Chapter 13

 

 

Chapter Thirteen

 

Grace opened her eyes slowly, for a split-second forgetting her plight and thinking she was simply waking up to a normal day. It didn’t take very long for reality to set in, though. As soon as she went to move, she felt the pain in her wrists and hands; her eyes moving from her bound wrists to her ankles; remembering the visit she had gotten in the middle of the night that resulted in her current condition. She rubbed her eyes, scanning the room for Michael when she noticed that he wasn’t in the chair by the window, but not seeing him. It was painfully obvious that it hadn’t been a dream; her ligatures making the occurrence impossible to explain away.

The sun was streaming in through the bedroom windows; letting her know it was still early yet. She wondered where Michael was and what he could be doing; fearing that he was getting prepared to take her on a trip somewhere; as he had told her during the night. Where he could be taking her she couldn’t fathom. She was hoping it would turn out to be somewhere close; praying he wasn’t going to try to take her across state lines. If he took her out of the state she was going to be that much more difficult to find. She was also wondering how long it would actually be before someone realized she was missing. A day? Two days? she pondered; hoping it would be sooner rather than later.

Michael entered the room at that moment; erasing from her mind all the questions she had been asking herself; erasing everything from her mind except what was about to happen that very minute. He turned and smiled at her as if they were an average couple who had just woken up to an average day; carrying a wooden tray with him as he strolled through the bedroom door; setting it on the bed beside her. On the tray was a plate with a steaming heap of scrambled eggs, grits, and toast, a hot cup of coffee with sugar and cream, today’s newspaper, and a purple orchid he had pulled from the bouquet on the kitchen table laying on top of a napkin and utensils. She shot him a disgusted look as he took a large knife and cut off the zip-ties binding her wrists together so she could eat.

“Good morning, sunshine. How did you sleep? I know it was only a few hours. You’ll be able to get all the rest you need when we get where we’re going.” he greeted her.

“And where would that be?” she spat at him sarcastically; not wanting to project to him how frightened she truly was by his behavior.

“You don’t want to ruin the surprise, do you silly?” he asked her coyly.

“Oh God no. I wouldn’t want to do that.” she replied; her voice dripping with disdain. “I don’t know what you’re planning, Michael, but it’s not going to work. You’re not going to get away with just kidnapping me. People are going to notice I’m missing, you know. They’re going to come looking for me.” she told him; hoping she could talk some sense into him; the look on his face telling her that was probably not going to work.

“Eat your breakfast. It’s getting cold.” he ordered her as if he hadn’t heard a word she had just said. “Come on, Grace. We have a long drive ahead of us.”

“A long drive to where?” she inquired; trying in vain to get some kind of clue from him.

He ignored her question entirely; pulling an empty suitcase from her closet and setting it on the end of the bed, flipping it open. He began digging through her drawers; packing what clothes he imagined she would need; telling her not to worry because they could buy whatever she was lacking when they reached their destination. She supposed she probably should put something on her stomach; not knowing when she would get fed again, so she picked at the toast and swallowed several bites of scrambled egg and grits; drinking the coffee quickly; tossing the orchid on the floor as a defiant child would a toy with which he was displeased. He simply stepped over it and continued packing. After he was done, he closed the suitcase, then knelt down in front of her again with the knife and cut the ties from around her ankles.

“Now we’re going to go let Casey out the back door; just like it’s a normal day. Wouldn’t want to draw the attention of any neighbors, would we?” he asked as if she were actually going to answer. “Come on, get up.” he commanded as he grabbed her gently but firmly by the elbow; pulling her to her feet.

She said nothing, but allowed herself to be led down the stairs and through the kitchen to the back door, which he unlocked and pulled open, then ducked back inside for fear of being seen. Casey walked tentatively past him, out the door, and down the few steps to the grass; constantly looking back to make sure Grace was all right. Grace nodded to her and the dog quickly picked out a spot; wanting to return to her mistress’s side as fast as she could; not completely trusting Michael as she had in the past. Her intuition was letting her know something wasn’t right, but she couldn’t possibly understand what that something was. At the moment, the owner was not acting much different than her pet. Being in survival mode didn’t allow for a lot of abstract reasoning; only movements made out of instinct; almost like an animal just trying to survive.

