Conduit

by Angie Martin

She turned to the shower and rotated the faucet. She lifted the diverter and water shot out from the showerhead. Cool water splashed on her hand and she looked around the shower while she waited for it to warm. A plastic shower caddy containing shampoo, conditioner, and body wash sat in the corner of the tub. He had provided everything she needed, demonstrating how well he planned for this day. She undressed and climbed under the warm stream of water.

  When she went to the alley to convince him to give up Cassie, she had no thoughts beyond Cassie’s safety. There was no master plan to get away from him and get back to Jake. With no weapons available to her, Emily wondered how long it would take to escape. His smothering feelings for her and the mention of a move to a new home made his intentions for their lives together clear. The amount of time she had to get away from him was running out.

  David’s efforts controlled even the smallest of details. He had handpicked everything in her room, from the dress he wanted her to wear right down to the conditioner she rinsed out of her hair. She had no choice but to use what he gave her and to do everything he said. If she didn’t keep him happy at all times, she could end up like one of his many victims. Even though he treated her with love and respect, he was capable of atrocities that defied everything he appeared to be. She had seen his handiwork through Lionel’s memories. Even for a second, Emily couldn’t forget what he could do to her if she stumbled.

  She turned off the water and dried her body with the towel. She secured a towel around her body and a second one over her wet hair. Opening the medicine cabinet to the right of the vanity, she found deodorant, baby powder, perfume, and makeup.

  She crouched on the floor, opened the doors on the vanity, and found a brush and a hairdryer. Because he picked everything out for her, he was trying to force her to be what he wanted. It would take everything she had to remember her identity, especially if she were with him for any length of time. She couldn’t succumb to him in that way.

  After styling her hair, applying her makeup, and re-bandaging her head and arm, she exited the bathroom and went to the dresser to get a clean pair of panties. Her insides cringed at the thought of wearing anything he picked out, especially intimate undergarments, but Emily stepped into the panties and pulled them on under the towel.

  At the closet door, she removed the dress from its hook. Thin straps, lace trim, and red roses added an elegant touch to the simplistic sundress. The towel peeled away from her body and she slid the dress over her head. Much shorter than she liked, the dress fell just below the tops of her thighs.

  She smoothed down the material and realized it perfectly fit her shape. Either David was an expert at telling what size women wore, or he had been in her home, rifling through her clothing without her knowledge. Emily suspected it was the latter. When Jake found her and took her home, she would have to donate her clothes and get a whole new wardrobe. She couldn’t wear any of her clothes knowing David might have touched them.

  Emily hung the damp towels on the wall of the bathtub and folded her dirty clothes, leaving them on top of the toilet seat. She squirted one last spray of the musky perfume on her neck. She wanted him to be satisfied with her appearance to keep him happy. Once he was at ease and let his guard down, it would be the perfect time for her to escape. While she hoped that time came as soon as possible, she feared it might take weeks for him to get to that point and she didn’t know where in the country she would be.

  Taking several deep breaths, Emily moved to the bedroom door. It was time for her to face David and play her part in his chilling charade. She closed her eyes and called out to Jake one more time.

  Chapter Sixty-four

  As soon as Jake could no longer hear Lionel and Shawn’s footsteps walking away from Cassie’s room, he asked, “What are you hiding from Leo and Shawn? What was all this stuff about previous attempts?”

  “Emily’s not the first girl he’s done this to,” Cassie said. “He’s tried to connect with other psychics through victims before now, but wasn’t successful so he killed them. Since he connected with Emily, he thinks they belong together. Now, what are you hiding from them?”

  Jake took a deep breath. He stood up and dug in the front pocket of his jeans. “I never thought in a million years I would hide something from the police.” Jake pulled out the note Emily left for him and handed it to Cassie.

  “I’ve been doing it for at least that long. My uncle is the police.” Cassie’s mouth moved as she read the words of the note. When she finished reading, she folded the note and looked off to the side. After a long moment she raised her eyes to Jake’s face. “Alright, so now we know what she wants us to do.”

