Afraid

by Jo Gibson

  “No.” Paul shook his head. “Go on, Donna. Read the rest of it.”

  “ ‘I think I know who the stalker is. It’s so freaky, I almost don’t want to tell you. But I can’t tell Mom, and somebody should know the truth. It’s Dad. I’m almost sure of it!

  “Mr. Hudson?” Donna looked shocked. “I don’t believe it! Why would her own father spy on her?”

  “I don’t know.” Paul looked just as puzzled as Donna.

  “ ‘He used to love me when I was little. I can remember how he used to carry me around on his shoulders and tell everybody that I was his baby. But then I started to grow up, and he didn’t like that. He used to buy me these awful dresses with ruffles and lace. Mom and I even laughed about how he wanted to keep me a little girl forever.’ ”

  “That’s weird, huh?” Donna looked over at Paul.

  Paul shrugged. “Not really. Lots of fathers don’t want their little girls to grow up. Remember how Dad pitched a fit when you bought your first bikini?”

  “Yeah, but Dad was just old-fashioned. Mr. Hudson sounds like he had some kind of a hang-up. Listen to this.”

  “ ‘He hated it when I started dating. He kept saying that I was too young. Mom had to practically get down on her knees and beg so he’d let me go to that first school dance with you. And I had to be home at ten-thirty. He waited right there at the door for me, remember?’ ”

  Paul nodded. “It’s true. We had to leave before the dance was over so I could take her home. And Mr. Hudson was right there, checking his watch when I drove up. He was really strict.”

  “ ‘I’m sorry I dumped you, Paul. But really, it was for your own good. I know you loved me. I loved you, too. But your family’s here, and you love Crest Ridge. You would have been miserable if I’d asked you to marry me and leave here forever. I didn’t want to force you to make that choice. Maybe I was afraid you wouldn’t choose me.’ ”

  Donna turned to Paul. “What if she’d asked you? Do you think you would have run away with her?”

  “I don’t know.” Paul sighed deeply. “I loved her, but . . . I just don’t know.”

  “ ‘Ross is my ticket out of here forever. And the funny thing is, Dad is the one who gave me the idea. He heard me tell Mom that I thought Ross was cute, and he hit the roof. He told me to stay away, that Ross wasn’t right for me and I shouldn’t even consider going out with him. He was so serious about it, I started to get interested. You know how contrary I can be. And the more I learned about Ross, the more I realized that he was perfect.’ ”

  “Oh, boy!” Donna sighed. “I never realized she hated Crest Ridge that much.”

  “I did. She could hardly wait to graduate and move out. We argued about it a lot. She wanted to leave for good, and I wanted to come back here after I finished college.”

  “ ‘I totally freaked when you gave me those skis. I’d already decided to pick up on Ross, and I knew I didn’t deserve a wonderful present like that. That’s why I never took them out of the box. I wanted to give them back, but you would have asked all sort of questions. And I didn’t want anyone to know what I was planning. Take them back, Paul. Maybe you can get a refund. And find someone else to love. I was never right for you. You deserve someone better, and I hope you find her.’ ”

  “I think she really loved you.” Donna looked up at Paul in surprise.

  “Maybe she did.” Paul looked grim. “Read the rest. I have to know about the stalker.”

  “ ‘I didn’t know the truth about the stalker until tonight. I was just getting ready to leave when Dad caught me. I’d told him I was going to a group meeting in Denver and staying overnight with one of the group. I never dreamed he’d call the shrink and find out we didn’t have a meeting scheduled for tonight.’ ”

  “Oh-oh!” Donna winced. “He checked up on her.”

  Paul nodded. “He always did. A couple of times, when I took her to the movies, he called the theater to see if we were there. Go ahead, Donna. Keep reading.”

  “ ‘Dad was really mad that I’d lied to him. And he demanded to know where I was going. So I told him. I guess I just wanted to see the expression on his face when he found out that I was marrying Ross. I told him I was pregnant, too, so he wouldn’t try to stop me.’ ”

  Paul winced. “Go on, Donna.”

