A Killer's Watch (12 page)

“Not when I talked to her,” Jeri shuddered at the memory.
“Can you believe that they weren’t even aware of Allison’s disappearance, or of
Shelby’s murder?”

“Hard to imagine, but the abductions did take place in different
states, though within an hour’s drive of Fremont. You would think the locals
would do a better job of alerting the community at large.”

“Diana is their only child,” Jeri added. “Like Shelby.”

“I don’t think that figures into his victimology, do you?
Allison was not an only child.”

“No, I don’t either. I’m just saying, it’s tough.”

“Yes,” Ethan agreed.

Both of them fell silent for a time, until Jeri’s tablet
dinged.

“Anna sent over the first batch of images from the women in
Clevestone,” she told Ethan as she searched the screen. “You should take a look
as well, but I don’t see any resemblances, yet.”

“We’ve only just begun, give it time,” Ethan reached over to
squeeze her hand. “Why don’t you call Chloe and Monique, ask if they’ve made
any headway with the satellite images.”

“I’ll text Monique. I’m totally talked out at the moment.”

Ethan waited, knowing the toll these particular cases had on
Jeri. If he could fix it, he would. But there was no way to combat the personal
hell she’d endured as a child. The best thing he could do was to listen, if she
wanted to talk, and hold her, if she needed him.

~~~

“Jeri wants to know if we’ve found anything,” Monique
explained to Chloe as she responded to Jeri’s text. “I told her it’s like
searching for a peanut in a room full of elephants.”

“What does that even mean?” Chloe asked, not taking her eyes
from the tablet.

“That there isn’t one,” Monique answered with a sigh. “I
think we could look at this stuff all night and never find a cellar door.
Images of the ground are not clear enough.”

“I’m looking for depressions in the grass, changes in
elevation, anything that’s out of the ordinary.”

“So am I, but no luck,” Monique returned to her tablet.
“Maybe we’re going at this the wrong way, maybe we should think inside the
box.”

“I’m game, what have you got?”

“Why don’t we interview each of the male homeowners of the
houses we searched today? It’s standard police procedure, but we’re doing
everything but. There’s a lot to be said for a face-to-face sit down.”

“Don’t ask me, I’m new to this. Surely Jeri and Ethan have
reasons for
not
interviewing the men.”

“Probably, but I’d like to know their reasons.”

“Then ask, they’ll be here soon. In the meantime, let’s keep
at this, okay? Two girl’s lives are depending on us.”

“Of course, I just want to find a faster way.”

~~~

“Monique and Chloe aren’t having any luck,” Jeri reported.
“Monique says that the ground images are very blurry.”

“We knew it was a longshot. We should get better results
tomorrow, with the chopper.”

“I hope Allison has until tomorrow. Now that he has Diana,
Allison is expendable.”

“Perhaps not. We know he’s getting bolder. Keeping two
girls, instead of one, is more challenging. It’s also more like something Anson
and his brother did.”

“He may have learned from Anson, but he’s writing his own
script, now. He proved that by dumping Shelby’s body in Clevestone.”

“The only time Anson ever used the same dumping ground was
in the bayou. Even then, his purpose was to draw us in. As soon as he
accomplished his goal, he stopped. This killer is ignoring that lesson.”

“It’s too bad we don’t have the manpower to monitor all of
the back roads in Clevestone.”

“They’ve stepped up patrols, that’s something.”

“I feel like we should be doing something more,” Jeri rubbed
her eyes.

“We’re doing everything we can, tonight. Tomorrow is a new
day.”

