“He told me once that I’d spend the rest of my life in a cage, just like the one he had me in.”
Karen was flipping through her phone. “I’m going to call Don and get some backup information just in case that DNA does come back positive for Salyer. He can call in a forensic entomologist.”
Dakota frowned. “A what?”
“It’s the study of bugs in a gravesite. It tells them a lot of things, but one of the most important would be how long a body has been there. Since this grave was conveniently discovered after Dakota was well and Salyer started killing again, I’m willing to bet it hasn’t been there that long.” She rose and walked toward her bedroom. “Don’t talk too much without me. I’ll make the call, then we’ll go back to work.”
27
“Would you be more comfortable if Max and Gabriel weren’t here?” Karen asked.
“No, I want them here.” I lay back on the couch, as she’d instructed.
“Okay. I’m going to start the tape recorder, then we’re going to talk for a while. Any time you feel uncomfortable, tell me, and we’ll stop.”
I sat up. “We can talk if you want, but we need to hurry this up. When Calvin said go back to the beginning, I thought he meant the murders, but to find Salyer, we have to go back to the day I was kidnapped. If I have information about where he held me, that’s where it is.”
Karen jotted down notes. “Lie back down and close your eyes.”
I stretched out again. I hated all the mumbo jumbo all psychiatrists and therapists thought they had to go through. Why can’t she just ask me the damn questions?
“Take a few deep breaths and tell me about the day you were abducted. What were you doing, where were you going, and where you had been?”
“Do I have to close my eyes?” I shifted.
“Yes. If for no other reason than to humor me, okay?”
I closed my eyes. “I was home. It was a Saturday, and Dad wanted me to go fishing with him.” I rubbed my nose. “I got a call from a woman who said there was a man lurking outside her window and she was afraid, so I jotted down her address and told Dad I’d be back in an hour or so.” I looked at Max and frowned. “I called you, but you didn’t answer, so I left a message.”
“Do you remember the address?” Karen asked.
“No. When I got there, I knocked on the door, and it creaked open the way doors do when they’re not totally latched. I called out, and when no one answered, I stepped inside.” I shivered and stopped talking. I could see the room as if I were standing there again. “There’s blood on the carpet and bloody handprints down the hallway. I see a foot sticking out from a doorway and run toward it.” I stopped talking again.
“What’s happening now, Dakota?” Karen asked.
“Someone is dragging me down a set of steps. Something is covering my mouth.” I licked my lips. “It tastes and smells funny.”
“Where are you?”
“I don’t know. Everything’s turning black.”
“Listen closely. Tell me what you hear.”
“Voices.”
“Male? Female?” Karen asked.
“Both.” I yawned. “I’m tired.”
“Just a few more minutes, then you can sleep. I want you to go back upstairs. You were walking toward a body. Did you see it?”
“I don’t want to talk anymore.”
“One more question. The voices you heard, do you know how many there were?”
“I don’t know.”
“All right, Dakota. You can sleep now.”
Gabriel removed Dakota’s boots and placed a blanket over her then trudged back to the dining room, where Max and Karen were busy typing notes. He was tired, and he wanted a cigarette, a drink, and one night without dreams. “Did you know about the call, Max?”
“Not until it was too late. Monica, my wife, had turned off my phone. I didn’t know it until three hours later when I checked the phone and saw Dakota’s missed call. I called her dad, and he told me he was getting worried because he hadn’t heard from her.”
“The body she saw, do you think it was real?” Gabriel addressed his question to Karen.
“I think so, and more importantly, I think the voices she heard were real.”
Gabriel frowned. “Are you saying Salyer has more than one accomplice?”
Karen nodded. “That, or he had other captives there. This house she went to may be where he’s keeping them. She said he dragged her down steps. That could have been to a basement.”
“Her memory is faulty. He could have knocked her out upstairs and taken her anywhere, and she woke up when he was carrying her downstairs.” Gabriel flopped into a chair and held his head in his hands. “I thought this would help, but all we’re doing is screwing her up more than she already was.”
“You’re wrong, Gabriel. She gave me the key to open the doors, but I can’t use it right now. She isn’t strong enough yet.” Karen gave him a sympathetic smile. “She may never be strong enough for that.”
“What key?”
“The body in the room off the hallway. It was someone she knew or recognized. Whoever it was, she doesn’t want any memory of it. Which is also why she doesn’t remember the address of the house. That’s probably the moment she started splitting her psyche into compartments. It may also be what made her vulnerable enough for Salyer to sneak up on her and take her.”
“I was in agreement with Gabriel that she’d had enough, but we’re going to have to finish this. Where do we go from here?” Max asked.
“I keep working with her slowly. Adding small memories and putting things back together until she’s strong enough to remember all of it.”
“And what happens if that doesn’t work?” Gabriel asked.
Karen’s gaze drifted to the couch. “The memory may send her back inside forever where we can never reach her.”
“You mean she’ll go insane and live out the rest of her life as a mental vegetable.” Gabriel shoved back his chair, rose, and poured a cup of coffee. He could hear Salyer’s laughter in the back of his mind. This is your fault. You brought her into this mess with your need for revenge.
28
I lay perfectly still, listening to the voices in the dining room. So much had happened since the day I’d been abducted that I’d never given it a second thought. How do you wipe something like that out of your mind? Did I look at the body?
The information was there somewhere behind one of the barriers. I’d truly thought I’d broken through all of them. The thought of disappearing again or going insane horrified me.
Karen said she wouldn’t help me remember. If I don’t remember, Bethany Phillips is going to continue to suffer and die, and Emma will be raised by Salyer. I can’t have more blood on my hands.
Bedroom doors closed, and silence filled the cabin. I continued to lie still until the sound of snoring filled the air.
I sat up slowly, careful not to make any sounds. If I were lucky, I could grab my keys and be on the road before any of them woke up. I had to find the answers, and the only way to do that was to go home. I’d refused to look at the body, but I knew who it was—who it had to be. The Dicksons would be able to answer my questions. They would hesitate at first, faithful to my father, but once I told them about Emma, they would tell me the truth.