  “ ‘He really tried to talk me out of it. He even made up this incredible story about Ross being my brother, and how the baby would turn out deformed! I guess that shows you how desperate he was.’ ”

  Donna blinked and looked down at the letter again. “I remember something I heard when I was just a little kid. Mom said she felt sorry for Mrs. Hudson because her husband was having an affair.”

  “I heard some rumors, too. And they were about Ross’s mother. Go on, Donna.”

  “‘Then Dad said something that totally freaked me. He called me a wicked girl and said he’d have to punish me! That was when I realized that he was the stalker. Those were the exact words the stalker used when he called me at the switchboard! ’ ”

  “Oh, my God!” Donna gasped. “Do you think it’s true?”

  “I don’t know. Does she say any more?”

  Donna nodded, and began to read again. “ ‘I ran for the kitchen as fast as I could. Mrs. Robinson was cooking, and I sat down at the table and wrote this note to you. I just got up to look out the window, and he’s gone. I’m going to run for it now. I’ll drop this off in our usual place, pick up some stuff I need at the drugstore, and then I’ll leave Crest Ridge for good. Good-bye, Paul. I’ll always love you.’ ”

  Paul’s face was as white as a sheet as he jumped off the bed. “Call Julie! Right away!”

  “But . . . why?”

  “Because Julie told me she was getting the same kinds of calls! And I didn’t believe her! Hurry up, Donna!”

  Donna leaped up from the bed and ran for the phone. Paul was right behind her. Her fingers were shaking as she dialed the lodge.

  “What is it?” Paul reacted to the alarmed expression on his sister’s face.

  “The line’s out. It’s not ringing or anything. And she said she’d call me this afternoon.”

  The red light was flashing on the answering machine, and Paul pressed the button to play the message. It was Julie’s voice, telling them about the convention, and asking them to help with guests who were arriving tonight.

  Donna frowned. “But there’s no convention in Denver. I read the paper this morning, and it didn’t say anything about any convention.”

  Their faces were tense as they waited for the second message. It was Julie again, asking them to meet her at the lodge as soon as possible. She was there alone, and Aunt Caroline and Ross had already left for the airport.

  “You get Sheriff Nelson!” Paul fairly shoved Donna out the door.

  “But where are you going?”

  “To the lodge. If Mr. Hudson faked the whole thing to get Julie alone, she could be in terrible danger!”

  Seventeen

  Julie bit back a scream as she heard the door to their private quarters bang open. He was here! But did he know that she had locked herself in her room? She had to be very quiet and hope he hadn’t heard her.

  But her hopes vanished abruptly when she heard his heavy footsteps coming down the hall to her room. They stopped, and his horrible, whispery voice seeped in through the crack at the bottom of the door. “I’ve got you now, Vicki. Daddy knows where his wicked little girl is hiding. I heard you up here in your room.”

  His breathing was labored. He’d climbed the stairs. The elevator wouldn’t work, now that the power was out. Julie held her breath and said a quick prayer for someone—anyone—to come. She knew exactly how a trapped animal must feel as she crouched by her bed and watched the doorknob turn.

  “You can’t keep me out, you know.” Uncle Bob gave a chilling laugh. “Come to Daddy and take your punishment like a good, brave girl.”

  There was a snap as the metal lock sheered off and the doorknob began to turn. Juli
e stared at it in terrible fascination. He’d broken the lock with his bare hand! But the heavy dresser was in front of the door. He’d have to move it before he could get her!

  And then the dresser began to slide back, slowly, but steadily, as he put his shoulder to the door. One inch, two inches. Julie didn’t wait any longer. There was only one way out of her room, and she had to take it. She raced for the balcony doors and opened the locks.

  A gust of wind howled around her as she stepped out onto the balcony. But Julie was too terrified to feel the sharp ice crystals that pelted against her skin. The fire escape was only a foot from her balcony, but it seemed like much farther as she reached out and grabbed it, pulling herself onto the slippery metal stairs.