Grace called Casey quietly back in the house; as Michael instructed. Then he grabbed her by the elbow a second time and led her back upstairs and down the hall to the bathroom. He had already laid out for her everything she would need to get showered and dressed for the day. She went through the motions of taking a shower and brushing her teeth and hair; pulling on her clothes quickly. Him seeing her naked was not part of the deal. She hoped. He never actually came in the bathroom while she was showering or dressing, but he stood guard right outside in the hallway; knocking on the door after he heard the shower turn off; letting her know that they had to hurry if they were going to make it out of the house unnoticed.

“Are you decent?” he inquired through the closed door.

“Yes.” she replied; pushing open the bathroom door so he could see for himself. “Now what?” she asked.

“Now we pack up the car and take a nice, long drive.“ he explained; sounding a bit delusional to her. “It’s a beautiful drive, but I’m afraid you’re going to have to miss that part.”

“What do you mean? Why am I going to miss it?” she queried slowly; unable to hide the fear in her voice this time. She was imagining being tied up and stuffed into the trunk of his car…or some other scenario that would be equally as unpleasant.

“I can’t very well have you riding along in the passenger seat in restraints, now can I? How would that look?” he asked, but more to the air than directly to her. “That wouldn’t look so good if I were to get pulled over by the police or something of the sort. Besides, I can’t trust you not to try to get someone’s attention; inform them of your situation.”

“I promise I won’t be any trouble. You don’t have to tie me up. I’ll go with you. I won’t try to get anyone’s attention. I swear.” she pleaded with him; unable to conceive of the hell she would go through being closed up in the trunk or wherever else he planned to hide her for the drive. Grace was desperately claustrophobic and was nearly having a panic attack just thinking about enclosure in a small, confined space.

“I know it won’t be pleasant, but I simply can’t take the chance of you attempting to get away by drawing attention to yourself. I’m sorry.” he responded; sounding unbelievably genuine.

“Michael please. You know how claustrophobic I am. Where are you planning to put me?” she begged; tears streaming down her face at this point.

He wiped a tear off her cheek with his finger and again repeated, “I’m sorry, Grace. The trunk won’t be so bad. You’ll see.” he reassured her, then added cheerfully, “Hey, maybe it will even cure you of your phobia. Who knows?”

She instinctively pulled away from him when he went to wipe away her tears; not liking the look he shot her as she did so. It was clear Michael was not the same man she had lived with for the past three years. He was someone different now; someone who possessed a dark side. From that point forward, she made an attempt to seem like she was going along with what he had planned for her; appear as if she agreed with these plans and they were merely a couple taking a trip together. While she understood how difficult this would be – her true feelings being the complete opposite – she also understood that a person in a psychotic break, as he had clearly fallen prey to, had to be treated delicately. She was too afraid to anger him anymore. She didn’t know what angering him would result in for her. Her active imagination was telling her it probably wouldn’t be good and perhaps she shouldn’t try to do that, but should make herself do the exact opposite of what she truly felt and play along with his fantasy, whatever that turned out to be.

Not knowing what she could plausibly do to get away from him at this point, she allowed him to replace the zip-ties he had earlier cut off her wrists; leaving her ankles unbound for the walk downstairs and outside to the car. She didn’t put up a fight as he picked up her suitcase and led her downstairs to the foyer. He instructed her to wait there as he walked the suitcase and dog out to the car, then came back for her.

“I’m trusting you don’t have any bright ideas – like screaming or running?” he inquired of her; reminding her of the gun he had with him by lifting it up in his pocket so she could see the outline; her shaking her head no without speaking. “Don’t think I won’t hurt Casey if you try. I’ll shoot her dead in front of you.” he threatened rather seriously. It was enough to gain her compliance for the moment.

“I’m not going to scream. I promise.” she swore to him through more tears; shaking with fear on the inside and hoping it didn’t show on the outside.

“Good girl.” he praised her as one would an obedient dog.

Then he proceeded to walk her out to her car, which she noticed he had turned around at some point, for it had the rear of the car facing the house; backed in which she would never have done. She was praying that someone saw that; someone who knew that she would never back her car in close to the porch; knowing even as she prayed that nobody saw. The driveway from the street up to the house was not a short one and there was only Herbert Mullins close; him still being the better part of a mile away from door to door. She was trying to think about anything besides being forced to climb into the trunk of her own car; closed off in the darkness. Her tears seemed to have no real effect on him, for he continued doing what he was doing without pause; gesturing for her to get in as they approached the open trunk, which obstructed the view of anyone on the street; making it impossible for anyone to see her climb into the trunk and get shut in for the ride. Her whole body was shaking as she stepped into the dirty old trunk of her own car; moving slowly due to her bound hands; which was obviously beginning to anger him a little, for she heard him sigh with impatience.

