A Penny for Your Thoughts

by Bess McBride

  “Your phone is ringing.”

  He shook his head with a hint of impatience and opened the phone.

  “What?” He put a finger to his left ear and leaned slightly to the right.

  “What? I can’t hear you. Let me get out of the noise.”

  Matt touched her shoulder and grimaced. “I can’t hear with all this noise. I’m going to head over to the store...away from the noise. Then I’m going to pop inside to...uh...you know. Don’t go anywhere. I’ll be right back.”

  “Okay.” Penny watched him stride across the parking lot but turned back to the festivities as it behooved her to keep an eye on what objects traveled through the air in her direction. There seemed little opportunity to admire the colorful floats as she found herself distracted by screaming along with the rest of the spectators begging for goodies. Now, she understood the reason for the barricades.

  “So you made it!”

  Penny turned around.

  “Kevin!” She looked beyond him toward the darkened parking lot, but couldn’t see Matt. He hadn’t been gone more than a minute or two. “Yes. I’m here. Isn’t this great?” She turned away to catch yet another moon pie as it flew through the air.

  “Yes. It is. That’s why I wanted to bring you. I figured you hadn’t seen a Mardi Gras parade yet.”

  Penny turned back toward him. “What? Oh, yes, I’m so glad I came.” She beamed in merriment. Another approaching float caught her eye, and she turned toward it waving her hands in the air with newfound Mardi Gras fever.

  “But I can see you didn’t come alone. Why didn’t you tell me you were coming with Matt?” Kevin said near her ear.

  Penny turned in the direction of his voice to find him close behind. His head was bent to her, and the warmth of his breath tickled the side of her face. With a vague sense of unease, she twisted to look beyond him but couldn’t see Matt yet. Had Kevin been drinking? She turned her back to him.

  “Well, I did come alone, but Matt is here now.”

  “Chief Williams,” he muttered.

  Penny could barely hear his words over her boisterous, screaming neighbors.

  “Yes, Chief Williams.”

  “I asked you to come with me.”

  “What?” Penny shouted. Kevin pressed against her, and she moved forward as far as she could, but the barrier pressed into her chest. “Kevin, can you move back just a--”

  Penny suddenly felt a yank at her throat as Kevin grabbed hold of her necklaces and jerked her neck back.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Some of the beads broke, and Kevin slammed his hand over her mouth as he pulled her back from the barricade. Screaming Mardi Gras spectators quickly filled in the hole she’d left behind. Penny’s eyes bulged in terror as Kevin dragged her across the parking lot. She tried to struggle, to claw at the brutal hand over her mouth, but his physical strength overwhelmed her, and his fingers dug painfully into the side of her face. She was no match for his wiry six foot frame. The safety of the bright lights of the parade faded as he wrestled her farther into the darkness of the lot. She twisted to look toward the grocery store, but couldn’t see Matt.

  Kevin suddenly slammed her up against the hood of a car. Penny cried out as her ribs cracked against the hard impact.

  “Stop fighting me, or I swear I’m going to knock you out,” Kevin ground out through clenched teeth as he wrapped his hand around her neck and raised his fist menacingly above her face. Penny went limp. Even through the darkness, she could make out the terrifying bulge of his blue eyes and the snarl of his mouth. She couldn’t fathom how he’d gone from charming and harmless young man to violent and dangerous predator in what seemed like a split second.

  “That’s better.” Kevin dragged her off the car by her hair and slapped his hand over her mouth once again. With his hand wrapped painfully in her hair, he began to walk her ahead of him in an awkward fashion toward the western end of the parking lot. The distant lights of the grocery store receded, and Penny struggled for air through her nostrils. Terror weakened her legs, and she stumbled several times. Kevin muttered indistinguishable curses and dragged her to her feet again. He pulled on her hair mercilessly as if she were some sort of draft animal while he urged her on. The pain in her head blinded her. She longed to scream, but the hand pressed against her face allowed no breath of air through her mouth much less a scream.

