Dreams~Shadows of the Night (31 page)

She tapped on the window again.

“Hello? Is anyone in there?”

No answer.

The night was silent except for the rain and the sound of a nocturnal animal rustling through a nearby bush. The notion that it wasn’t the only thing that might be out hunting made her wonder if she’d been lured into a trap. A sudden image of Robyn warning her away from Josh popped inside her head followed quickly by Ivy’s spiteful words. Would either of them go to such elaborate lengths to scare her off? Surely not.

But that didn’t mean she was going to hang around to find out the identity of the person inside the car. Whoever they were obviously had a sick mind
scaring her half to death about her aunt
being in danger. If only she’d thought to double check and call her aunt before she’d started the crazy drive up here. She was hurrying back to her car when she heard the other car’s engine start up. Catherine spun around and saw with horror that the vehicle was coming straight at her.

As unbelievable as it seemed, she realized that whoever was driving intended to run her down. For one split second she froze like a deer caught in the headlights before her survival instincts kicked in and she ran around to the other side of her car. She cowered there shaking, barely able to believe this was happening. A scream rose in her throat, but refused to budge. But it didn’t matter, since there was no one to hear her except the monster inside the car.

The other vehicle began to creep like a giant insect turning to follow her. Looking down at herself, Catherine realized her face and white pants were reflected in the car’s lights making her an easy target. Keeping her light hair hid in her hood, she dropped to the ground and rolled in the mud while scooping up a handful to smear over her face.

For one hysterical moment she was reminded of how some women used mud packs as a beauty aid. She pressed close against her car and drew herself into a tight knot hoping to blend in with the ground. But the menacing headlights were seeking her out again. The vehicles were so close she heard metal scraping against metal. The blood was pounding in her ears making her feel as though her head would explode any minute.

She knew she couldn’t protect herself by staying put. She’d have to get away from the car. Every nerve in her body wanted her to run, but fear rendered her helpless for the next few seconds until she heard a maniacal laugh that sent chills down her spine.

Despite her body shaking in violent shudders, she gathered her courage, pulled herself to her feet, and took off running, slipping and sliding trying to gain traction in the mud, as she scurried away. But surrounded by so much darkness, she knew she had to be careful that she didn’t plummet off the edge of the cliff.

Her one thought was to get away from the fiend so intent on running her down. If she could ease herself over the rim and find some bush or tree roots to cling to, she might be able to conceal herself enough to make the maniac think she had fallen. The very idea of how close she was to plunging to her death made the breath stop in her throat, but she had no other choice. If she tried to dash out in the open, the car would run her down.

Catherine saw with fresh terror that her nemesis was driving straight for her again. She dropped to her stomach and crawled over the rocky edge cruelly scraping her body through the thin material of her clothes, as she groped in the darkness for handholds. She feared she hadn’t gotten out of reach when the car kept coming at her.

Her hands continued to dig into the rocky soil until she became aware that
the
driver
had obviously realized too late he’d misjudged how close he
was
to the edge. Terrified, Catherine pulled herself away from the car’s path, as the front wheels dipped over the rim and hung there teetering like a clumsy beast on a seesaw.

She watched with a mixture of relief and horror, as the vehicle rocked for several seconds before it was carried forward by its weight. She heard a woman’s high pitched scream, as the car tumbled down into
the
darkness
of the
labyrinth
below.

Catherine closed her eyes. This had to be a nightmare and she’d wake up any minute. But her eyes snapped opened when she felt herself slipping. She clawed at the ground in a frantic attempt to stop her own downward momentum.  Her body twisted while her mind fought through a haze of panic struggling to save herself, as she began to slide downward. Her mouth opened and she released her own scream of terror.

C
hapter Twenty-eight

Priscilla pulled into her driveway and frowned when she saw the house was dark. When she’d talked to Catherine earlier her plan
was
to come home in the morning, but she’d had a sudden change of heart and decided to arrive tonight. She had to admit it was disappointing that she was apparently coming home to an empty house.

She expected Catherine to be home and anticipated
surprising
her
niece
–
especially when Catherine
mentioned
how much she missed
them
. She sincerely hoped the poor girl hadn’t ended up having to work another late shift. It seemed to be happening quite a bit lately.

Priscilla knew she couldn’t be out with Josh because he was in
Alaska
. She smiled recalling how happy Catherine had sounded on the phone telling her about their reconciliation. Knowing how much she had suffered over the man, it was a relief to realize they had finally been able to put their differences behind them. As far as she was concerned they’d more than earned the right to be together after going through their long, painful saga of separation.

She parked the car, lifted the sleeping child out of his car seat, and hurried through the rain to the house where she took him directly to his crib. Priscilla was glad she’d had the foresight to put on his pajamas before she started the drive home. She covered him with a blanket, flicked on a nightlight, and tiptoed from the room.

Considering the weather, she decided to wait until morning to unload their things from the car. Right now she was longing for a cup of coffee and a nice hot shower. She checked the phone to see if there were any messages and not seeing a flashing light, headed for her bedroom, unbuttoning her jacket as she went.

