31 SAM
I didn’t realize how stupid I’d been until I had a bag over my head, crammed into a tight trunk.
“Of course they’d use the orphan’s parents as bait,” I muttered. “It’s such an old trick it’s embarrassing.”
I felt my body being pulled out of the trunk and dragged across what might have been a wooden floor, judging by the sound his heavy footsteps made.
They sat me on a chair and left me there. With the blindfold on, all I could deduce was that we were near water—I could feel the humidity in the air and smell wet earth. There was also a strong odor of cumin, wood, and dust.
I tried to keep my breathing steady so I wouldn’t freak out, even though my legs were trembling.
“I can’t believe I got kidnapped,” I muttered. “I don’t have any money.”
“I’m not interested in your money, and you know it,” a female voice said, entering the space I was in—wherever that was. “I’m not interested in anything that comes from you, Samantha.”
A hard jolt shoved my chair backward. The sound of wood scraping against the floor gave me chills.
“Are you scared?” The voice that had been far away was suddenly right in my face. “It’s disappointing that you’re so... boring.”
I felt something sharp graze my stomach, and my whole body went rigid.
“I don’t know what you think I did, but I...”
“Of course you know!” She drove something sharp into my thigh, and I could feel the thin point advancing layer by layer through my skin. A wild scream tore from my throat, and then I screamed for help.
“No use screaming, little sister.” She pulled out the blade and drove it in again. “He’s not coming.”
“I don’t know who you’re talking about, you bitch!”
“The mighty Detective Connor!” she snarled. “Your boy-friend.”
Her words, her accent... the tone when she called us a couple... seemed to trigger a memory. And her face appeared in my mind as if I were looking at that bathroom mirror again.
“You were there,” I groaned. I could feel the blood soaking my entire dress when a jolt yanked my head backward along with the cloth bag covering it.
It was hard to see at first. But then my eyes focused, and I felt a deep anguish at the image before me.
I understood what people described to the police.
There was something bizarre yet serene in the way this thing’s eyes watched me.
Like that moment before a hurricane when the wind stops and the streets are empty and you can see it coming in the distance...
and you know there’s no point in running anymore.
“Ammit?”