“Sorry about this, babe.” he apologized dryly as he replaced the zip-ties on her ankles and motioned for her to lie back as he slowly closed the trunk.

Inside the trunk, Grace felt as if she couldn’t breathe and she was already starting to panic. She felt around in the dark to see how much room she actually had to move about; trying desperately to focus her mind on something else so she stopped panicking because she felt as if she didn’t have enough oxygen in the dark, enclosed space. This was the stuff of her very worst nightmares; the one thing she had hoped she would never have to bear. To her it felt almost like being buried alive; like there was a finite amount of air in which to breathe and she would eventually run out of oxygen and die inhaling her own carbon dioxide.

She wasn’t getting out of this trunk any time soon; that much she knew. And as a little time passed and she found that she wasn’t gasping for air; she began to calm down a bit. One thing was certain; it was not a comfortable ride for her; and she prayed it wasn’t going to be a very long trip. Really she prayed for this for a couple of reasons. Clearly she wanted to be out of her car trunk and in the fresh air, but she also hoped for a short drive so it wouldn’t be as difficult for her to be found. She knew the further he drove, the longer it would take and the harder it was going to become for someone – anyone – to find her and rescue her from the hell Michael Stranahan had in store for her.

In town at the police station, Detective Scheffield was diving into his first task of the day. He had noticed that the only person he had been unable to reach to obtain a hair sample for comparison the other day…was Caroline Devereaux. She had failed to return any of his calls and he was heading over in person to see if he could catch her at home; it still being fairly early in the morning. She hadn’t seemed to him an ‘early to rise’ kind of woman, so he was fairly confident that he could catch her before she left to start her day if he got there early. If he had decided to leave just ten minutes earlier, he probably would have passed Grace’s car on the road out of town. If he would have left ten minutes before, he would have passed her car and seen that it was plainly not her driving; maybe even stopping the car to make sure that everything was all right. But he didn’t. He left ten minutes too late.

He made the short trip over to the address listed for Caroline, parked his car, and walked up to the front door; knocking as loudly as his knuckles would allow. After a few minutes of knocking and receiving no reply, he banged on the door with the side of his fist and called out her name, identifying himself. He got no response at all and – from the windows he had peeked into – deciphered that nobody was home. His next stop was to be the hospital; to check with the nurses and doctor for Adrienne to determine whether or not she had been there to visit her daughter; which she definitely had not done since she watched her husband get arrested and hauled off in handcuffs to jail. So this trip produced no answers for him.

Not any closer to finding her after his visit to the hospital, he decided to return to the police station to inform his boss of this latest development. Caroline Devereaux was clearly not where she would normally be; his best guess about her whereabouts was that she was now in the wind; making a desperate attempt to leave behind her life in Aurora since it had ceased to please her. What would she have done in this town, alone; the stigma of her husband’s crimes infiltrating her daily life; making it unpleasant and eventually impossible to live? he wondered.  The detective did a little digging when he got back to the station; it not taking him very long to discover the recent, rather large, addition to Mrs. Devereaux’s bank account. After some more digging, he found out that the check had merely been cashed and immediately moved to a separate account in her name only. He was pretty sure he understood what was happening with this situation now, but unknown to him yet, a more important situation was about to arise that would require his immediate attention. Soon he would be searching for someone he wanted to find a considerable amount more than he wanted to find Caroline Devereaux.

Grace had calmed down as much as to be expected after some time riding in the cramped trunk; not being left much choice. She kept concentrating on her breathing until she stopped panicking and was now able to start concentrating on how to get herself out of this mess. Her car was quite old, so she knew it was not equipped with an emergency trunk release on the inside. Trying to get out that way was not going to work. First, she was feeling around in the dark trunk to see if she could find anything she could use to cut off her ligatures. If she were able to get her hands and feet free, it was going to make it a lot easier to escape…if she could only figure out how to get the trunk open then. She didn’t really carry tools in her trunk; definitely nothing like wire-cutters or a saw, so she couldn’t imagine what she could use to free herself of her restraints, but she knew she was going to find some way to make it happen.