  Where was he taking her? What was he going to do to her? There was no way out of the parking lot by vehicle. All entrances were blocked because of the parade. Would he drag her behind the store? Was he going to rape her? Why? She’d never seen anything in his demeanor to suggest he could...would... Penny couldn’t finish the thought. It was too awful.

  They approached the end of the parking lot which led to some sort of clearing. Penny tried to remember what lay on this end. Panic blocked her memory. Undeveloped land? Brush? One of the few remaining swampy areas in this otherwise developed region?

  Desperate to find Matt though it was unlikely she could see him at this distance, she tried to twist around. Kevin gave her hair a vicious yank and almost pulled her off her feet.

  “Don’t look back! No one’s going to save you.”

  Penny clawed at his hands as they neared the darkened area. Her terrified instincts told her this was her last chance to escape before he dragged her into the brush. Kevin cursed and let go of her hair. He dragged her arms behind her back and wrapped one large hand around her wrists. He continued to press against her mouth with his other hand, fingers digging painfully into her cheeks. Fear robbed her of whatever air she could drag through her nostrils, and she swayed dizzily.

  “Oh, no you don’t. You’re not passing out on me now.”

  Kevin pulled her over the curb and dragged her into the brush. Prickly bushes tore at her unprotected arms and hands, and Kevin released his clamp on her mouth to feel his way in the dark. He kept his vice-like grip on her wrists.

  “This is thicker than I thought. I should have planned better,” he muttered under his breath.

  Penny opened her mouth to scream, but the earlier image of his fist near her eyes momentarily constricted her throat. She imagined the blow to her face versus what lay in wait for her in the dark. The blow to the face was preferable. She screamed...once and quickly.

  Startled, Kevin cursed and loosened his grip, and Penny surged forward out of his arms and into the safety of the brush at full speed. Though she was desperate to head back toward the safety of the parking lot and Matt, Kevin blocked any retreat in that direction. She doubted anyone heard her scream from this isolated end of the parking lot. The merry makers continued to roar.

  In a desperate frenzy of primal survival, Penny pushed on through the clawing and scratching bushes and undergrowth. She bit back cries of pain. She heard Kevin crashing through the brush behind her muttering her name intermingled with expletives, and she threw a terrified look over her shoulder, but couldn’t see him in the dark. The brush slapped at her exposed skin. Luckily, her legs were protected by the thick jeans, but her hands and arms took a beating. She ran deep into the dense swampy undergrowth, farther and farther away from the lights of the parking lot. Kevin stayed on her heels.

  Penny threw another terrified glance over her shoulder and fell headlong into a watery ditch of some sort, crying out as she landed on her right shoulder. She bit down on her mouth and held her breath in a frozen moment. Kevin’s footsteps stilled. He must have heard. Penny dragged in a ragged breath and held it as long as possible. She’d fallen into a shallow culvert or canal of some sort. Water seeped in through her jeans but did not reach her face. She hoped she hadn’t landed on one of the famous alligators of the Gulf Coast, though she would have preferred her chances with the large mouthed creatures rather than Kevin.

  “Penny,” he hissed nearby, somewhere to her left. “I know you’re out there. I heard you. Did you fall? Are you hurt?”

  Penny dared not move, not even to pull her legs up into a protective fetal position as her ins
tincts urged, not even to ready herself to run again. Where was Matt now? Was he looking for her? Did he think she’d just left the parade...and him? She wanted to scream his name more than anything in the world right now, but pressed a fist against her mouth. She slowly released the heated air that burned her lungs, and tried to inhale...quietly...through her nose, though her body pleaded for a noisy gulp of air.

  “Penny,” Kevin hissed. She cringed as he approached, each crackling step slow and deliberate. “I’m not going to hurt you. I‘m sorry I grabbed your hair. Come on out. I promise I’ll let you go. I can’t just leave you out here.”

  Penny wished she could jump up and agree to what sounded like a fairly reasonable request. Her shoulder throbbed where she’d landed on it. She tried to rise up on her knees in preparation for flight.

  “Penny!” The cold rage in his voice made her freeze. “I swear I’m going to kill you when I find you. Come here.” He sped up and crashed through the underbrush, spewing low voiced curses, enough to bring her out of her current state of confusion.

