Chapter 27

Kidnapped

Thursday

The man walked her casually to the car with the gun concealed but wedged hard into her back. She thought about running, screaming, but his restraining arm and the risk to her life and the lives of her family kept her mouth firmly closed. The only illumination came from dull street lights and Chelsea thought with despair this would conceal their escape. Anyone witnessing them leaving wouldn’t see enough to be helpful.

He loaded her into the car and warned her about trying anything. Her mind screamed 'run' as he walked to the driver’s side but her traitorous fear kept her rigid and frozen in the seat.

After he climbed into the car, Chelsea turned to him in astonishment.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” she exclaimed. “You just shot my sister.”

“I warned her.”

“Who are you? Why did you kill all those girls? And Elle?” She was angry now.

“They looked like you and I was practicing to make it perfect. As for Elle, at least I got a free ride from her before I sliced her up.” He turned to her with a crazy look in his eyes. “No more talking or I’ll shoot you right here.”

“Go ahead. You’re going to kill me anyway.”

He continued to stare at her with a crazed look filled with such malice that it kept her mouth firmly closed. She decided to bide her time. She would talk to him, reason with him. She would find a way to escape.

He drove around the block and parked outside a vacant building almost directly behind her house. Had he been living behind her the whole time?

He hauled her from the car and dragged her back in the direction they’d just come from. They crossed the street and he continued to tow her towards a house two doors up but across the road from her house. She cursed the darkness that concealed them as fear seized her heart.

As they snuck up to the front door, she heard an ambulance siren heading up the street. She breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe Charlotte would be alright. She couldn’t believe he’d been living here across the road the entire time, murdering those poor innocent girls and Elle.

He dragged her toward a room in the rear of the house. The walls were lined with some type of foam material. She was trying to figure out exactly what its purpose was as they passed through the hall.

“The walls are sound proofed. It’s so no-one can hear you scream.”

Her blood went cold.

He took her into a room containing plastic on the walls and floor. The only furniture was a dirty mattress. He hauled her towards it and she was relieved to see it was free of blood. Pointing the gun at her, he told her to lie down.

“Why are you doing this to me, to them, to Elle?” she choked the last name out. She was really scared now. Cold shivers ran through her veins as her imagination ran rampant at what he wanted to inflict on her. With a resolve buried deep inside her, she urged herself to stay alive long enough for someone to find her. Lucas.

“You need to know what it feels like to have nothing. All your life you’ve had everything you’ve ever wanted. I never had anything. I wanted you to see what that was like.”

“My parents worked hard for everything they had, as did my grandparents. What’s it to you?”

“It’s everything to me.”

“Who are you? What am I to you? I’ve never seen you before in my life.”

“I’m not surprised you don’t remember me.”

“Why would I know who you are? Have we met?”

“Oh yeah, we’ve met, many times. But of course you don’t remember me at all, you spoilt bitch. I’m nothing to you.”

“But I don’t know who you are.” Tears welled in Chelsea’s eyes from the combination of the terror and the frustration.

“Well, I’m sure going to make an impression on you this time. Now shut up and lay down or I’ll kill someone else you love.”

She reluctantly lay on the filthy mattress and told herself to remain calm. She did not want him to see she was afraid.

He tied her wrists and ankles to the mattress with a nylon rope already fastened to the sides. From underneath, he pulled out a long thin knife. He slowly cut open first her t-shirt, then her skirt, but left her underwear untouched. She was thankful for small mercies. He started to undo his pants and the fear rose to rest in her throat.

“Please don’t do this.”

“I have been waiting a long time for this, a very long time, and nothing is going to stop me from enjoying doing what I did to those other girls with you. I promise it’s going to be a whole lot better with you.

“Please don’t.”

He emitted a short manic laugh. “I told you not to beg it really doesn’t become you, Chelsea.”

Chelsea studied him, trying to place his face. Something about him reminded her of …. No, she couldn’t think straight. “Why are you doing this?”

“Because you are a spoilt bitch and need to be taught a lesson.”

“I never did anything to you.”

“Oh but you did.”

“What?”

His expression changed. The wild look suddenly returned to his eyes. His stare caused her heart to beat frantically but she continued on, hoping to reason with him. “Tell me why you are doing this ….”

The blow surprised her. Her cheek burned and she could taste the blood in her mouth where she bit her tongue. Tears pooled in her eyes and stung her face as they fell. As the ringing in her ears cleared, Chelsea heard another voice calling. Although faint, it was definitely a call for help coming from somewhere else in the house. The other missing girl!

“Dammit, I guess I better go deal with her. Don’t you go anywhere.” He laughed snidely.