Twenty minutes later, after slipp
ing
into her nightgown and robe, she
checked on Tommy to assure herself that he was still sound asleep. She made her coffee and a slice of toast then carried them into the living room and turned on the television to wait for Catherine.

Priscilla didn’t realize she had fallen asleep until the baby’s crying made her jerk upright in her chair. She rubbed a hand over her eyes and pushed herself to her feet, calling out reassuring words as she hurried to his bedroom.

“Grandma’s coming, love.”

Once
she
had changed
his diaper and rocked
him
back to sleep, Priscilla was surprised to see how late it was, or early, depending on
one’s
point of view.
She glanced into Catherine’s room noting the bed had not been slept in. Her car was not outside either.
She looked at the clock
again
and frowned. Catherine had obviously not been home.

She could be out with friends and spent the night. Priscilla knew it was a definite possibility given the fact that Catherine wasn’t expecting her home yet. She walked to the front living room window and stood looking out. The amount of rain they’d had this season had broken all records making her weary of the seemingly endless wet weather.

The rain came down in long silvery streams splashing against the windows in watery disarray. If Catherine worked another shift, Priscilla disliked the thought of her driving in this latest storm. Visibility would be poor and streets flooded forcing detours.

She hated it when negative thoughts popped into her head, but it was impossible not to think Catherine could have had car trouble or, God forbid, been in an accident.
Nerves danced up and down her spine sending tiny tremors to other parts of her body.

The concerned woman
turned from the window and began to pace the room. Twisting the bathrobe’s tie around her fingers she tried to wish away the all too familiar sense of panic beginning to creep in. It was something she’d never quite been able to get over because of the terrible accident that had taken her husband and Catherine’s parents.

She continued to pace until pain in her fingers made her look down.
T
hey
had
turned blue from the way she’d wrapped the bathrobe tie around them. She pulled her hand free and flexed her swollen hand.
L
ook
ing
at the clock
again
, she gave up trying to convince herself to get through this worry on her own. She simply had to make some telephone calls before allow
ing
another moment to pass.

Forty-five minutes later Priscilla sat at the kitchen table forcing herself to take deep breaths in an effort to calm her rapidly beating heart. A quick phone call to Catherine’s hospital had confirmed that she’d left work hours ago. She tried friends her niece
was known to
sometimes spend time with, but despite their own anxiety, no one had a clue to her whereabouts. Other calls to area medical facilities and the police had not turned up any information.

She’
d just gotten off the phone with Josh.
Not
mean
ing
to upset him, she’d called in the hope
that
he might have heard from Catherine. Priscilla felt terrible now, realizing how frantic he’d been. She knew he felt utterly helpless being so far away. He begged her to get in touch with Ryan when she told him she didn’t know who else to turn to.
Frantic,
she attempted to look up Ryan’s number in their personal directory, but her hands were shaking so badly she couldn’t seem to make her fingers work properly.

>>>>dreams<<<<

Josh shoved both hands through his hair and
paced the room. There had been no mistaking Priscilla’s concern and try as he might he couldn’t stop his own worried thoughts. Where on earth could Catherine be? It wasn’t like her to disappear without telling anyone where she was going. She was too responsible to be so careless.

There had to be a good reason for her to go missing for so many hours, but for the life of him he couldn’t come up with any. Fear that something
dreadful
might have happened to her made his insides clench into tight knots.

Why was this happening? What kind of God would bring them together only to keep tearing them apart again? Hadn’t they both suffered enough? What more must they give of themselves for the price of loving each other? He grabbed his phone and called the airport to check on flights. He
needed
to get home. He had to find Catherine.

>>>>dreams<<<<

The rain finally stopped shortly before dawn. A pale looking sun struggled to break through the thinning clouds when Jack Meredith’s 1982 Chevy pickup wheezed around the last curve in the road. He was always grateful when the old truck was able to make another successful trip to the top of what he liked to think of as his private mountain. But he wasn’t happy to see that he wasn’t alone as he’d expected to be. He pulled to a stop and frowned at the lone car parked there.

He’d come back here to continue with the landscape he’d been working on that the rain had interrupted. The delay put him in a grumpy mood and having to share his precious solitude with someone didn’t do much to improve his frame of mind. He didn’t want strangers looking over his shoulder asking pesky questions.

He climbed out of his truck’s cab and stood staring at the offending
interloper.
No other person was in sight
. The thought of interrupting a couple of lovers crossed his mind but the idea didn’t sit well. He didn’t relish the idea of coming face to face with a couple of bodies locked in a passionate clench. He never could understand why some people thought it was romantic to have their rendezvous in a car.

Shoving his hands in the front pockets of his paint stained Levi’s, he walked toward the car, but it didn’t take long to see that no one was inside. He looked around. The person may have had car trouble and someone had come to pick them up, leaving the stalled vehicle behind. Shrugging, he started back to his truck to get his easel out when he happened to look down at the ground. He stopped
abruptly
when he saw deep tire tracks rutted in the mud.

He studied them for a few moments following the path of one set that veered off from the rest. When he realized what he was seeing his heart did a quick somersault inside his chest, as he ran over to the edge of the clearing where the tire tracks disappeared. He almost hated to look; afraid
of
what he might see.