  “I’m not quite sure what it is, but we have to do something and very quickly.” He pulled his chair up closer to her bed and sat back down. “I can’t stand the idea that she is with him and I keep thinking about what he might be doing to her right now.”

  “She saved my life out there, Jake.” Cassie’s eyes filled with tears. “If she hadn’t come, I would be dead or wishing I was dead. We can’t leave her there for much longer or he will kill her.”

  “I’m not going to let that happen, but I don’t know how you’re going to take me somewhere if you’re stuck in here with a gunshot wound. I’ve been calling out to her all day, but it’s not working. It’s like she disappeared.”

  “Her note says I’m supposed to take you where we went yesterday.” Cassie nodded her head and her eyes lit up. “Of course. It’s worth a shot, at least.”

  For the first time since finding the note that morning, Jake had a bit of hope. “What is it?”

  “First, you need to get me out of here.”

  “I don’t think the doctors will let you out quite yet.”

  Cassie waved her hand. “Forget about the doctors. My clothes are in that closet over there,” she said, pointing across the room. “I just need to get this IV out. We’ll have to time this so the nurses aren’t hovering near the room, and I will probably need your help walking straight since I’m a little woozy with these meds.”

  “This is beyond crazy.”

  “Welcome to my world,” Cassie said. She tugged at the adhesive tape that secured the IV in the back of her left hand. “Unplug the machine so it doesn’t beep all over the place when I take this out.”

  Jake reached behind the IV machine and found the plug on the wall. He pulled it out of the outlet and let Cassie know she could remove the needle.

  Cassie sat still, her hand resting on the IV needle. “You know in the movies how the hero just yanks this thing out of his arm and runs off to save the girl?”

  Jake nodded.

  “That’s not happening today. You’re going to have to do this, because I might just throw up. I hate needles.”

  “You are so lucky I used to have to do things like this for my mom.” Jake walked around the bed to her right side. “Look away and it’ll be easier.”

  Cassie obeyed him by looking toward the door. “Give me a heads-up that you’re doing it, okay?”

  “Okay,” Jake said. He positioned his hands so he could take the needle out straight. “Here we go. One...” He pulled the needle out.

  “Ouch!” Cassie said as quietly as she could. She frowned at him and swung her legs over the side of the bed. “You’re supposed to wait until three.”

  “I never said I was counting to three,” Jake said. He walked over to the slender closet in her room and took out a plastic hospital bag that contained her clothes and shoes. He walked back to the bed, but averted his eyes when she took off the sling and started removing her hospital gown. “Hey! You need to wait just a second so I can turn around.”

  “This is not the time to be shy, Jake. I need your help getting dressed,” she said. “I got shot in the arm, remember?”

  “Ah, jeez,” he said. “This wasn’t part of the deal.”

  “Let’s never tell Emily about this, okay? I’d rather not have that conversation with her.”

  “Agreed.”

 
; After Jake helped her dress, he held out his arm. Cassie grasped his arm for support and climbed out of the bed. “I think I can do this,” she said, “but I wish we could take the morphine pump with us.”

  Jake steered her to the door of the room. “Hold on one second,” he said. He opened the door, poked his head out, and looked both ways. Cassie’s room was only a few doors away from the stairs, and he saw no nurses or other staff lingering in the hall near her room. “It may hurt a bit, but we need to move quickly before someone comes this way,” he said.

  “Let’s hurry up then.”

  He led her out of the room and they moved to the stairwell. He opened the door and, holding onto Cassie tightly, they maneuvered down three flights of stairs. Cassie’s surge of strength amazed Jake. She only stopped a few times on the stairs and kept moving without complaint.

  At the bottom of the stairwell, he said, “Let me go get the Jeep out of the parking garage and—”

  “No. It’ll look strange if I’m standing here by myself. Besides, there’s no telling when they might notice my room is empty and come looking for me.”