  She was wearing tennis shoes, a bad choice, since the metal steps were crusted with ice. But there wasn’t time to think about that now. Julie grabbed the cold metal railing and hurried down the fire escape, slipping and sliding until she got to the third floor. Frantically she tugged on the window, but it was locked tightly. And the window on the second floor was locked, too. The fire escape ended at the second floor landing, with a metal ladder that was designed to slide down the rest of the way. Julie tugged on the ladder, trying to make it slide down to the ground. But it was stuck tight, covered with a solid sheet of ice.

  She glanced down and shuddered. The sidewalk that ran around the lodge had been swept clean by the biting wind. There were no soft piles of snow below, only an expanse of rock-hard concrete. No, she couldn’t jump down and risk breaking her leg. She had to climb up the fire escape again, past her window to the fifth floor. There was no other choice.

  Julie almost fell as she climbed past the third-floor window. She could hear the dresser screeching against her floor, and she knew Uncle Bob was struggling to push it out of the way. Still, she didn’t hesitate as she rushed up the steps that led past her window. All she could do was pray that the dresser would keep him out until she could get past.

  She glanced in her window as she rushed by, and gasped in fright. The dresser was moving back and Uncle Bob was trying to squeeze through the opening. He was coming in!

  Julie almost flew up the steps to the fifth floor. Her fingers were numb with the freezing cold, but she tugged on the window as hard as she could. It opened! An inch! And then it refused to go any further. There was only one place left to go. The roof!

  As Julie stepped onto the snowy expanse of the roof, she heard heavy footsteps clanging against the metal steps of the fire escape. But they were going down! If Uncle Bob thought she’d jumped down from the fire escape, she’d be safe!

  Quickly Julie crossed the steeply slanted roof and huddled behind the huge chimney. The bricks were slightly warm and she pressed her chilled body against them. Her terrified mind was chanting a litany of hope: Please think I jumped down . . . Please think I jumped down . . . Please, please, please think I jumped down!

  But she hadn’t fooled him! The heavy footsteps clanged upward again. She could hear them, louder and louder as he climbed up the metal steps of the fire escape.

  The wind was blowing harder now, whipping up sheets of snow to send them sweeping across the expanse of the roof. Would it erase her footsteps in time? Julie felt her hopes rise as the clanking footsteps stopped at the fifth floor. She’d left the window slightly open. He might think she’d climbed in and pulled it down from the inside. Please think I climbed in . . . Please think I climbed in . . . Please, please, please think I climbed in!

  But no. He was coming up to the roof! And she was trapped behind the chimney. There was no other place to hide!

  What would he do? Julie’s horrified mind ran through the possibilities. Would he stab her with the chef’s knife she’d left in the lobby? Or shoot her with one of the guns he used for hunting? Or would he shove her down the steeply slanted roof and roll her over the edge? She thought about that frightening five-story drop and her heart beat hard in terror. Somehow she had to stall him, and keep hoping that someone would come to help her!

  “You’ve been a bad girl, Vicki!” His voice was loud now, an enraged roar that she could hear over the screeching howl of the wind “Come out and take your punishment!”

  Julie huddled against the bricks. Just a few more seconds and he would find her. What could she say to stall him? Then she remembered the picture she’d seen in the family scrapbook of Uncle Bob holding Vicki when she was a little girl. He’d been smiling down at her, proud that she was his beautiful daughter, and there had been a clear expression of love in his eyes. She had to make him remember that love. It might save her life.

  She could hear his labored breathing as he climbed up the steep incline of the roof. He was almost here! It wouldn’t do any good to tell him she wasn’t Vicki. He was insane, and he wouldn’t listen to reason. She’d be Vicki for him, a younger Vicki, the Vicki he’d loved.

  Julie took a deep breath, and prayed that her plan would work. And then she called out to him in a tiny, quavering voice. “Daddy? I’m scared, Daddy. Please come and get me.”

  The footsteps stopped, and there was absolute silence. Even the wind stopped blowing for a moment. And when he spoke again, his voice was softer.

  “Vicki? Where are you, baby?”

  “I’m here. I’m sorry, Daddy. I’ve been a bad girl and I’ll never climb up here again. Take me down, Daddy? I’m tired and I want you to tell me a story.”