Screams and cries followed and Chelsea couldn’t block them out no matter how hard she tried. She tugged at her wrist restraints until they tore her skin, as she tried to pull them to cover her ears with the inside of her arms, anything to block out the pleas for mercy. The horror behind those screams was something she didn’t even want to think about as her blood crawled and her skin went cold. Abruptly the sounds ceased and Chelsea knew what this meant. It was all over.

“Did you enjoy the show?” He asked when he returned.

“I can’t believe you .... This can’t be happening.”

“I’m going out for I bit. When I come back it’s your turn.”

* * *

Lucas bolted out the door with one intention, to find information on whoever had Chelsea and fast. Sarah and Charlotte had said that it hadn’t been Wesley Robinson, but he wasn’t convinced. Perhaps it was Chad Wilson, working with Robinson in some way. It couldn’t be just anybody who had Chelsea, someone she didn’t now. That didn’t make sense. Wesley Robinson had to be behind it somehow. He needed that artist’s impression of Chad Wilson to show to Sarah and Charlotte.

He dialled Maggie’s number as he jumped into the car.

“Lucas,” she answered. “I was just about to ring you, one of the waitresses remembered Wilson and ....”

“He’s got Chelsea,” he said, cutting her off.

“Who has?”

“I don’t know. Sarah and Charlotte didn’t recognise him, but I’m my gut tells me that Wesley Robinson is behind this, and that Chad Wilson has something to do with it. We’ve got to show that sketch to Sarah and Charlotte. I should have shown it to Chelsea while I had the chance. I wasn’t focused on the job. I got distracted. I should have been there to protect her. I could’ve stopped him. I should have done more. It’s all my fault.” His words were all rolling into each other in his panic. He couldn’t think straight or get his head around it all.

“It’s not your fault, Lucas. It wouldn’t have helped to show the sketch of Chad to Chelsea because she probably doesn’t know who it is anyway. We don’t even know if it’s him that took her and even if we knew, we don’t know where he is anyway. We also don’t know if this has anything to do with Wesley Robinson. It wasn’t him that took her. If you’d been there, you’d probably be dead by now, like Lewis.“

Lucas cursed. “I’ll meet you at the station,” he told her. “We have to see if we can find out who Chad Wilson is and where he lives. Either he is Wesley Robinson or he is the kidnapper working with him. We have to find out one way or the other. Only Sarah and Charlotte can tell us that. And I’m positive Wesley Robinson is behind this. I can feel it.”

* * *

Maggie strode in and joined him at his desk. She stood behind his chair and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.

“Dammit Maggie, I didn’t protect her,” he said, his voice thick with despair.

“We had an officer on the door, Lucas. What more could we have done?”

“I should have done something, Maggie. I dropped my game and now Lewis is dead too. I should’ve been there. I should’ve shown Chelsea the sketch, then we would know who we are dealing with, and whether there is one or two of them.” He banged his fist on the table. He took several deep breaths.

Maggie waited until he lifted his eyes to hers. “We were only speculating, we didn’t know for sure she was a target.”

“What about the calls? She was being threatened.”

“Yes but the calls couldn’t be traced. We were hitting dead ends everywhere. We couldn’t even find out where Chad Wilson lives, or anything about him whatsoever, and we have no positive ID on Robinson either.”

“What are we going to do? I can’t lose her.”

“Let me go and canvass the street, I’ll take Peterson and Stewart with me. Maybe someone saw which way they went or what he was driving. Then I’ll take to sketch over to the hospital to show Sarah. You won’t be of any use to us tonight. Go home, go see your sister, but for tonight let us try and find her.”

“I can’t sit around and do nothing,” he shouted.

“You’re no good to us like this, Lucas.” She leant against the desk and placed a hand on his face. “Let me do this for you.”

“No, I’ll stay here and look over everything again, see what we’ve missed. Maybe there is something, some piece of evidence that will point us in the right direction.”

“Fine, Lucas, I’m not going to argue with you.” She left to round up the other detectives.

* * *

Sarah rode in the ambulance with Charlotte gripping her hand. The concern for both her daughters became a vice around her heart.

“Oh God, Chelsea,” Charlotte cried. “Mum, we can’t lose her. If that man does anything to her, I’ll kill him.”

“Please don’t talk like that, Charlotte. Just you get better. Chelsea will be fine. Lucas will find her,” she assured her and prayed she was right.

* * *

Something heavy was pressed down on her chest and Chelsea opened her eyes. She yelped when she realised the killer was sitting astride her.

“Time to scream,” he said to her as he held the knife aloft.

He knelt up and began to cut an S with slow precision into her chest. The sharp, searing pain took her breath away and she bit her lip to stop from crying out. Chelsea didn’t want to give him the satisfaction. She hoped it would end swiftly. She clenched her jaw and went somewhere else. Lucas. She thought about his hazel eyes and his gorgeous little giggle ... Oh God it hurts! She screamed out in pain and he offered her a disturbing smile.

