The Haunts of Cruelty

by R. G. Ryan

It’s always right about at this point that my brain sort of explodes and I suggest something stupid.

  J: Want to just go to Five Guys?

  G: Perfect! Pick me up at the office or meet you there?

  J: I’ll pick you up.

  G: See you soon. Love you.

  And there it was.

  “Love you.”

  She put it right out there. I can’t let the poor thing just sit there dying of loneliness. It’s cruel. But am I at the point where I can return it with conviction?

  You love me? Wow! Who knew?

  You’re a goof!

  And that’s what I do.

  Every. Single. Time.

  I play it off with humor.

  And I don’t know why. Like I said, I’m pretty sure that I’m either in love or falling in love. It’s been so long, I’ve almost forgotten what the sensation feels like. I think Louis de Bernières got it right when he said, “Love is a temporary madness, it erupts like volcanoes and then subsides. And when it subsides, you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part.”

  It’s that “entwining” part that I am experiencing.

  And it feels good…it feels real good.

  Chapter Two

  I wolfed down a quick breakfast consisting of…well…coffee, and was about to call Aaron to ask if he was ready to go when my cell started vibrating.

  I checked the caller ID.

  It was Michael Harvey—or as he’s known to millions of readers, novelist Charleston Hawthorn.

  My niece Cassie’s fiancé.

  “Hey, Mikey. How’s my favorite almost nephew?“

  “Jake! It’s Cassie.”

  There was something in the tone of his voice that put me immediately on high alert.

  “Cassie? What about her?”

  He said in a rush, “Muriel said she didn’t come home last night and when I call her cell it goes immediately to voicemail and I’m really scared because that’s not like her especially when we were—”

  “Mike! Slow down. Take a breath and see if you can tell me what’s happening slowly and concisely.”

  Muriel and Cassie live together in the condo that Michael bought for Cassie as an engagement gift

  I said, “Are you at Cassie’s condo right now?”

  “Yes,” he replied a bit breathlessly. “I texted her right before midnight to make sure that we were still on for breakfast this morning, but didn’t get an answer. That’s not like her! I mean she never turns her phone off. I’ve texted her at 3:00 a.m. before and gotten a response. But I figured…well…I don’t know what I figured. I went to bed, but couldn’t sleep. So I called her around 4:00 and it went straight to voicemail. Given how early it was, I warred with calling Muriel, but I wound up doing it anyway. That’s when she told me that Cassie hadn’t come home last night. I knew she wouldn’t go away somewhere without telling me because after breakfast Cassie was going to take me to the airport. I’m supposed to be the keynote speaker at a writer’s conference in San Francisco this weekend.”

  This was not good!

  “Let me talk to Muriel.”

  “Okay. Here she is.”

  Michael put his phone on speaker, and then Muriel came on.

  “Jake…I’m really worried.”

  Muriel is Cassie’s best friend and also Aaron’s fiancée. She and Cassie have been through literal hell together and survived.

  “Let’s not jump to any conclusions, kiddo. What time was she supposed to be home last night?”

  I heard my front door open and close. Aaron came rushing into the kitchen, his face knotted up in worry.

  Muriel choked back a sob.

  “Well, me, Vanessa and Cassie were sitting around watching a movie on the Hallmark Channel—you know, typical chick flick. But, about 9:00 p.m. Cassie said she was bored and took off for the gym to get in a short workout. She left and we finished the movie.”

  “What time?”

  “What time did we finish the movie?”

  “Yes.”

  “Oh…probably around 10:45 or 11:00. Vanessa and I were both really tired, so we decided not to wait up for her. I was probably asleep by 11:30 and I think Vanessa was asleep even before that.”

  Aaron whispered, “You talking to Muriel?”

  I nodded and put the phone on speaker.

  “Aaron’s here with me now. So, when did you discover she wasn’t home?”

  She said, “I woke up around midnight. I don’t know why. I had this…this…I don’t know how to describe it. It was…a creepy feeling. I got out of bed and walked down the hall and knocked on her door. There wasn’t an answer, so I went in. When I saw that her bed hadn’t been slept in, I ran back down the hall and woke Vanessa up. I asked her if she had seen or heard from Cassie and she hadn’t seen or heard anything since she left for the gym. So, I texted Cassie and asked if she was okay. Nothing. She usually answers right away. Then I called and it went straight to voicemail. We threw on some sweats, I grabbed my pistol and we took the elevator down to the parking garage.”

  I didn’t really want to know the answer to my next question, but I had to ask.

  “Was her car there?”

  “Yeah. It was. And the engine was still warm. We did a search of the whole garage…all one hundred and thirty spaces! It was like she drove in, parked and, well…vanished.”

  There was silence on the other end before Vanessa asked in a voice grown small with worry, “Jake? What happened to Cassie?”

  “I don’t know, sweetheart. And I don’t want to get ahead of ourselves and label this as something it’s not.”

  Michael asked, “Has she been kidnapped, Jake?”

  Exactly what I had been pondering, but I wasn’t ready to tell him that.

  “Do you know if that garage is equipped with security cameras?”