  Penny tucked her head low and brought her knees to her chest once again. Kevin moved away from her location, calling her name in a low voice. She waited, wishing she could hear the sound of responding sirens as the police came to her rescue. But no one knew where she was. Matt didn’t know where she was. She didn’t even know where she was at the moment.

  Penny eased out another breath and inhaled as deeply and quietly as she could. The sound of Kevin’s retreating footsteps told her he’d moved toward the north. Could she get up and run south toward the highway, toward the parade and Matt? Would she make it in time before Kevin caught her? She lifted her head to listen. She couldn’t hear Kevin moving. Had he given up?

  She struggled to her knees and then to her feet. Her awkward stance on the sloped surface made it difficult to balance, and she wondered how she was going to climb out without making too much of a racket. In the dark, she couldn’t even gauge the depth of the ditch. Hoping that Kevin had moved out of earshot, she rallied herself, gulped down a breath of air and scrambled out of the shallow water and up the side of the ditch. She turned toward the lights of the parking lot and began to run through the brush toward the east, protecting her face with her hands, fighting the instinct to scream. Kevin would surely find her if she screamed.

  Tackled from the left, she had no time to react. Her right shoulder screamed in agony as Kevin came down on top of her. He clamped a hand over her mouth to stifle her cry of pain as he lay on top of her crushing the air from her body. She struggled against him but froze when she felt hard metal against her neck.

  “Shhh,” Kevin whispered against her ear. “Don’t make me slit your throat here and now, Penny. I’m getting sick and tired of this game. Behave and come with me now.”

  He hauled her to her feet with one arm and twisted her around. She saw the outline of the large switchblade that Kevin brought to her throat. Penny instinctively tried to pull away from the blade, but he pressed the flat of it against her neck as he bent his head to her ear.

  “Do you seriously think I won’t kill you, Penny? Whatever gave you that idea? I will slit your throat in a heartbeat,” he ground out between clenched teeth. He scraped the blade against her neck as if he shaved her, and Penny whimpered. Her legs buckled, but Kevin held her up.

  “Let’s go.” Kevin dragged her by her left arm deeper into the underbrush. He seemed to have a better sense of direction than she as he marched confidently to the southeast as indicated by the lights of the highway.

  They approached the end of the swamp, and Kevin paused on the edge of an empty undeveloped lot dotted with construction equipment. Under the faint glow of the nearby streetlights, Penny could see his car parked in the dirt up ahead. Kevin stilled and seemed to listen intently. Penny pricked her ears though she could hear little over the pounding of her heart. The sounds of the parade were far, far away. Kevin dragged her out from the brush and pressed the knife tightly against her throat. He pushed her ahead of him toward the car and braced her against the side of it with his body while struggling to open the driver’s side door. He reached in, dropped the knife on the seat and brought out a short length of orange nylon rope. Penny tried to peer over her shoulder.

  “Stay there, and don’t move. I’ll kill you if you try to take off again, Penny.” He yanked her wrists painfully behind her and tied them together. The abrasive ropes burned her skin.

  “Get in,” he barked as he pulled her around by her bound hands and pushed her into the driver’s side of the car. Penny hit her head on the door sill and cried out.

  “Shut up.” Kevin shoved her over to the passenger seat and climbed in after her.

  “Where are we going?” Penny whispered.

  “Somewhere nice, Penny. You’ll like it there.” The sneer on his face mocked his friendly words. Penny adjusted in the seat to accommodate for the pain of her tied hands behind her back. Her shoulder ached from her fall, even more so in her awkward position.

  “I don’t understand,” Penny mumbled. “What--”

  “Shut up, Penny. I don’t want to talk right now. I need to concentrate.” His tone remained neutral...almost conversational. Kevin started the engine and pulled out onto the road, turning right and heading away from the parade. Penny saw the last of the parade floats out of the corner of her eye.

  The ringing of her phone in her pocket gave her a start. Matt! It had to be Matt calling. She glanced at Kevin fearfully.