“Finally, a full-on scream. I was hoping for that. You’re quite tough for a rich bitch.” He stopped and she could feel the blood flowing in rivers down her chest towards her stomach.

“I wanted you to feel what it's like to have something done to you, something you didn’t want. I want to hear you beg me to stop but there’s plenty of time for that later.”

“Please, untie me. We can sort this out.”

“I don’t think so, sweetheart.”

His face is vaguely familiar. I have seen him before ….

He hit her again and this time everything went black.

* * *

Sarah sat anxiously waiting for Charlotte to be brought from recovery. The doctors informed her they had removed the bullet, repaired the damage and that she was going to be alright. Charlotte’s shoulder would be stiff and sore for quite a while and she may have trouble with it from time to time but overall she would come through it alright. When they wheeled Charlotte in, she was sleeping. Sarah stroked her hair waiting for her to wake. Relief over Charlotte surged through her as her desolation over Chelsea consumed her. Sarah’s hands shook and tears saturated her cheeks. Her baby, her Chelsea.

“Have they found her yet?” Charlotte asked the moment she opened her eyes.

Sarah discreetly wiped her tears.

“No, honey but I’m sure it will be soon. Please don’t worry about that now, just rest.”

Charlotte closed her eyes. She was just so tired. She was afraid of life without her sister.

As Charlotte lost consciousness, Sarah heard someone enter the room. She turned to see a tall blonde approaching her.

“Mrs Summerville, I’m Maggie, Lucas’ partner. How is she?” She said, indicating towards Charlotte.

“Please call me Sarah. She’ll be sore but she’ll be fine, thanks, Maggie. How is Lucas?” She furrowed her brow.

“About the same as you.”

Sarah smiled slightly.

“I told him to go and see his sister and let us try to find Chelsea.”

Sarah nodded once before speaking. “What can I do to help, Maggie?”

Maggie sat in the seat beside her. “I need to show you something.” She handed her the sketch of Chad Wilson. “Do you recognise this man?”

Sarah frowned. “He looks a little like the kidnapper.” She studied it a moment. “He looks a bit like Wes too, not really like either of them. Who is he?”

“He’s a man we are trying to locate called Chad Wilson. He’s a suspect.”

“Well, it could be the kidnapper. It’s hard to say. These sketches can look like lots of people really, can’t they?”

“So you think it could be either of them?”

“Yes. I really can’t say for sure. I don’t suppose that helps ….”

“Could Wesley Robinson have changed his appearance? Could it have been him that kidnapped Chelsea?”

“I don’t think so. I don’t think it was Wes, and Chelsea didn’t appear to think so either, and she would have known. Charlotte didn’t recognise him either. It all happened so fast ...” Her voice faltered and she clasped her hands together tight in her lap.

“From what you know of Wesley Robinson, was he capable of doing anything like this?”

She shrugged. “I couldn’t tell you. I suppose anybody is capable of almost anything when they put their mind to it. When he just disappeared on Chelsea we were all surprised and couldn’t understand it. Something must have happened or perhaps he held some kind of grudge. It was all very strange.” She paused. “Please find my baby.”

“We’ll do everything we can, Sarah. I promise.”

* * *

Carrie located Lucas at his desk, head in hands. She couldn’t recall seeing him this distraught, not since that fateful night. She walked over to him and put her hand on his shoulder.

“Lucas, come home with me for a while, get some rest. You can come back in the morning, when you’re fresh.”

“How can I sleep, Carrie?” He lifted his head and his expression broke her heart.

“Lucas, please just come home with me.”

“I can’t lose her, she is the best thing that has ever happened to me,” he said with such anguish that he worried Carrie further.

She grabbed his hand, guided him out to her car and took him to her house. The children were asleep and Nathan was waiting when they arrived.

“Can I get you anything?” Nathan asked.

Lucas shook his head. Nathan said he would go and check on the children and catch up on some work in the study. Carrie sat him down beside her on the couch. He rested his elbows on his knees, his hands dropped despondently between his legs and his eyes on the floor.

“Lucas,” she paused and waited for him to look at her. “She’s still alive and can be found.”

“Carrie, what he did to those girls …”

“Don’t think about it.”

“I can’t help it. For the first time since becoming a cop, I don’t know what to do next.”

“Do you know who it is?”

Lucas shook his head and returned to his eyes to their scrutiny of the floor. “Not for certain. He could be Chad Wilson, he could be Wesley Robinson. He could be anybody. Maggie showed the sketch to Sarah and she couldn’t be sure. I still think Robinson is behind this. Chad could be Wesley’s accomplice. There could be two of them doing unspeakable things to Chelsea, unimaginable things … we have no idea who has her or where she is ...”

“Oh, honey.” She pulled him into a hug.

They both sat for hours, holding onto each other.