The Bend

by Terri Tiffany

  “Let me in, Seth. I’m going to ruin my hair in this mist.”

  Rhonda. “What are you doing out this late? Get in here.” Of course. Tim and Rhonda knew where he lived. He’d given them the information for the files. Rhonda wore a light raincoat and carried a pointed umbrella that looked like it could do damage should she freak out. She stomped her feet on his catchall rug before pushing past him into his kitchen.

  “Nice place. How much do you pay in rent?” She opened his refrigerator then perched her behind on one of his two chairs. Really? he wanted to ask. His rent?

  She patted the chair next to her. “Sit. I didn’t come all the way out here for you to be rude. I would have called but my phone died. Imagine. I bought it six months ago. Besides, who took such good care of you with Tim? Me.”

  She was right. Rhonda detoured Tim away from him on more than one occasion. He owed her politeness. He straddled the chair across from her. “Is it about Kate?”

  Her face clouded. “I can’t believe she’s missing. I don’t want her to end up like that other girl did. Dumped in the river without a breath left in her.” She picked at her long nail. “It might be nothing but I was all tucked into bed when I thought of something that might help. I would have gone to our illustrious sheriff but he’s tending bar tonight and well, you know how that will go.”

  “Rhonda—what do you know?” he pressed.

  Again she studied those ridiculous nails. Purple today. Did the woman ever think that natural might not be so bad? He growled like Daisy.

  “Okay, okay. I was lying there in bed, watching the Wheel. It's my favorite show, you know, when this little niggling thought kept tap-tapping away at my mind.”

  Honestly, he wanted to reach over and strangle her.

  “Then I thought, this might be something. Seth is the one to tell.”

  “Rhonda, you’re killing me. Get it out. What do I need to know?”

  She waved her fingers at him. “Okay, okay. You see every day at about two, we get our deliveries. Sometimes it’s only a few, other days it might be a bigger order I placed. Remember when you wanted those black pens that didn’t stick when you clicked them?”

  Seth left his chair. Stood over her. “You got them. I remember.”

  “Well, getting to my point . . .” she said. “Every time the delivery man dropped off my supplies he asked me about Kate. I finally asked if he knew her and why didn’t he talk to her himself. He kind of blushed and said he was shy. Can’t believe that one. What a hunk of a man he is. If he had only looked my way . . .”

  Seth stopped pacing. “You say he asked about Kate? More than once?”

  Rhonda nodded. “All the time. It was like he was obsessed with her or something. Wanted to know where she ate lunch, where she shopped, but I didn’t tell him where she lived. No siree, I didn’t.” She looked up at Seth. The woman had tears in her eyes. “Did I speak out of turn?”

  Seth dropped his hand on her shoulder. “I know how you feel about Kate. Thank you. This helps.” Another pat. He needed to get her out the door so he could get into his computer. He would find where Hank’s guy lived with or without Hank’s help.

  CHAPTER 91

  Kate did not want to believe her eyes. Two bright auras. Around Todd and her. She met his gaze across the room. He planned to kill both of them.

  “What are you going to do?” She must know. It would be the only way she had a chance to live.

  Todd stepped closer, swooped to snatch up the picture. “I don’t need this anymore. I have the real thing.” He tore the photo in half and tossed it to the ground again. “Sleep tight, my sweetheart. Tomorrow is going to be a big day for you and me.”

  “Wait, don’t go.” Her voice rose. “Tell me what you’ve planned. I . . . I want to be excited too. It’s been so long since I’ve seen you. Can’t you talk with me? Please?” She hated groveling.

  He liked it. He leaned against the door and crossed his arms. “I’m actually excited about it. It’s been twenty years in the making.”

  “Twenty years? What are you talking about?”

  “Surely you don’t remember? You who have been running from what happened all this time. Avoiding the press, lying to friends and coworkers afraid of your own shadow.” He tsked with his tongue. “Not a pretty way to live your life.”

