First Visions (22 page)

Jared could barely remember getting dressed
and driving to Kate’s house. It was like he was on auto-pilot and
couldn’t even form a single coherent thought. How could this
happen? Why would someone take her? Whoever it was, he swore he
would kill the person with his bare hands if they laid a single
finger on her.

He noticed the flashing lights of the patrol
cars as soon as he turned on Kate’s street. Jumping out of the car,
he nodded to a few of the officers working the scene. Although it
was the middle of the night, the entire front of the Edwards’ house
was illuminated.

Before heading over to speak to the sergeant
on the scene, he approached Darlene Edwards. She was still dressed
in her wedding attire and had mascara tracks done both cheeks. An
officer was standing with her on the front porch and seemed to be
trying to comfort the trembling woman. The man was trying to coerce
her inside, but Darlene refused.

Jared addressed the officer. “I’m a friend of
the family. I’ll be able to sit with her for a bit.” The patrolman
nodded and walked away from the two of them and headed towards the
evidence technicians working near Kate’s car.

Darlene met his eyes and began to sob. “Oh
god Jared, this can’t be happening.”

Jared reached over and pulled her into a
tight embrace. “Don’t worry, we’ll find her. I promise you.” Jared
knew he wasn’t in the position to be making guarantees to the
distraught woman, but he would do everything in his power to get
Kate back. It wasn’t in his nature to sit idly by—his connection to
Kate was too strong and he wouldn’t trust anyone, but himself to do
the best possible job to find her. “What happened?”

“I don’t know,” Darlene cried and then wiped
at her eyes with a tissue she was clutching. “Kate said she was
hungry after the wedding and went to grab a snack and a coffee. I
knew it was late and I should’ve never let her go alone…”

Jared interjected. “There was no way you
could’ve known this would happen.”

Darlene shook her head. “It was getting late
and I was about to call her. Something told me to look out front. I
saw her car and almost passed out from shock. Everything in her
purse was strewn all over the sidewalk and her coffee cup was spilt
on the ground. I called the police right away. I’m trying to figure
out why this happened. I’m thinking maybe she was familiar with the
person.”

Jared looked at her with unconcealed
astonishment. “Why would you think that?”

“Her behavior was really off tonight. We went
to her cousin’s wedding and she disappeared for over an hour. She
was being very dodgy about where she’d been and I’m good at sensing
when Kate is keeping something from me. Do you think it could be
related?” Darlene asked him innocently, not sensing Jared’s
discomfort.

Although it was a necessary to divulge his
encounter with Kate, it was definitely unpleasant to admit to her
mother. Things were pretty heated for awhile there—he hoped there
wasn’t evidence left behind of their encounter on his face or
neck.

“I actually have an explanation for that…I
came to the wedding to talk to Kate,” he admitted softly.

“You did?” Darlene couldn’t keep the surprise
out of her voice.

“I wanted to smooth things over with Kate. I
know things were bad the last time I saw her and I came to
apologize and talk,” he said lamely. Darlene shot him a look that
assured him she knew more than talking had been on his mind.

However, her expression softened and he
suspected she wasn’t angry with him. His connection had not only
been immediate with Kate, but her mother as well. It had meant a
lot to him when she sought him out at the police station and helped
encourage Kate to volunteer her services for the case. Plus, her
maternal bond with Kate was one of the strongest he had ever
witnessed. He couldn’t help but feel drawn to her since his own
mother was a phantom in his head that seemed to fade more and more
everyday. He could no longer recall what she smelled like or the
exact sound of her voice.

“To be honest, it’s a relief you were the one
she was with. Then who did take her?”

“Unfortunately, I think whoever has Cori
probably took Kate too,” he sighed.

As Kate opened her eyes, she wondered if she
had been run over by a truck. Her entire body felt paralyzed and
the pounding in her head made her speculate that her brain was
about to explode. She was lying on her left side and felt cold
concrete against her bare arms. Although she felt her eyes were
opened, all her surroundings were still steeped in darkness. A
groan sounded from her throat and she heard a shifting sound
nearby.