  Jake examined her ashen face. “Just promise me you will come straight back here as soon as we find Emily.”

  “Oh, believe me, I will. I want all the pain medication I’m entitled to.”

  He managed to get Cassie to the parking garage and into his Jeep without too much trouble. Once she settled into the seat, she reclined the seat back and closed her eyes. “Are you doing okay?” Jake asked.

  “Yeah,” she said, in between shallow breaths. “Head over to Hillside and turn left.”

  Jake followed her directions for several minutes. When he parked in front of Marta’s Floral and Gift, a strange calm rushed over him. He walked around to the passenger side of the Jeep to help Cassie out. “How do you know about Marta?” he asked.

  “Emily brought me here yesterday. It’s where we learned about conduits.” Cassie climbed out of the Jeep with his assistance. “Wait. How do you know about Marta?” she asked.

  “I came here all the time with Janie before she died. After that, I didn’t come around as much, and then I moved away from Wichita after high school. Marta makes the best cookies.”

  They stepped into the store and the ambience whisked him back in time. He could almost see Janie running up the aisle back to Marta’s office, where they would eat fresh cookies and ask Marta questions about their budding abilities.

  Marta walked down that aisle now with a welcoming smile. “Little Jake Hanley grew up on me,” she said. She enveloped him in her arms. “Cassie, it’s good to see you again as well. In fact, it’s good that you’re both here,” she said, her tone distressed. “We need to get to work right away.” They followed her back to her office.

  Despite the situation, Jake smiled at the familiar plate of cookies on the coffee table. “Peanut butter with chocolate chips,” he said, and reached for a cookie.

  “Your favorite,” Marta said. “Cassie, I made a fresh batch of your cookies as well.”

  “I already gained five pounds from the cookies yesterday,” she said, “but I can’t resist another one.” She grabbed a cookie off the plate and steered it into her mouth.

  “Jake, I always knew you and Emily would find each other one day,” Marta said. “I just wish you were here visiting me together instead of under these circumstances.”

  Jake sat on the edge of the couch across from her. “How do you know Emily?”

  “Her aunt and I were best friends for decades until she passed away,” she said. “I helped Susan teach Emily most of what she knows. Emily stopped coming to see me not long after Susan died, and there is so much more for her to learn.”

  He remembered seeing other kids coming in and out of the shop from time to time. “I don’t think I ever met Emily.”

  “You didn’t,” Marta said. “You were always missing each other, but that’s okay. You weren’t meant to meet until now.”

  “Do you know why we’re here?” Cassie asked.

  Her memory-filled, light-hearted expression crumpled into downcast eyes. “Emily disappeared into the darkness early this morning and she needs Jake to find her.”

  “We don’t have a lot of time,” Jake said. “How do I find her?”

  Marta stared into his eyes. “You’ve connected with her on such a deep level that I could see you in her yesterday. You need to use that connection now to find her.”

  It didn’t matter what it took, he would find her. “What do I need to do?”

  “Take Cassie’s hand and both of you close your eyes. Cassie is Emily’s conduit and has been for years, so she will help guide you to her.”

  Cassie slid her hand into Jake’s and he grasped it tight. His eyes shut and he tried to eliminate all other thoughts from his mind except Emily.

  Marta’s hypnotic tone entered his ears. “Cassie, I need you to focus only on Emily. Because you’re her conduit, thinking of only her will create a great energy in your mind. I want you to shift that energy into Jake through the portal of his hand. Jake, before you do anything, your mind must be clear of every pollutant. For this to work, nothing can be left in your mind except for Emily.”

  Jake repeated Emily’s name in his mind over and over until he felt nothing else but her.

  “Bring the connection you have with Emily to the surface of your mind,” Marta said. “Imagine she is right next to you. Visualize her, use the strength of your love for her.”