“Yes, but will it come soon enough for Allison and Diana?”

~~~

“Wake up!” Allison called to the girl on the cot across the
room. “Hey, wake up!”

The girl stirred, but didn’t awaken. Allison couldn’t
believe how much the girl looked like her. The creep who took them definitely
had a type.

“Hey! Wake Up!” she tried again, to no avail. Lowering her
head back onto the cot, Allison sighed deeply. Moving her head hurt like the
devil, but it was the only way she could see the girl, know if she was awake.

Allison had been sound asleep when he’d brought the girl in.
The headache she endured now was evidence that he’d drugged her again. Must
have been the water, she surmised, as she took in her new roommate.

The girl was tied up, just like Allison, with a camera
positioned at the end of the cot. Just like the one focused on Allison. The
third camera sat higher than the first two, but it wasn’t focused on either one
of them. All three cameras had red flashing lights, meaning that they were
recording.

“Pervert,” Allison screamed at the one closest to her. It
made her head hurt more, but she didn’t care. She was tired of being here, sick
to death of being tied up, helpless. She wanted to go home.

The girl on the other cot could be her salvation. Surely
they could overpower him together, if they could only get the chance.

The new girl twitched, but still didn’t open her eyes. As
much as Allison wanted her to awaken, she dreaded telling her about their
predicament.

Another twitch, this time Allison could see deliberate
movement of her hands. Then her legs, though her ankles remained firmly
attached to the bed.

She was waking up, good. Allison summoned her energy for
another scream.

“Wake up!”

“What? Why? Ohhhhhh….” The girl came awake abruptly, jerking
her hands unsuccessfully. Her screams would have shattered glass, had there
been any in the room.

“Stop!” Allison yelled, hoping to get through to her. “Stop
screaming!”

The girl looked at her then, wide-eyed shock mirrored
Allison’s emotions, when she’d first awakened.

“Please don’t scream. It won’t do any good,” Allison tried
to reason with her, but the girl started screaming again, anyway.

Deciding to wait it out, Allison turned to face the ceiling,
her own heart breaking at the sounds of the girl’s fear. She knew it all too
well.

Once she realized that screaming was useless, Diana stopped,
but she couldn’t stop the flow of tears. The girl on the cot next to her was
tied up, too. And they looked so much alike, that Diana felt that she was
looking into a mirror. A terrible, terrible mirror.

“I’m Allison.” Turning her head again, Allison spoke in a
quieter voice. One that didn’t cause her head to explode with pain.

“Where are we? What’s happening?” Diana asked, trying to
control her sobs.

“I don’t know where we are, some dungeon, I suppose. We were
kidnapped. By a perverted creep who’s watching us right now. See the cameras?”

“What?” A fresh wave of shock descended on Diana as she
looked around the room for the first time. Sure enough, three cameras caught
their every move.

“But we’re naked!” she cried, trying again to move her
hands.

“I think that’s the point,” Allison told her, dryly. “This
creep likes to watch.”

“Who is it?” Diana asked, wishing she could cover herself
better.

“I don’t know, some old guy. I’ve never seen him before.”

“What does he do?” Diana’s voice became small.

“So far, he only touches, but that’s bad enough. What’s your
name?”

“Diana.”

“What’s the last thing that you remember?”

“I don’t know, my head hurts. I think I was at home,”

“He drugged you. He drugged me, too. The headache won’t go
away, but it will get better. Especially if you don’t scream.”

“How do you know that screaming won’t work? Someone might
hear us, come to our rescue.”

“No one can hear us. I spent hours screaming, but all I got
was a sore throat, and a worse headache.”

“How long have you been here?” Diana tried to get her sobs
under control.

“I don’t know. What day is it?”

“Thursday, I think.”

“I went to a club Tuesday night. He took me in the parking
lot, afterwards.”

“What are we going to do? How are we going to get away?”
Diana started to cry again.

“I’ve been thinking about that,” Allison lowered her voice,
hoping that the camera would not pick it up. “As soon as he unties one of us,
we hit him in the nuts, hard. Then we free the other one, and between us, we
get away.” It sounded reasonable, to inexperienced ears.

“But how do we free the other one? This tape is tough, I
can’t make it budge.”

“We can tear it with our teeth, I think. We have to try.”

“We should knock him out, too. Hitting him where it hurts
won’t keep him down for long. I’ve seen men on television get up and run,
almost immediately. How can we knock him out?”

Formulating a plan made both girls feel better. It didn’t
matter if it was doable, or not.

“We can hit him with the camera, or the tripod. If we hit
him hard enough, it should knock him out.”

“Are you sure that there’s only one of him?”

“I haven’t seen anyone else,” Allison felt tears roll down
her cheek. “I heard someone, when I first woke up. She was screaming. Then she
stopped.”

“Oh, my God. Do you think he killed her?” Diana’s eyes
widened.

“I don’t know. But I haven’t heard her again,” Allison
forced herself to brighten. “Maybe she got away.”

“Maybe so,” Diana didn’t look too sure.

“Even if she didn’t,” Allison met Diana’s eyes, “we will.
It’s two against one.”

“Right.” Diana turned away, squeezing her eyes shut, tight.