  He laughed and Julie held her breath. It wasn’t a frightening laugh. It was an amused chuckle, the sort of laugh you’d use if your favorite child had done something charming and a little bit foolish. “Which story do you want, baby?”

  “I want my favorite. You know the one, Daddy. You tell that one so good.”

  “Cinderella?”

  “Yes, Daddy. Please tell me Cinderella. Please?”

  Julie held her breath. Had it worked? Then she breathed a sigh of relief as he started to tell the story. She could hear his voice plainly. He was standing on the other side of the chimney, so close he could take one step and grab her, but he was caught up in the fantasy, immersed in the memory of a happier time . . . for now. But what would he do when he finished the story? Would he decide to kill her then?

  Paul skidded to a stop in the driveway and hurtled out of his car. The lodge loomed up in front of him, dark and deserted. Were they in there? Was he too late? But then he heard voices on the roof, snatches of conversation between the howls of the wind. A small voice was asking a question, and Mr. Hudson was answering. She was keeping him busy, talking. That was good. It would give him time to get up to the roof and save her.

  As Paul raced to the door, he caught one phrase, something about a glass slipper. And then it struck him. Vicki had been right. Mr. Hudson was truly insane. He was telling Julie the story of Cinderella!

  The front door was locked, and Paul hurried around the side of the lodge. His mind was focused on one thought. That’s right, Julie . . . keep him talking. Just keep him talking until I can get there. But the side door was locked, too. And the kitchen door. Paul raced for the big ladder that was kept by the side of the building and propped it up against the fire escape. Then he climbed quickly, hoping the old wooden rungs would hold until he could step out on the metal stairs.

  As he climbed up the rickety ladder, Paul wished he’d listened more closely when his mother had read fairy tales to Donna. Was the glass slipper near the end of the story? Then he was on the metal stairs, and he caught another phrase as he raced upward. The wicked stepmother had locked Cinderella up and one of the ugly stepsisters was trying to shove her foot into the glass slipper. If he remembered right, the story was almost over. He had to hurry!

  “And there was a big royal wedding. The prince married . . . married . . .” Uncle Bob’s voice faltered. And then he let out a howl of anger. “You tricked me, Vicki! You’re not a little girl anymore. You’re a wicked woman, and I have to stop you before it’s too late!”

  “No, Daddy. I’m not wicked.” Julie felt her heart thud
against her ribs. “I’m just a little girl, and you’re telling me all about Cinderella.”

  For a moment she thought her ploy had worked. And then he grabbed her. His face was twisted into a snarl of rage, and his voice was loud in her ear.

  “I killed you once, and now I have to kill you again! You can’t marry your brother and have his child! I won’t let you!”

  Julie’s mouth opened, but she was too terrified to scream. All she could do was stare at him in open-mouthed horror. And then he smiled, a smile that made her blood run cold, because it was so full of love, and kindness, and total insanity.

  “I love you, baby. And that’s why I have to kill you. You’re an abomination, don’t you see? I gave you life, and now I’m going to take it away. It’s only right.”

  “But . . . but . . . I don’t understand!”

  “Ross is your brother.” Uncle Bob explained in a patient voice. “I told you all that. And I fixed your car so you couldn’t drive down the mountain. But you didn’t listen, did you, Vicki? You tried to run off with him anyway. I didn’t mean to kill you, darling. I just wanted to keep you here, where I could watch over you. And now it’s starting all over again!”

  “Wh . . . what do you mean?” Julie gazed up at him in stark terror.

  “I saw you coming out of his room. You’re devious, Vicki. Devious and wicked. You’re going to trap him into running off with you again. But I won’t let you do it. I stopped you last time, and I’ll stop you this time, too.”

  “I promise I won’t run off with Ross.” Julie’s voice was shaking. “Really, I won’t. Just let me go, and I’ll be good.”

  “Lies. All lies.” Uncle Bob sighed deeply as he looked down at her. “And you’re not alone, Vicki darling. I know that now. I lied, too. I lied to your mother when I told her I wasn’t seeing Ross’s mother. And I lied about why you died. My whole life has been a deception, just like yours. It’s bad seed, Vicki. You inherited the evil from me. And now we both have to die!”