brought them back into view, her blood clung to his fingertips. He took her arm and turned it so he could see the wounds. “It’s not as bad as it looks, but you do have a few pieces of glass stuck in your arm. We’ll get you cleaned up, but you shouldn’t need stitches. If it turns out you do need them, I can fix that up for you right here. I’ll be right back.” He walked to the door, and lifted up the bedside table back to its spot by the bed.
“David?” she called before he left the room.
He turned around and smiled.
Emily needed to use his infatuation and apparent kindness toward her to her advantage. “My head really aches.”
“I’ll bring you some aspirin.”
She forced a smile. “Thank you.”
David stood in the doorway and watched her for a few moments before disappearing into the hallway.
Emily let out a long breath. Though her body continued shaking, she tried to calm her mind. David believed he was in love with her, and in his own sick way, he probably did have feelings for her. Because of that, he would do his best to take care of her, at least for the time being. If she wanted to survive long enough to escape, she would have to pay attention to everything he said and did, and follow his every instruction.
She turned her head and looked at the covered window. Somewhere out there, Jake was searching for her. She wished she could sense him and reach out to him to let him know where she was, but David’s darkness overshadowed Jake’s presence. David had latched onto her mind so well that it made it hard for her to feel anything else but him.
David came back into the room with a small bowl, a glass of water, and some medical supplies. He set everything down on the bedside table, and helped her get into a sitting position. He took a washcloth out of the bowl and squeezed the water out of it. Pushing back the hair from the side of her head, he dabbed at the wound with the warm, damp washcloth.
She grimaced with the first couple of touches, and he apologized. He lightened his touch and wiped away the blood, taking time to rinse the cloth in the warm water several times. Once he was done with her head, he picked up a pair of tweezers. She pulled her arm away at his first attempt to take the glass out of her skin, but he coaxed her to stay as still as possible. Though pain shot through her arm as he worked, she did as he asked.
Emily watched his face as he tended to her wounds. He wasn’t what she expected in a serial killer. Had she passed him on the street she might have considered him attractive. She had heard stories from Cassie about murderers like Ted Bundy who used their looks to disarm their victims, and she was sure David had done the same thing. His face had kindness in it while he fixed her up, something for which she had not been prepared. She would always have to remember his deadly façade so as not to let her guard down, not even for a moment.
Her wounds cleaned and bandaged, David set his tools down on the table. He caught her watching him and smiled at her. He touched his hand to her cheek. “I still can’t believe you’re here. I’ve waited so long for this. We are going to be so happy together.”
She tucked her fear dee
p down, hiding it far away from David so he couldn’t feel it. If he sensed her terror, he might turn on her or even hurt her. She needed to remain strong and play into his fantasy. She lifted her hand, placed it over his, and returned his smile.
Appearing pleased, David rose from the bed. He picked up two white pills from the bedside table and handed them to her along with the glass of water. The white pills looked different than the generic aspirin Emily had at home, but she didn’t want to antagonize him by asking if he had anything different for her to take. She thanked him, washed the pills down with the water, and returned the glass to the bedside table.
“Maybe some sunlight will help you get your strength back a little faster,” he said.
Emily caught her breath. If he opened the drapes, she could see outside the window and plan her escape. David yanked back the drapes and Emily’s heart dropped into her stomach. Black wrought iron bars ran vertically across the outside of the windows. Though barred windows often contained a locking mechanism in case of a fire, she was sure he had removed it in anticipation of an escape attempt. She doubted that the window itself could even open.
She regained her composure before he turned around. “Thank you,” she said. “The sunlight will definitely help.”
“If you need anything, let me know and you’ll have it. For now, just rest and don’t worry about the lamp. I’ll get that picked up so you don’t step on the glass and cut yourself again. Regain your strength and then you can get dressed and we can have lunch. Everything is ready for you in the bathroom, and there are clothes in the dresser for you as well.”
Emily glanced at the dress hanging from the closet door. “It’s very nice.”
“I knew you would love it. There are a few more in the closet, but I didn’t get too much for you since we’ll have to move it all tomorrow to our new home.”
Shock rippled through Emily. She hadn’t considered that he would move her to a different location. She didn’t want to press the issue and ask too many questions, in case he became suspicious. Smiling, she said, “I’m sure everything you picked out for me is perfect. I can’t wait to try on the dress.”
“It will look beautiful on you,” he said. “Now get your strength back, and we’ll take things one step at a time.”
He removed a couple pillows from behind her back and she curled up on her side. As she watched him clean up the broken lamp from the floor, Emily tried to push back against the darkness in her mind, but her efforts no longer worked. Every so often, he threw a smile her way. With every exchanged glance, she lost herself in the darkness a little more.
Chapter Sixty-two
“Why would he tell you he’s killed before?” Shawn asked.
“He started talking and I kept asking questions,” Cassie said. “He always planned on killing me, so he probably didn’t care about revealing all these details. He told me about his previous attempts.”
“What do you mean by previous attempts?” Shawn asked.
Cassie looked away and narrowed her eyes. “I’m not sure. Maybe just killing women in other cities before he got his methods down.”
Jake picked up on her lie. He knew from the shadow that crossed her eyes that she held something back, but he didn’t call her out on her dishonesty in case she had a reason for withholding information from Lionel and Shawn. They would question her further if they saw the same thing he did.
“If this isn’t the first place he’s killed, we need to find out where he struck in the past,” Lionel said.
