Finding Susan (18 page)

“That damn duck is trying to get me to follow it,” he told himself. “Or am I dreaming?”

“Quack!”

He took a deep breath. “Maybe I’m crazy,” he muttered to himself. “But I can’t ignore this. I’ve got to see what he wants.”

He pulled the car over, got out and began following the duck into the woods. It didn’t take long to figure out where the duck was going.
 

“Joe Bob’s, huh? What do you know?”

As the man’s house appeared in the clearing, he began to feel a little silly. How was he going to explain this to Joe Bob? “Hey, the duck made me do it.”

He approached the house. It looked dark. Joe Bob was probably sound asleep, but even so, just looking at the place gave him the creeps. And thinking about what the man did there was enough to turn your stomach.
 

Suddenly, the duck disappeared. He stopped, turning slowly, looking in every direction. No duck.
 

“Just leading me on, huh?” he said in disgust, turning to go back to his car. What the hell was he doing, anyway? He felt for his cell phone, thinking about giving Kate’s a call, but he didn’t have it on him. Oh well. He’d try calling her from the station. He started off.
 

And then he thought he heard something. He turned back and looked at the house again. Something caught his eye. Something bright blue was lying in the yard. It looked somehow familiar. He hesitated. He didn’t really want to go back. But that color blue… He took a few steps and realized where he’d seen it before. Kate’s jacket. Once he’d pinned that down, he bounded toward it, adrenaline surging in his system. Kate had been here. Either that, or the duck was now wearing her clothes.
 

There was no time to go back to his car to get his gun. He had to move fast. If Joe Bob had Kate….if he was hurting her… Blake was ready to use lethal force without a bit of hesitation. Suddenly he trusted himself implicitly. He could do this. He
had
to do this. And he didn’t bother knocking.
 

***
***
***

Kate heard herself moaning as she slowly woke up. Her head felt like it was two sizes larger and pounding like a rubber mallet against a cymbal.
 
The first thing that filled her mind was Susan.
 

She pulled herself up. She was still in the basement and the person was still on the cot. Slowly, painfully, she rose and went toward her, pulling back the ragged covers. Her heart rose and sank at the same time. It was Susan and she was still alive, but when she turned her face to her sister, her eyes were bleary and vacant. She didn’t seem to be able to focus or recognize anything.
 

“Oh Susan!”

She threw her arms around her sister and held her tightly. “Susan, we’re going to get you out of here,” she whispered. “Can you talk? Do you see me? Oh Susan! Please come to. Please try hard.”

Turning, she made her way painfully up the stairs and tried the door. It was locked. Going back down, she went right to her sister again and held her hand. It broke her heart to see her this way. That pale, pretty face looked ash white, eyes sunken in, bones pushing at her skin at painful angles. She was a wreck of a woman, a torn and twisted form of humanity.

“Come on, sweetie. You can do it,” she encouraged. “Wake up. We have to figure out how to get out of here.”

A loud noise came from upstairs and she cringed, raising her hands, thinking of the blow she’d taken to her head, but it didn’t seem to be threatening her directly this time. She listened. Someone was yelling. Then there was another crash and the sound of something hitting the floor. Suddenly, everything was quiet. Kate held her breath. What was it? She listened intently.
 

Someone tried the door, then kicked it open.
 

“Kate?”
 

“Oh, Blake!”

Kate felt all her strength flow away like a damn letting go and she went limp. In no time, Blake was there, holding her in his arms and kissing her face, her lips, her ears.
 

“Oh my God!” he cried. “Kate, I was so scared that you were hurt.”

“I am hurt,” she said shakily. “You just haven’t heard what happened yet.”

“Is that….” He looked at the cot. “Is that Susan?”

She nodded. “She seems to be completely drugged out. Oh Blake, I’m so glad you came. How did you know I was here?”

He grinned. “A little bird told me,” he said. “Come on. I’ve got Joe Bob tied securely upstairs. I’m going to call Sheriff Duffy and get this handled properly.”
 
He held her close, burying his face in her hair. “And then I’m going to lecture you on the folly of doing things alone.”

“Okay,” she said with a sigh. “I think I’m up for a good lecture about now.”

“What I’m hoping is that you’re ready to surrender and take on a good partner,” he said gruffly, framing her face with his hands and looking lovingly down into her eyes. “If so, I’m available.”

A smile began to spread over her pretty face. “I’ll take that into consideration, Officer Spanner. As a matter of fact, I think I can guarantee that you’ll be first on my list.”

He kissed her hard, on the mouth. “I’m going to make sure I’m the only one,” he told her. “We’re going to make our own community. Okay?”

She nodded, feeling happier than she’d been in a long time. “Our own community. And our own family. Don’t forget that.”

***
***
***

Kate spent the next day seeing one doctor after another, either for her own head trauma, or for Susan’s case. Her own injury wasn’t dangerous and barring any unforeseen reactions, she should be free of any lasting symptoms, or so they told her.

But Susan was another matter. Her long-term drug use and the way she’d been treated over the last few weeks might have long term implications. It was too soon to tell.
 

Still, Kate had the reassurance that Jason Rudehammer could give her, as his ties with the rehabilitation community were strong. He volunteered to help shepherd her through it all. Kate closed her eyes as she thought of his offer and murmured, “God bless him.”
 

“What do they think actually happened?” she asked Blake when he got back that evening. “Why did Joe Bob keep her in his basement like that?”

Blake shrugged. “From what we can gather, Joe Bob grabbed her in a crime of opportunity. He hadn’t planned it out or anything. But when she showed up at the house, he was cleaning animals in the sink, and she yelled at him, so he hit her, knocked her out, and dragged her home to his place. Then he decided she was better than the animals he kept in cages. More interesting. Prettier to watch. And she wanted drugs. So he got them for her.”

“Where?”

“As near as we can tell, it seems Allison, the veterinarian, helped him there. Though we’re not sure she knew what he wanted the drugs for. At least not until you started asking around about Susan. That spooked her.”

“How crazy.”

“No kidding. But there may be a more sinister reason behind his activities. You see, old Joe Bob has been helping older people on their last legs around here and getting them to sign their property over to him. It seems he was becoming the main landowner in the valley. Only Gladys didn’t sign. We’re not sure what happened there. Now there’s a move to dig her up and see what she really died of.”

“Ugh!”

Blake gave her a wise look. “I think you ought to change your view of your old aunt. She seems to have stood firm and made sure you and Susan got your inheritance despite a lot of pressure from Joe Bob.”

“What a creepy man.”

“Oh say. I found the locket.” He pulled it out of his pocket and dangled it in front of her.

“Oh, great.”

She took it and watched it flash as it swayed on the end of the chain, then showed him that she was wearing the ring that matched it. “Where was it?”

“In Joe Bob’s house.”

She frowned, thinking. “So the duck took it there?”

He shook his head. “Who knows? No one has seen hide nor hair of that duck ever since yesterday morning when he directly led me to you.”

“You’re sure that was what he was doing?”

“No doubt in my mind. He knew where you were and he wanted me to go there.”

“And you came to rescue me.” She smiled at him. “My big strong handsome protector,” she said. “I think I’ll keep you.”

He sank beside her and took her into his arms. “You better,” he said as he began to nuzzle her neck. “I really think the duck would want it that way.”

Her laugh gurgled low in her throat and she reached to return his embrace.
 

The End