~~~

Graham missed the exchange due to the fact that Belinda had
orchestrated an evening out for the two of them. With friends. One of whom was
a lovely woman that fit his mother’s every desire for a daughter-in-law.

“I really wish that you would stop setting me up, Mother,”
Graham complained as he drove them into town. Belinda preferred a driver, but
Graham liked to be in control.

“I will stop, when you find a bride and settle down,”
Belinda answered, unconcerned with her son’s objections. She was used to it. No
matter how many times she arranged for him to spend time with a suitable woman,
he complained.

“I told you that I’m perfectly capable of finding my own bride.
When will you listen?”

“Proof, Graham dear. That is all that I require. Give me
proof that you’re seeing someone appropriate, and I will gladly stop
interfering.”

“Fine, I shall supply you with proof, as soon as I meet
someone.”

“Until then, I’ll continue to offer assistance.”

“As you wish, Mother.” Graham had stopped caring about these
little outings long ago. But he did find them tiresome. His complaints were
perfunctory, at this point. Part of the dance his meddling mother expected, so
he obliged her.

His mind drifted to the two girls, waiting for him in the
cellar. Diana was so lovely, but so was Allison. He wondered if Diana was awake
yet, imagined her terror as she realized her circumstances.

He enjoyed the terror, almost as much as he enjoyed creating
a show for his viewers. Sex was part of the show, so he indulged his viewers
fantasies, even though they were not his own. Any woman, or girl, who was not
Aubrey left him cold. The girls who looked so like her were as close as he
could come to enjoying the experience. Without their terror, he seriously
doubted if he would enjoy it as much.

As his mother rattled on about some committee or another,
Graham relived the last time he saw Aubrey. She was shopping at a local
grocery, a place that Graham would never visit, but for the chance to see her.
She never saw him, would not have recognized him if she did. The sunglasses,
ball cap, and beard he wore made him unrecognizable.

The restraining order she’d taken out fifteen years ago
compelled him to develop methods of evasion and camouflage, whenever he wanted
to see her. He attributed his successful stealthy maneuvers today with his
early training, born of necessity.

His thoughts turned to Diana, his latest success story. He
hated leaving her, untouched, in the cold dampness of the cellar. Because she
reminded him so much of Aubrey, he wanted to treat her special. He began to
consider ways he could make their time together more meaningful.

Completely lost in his thoughts of Diana, Graham almost
missed the entrance of the restaurant.

“Graham!” Belinda said, sharply. “Pay attention!”

“Yes, Mother,” he replied smoothly, slowing down in time to
make the turn. Just a few short hours, and he could visit his special guests.
The thought would sustain him, throughout the monotonous evening ahead.

“This really is a waste of time,” Jeri declared, pushing the
computer away. “The ground is hardly visible.”

“I agree, but it was worth a try,” Ethan stood, stretching
as he went for coffee. “We should firm up our plans for tomorrow, anyway.”

“About that,” Monique began. “Why don’t we interview the
male homeowners? We’ll get a better sense of who they are in person.”

“Jeri would be the best person to gauge their personality,”
Ethan agreed. “I think it’s a valid way to proceed.”

“Sure, we so rarely have such a large pool of suspects to
consider, that conducting interviews are not a normal part of our
investigation,” Jeri nodded, totally on board with the idea. “Monique, you and
I can conduct the interviews, while Ethan and Chloe do the fly over.”

“Heck, yeah!” Chloe couldn’t contain her excitement. “I’d
much rather fly around in a chopper than interview potential psychos.”

Everyone laughed at her enthusiasm, and her assessment.

“Can’t argue with that,” Ethan said. “So we’re agreed?”