  “Oh,” he replied. “I hadn’t thought of that. Yes, I believe it is.”

  “Okay. We need to get permission to check those feeds. Do you know how to contact the security for the condo development?”

  “Uh, maybe…no, wait…yes! I have some paperwork from when I bought it.”

  Muriel said, “I have the number for security in the kitchen. I think it’s in the junk drawer. Be right back.”

  I checked the time on my phone. 6:35 a.m.

  “Aaron and I will be on the road in ten or fifteen minutes. This time of day, it’ll probably take us four and a half hours to get there. So start looking for us around eleven. I’d like to have permission secured to view those security videos by the time we arrive. Can you handle that, Michael?”

  “I’ll make the call as soon as Muriel finds the number.”

  “Good. In the meantime, keep trying Cassie’s cell and check around her room, her car, the parking garage; maybe Muriel and Vanessa can go to the gym and see if anyone there noticed anything unusual happening last night.”

  When Michael spoke, his voice was brittle with tension.

  “I’m scared to death, Jake.”

  “I know, Mikey. Me too. See you soon.”

  I stabbed the “end” button on my phone and just stood staring.

  “Jake, I…” Aaron began, but couldn’t finish the sentence.

  “I know,” I managed before sitting heavily into one of the high-backed, padded stools that ring my kitchen island.

  And then I cried.

  I’m not ashamed to admit it. Cassie is my world. My mind filled with images of my beautiful niece: her naturally curly hair, which always looked as if it had been recently kissed by the sun; her face and form which had drawn so much interest from modeling agencies over the years. More than anything else, though, I saw her eyes and that special light that always shined through when she looked at me. I loved this girl, and if anyone were deliberately trying to hurt her, I would have no problem inflicting the most painful death upon the miserab
le wretch that I could generate from my considerable experience.

  “Bro, we should get going,” Aaron said, jarring me from my self-indulgent grief.

  “Yeah. Okay. I’m going to change clothes and grab my go bag.”

  “I’ll do the same and meet you in your garage in five minutes.”

  We both keep a “go bag” packed and outfitted with all the basic hygienic products one would need plus clothes and undergarments for a couple of days on the road. Also included are passports and five thousand dollars cash, along with backup firearms and ammunition.

  Mine was kept in a cabinet above my washer and dryer just to the right of the door leading to the garage.

  I visited the bathroom, locked the front door, turned off all the lights, grabbed the bag and had just thrown it into the back of my Range Rover when I remembered that Gabi didn’t know what was going on.

  I hit her speed dial icon, and she answered on the second ring.

  “Hey, handsome.”

  “Gabi,” I said. “Something has come up.”

  She must’ve sensed the tension in my voice.

  “Jake, what’s wrong?”

  “It’s Cassie. She’s missing.”

  I could hear the quick intake of air.

  “Oh, no. What—“

  “I don’t have any more details. Only that she’s gone and the circumstances are very suspicious.”

  “Are we talking kidnapping?”

  “I don’t know what to think right now. Aaron and I are getting ready to leave for San Diego. I’ll try to keep you updated, but if things go as I fear they might, well…I’ll do my best.”

  She said, “Don’t worry about me. Just go find her. And Jake?”

  “Yes?”

  “I love you.”

  “I…I love you too, Gabi. With all my heart. God help me, I do.”

  Even though I couldn’t see her face, I knew the tears were there in her pretty eyes.

  “Okay…well, umm, that was unexpected. But, wonderful. Definitely wonderful. Now get going and I’ll talk to you later!”

  I ended the call just as Aaron ran into the garage and threw his bag in the back seat of the Rover.

  “We good to go?” he asked.

  “We’re not good…but we’re going.”

  “Heard that!”

  Chapter Three

  She felt fear, but since she didn’t know where she was or what threatened, the fear as yet had no face. In fleeting moments of lucidity she was vaguely aware of voices—voices that came to her ears the way the sound of a locomotive’s horn gradually rolls across the landscape from the edge of town.

  Slowly, ever so slowly the blackness began to dissipate revealing a patchwork of images. As vague as they were, it was too much for her eyes to take and she retreated once again behind closed lids. A low keening reached her consciousness and she grasped at that one thread of awareness as a drowning soul clings to a life preserver.

  A name spoken.

  Again, more loudly.

  Too tired to move. Better to stay here, floating, weightless.

  “Cassie.”

  She tried to respond but it felt as if a thousand bee stings lined her throat.

  “Come on, Cassie. Time to wake up.”

  Opening her eyes produced shards of pain that pierced to the back of her skull.

  She screamed.

  “Cover her mouth! I’m not going to stand here and listen to her scream.”

  A hand closed over her mouth, the thumb and forefinger inadvertently closing off her nostrils. Reactively she bit down, her teeth gaining purchase on a carelessly close finger. She heard another scream mingle with her own until a sharp blow landed alongside her head and the darkness pulled her once more into its cold embrace.

  “Are you trying to kill her, you stupid, pathetic creature!”

  Edwina Madison cowered and stumbled backward in the face of this verbal onslaught, the blood flowing freely from her finger.

  “But she bit me! Look at my finger!” she pleaded.

