Even though I had known in my heart that this wasn’t backlash, and even though I had known that this was going to happen again, I had still hoped I was mistaken. Right now, I would have given just about anything to be wrong.
If all this weren’t enough, I was also directing anger inward at myself. I didn’t know if it was because I had tried too hard or not hard enough. Or, if perhaps it were all because I had begun to take comfort in the fact that the dead had stopped speaking to me, and due to that, had ignored a sign I normally would have picked up. Whatever the reason, I knew it must be my fault that I had only now heard the voice from beyond the veil. Only now, finally choosing to listen, after she was already dead and there was no way to save her.
I beat back the desire to vomit and opened my eyes. Felicity was still staring at me, her face stricken with the same pained mask I’d seen her wear four months ago.
“Dammit,” I spat.
It was the first clear thing I’d said in the past fifteen minutes.
“Whoa, back up, Kemosabe,” Ben told me, waving his hand to indicate that I should calm down. “You’re makin’ assumptions, so lemme just tell ya’ what’s goin’ on.”
“I already know what’s going on,” I returned.
Fortunately, the combination of salt water, aspirin, and ice had taken the swelling in my tongue down enough to allow me to communicate normally by the time he had arrived. The lingual organ still had a tendency to get in the way of my teeth from time to time, but at least I was intelligible for the moment.
My friend had barely made it through the front door when I started in on him, all but babbling about what had transpired. The anger I had internalized had grown beyond my limits and was now venting back into the world as I outwardly berated myself for obviously missing something. Of course, what I was missing right now was the fact that he needed me to be quiet and let him talk.
“No, you don’t,” he replied. “There’s more goin’ on here than ya’ know.”
“I know another woman is dead, Ben, and it’s my fault!” I appealed.
“No, it ain’t. Now do you wanna shut up and listen to me for a sec?” he barked.
I started to form a comeback, then decided against it. Ben had a look on his face that told me he was starting to lose his patience, and I knew that if he did, it wouldn’t be pretty. So, instead of a trite objection, I simply said, “Fine. Tell me what’s going on.”
“Okay,” he replied. “First off, we’ve got a bit of a misunderstanding here. What was found today was skeletal remains. Not a fresh body.”
“So this happened some time ago then?” Felicity interjected.
He nodded. “Yeah. Matter of fact, the medical examiner is estimating somethin’ like two years, but that’s not a definite until they run some tests. However, the skull is missing, and there are saw marks on the vertebrae. So, add it all up, and it’s a good bet we’re dealin’ with the same asshole.”
I still wasn’t finished being angry with myself, so I spat, “Well, then I should have picked up on it two years ago then.”
“Give yourself a fuckin’ break, Row,” Ben offered with an impatient shake of his head. “Who knows? You were prob’ly all Twilight Zoned ‘bout somethin’ else when this one happened.”
“That’s no excuse,” I grumbled.
“Yeah, well deal with it,” he replied. “I need ya’ focused right now.”
“What for? I snipped. “She’s already dead.”
“Listen, drop the attitude before I kick your sorry ass around the block,” Ben said. “I already told ya’ you don’t have the whole story yet, and your not givin’ me a chance to tell it.”
I wanted to fire off a retort, however, he was dead on the mark; so I kept my mouth shut and sat stewing in my own self-loathing.
“Gods,” Felicity said. “Don’t tell me there’s more.”
“Sorry, but there is,” he continued. “And, the way I got it figured the remains they found ain’t why you’re goin’ la-la all of a sudden, Row.”
“What then?” my wife asked.
He sighed and then gave his neck a quick rub. “This has been all over the news today, so I’m surprised you haven’t heard about it. At around seven forty-five this morning, one of the security cameras on the parking lot at Northwoods Mall caught somethin’. A young woman was abducted while she was on her way in to work. Went down pretty much the same way we witnessed it happen with Larson, white man. And, from what I saw on the tape, it was probably the same shithead doin’ it.”
“Oh Gods,” Felicity moaned.
I knew exactly how she felt. I was just too busy trying to ward off a sudden wave of nausea to be able to speak.
“Yeah, well,” he continued. “The security guard who monitors the cameras was just comin’ outta the crapper, so he only caught the tail end of it happenin’. He called nine-one-one, but by then it was too late.”
“Great,” I muttered sarcastically.
“Yeah,” he returned and then paused for a moment. “The tape wasn’t the best. Got a make and model on the car but no tags. Doesn’t matter though ‘cause it’s prob’ly hot like last time. Nothin’ real clear on the bad guy either. Just average height, dark hair, and stocky build; again, pretty much the same as with Larson.”
“So, who was the woman?” I asked. “Do you know?”
I’m not sure what made me ask the question. It may have simply been the desire to hang an identity on the abductee. Perhaps it was a need to make her into something more than a nondescript entity, especially since I was apparently feeling her pain. Still, judging from the tickle in my brain, there seemed to be something more driving me when I spoke the words.
He gave a nod. “Yeah. One of the other security officers managed to ID her as the manager of the Kathy’s Closet store there in the mall. Her car was…”
“Wait a minute,” Felicity cut him off, a deeply concerned look washing over her face. “Kimberly was abducted?”
Ben gave her a slightly confused glance while reaching into his pocket and pulling out his small notebook. He quickly flipped it open and glanced down. “Yeah. Kimberly Forest. You know ‘er?”
“Aye, Kathy’s Closet is one of my big accounts,” Felicity replied. “I shoot all of their catalogs, and Kimberly has done some of the fill-in modeling. We got to know one another the past couple of years.”
“Fuck me,” Ben muttered. “I’m sorry, Felicity. I didn’t know she was a friend.”
“No,” I announced on the heels of his comment.
“No, what?” he asked.
“No,” I repeated, looking over at Felicity. “I know exactly what you’re thinking, and you aren’t going to do this.”
“Aye, and you’re going to stop me?” she asserted.
“If I have to.”
“Try it,” she challenged, her voice taking on a hard edge.
“Jeezus H. Christ, will you two stop it!” Ben interrupted sharply. “I ain’t got time for this crap. Look, we got a missin’ woman and no real leads except for your freaky-ass hocus-pocus shit.”
We both looked back at him as he paused. There was a mix of pain and anger in his face, and even though his voice was harsh, it was underscored with a faint pleading tone. He was looking for help, not conflict.
He cleared his throat then lowered his voice and continued. “Now, if this sick fuck follows the same time frame as he did with Larson, Kimberly Forest is gonna be dead inside of twenty-four hours. That doesn’t leave us much time.”
“You’re right, sorry,” I apologized.
“Listen,” he said. “I wasn’t even gonna call you. I know what you two have been through, and I hate the thought of draggin’ ya’ through it again. But… But, since you called me…” He allowed his voice to trail off, staring back at me with an apologetic look.
“It’s okay,” I told him. “We all knew I’d end up in the middle again. It was only a matter of time.”
“So, do ya’ think you can help?” he asked. “Or is this just gonna put ya’ through hell for nothin’?”
“I don’t know. This seizure was just like before, Ben,” I explained. “I don’t remember anything.”