  “The bombing. You’re talking about that, aren’t you? But you weren’t there that day. You stayed home. I remember.” After the killings, her grandmother had told her about the one boy who remained in her class. At the time, she hadn’t cared. All she cared about was her family who would never tell her they loved her again. “You were spared, Todd.”

  He moved nearer, his eyes glazing over. “Is that what you call it?”

  “But you lived. You didn’t lose everyone like I did.”

  “No. I didn’t lose anyone. Only my entire class and teacher and the only support system I had in the world. You of all people must remember how it felt to have someone shove a microphone in your face and ask how you felt being one of two survivors. How it felt to go to bed at night burdened with guilt because you survived and no one else did! You of all people must understand!” He screamed his last sentence. Tears shone in his eyes.

  Kate scrunched backward as though he had physically struck her. Survivor’s guilt. Todd wished he had died with everyone else. Like her.

  He left her huddled by the wall the entire night. She was hungry and thirsty and every part of her body ached. The dread of what Todd planned to do lassoed her throat. After the bombing, her grandmother made her attend a support group of other survivors of accidents. Cars, fires . . . your-run-of-the-mill accidents. Nothing like the one she lived through. No one understood the depth of her grief nor how badly she wished she had died too. No one but one person.

  Her name was Julie. She was fifteen. A few years older than Kate. Julie’s mother had died in a bus accident along with twenty-seven other victims. Julie was thrown clear when the bus smashed into a guardrail and tumbled down an icy hillside into a river. She had come to long enough to watch the bus sink taking her mother with her. She attended the support group with Kate three times. At the fourth meeting, the facilitator asked that they say a short prayer for Julie. She’d tried to kill herself.

  Kate never returned to that meeting. She didn’t want to know what happened to Julie. If she succeeded or not. Kate told her grandmother that she was dealing with everything better now and wanted to return to school.

  Her grandmother believed her. Eventually, Kate believed herself.

  Todd didn’t. He may have been planning her capture for twenty years. But what was his final mission to be? She tried to remember what day tomorrow was. Wednesday. The rally.

  She pulled herself to her feet and shuffled to her chair. What would the rally have to do with Todd? It would be packed. Brother Earl always spoke to a good crowd.

  Her thoughts froze. A big crowd. Like their school.

  A frenzy of fear grasped her. No. He wouldn’t do that. She stood and pulled again at the chain that bound her leg to the wall. Please, she whispered. Nothing. By now, the day’s shafts of sunlight had almost disappeared. Kate forced herself to calm down. She must think. Somehow she must stop him from killing her and innocent people. But how?

  Minutes later, the door opened again letting the remaining light fall onto the empty box in the middle of the room. “I thought I might better prepare you for tomorrow.” He dangled the key to her chains in front of him.

  “Please, don’t hurt me. Please. Let me go. In the name of our friendship, let me go.” She would get on her knees if she had to in order to convince him to stop any crazy plan he might have. He ignored her pleas and unlocked the chain from her leg. It fell to the floor in a heap. The instant relief she felt was cut short as he dragged her broken body toward the box. He lifted her in.

  “A little time in here will make you much more willing to work with me tomorrow. Nite nite, Kate.” He slammed the lid shut—casting her again into darkn
ess. She heard another lock before she heard footfalls leading to the door.

  She’d never liked being confined to narrow spaces. She dug for her knife and popped it open. Inch by inch, she tried unsuccessfully to fit the blade into the crevice of the lid. When nothing worked, she tried to control her breathing. Inhale. Exhale. Slowly. Purposely. She counted from one hundred to zero forward and backward. She imagined sunny days by a lake. Picnics near waterfalls. Anything. Anything at all to keep her worst fear from coming true. Dying in a coffin.

  CHAPTER 92

  The brief show of sun didn’t last. Instead, the sky over Seth’s cabin filled with clouds as he raced to his Jeep. He hadn’t slept at all last night after finding nothing about Hank’s delivery man. He’d considered calling the sheriff first thing this morning but changed his mind. He was probably sleeping off a drunk. David had contacted him early though, telling him again how sorry he was that Kate was missing and that he would announce her disappearance today at the rally.