  As she held up the little finger on her left hand for inspection, the monster known as Paul Morgan grabbed it and bent it backward until she was sure it would break. She knew better than to scream for screaming only made it worse. As the pain increased she felt close to passing out.

  “If you ever strike her like that again, I guarantee you won’t appreciate the outcome. Understood?”

  Eddie could only summon enough concentration to weakly nod her head. She had been pretty once. That much she remembered. Men had been drawn to her beauty like flies to honey.

  That was before meeting Paul.

  Long before.

  “Was that a ‘yes,’ dear? I don’t think my hearing is quite what it used to be. Perhaps a little louder this time, hmmm?”

  Her stomach roiled with nausea. The pain had become so intense that she knew there was no possible way she could speak without it turning into a full-throated wail. Then abruptly he let go and turned his attention to the girl tied to the bed. She was moaning softly and beginning to come around again.

  Eddie collapsed onto the floor holding her finger tightly to her chest as she looked for some way to stem the tide of blood. Crawling painfully over to the bathroom doorway she noticed a filthy hand towel draped over the rim of the antique, clawfoot tub. The effort it took to stand weakened her to the extent that she almost didn’t make it to the sink. After pouring cold water over the finger for several minutes, then binding it up with the towel, she stood leaning against the door jam observing the scene playing out in the bedroom.

  Even in her present condition the girl on the bed was beautiful. She knew that face so well, and it had only been improved upon by time.

  Her memory strayed to when they had all been together before. They had been much younger and Eddie, at fifteen, the youngest of all. Life had seemed so simple—awful, but simple. They were kept in a decent home, fed—not well, but fed nonetheless—clothed with expensive garments and then given to men whose vile fantasies were lived out featuring them, and the other girls, in the starring roles. If the men didn’t want to use protection, Paul wouldn’t insist on it. After all, pregnancy could be dealt with.

  And it was.

  Three abortions by the time she was nineteen—performed off the grid by less than adequate medical personnel—had left her, at the age of twenty-three, no longer able to conceive.

  As the only remaining member of what Paul Morgan had always been fond of calling his “harem,” she constantly dreamed of escaping and making an attempt to salvage what was left of her life. Morgan had originally found her in the same place he had found Muriel: run-a-ways living penniless on the streets of Seattle selling their bodies to anyone with an extra ten minutes and twenty dollars.

  They called it, “survival sex.”

  At first he had been her salvation.

  Now, in her eyes, he was the devil incarnate.

  The things he had made her do for money, or just for “fun”, were so shameful, so evil, that she feared never being able to have a normal life even if she did find a way out.

  She had loved Cassie once.

  Cassie had been kind to her, and that kindness was more seductive than anything she had ever felt for any man. Watching her now, as she lay there helpless, wrists and ankles secured by zip ties—those former feelings were stirred anew. It occurred to her just then that of all the shameful things she had done in her life, all that had gone before failed to equate to what she was doing now. And within that revelation was one greater—that her own salvation was tied part and parcel to Cassie’s.

  Somewhere in the recesses of her brain a realization fought for recognition: she had been presented with a chance for redemption. There was no doubt. A plan began to form—simple, but workable. But could she go through with it?

  Chapter Four

  We made it to Cassie’s condo in near record time, thanks in no small part to me flashing my FBI cred
s to the ever-vigilant California Highway Patrol officer who had taken exception to me going twenty-eight mph over the posted speed. By 12:30 p.m. we were entering our second hour of reviewing images from the condominium complex’s haphazardly placed and poorly maintained security cameras. I had asked to review all activity between the time Cassie left for the gym and when Muriel and Vanessa searched the parking garage. It was tedious and nerve wracking, but it absolutely had to be done for it represented our best shot at finding out what had happened.

  “Stop!” I hollered to the technician, causing him to jerk involuntarily. “Back it up a few frames.”

  He did as instructed and we could clearly see two figures in black pants, black hoodies and black shoes dart quickly in front of the gate and slip in behind a high hedge next to the entrance. One was taller than the other leading me to immediately think that it was a man and a woman.

  “That doesn’t look good,” Aaron muttered.

  “No,” I agreed. “It doesn’t.”

  The timestamp noted that the action had occurred at 11:50 p.m.

  I actually jumped a little when Cassie’s MG entered the frame at 11:54. The gate swung slowly open and she pulled through, making a quick right turn and moving down the aisle toward her designated parking space. Before the gate could completely close, the two black-clad figures rushed in behind her.

  “Now we’re getting somewhere,” I said half under my breath.

  Switching our attention to the feed from inside the garage, we could see the two people run quickly across the camera frame and hide behind an SUV parked two spaces from the elevator.

  Cassie suddenly appeared in the frame walking slowly and confidently toward the unknown danger.

  With a start, I realized that I was basically watching a version of my dream play out right in front of me.

  “Stop!” I shouted, startling everyone in the small room. “Nothing. Keep going…sorry.”

  Cassie walked up, pushed the button to summon the elevator and had started digging around in her purse for her keys when the larger of the two figures rushed in from the right and clamped a white rag over her mouth from behind.