  Warmth radiated from Cassie’s hand, and Jake used that energy to call an image of Emily to the front of his mind. He pictured her lying next to him last night, as he held onto her hand and helped rid her of the darkness. He could almost feel her next to him, and he had to stop from reaching out to grab onto her.

  “Jake, I want you to see her walking away from you, but she’s leaving a trail of light. Those are your breadcrumbs. If you follow them, you will find her, but you have to stay focused on her to see them.”

  His eyes opened, and the world around him had changed. Everything appeared the same, only sharper, clearer. In his peripheral vision, a small light pulsated. When he shifted his eyes away from it, the light dimmed. “I can see her,” he said.

  “That’s the light you’ve left behind in her mind,” Marta said. “It was always there, but I’ve given you a visual cue so you can see what you already sense. Follow it, and you will find her.”

  “Do I need to take Cassie with me for this to work?”

  “No,” Marta said. “Cassie’s work is done and she must return to the hospital now. I’ll take her there so you can find Emily.”

  “Cassie, keep your cell phone on,” Jake said. “As soon as I get an address, I’ll call you. Then you can call Leo so he can get out there right away.”

  Cassie wrapped her good arm around him in a strong embrace. “Please hurry. Bring Emily home.”

  “I will,” he said. He walked around the table and hugged Marta as well. “Thank you so much,” he said. “I couldn’t have found her without you.”

  “I know, dear,” she said. “After all of this is done, I want you to come see me together.”

  “We will.” Jake rushed out of the office and toward the front door of the shop. When he reached the door, Marta’s voice called his name, and he waited for her at the door.

  Marta took his arm and locked eyes with him. “Jake, would you give your life for Emily?”

  His lips parted and his skin prickled. “I don’t...I don’t understand.”

  “Sooner or later you will need to answer that question, so you better be sure of your response. Would you die for her?” Marta let go of his arm and walked back down the aisle toward her office.

  Jake remained still for a moment to consider Marta’s words, and then sprung out the front door and into his Jeep. The time he had left to find Emily suddenly seemed to be running out.

  Chapter Sixty-five

  Emily walked through the bedroom door into a hallway, expecting to be able to examine every p
art of the house to find an escape route. Her room was at the end of the hall, leaving ample opportunity to explore other rooms while making her way to David.

  Stepping across the hardwood floors, she discovered her room was the only one in that part of the house. There were no doors or windows in the hallway, no other halls branching off that she could follow. The home’s layout allowed him to isolate her far away from any potential route to the outside world.

  She followed indistinguishable sounds to the end of the hall, which opened up to a kitchen. The L-shaped countertop separated a small dining area from the main kitchen. David worked on a box on the kitchen table, sealing up the ends with tape. Seeing the box confirmed his earlier statements about whisking her away to an undisclosed location, one where Jake would never find her.

  David looked up from the box and put the tape down on the table. “You’re awake,” he said. “How do you feel?”

  “Better,” Emily said. The darkness swelled in her mind from being so close to him, making it difficult to think about anything else. “My head still hurts a bit.”

  “Your headache should go away soon.” His eyes traveled the length of her body and back up to her face. “The dress looks beautiful on you. The moment I saw it, I knew it was made just for you.”

  “It’s lovely, really,” she said.

  “You don’t have to stand in the doorway and be shy. Come in, let’s talk. I’m sure you have a lot of questions.”

  Emily moved into the kitchen at his beckoning. Gesturing toward the box, she asked, “When are we leaving?”

  “Tomorrow morning, very early. I would like to get on the road by four so we can get a good start on the drive.”

  Emily’s eyes drifted to the box. His casual words sounded like they were like any other couple relocating to a new home and she didn’t know how to respond to him. She wanted to scream and make a mad dash for the front door, toward her freedom, but the location of the front door was still unknown to her. The darkness gripped her again, and she focused on the box so he couldn’t hear any of her other thoughts.