  He didn’t sound too positive. Seth figured everyone thought Kate took off. Left her life behind and took off because she couldn’t deal with the Bend’s way of life.

  Stupid. That’s what he thought of that theory. Kate was no more afraid of the cult in the Bend than she was of dying. She was taken and that was that. Where, he didn’t have a clue but he was determined to find out. First, he would see Hank again. He would find more about that delivery man if it meant a fist between him and Hank.

  His stomach growled as he drove out his driveway. He hadn’t stopped to eat breakfast. Plenty of time to stuff his face later. Right now he needed answers.

  As he drove through town, he studied the few people who littered the streets. Stooped, dressed in clothing that hung on bodies bent over by the coming storm. Where were all the people who had not followed Earl? Had they moved on? Left what they had and disappeared?

  After he found Kate, he would be history here too. He probably had stayed too long as it was. Why he hadn’t discovered Tim’s involvement before now angered him. Seth prided himself on being sharp. That he could read people. But he’d seriously messed up with Tim.

  Had he Kate? His foot touched the brake. What if Kate had gone to the cottages on her own? What if David and Earl were hiding the fact that she now lived behind their funeral home? Seth swerved to the side of the road.

  Stranger things had happened. Like Debbie? She’d left her car open, her purse behind. When they finally found her, she said she was happy. Wanted to live there.

  “Foolish,” Seth whispered to himself. But was he the fool or Kate?

  He backed up. Turned his Jeep toward the west.

  It wouldn’t hurt to turn over one more stone.

  CHAPTER 93

  Kate couldn’t breathe. The darkness in her coffin pressed down upon her chest like a bag of rocks. Her mind played tricks on her too. She thought she had died and this was hell. No light. No sound. Nothingness. She could still hear her breathing in her ears. In and out. Labored. Torturing her. Louder and louder. She pounded on the lid. She clawed the wood with fingers raw from attempts. Her feet ached from kicking.

  Nothing.

  No one.

  Was not even God going to help?

  If she could will herself to die, she would. If only her breathing would not come so loud. Over and over and over in her ears. Filling the space between her and freedom.

  Please.

  Please.

  Her ears filled with tears that no longer stung as they rolled from her eyes. She would die in this box. No one would ever find her until the skin had rotted off her skeleton. They would find her knife, rusty with age beside brittle bones.

  Her knife. Of course.

  She felt for it where it lay next to her. Useless with the hard wood. Her fingers flipped the blade open.

  Did she have the energy to slice as deep as she needed? She raised her wrist to her chest. Steadied the knife next to it.

  Yes. Dying by her own hand would be better than this torture.

  What little sanity remained in her fought her decision at first. Then reason overtook her. She pricked her skin. To see how it felt.

  A warmth filled her. Yes, this is how she must do it. She wouldn’t let a madman take credit for her death. She would decide.

  Now. It must be now before he returned.

  Kate lifted the knife and pressed it to her wrist.

  ###

  The Trainer checked the clock over his refrigerator. It was time for the final part of his plan to begin. He gathered the two bags he’d filled earlier, and he grabbed the keys to the shed. His mounting excitement coursed through every vein in his body. The weather was perfect, too. Overcast, dark. Exactly the kind of weather that drew people to a rally. No reason to stay home. No, they would come out in droves. Fill the church to the rafters.

  He laughed out loud.

  Foolish, stupid people.

  Like lambs to the slaughter, like his father said about the cult in his town.

  Only this time he would be doing the slaughtering.

  He crossed the yard, kicking dead leaves with his boots. It wouldn’t be long before winter descended. His least favorite time of the year. He never was able to forget how cold he had been walking to school without a proper coat. Neither his mother nor father worried about how he dressed. But his classmates did. They teased him at every opportunity.

  Except Kate.