She attempted to move, but found it
impossible. Her hands were placed behind her back and she couldn’t
get control over them. Shaking her arms, she felt the dangle of
handcuffs on her wrists. When she tried to flex her legs, she was
startled to discover her ankles were bound as well. It felt like
some type of tape was wrapped around her legs. Pushing against the
tape to try and loosen it proved fruitless.

After scraping her elbows against the
concrete, she was finally able to get into a sitting position.
Being upright did nothing to help orient her. It was so dark
wherever she was, she could barely make out the outline of her own
body. She swallowed hard and attempted to yell. “Help.” Her voice
was meek and it was barely a whisper.

Drawing her breath, she was about to call out
again when a voice from the shadows whispered urgently, “Don’t
yell, he said he’ll kill us.”

Kate thought for a second she was having
another psychic vision. It threw her off balance to hear Cori’s
voice in person and not inside her mind. “Cori? Is it really you?”
she asked with awe in her voice.

“Yeah, who are you?”

Kate blew out a long breath of air. The haze
was clearing from her mind and she was beginning to sense the
horror of her predicament. A part of her wanted to sink back to the
floor and cry hysterically. She was in the terrible basement from
her visions and probably would end up killed by the crazy man who
had abducted Cori. After taking a moment to calm herself, she
resolved to pull it together. It wouldn’t help either of them for
her to freak out. At the very least, she had to remain strong to
keep Cori from growing more fearful.

“My name is Kate, I’m a friend of your
sister’s….er, boyfriend.” No need to get into semantics at the
moment and mention she had been horizontal with Jared only a few
hours earlier.

Following the sound of Cori’s voice, she
scooted on her bottom towards her. On closer inspection, she was
able to barely make out the girl’s blond hair through the darkness.
Cori had her back against the concrete wall of the basement and sat
with her knees drawn to her chest in a fetal position. “Are you ok?
Are you hurt?”

“I’m hungry and I want to go home,” Cori
sobbed. “My hands hurt, he keeps them tied up.”

“Has he done anything to you? Has he been
feeding you?” Kate demanded urgently.

“He keeps me locked in here all day long. He
had my feet tied up too, but they got all purple and he cut them
loose. When it isn’t so dark in here, I’m able to walk around. At
night, it’s too scary to move. Some days he gives me food, but not
always.”

She sounded very tired and terrified. Weeks
had passed since Cori was taken, Kate felt guilty over the fact
she’d been warm and comfy in her own bed and eating like a glutton
during the time while Cori had been suffering.

Cori meekly added, “He’s been acting real
crazy the last few days, screaming and throwing things. Something
must’ve gotten him real mad.”

Kate had a sinking feeling in the pit of her
stomach as Cori relayed this information. A few days ago, Kate’s
involvement was revealed and the sketch she drew of him published
in the local papers. She wondered if he had been stalking her
movements and that was how he came upon her outside of the house.
Maybe he had decided to get rid of her before she could reveal any
more information about him.

She grew irate again at Nikki for releasing
her information to the press. She was now convinced more than ever
that Nikki ruined
everything
. It certainly assuaged Kate of
any guilt she felt for stealing her boyfriend. Although the
likelihood of Kate being alive long enough to enjoy the boy she
stole seemed to be diminishing. She could have totally kicked
herself for not doing it with him when she had the opportunity.

“We’ll get out of here, I’ll come up with a
plan,” she declared. Cori’s silence let Kate know she had little
faith in her ability to get them out of the basement alive. Kate
stiffened in anticipation as she heard the door unlock.

After he switched on the overhead light, Kate
had to blink several times to get accustomed to the brightness.
Daring a glance his way, she ascertained he looked much scarier in
person than in her visions. Outfitted in a ratty tank top, Kate
easily could make out the seemingly dozens of scars that covered
both arms. His right bicep sported a large tattoo of a handgun with
red ink covering it. His low-slung shorts were covered in a variety
of colored stains. Silently, Kate prayed that none of them were
blood stains. He gave her a deadly stare which made Kate wish she
could evaporate into the floor. Her knee jerk reaction was to cry
and beg for her life. Yet, she remembered hearing somewhere you
should never show a criminal your fear. She forgot the exact
reasoning, something about them getting off on your terror.