“Miami,” Cassie said. “Des Moines, Seattle.” Both Lionel and Shawn looked at her dumbstruck, but she shrugged her shoulders in response. “I got him talking and he told me. There were a few others I don’t remember, but you can start with those three locations. You should look for similar M.O.s, but probably not as aggressive or violent as here. Not nearly as many killings, either.”
“That’s a lot of good information,” Lionel said. “He must have planned to kill you for sure if he let all of that out.” He looked at Shawn. “I think we need to check out this lead right away, along with everything else we have.”
“I’ll get on contacting the police departments in the cities if you want to check on the evidence,” Shawn said.
“Montana,” Cassie whispered.
“What?” Shawn asked.
“He started in Montana,” she said. “There was a girl.” She hesitated, as if retrieving memories. “Julie. He killed her first. Picked her up at a rest stop. He talked about her like he holds her in the highest regard, right under Emily, that is. Julie started it all for him, so it was several years ago.”
“You’ve given us a lot to go on,” Lionel said.
“Is there anything else?” Shawn asked.
“His name is David, but I don’t know his last name.”
Lionel and Shawn exchanged a look. “That’s also what we found during our investigation,” Lionel said.
Jake’s words stuck in his dry throat, but he managed to get them out. “You said he thinks he’s in love with Emily, so that means he won’t hurt her or kill her, right?”
Cassie turned to Jake with such desperation on her face that it did not require psychic abilities to read her thoughts. “He doesn’t plan on hurting her or killing her, but he will.”
Fear seized his chest. He tried to speak, but nothing came out.
“Eventually,” Cassie continued, “he will realize that Emily doesn’t meet this high expectation he has of her. She won’t be everything he thought and he’ll become angry with her. He won’t be able to help it. At first, he’ll just hurt her, but he’ll get to the point where he will kill her.”
Tears seared Jake’s eyes. “How long would it take someone like him to reach that breaking point?”
Cassie looked away from him. “48 hours if we’re lucky. As volatile as he is, I’d be surprised if it’s any longer than that. I’m sorry, Jake.”
Jake slumped over in the chair. He tried to fight the tears welling in his eyes, but a few leaked out and rolled down his cheeks. He shielded his eyes with his hand.
Lionel walked over to him and laid a firm hand on his shoulder. “Jake, we’ll find her before anything happens to her.”
Jake used the last of his strength to look up at Lionel. “You have to bring her home,” he said. “I can’t lose her.”
Lionel nodded and motioned for Shawn to follow him out of the room. Shawn gave Cassie one last smile before he left.
Chapter Sixty-three
After David finished cleaning up the broken glass from the floor, he left Emily alone in the room to rest. She spent the time trying not to regret her decision to help Cassie. She also called out to Jake whenever the darkness seemed to retreat a bit in her mind, but she worried about calling out to him too much, for fear David would know and take action.
About a half hour after David left, Emily tested her legs by focusing on her muscles one by one and tensing them. They responded without hesitation. Emily sat up straight and moved her legs over the edge of the bed. She put a slight amount of weight on her legs to make sure they would hold, and slid off the bed. While a bit wobbly, her legs held up under her weight.
Her first task was to explore the room and see if she could locate or craft a weapon. She needed privacy to accomplish her goals, and that meant closing the door so David couldn’t hear her wander about the room. She turned the doorknob and shut the door with care.
With her mind clear for the first time since David’s needle punctured her skin, she moved through the room. She rifled through the closet, thinking she would be able to use a metal or even wooden rod, but he had removed those from the closet. A few plastic hooks hung on the walls, holding up dresses similar to the one outside the closet door. She had hoped he had some shoes for her, but none sat on the closet floor.
Her own socks and shoes, removed while she slept, were nowhere to be found. The deliberate move on David’s part gave her insight into both his organized planning and intelligence. If she m
anaged to escape, she wouldn’t be able to run as fast with bare feet, limiting her ability to get away from him.
Emily turned her attention to the dresser. Only the middle drawer contained any clothing, a handful of panties and three silk nightgowns. When she raced out of her house in the middle of the night she wasn’t able to change out of her pajamas so she had not been able to put on a bra. He had put none in the drawer for her. She mused that, like being denied access to shoes, not allowing her to wear a bra was another way to make her feel helpless around him.
Bracing her hands on the edge of the dresser, Emily bowed her head and closed her eyes. Even though he had the upper hand, she could not allow him to control her emotions or break her. He would do everything he could to make her understand he was in control. Even loving actions like cleaning up her head wound and bringing her aspirin were thinly disguised ways to make her trust him. He wanted her to be dependent on him for all her needs, while keeping her subservient to his own whims and desires.
She needed to let him think he controlled her, while not relinquishing herself to him. If she let that happen, she would never find her way back to Jake. The darkness in her mind had already taken over and extinguished Jake’s light. Though grateful it no longer made her ill, she wondered if that was only because it had almost consumed her.
Continuing her search for a weapon, she found that the toilet paper holder and towel racks were missing from the bathroom walls. She looked at the toilet seat and noticed he had taken off the lid to the tank. Everything she could possibly use as a weapon was removed from the room. She imagined the rest of the house was also void of any potential weapons.
Two clean, white towels sat on the closed toilet seat lid for her use after her shower, along with a roll of toilet paper. The words of his note came back to her. He wanted her to shower and wear the dress hanging on the closet door. After ignoring the note ended with her falling and cutting her head and arm, Emily planned on following the rest of his instructions exactly as dictated in his note.