She felt a small blast of air coming from somewhere underneath her as she wriggled around; guessing it had to be some sort of opening to the outside. Feeling around under herself with her bound hands, she came across the air source. It was a small hole, only about an inch in diameter, but the edges were rough and rusty. Not the perfect way to cut through the plastic ties around her wrists, but definitely worth a try, she thought. Careful not to cut her skin with the rusted metal, she began sawing back and forth as effectively as she could; not getting very far at first. It was frustrating and tiring trying to maintain the position she was in while she was using the rough edges in an attempt to free herself of the ties restraining her wrists, but somehow she managed to cut through one side of the thick plastic; giving her hope for sawing through the rest. All in all, it probably took her twenty minutes, but she managed to cut the ties from around her wrists. She had to contain her excitement – having achieved partial freedom – and quickly focus her attention on getting the ties off of her ankles. This task was particularly difficult due to the limited room she had in which to move around, but she finally did manage to snap the ties binding her ankles as well; basically just pulling apart with everything she had and breaking the clip holding it tight so she could simply pull them from around her legs.

Now she faced the bigger issue; how to get out of the trunk, or get another driver’s attention on the road…something, anything that would draw attention to her car. She couldn’t figure out how to pull out one of the brake lights; as this would have allowed her to, at the very least, wave her hand out the back of the car and hope like hell that someone saw it and maybe called the police. Unfortunately, there didn’t seem to be any way to do any of this from the trunk. She thought perhaps there might be a way to kick the back seat in and get out of the trunk that way, but that wasn’t really going to accomplish much with him still in the car driving. There was no way she was taking a chance of him wrecking the car because she distracted him somehow from behind. It simply wasn’t worth the risk to her. She didn’t want anyone to get hurt if it could be avoided.

Grace was stuck for the time being. She was thankful to not have her hands and feet bound anymore; it definitely made for a more comfortable trip for her. But that didn’t change the fact that she was in the trunk of her moving car and there would be no possibility of escape until he stopped the car and got out for a few minutes; like to go into a store or be otherwise distracted. Until something changed she had no choice but to lie there; listening to her poor dog whining for her and scratching at the back seat occasionally; realizing that Grace was in there and obviously confused by the current situation. She was pretty sure Casey wouldn’t act aggressively toward Michael, like trying to bite him, for a few reasons; one of them being that she was a spoiled, sheltered lap dog who wasn’t aggressive to begin with, but sweet and gentle. Though her mistress was certain that if she desperately needed her dog’s protection she would have it. She would attack to save her life…she knew it. But she didn’t want her to get hurt, either.

After what seemed like an eternity, she finally felt the car coming to a complete stop. She held her breath, wondering if Michael was coming to get her out of the trunk or if he was getting out of the car to do something else. Right now…she was truly hoping for it to be something else; giving her at least some chance of breaking free of the trunk. When she got into the back seat, she could assess the situation further and see with what she was dealing. If he had pulled into a store she thought she had a fighting chance. She knew it would have to be a quick escape – and she knew that no matter what she was taking her dog with her if she decided to run.

Back in Aurora, her best friend, Jesse, was finding it odd that he couldn’t get in touch with her by phone. He had already called several times, but each time her phone went straight to voicemail without even ringing. This certainly wasn’t like her. She always had her phone right beside her and she was normally pretty good about not letting the battery run all the way down. He decided to take a drive past her house and see what she was up to today that she was ignoring her phone. It had to be an important undertaking for her to be completely unreachable – at any time of day.

Arriving at ‘Devereaux Downs’ about twenty-five minutes later; he drove up to find her car missing and the house clearly empty. This he thought was totally out of character; for his friend to leave – taking her dog with her – and either not having or not answering her phone. Where would she even have gone? he wondered; becoming a little concerned. Something just felt – off – to him about the situation. He had passed and waved to Herbert Mullins, who was puttering around his yard the same way he did every day, so Grace clearly wasn’t visiting with him. He stopped on his way out and got out of his car; walking over to the old man; who was wearing a friendly smile.

“Good morning, Mr. Mullins.” began Jesse, “How are you today? My name is Jesse Durant. I’m a friend of Grace Walker.” he introduced himself as he shook Herbert’s hand.

“I’m fine. I’m just fine. What can I do for you young man?” asked Herbert.

“Um…I was just wondering if you had seen her this morning at all?” he inquired of the old man.

“No. No I haven’t. Is everything all right?” he replied; his gentle voice taking on a worried tone.

“Well, I’m not sure. It’s strange for her not to be reachable by phone…like, very strange. I’m trying to figure out if everything’s okay.” he explained; both men having creased brows struggling to imagine where she could have gone. He walked over to his car and found a pen and a piece of paper; writing down his phone number for Herbert and handing it to him. “If she comes home and you’re here can you give me a call and let me know please? I am a bit concerned about her; especially with all that has happened.”