Locking eyes with him, Kate tried to give him
her toughest expression. Without addressing them, he began to
descend the stairs. “What did you hit me with? You know you really
knocked my head hard. I could have
died
! You know how easy
it is to slip into a coma after a head wound? They would’ve had you
on murder one for that!” she spat at him.

The look he shot her indicated he thought she
was a complete moron. She continued on nonplussed by his
condescending facial expressions. “You should let us go before
things get worse for you.”

“Shut up before I hurt you,” he threatened
clenching his jaw and tightening his hands into meaty fists. On
closer inspection of his arms, a few track marks were visible
enough to confirm her early suspicion of him being a major drug
addict.

“Do what you want, but know although you may
hurt my body, you’ll never hurt my
soul
!”

He punched her hard enough across the face to
knock her head against the wall behind her. “Shut up, bitch!”

He looked as if he might hit her again, but a
cell phone began ringing upstairs. Before he departed up the stairs
back into the main house, he gave her a ferocious look. Without
turning the light off, he slammed and locked the door.

“What kind of bad soap opera crap was
that
? We’re so dead,” Cori lamented.

“It sounded a lot better in my head,” Kate
replied lamely.

She had to admit Cori had a point. She was
never relying on TV again to get her out of precarious situations.
A slight relief came from realizing she only had a throbbing cheek
instead of a set of knocked out teeth from his punch. Maybe it
would be better from here on out to appear compliant to the crazed
kidnapper.

Glancing down at her body, Kate was shocked
at how dissimilar from a few hours ago she appeared. Her ankles
were bound with duct tape and scrapes covered her legs. A pair of
silver handcuffs were secured to her wrists. She still wore her
shoes, but one of the heels was broken off. Her dress was
filthy—covered in whatever grime was on the basement floor. Another
thing to add to her list of reasons she wanted to kill this guy. He
ruined the dress she planned to save to show her future children
with Jared.

Giving a sideways look over to Cori, Kate
felt the nausea from before come up once again. The girl appeared
as if she’d been through hell and back. While lengthy weeks had
passed since she’d been taken, she wore the same clothing. It was
covered in grime as was Cori. Under the thick layer of dirt, Kate
could see how pale the girl had become. In her first vision, she
was glowing with browned skin and was obviously a girl who spent
long hours playing in the summer sun. Her face was thinner too and
she presumed the young girl had lost a lot of weight in her time
here. Cori had Kate realized if she didn’t get out of here soon,
the probability of her falling ill and dying was scarily high.

They remained silent as they listened to the
man screaming at the caller on the phone. The distance made it
sound like garbled gibberish to Kate and she hadn’t heard anything
which could prove helpful to their predicament. Kate swallowed hard
when the yelling stopped and the basement door swung open
again.

Panic took over as she began to babble. “I’m
sorry about before. I didn’t know what I was saying. Please, do
whatever you want with me, but just let Cori go. She’s only a
little kid and if its money you need I’m sure my family would be
willing to pay a huge ransom for me…”

He cut her off and curled his lips in
distaste. “I saw your house, it ain’t that nice. The Prestons are
one of the richest people around.”

He was saying her house wasn’t that nice?
Compared to this shit hole, her house was like a palace. She had to
remind herself not to incite him and bit her tongue to keep from
giving a snotty retort.

He said in a low gravelly voice, “How did you
know what I looked like? And don’t try to give me that shit like
the paper says that you’re psychic.”

“Lucky guess?” she shrugged. She hurried on
after he looked ready to strike out at her again. “I am psychic. I
saw what happened to Cori through her mind. These visions come to
me sort of randomly, it’s happened for the past couple of
years.”