  “Is that your phone, Penny? Do you think your dear Chief Williams is calling you? Is he missing you already? Maybe he thinks you got bored and just decided to leave.” Something in his mocking voice caught her attention. A nuance, a particular way he said her name. She couldn’t put her finger on it.

  “He’ll find me, Kevin.”

  “He won’t find you in time, Penny.”

  ****

  With a dry mouth and a pounding heart that felt like it would burst from his chest, Matt listened to the unending ringing on Penny’s line. He held the broken beads he’d found by the barricade in one hand and gripped the phone tightly with the other.

  Where was she? Suddenly, a call broke through. Penny! He looked at caller ID and noted it came from the station.

  “Yes, what is it?”

  “Chief? Is that you?”

  “Yes, I’m sorry, Patty, what is it?”

  “Chief, I’ve got a report that someone heard a scream from the shopping center in Orange Beach along the parade route. You said you were going to the parade. Are you there?”

  Matt swung his head around. People screamed all along the parade route, the parking lot behind him seemed quiet.

  “Chief?”

  “Yes?” He moved toward the parking lot, still clutching the beads in his hands. “Where did it come from?”

  “Chief, I called the Orange Beach Police. Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine, Patty. I’m right here at the parking lot. Where did the scream come from?”

  “From the west end of the parking lot.” Matt scanned the darkened area to the west. He spotted Penny’s car in the middle of the parking lot. “Chief? What’s wrong?”

  “It’s Penny Brown. I think she’s been kidnapped. I was just with her and now she’s gone. Put out an all points bulletin. Get Cliff Sutton on the line for me. Get Ben down here with his dog. And get me a helicopter to search this area.” Matt snapped the phone shut and headed on a run across the parking lot. He raced toward Penny’s car and took only a few seconds to see she was not in it. He ran for the western end of the parking lot and paused.

  Who had her? Where did they take her? He heard screaming, but it came from the direction of the parade route. The last float appeared to be passing through.

  Sirens began to wail, and two Orange Beach patrol cards screeched up to the west end of the parking lot. Matt stared into the darkness, desperate to run in after Penny, but realizing with a sickening dread that he had no idea where she’d been taken. He had to wait fo
r a search party, the helicopter and the working dog.

  Two officers jumped out and ran toward him. Matt gave them a quick rundown on what little he knew. They spread out and headed into the brush with flashlights. Matt moved behind in behind them.

  The ringing of his phone made him jump, and he cursed silently.

  “What!” he barked.

  “It’s me, Matt. What’s going on?”

  “It’s Penny. This guy’s got her. I’m sure of it. She was with me at the parade. I left for a minute. Her car is still in the parking lot.” He knew he wasn’t making a lot of sense.

  Matt continued to move into the brush with the officers. He didn’t have a flashlight on him, but he used their beams to scan the bush. The night seemed so dark, the bush so thick. Would Penny scream again?

  The soft rhythmic thudding of a helicopter approached as Matt strained to hear Cliff with one ear and to listen for screams with his other ear. He looked up. The helicopter hit the searchlight and began a sweeping search of the swampy growth.

  Matt heard a muttered expletive from Cliff.

  “Matt, I’ve been looking into this, and I think I know who this guy is and where he where might take Penny.”

  “How do you know? Where is she, Cliff? Is she still alive?”

  “I don’t know, Matt. Is that a helicopter I hear? You’re going to need it. Listen...”

  Matt pressed the phone tightly against his ear.

  ****

  Kevin reached over suddenly and jammed his hand into Penny’s pocket. He dug out her ringing phone and threw it out the driver’s side window.

  “Now, he won’t find you at all.”

  Hot tears burned Penny’s eyes. She still had no idea what Kevin was going to do with her, but she had begun to think rape would not be the worst of it. A cold hatred seemed to emanate from his eyes. She couldn’t believe those playful blue eyes could suddenly change so drastically. Nothing in her psychological training prepared her for this kind of menace. Nothing! Diagnostic terms and descriptions of personality disorders flitted insubstantially through her mind, but none of them could save her now. She was on her own with a predator. Matt had no idea she was in danger. For all he knew, she’d grown bored and gone home, or worse yet, taken off with a younger man.