“Certainly I will, son.” he told the younger man, “Can you let me know when you find her?”

“Of course. Thank you.” he answered; heading back to his car; not really sure what his next move should be.

He finally decided after some thought – and a little time spent waiting to see if she came home again – that he was going to give Detective Scheffield a call if he had not heard from Grace before the afternoon. He was worried. She was an extremely predictable creature when she actually allowed herself to get settled somewhere for any length of time; which only happened here and there; in between jobs and in crisis, normally. Right now, she seemed to him as if she intended to settle in Aurora for a while; find out what her next move should be. Jesse was certain she would be sticking around for her cousin, Adrienne; at the very least until she was awake and healed and standing on her own two feet. She wouldn’t leave now and even if she did, she would not let him worry by not answering her phone. She wouldn’t just take off with no explanation – not now. He knew that much.

Presently, Grace was still stuck in the trunk of her own car. Michael had been gone from the vehicle for two or three minutes now, she guessed, so she gathered up what courage she could muster and put her two newly unbound feet on the back of the seat, counted to three, and kicked as hard as she could. She guessed Casey would have the sense to get out of the way; her still able to hear the dog on the back seat. Her first kick produced no results; other than to get her dog to jump off the seat, obviously confused. When she didn’t hear him coming back to the car she put her feet back up and kicked again; still to no avail, but that wasn’t going to stop her from trying. She repeated a cycle of kicking, then listening for Michael, then kicking again for several attempts until the back of the seat finally started to give. She could see a row of light at the top which told her that she had successfully kicked it loose and only needed to kick it a few more times before it fell down; Casey happy to see her and wagging her nub of a tail.

Grace poked her head out of the trunk and into the back seat of the car slowly and cautiously; expecting Michael to open the car door any time now and discover that she was free of her restraints. She was petrified of being found out and of making him angry, but she couldn’t wrap her head around being in a situation such as this and not at least making an attempt to get free. At this point, she simply thought, whatever happens, happens and there was nothing she could do to change that. She looked around, taking in her surroundings; having absolutely no idea where she was. All she could see around her was trees. It didn’t seem like a neighborhood. She saw no houses and heard no people moving about at all. Making sure to stop and listen every so often for him to approach, she slid out farther and farther; enough to peek through the windows with her head level to the top of the car doors. Still she saw nothing but trees, but could see the leaves blowing consistently, so she was fairly sure she was close to the water. They had not driven very far, so she was guessing he had no plans of taking her out of the state. For that, she was thankful.

Well, it was crunch time, she thought. She had to make a decision. Did she pull the back of the seat back up and wait in the trunk, taking her chances with her disturbed ex-fiance, or should she take her dog and make a run for it? she asked herself. It was extremely difficult for her to make an informed decision, not being fully informed of anything that was happening. This one was going to have to come from the gut; from what her instinct told her was the best thing to do. Before she actually jumped out of the car, she wanted to have some plan of action. She took the time to weigh her options carefully. She was a runner – and in reasonably good shape – and depending on how far she was from a house or a busy road, she knew she had a pretty good shot at making it without tiring out too much to continue. Thinking back, she tried to remember what she had heard along the ride; if she heard many other cars and how long it had been since she had noticed the sounds of other cars beginning to die out. Her best guess was it had been ten minutes since she broke free of the trunk and five to ten minutes before that since she had heard another car; she was fairly sure of it. She was starting to have a little hope; knowing she could easily make it that far on foot as long as he didn’t discover her missing for at least a couple of minutes – the more time the better.    

Eventually, after giving herself a pep talk silently, she made the decision to make a run for it. She simply could not fathom being loose like she was and deciding not to try for total freedom. She was terrified of what he would do to her – whether she got loose or not – and she didn’t want her mind to start going there; to start imagining what horrors awaited her if she stuck it out. Though she had no idea if her dog understood a word of it, she quickly told her what they were going to do; that they were going to jump out of the car and to follow her when she started to run. Another fast look around let her know he was still at least far enough away not to notice her missing right away. Her only fear was that he was still within earshot, but she told herself that she was simply going to have to be a little scared for a little while. So, after counting one, two, three in her head, she pulled her legs the rest of the way out of the trunk and planted them on the floor of the car. Then she grabbed Casey by the collar and opened the back passenger side door as quietly as she could; stepping out bent down to try to remain hidden. When the two were safely out, she took a deep breath and broke into a run, holding her dog tightly by the collar until she was positive she was following her.