  Darling Kate.

  To die with her in his arms would be an honor.

  He hoped she was ready to comply with his wishes. He didn’t want to force her but would do what it took to finish this day as planned.

  He unlocked the shed. Set the bags to the side and crossed the room to the coffin. He swiftly unlocked it and raised the lid.

  “No!” he shouted at the bloody raised arm. Kate stared up at him with open eyes, blinking. He pressed both hands against her wrist. “You aren’t going to die this way! Not like this!” He let go of her and raced for a piece of clothing from the bag. He pressed it against the gash, holding it until he was certain it stopped the bleeding.

  “I’ll die by my own hand. Not by yours.”

  “Then you should have tried harder, my love.” Todd yanked her upward. Kate gasped as he lifted her from her coffin and carried her to the chair. He found the knife still clutched in her other fist.

  “You have cost me time.” He yanked the knife away from her and threw it outside the shed. After chaining her to the wall, he returned with bucket of water and a rag.

  “Clean yourself up,” he said. He kicked the bag of clothing with his toe. When you’re done, put these on. It’s almost showtime.”

  He unlocked the chain around her ankle one last time. Squatting in front of her, he smiled. “You will do as I ask from here out. If you don’t, your friend Seth will pay the price. Do you hear me? I know where he lives. And let’s say that I know his house, his car, his routine intimately. Do you understand me? A bomb can easily be activated.”

  She was smart enough to nod her head. Good girl.

  CHAPTER 94

  Seth pounded on the private entry door to Earl’s house. When he didn’t get an immediate reply, he burst into the dim hallway uninvited. He’d been lucky the front gate had been open when he arrived. A funeral for old lady Dennis—the sign announced on the front porch. Only three cars. He met her once. Never smiled. That’s what she gets. A private funeral.

  Organ music sounded through the walls. He ignored it and worked his way through the dining room toward the kitchen. If Kate was here, he would find her. He sidestepped a pile of books and headed toward the back door. Seth exited the house, crossed the porch, and stormed toward the path that led to the cabins. All clear. So far. He looked over his shoulder expecting David to tackle him any second. No one.

  Satisfied he hadn’t been noticed, he punched in the same code Kate used when she got into the compound. He was in. No stranger to the layout, he circled the area until he found Debbie’s cabin near the cluster of tr
ees against the mountain. Still he passed no one. A part of him wondered where all the women and children had gone.

  He knocked hard on her door. Debbie opened it, staring at him with a curious expression. Again the long skirt and white blouse. “What are you doing here, Seth? I meant what I said.” She stepped outside and peered around. “Go, now.”

  Instead of leaving, he stepped closer. No brainwashed woman was stopping him today. “I came for Kate. Where is she?”

  Debbie slid her hand into her pocket. “She isn’t here. You must leave. Now.”

  “Listen, she’s been missing for two days. She left everything. Like you did. Please. If she’s here, you have to tell me,” he said with a growl. Seth drew closer, hoping maybe a little physical presence might scare her into telling him.

  “I said go home. She isn’t here!” Debbie drew her hand from her pocket. She clutched a silver whistle. Seth watched as she put it between her lips and blew. A shrill sound reverberated from the trees and cabins. She blew harder. Seth heard doors open. Women and children dressed in their ridiculous costumes stepped out of each cabin like zombies ready for combat. One by one, they pulled whistles on cords from their pockets. They joined Debbie in their shrill whistling.

  Seth restrained himself from covering his ears.

  “Get out of here now, Seth or you’re going to regret it,” Debbie shouted at him.

  The parade of women glared at him. Robots. That’s what he was dealing with. He wouldn’t find Kate here. She would die before she turned into one of these circus freaks. He cast one final harsh look at Debbie and pushed past two bigger women near him. Seth stomped to the front of the compound where he found David—armed with a shotgun—leveled at Seth.

  “This is private property. I warned you once before.”

  Seth stumbled to a halt. He raised his arms. “I came about Kate.”