Spoilt Read online

  “No.” Sarah said.

  They let the answering machine pick up and the only message left was a hang up.

  “Maybe he’ll stop ringing if I don’t pick up,” Chelsea said. “I just don’t know who could possibly be doing these terrible things to those poor girls. Lucas told me another girl has gone missing.”

  “In that case, we're not leaving, Chelsea, not until this is over,” Sarah said.

  Chelsea went to protest until the thought of being in an empty house all day depressed her.

  “I just don’t want everyone to put their life on hold for me.”

  “We aren’t. Think of it as a little holiday together,” Charlotte said.

  “Ok, I just hope they catch him soon.”

  Determined to occupy their minds with other things, they chose to watch a romantic comedy playing at the local cinema and follow it up with lunch at their favourite cafe.

  They arrived home feeling buoyant and relaxed until the phone rang again. They were relieved when they heard Lucas’ voice on the machine. Chelsea went to answer it.

  “Hey, have you been receiving more calls?”

  “How did you know?”

  “You didn’t answer the phone straight away.”

  “Only one and they hung up, or he did, if it was him.”

  “Don’t answer it. You didn’t go to Bloom today?”

  “No, I have decided to take a week off.”

  “Good idea. Are your family staying too?”

  “Yes, I told them to leave but they won’t.”

  “Good, I don’t want you to be alone. I’m going to be later than I thought tonight. We have a lot to follow up.”

  “Ok, I’ll keep some dinner for you.”

  “Thanks. You do look after me. I miss you.”

  “Me too.”

  * * *

  When a car pulled up out the front of the house, Officer Lewis stood up. A man strolled towards him carrying a package. At last something to do, he thought. Even though guarding Chelsea’s house bored him, he knew how important it was. He took his duties seriously and kept his mind occupied for the most part watching diligently at the house and shop for any suspicious characters who might be Chelsea’s stalker.

  As the man approached, he rested one hand on his weapon.

  “Good evening, Officer.” The man with the package stopped and smiled. “I have a delivery for,” he paused to check the clipboard in his hand, “Chelsea Summerville.”

  “I can take that for you.”

  “Oh, it’s just that it says here she needs to sign for it personally. I’m only helping out today for a friend and I really think I should make sure. That’s why I’m in my car rather than the usual delivery van.”

  “Sorry, Sir, but I’ll have to take it.” Lewis reached forward to take the package and left his other hand near his gun.

  “That really isn’t the answer I wanted.”

  Lewis heard the quiet pop a second before he felt the bullet tear through his flesh. Blood gushed from the wound in his stomach. As he withdrew his weapon from his holster, the man dropped the package to reveal his gun. Another silenced shot sounded and Lewis gasped as the bullet hit his throat. He dropped to his knees, trying to breathe as blood filled his lungs. He fell heaving, drowning, as the man walked to the door and knocked.

  * * *

  They were about to sit down to dinner, when the knock came. Chelsea bounced happily to answer the call, excited to see Lucas.

  “I thought you were going to be late,” she sang out as she reached the entranceway. “I think you purposely turn up just as we are about to have,” she opened the door, “dinner.” She stopped.

  “Not who you were expecting?”

  She was speechless for a moment.

  “Who are you?” Chelsea asked.

  “Aren’t you going to ask me in?”

  “No, why would I?” she said abruptly.

  “You’re polite and perhaps interested to know who I am and why I’m here.”

  “I don’t really care, to be honest. Perhaps you should leave.” Her words belied the fact that her heart was pounding wildly in terror.

  “I told you I was coming for you.”

  “It was you making those horrible calls?”

  “Yes, Chelsea, it was and it’s time you came with me.”

  She started to back away as Charlotte and Sarah rushed over to come and stand behind her.

  He reached behind him to pull a large pistol with a silencer attached from the back of his waistband.

  “Back away you two,” he said, pointing it at her family. “She’s coming with me and if you try to stop me, I’ll shoot you. If you call the police, I’ll shoot her. I wanted to kill her slowly but if I have to, I will shoot her now.”

  “Why are you doing this?” Sarah asked. She guided Charlotte back with her hand, as she took small steps backwards herself, as cautioned.

  “You’re all spoilt rich bitches who deserve to find out what it feels like to have nothing, to suffer loss. Now turn around,” he said to Chelsea.

  She turned her back to him, urging her family with her eyes to stay where they were.

  “Now say goodbye to your family, Chelsea,” he told her.

  He grabbed her with his free arm, yanked her tightly against his body and shoved the gun roughly against her ribs.

  “Please don’t do this.”

  “Don’t beg, Chelsea. It doesn’t suit you,” he said.

  He started to back out the door. Charlotte ripped herself free from her mother’s protective arm. “You’re not going anywhere,” she said.

  “I warned you,” he replied. He lifted the gun, aimed it at Charlotte and fired.

  Chelsea watched in dismay as Charlotte flew back as the bullet penetrated her shoulder. She screamed her name in vain as he dragged her out the door, urging her towards the awaiting car. Chelsea bit back a scream when she saw Officer Lewis lying in a pool of blood by the front door.

  * * *

  Sarah bent down to attend to Charlotte, who was conscious and bleeding profusely. She went to retrieve some towels.

  “Press this hard against you,” Sarah said. “Try to reduce the flow while I call the ambulance.”

  “He said not to call the police,” she said, her voice strained. “He’ll kill her.”

  “I’m not calling the police, I’m calling an ambulance and the police will come regardless. We have to take the chance, Charlotte, or you’re going to bleed to death.”

  Sarah called the ambulance, returned to Charlotte and anxiously waited for the authorities to arrive.

  * * *

  There was a call over the radio about a shooting and Lucas was only half listening. When the dispatcher stated the address for the nearest officers to respond to, his heart plunged to the floor and he thought for a moment he’d heard it wrong. He could have sworn the dispatcher had just said Chelsea’s address. When the address was confirmed by the responding officer, he fired up his siren and drove like he was running from the gates of hell.

  He pulled up hastily and double parked beside a squad car. An ambulance was already at the scene. As he leapt out of the car he glanced towards the house and saw a body being loaded onto a gurney. He bolted towards the house where he found a young officer on duty at the door.

  “Officer Lewis?” Lucas asked.

  The rookie nodded. “We were just about to call you...”

  Lucas ignored him now and stormed passed.

  “Chelsea,” he called as he ran in the door.

  “She’s gone,” he heard Sarah’s quiet distraught voice from the floor.

  He looked down to see Sarah kneeling near Charlotte’s head while a paramedic attended to her.

  “Are you alright?” he asked Charlotte

  “I’ll be okay, but Chelsea, he took her.”

  “Who did?”

  “I don’t know. We’ve never seen him before.”

  Oh God, Chelsea.

  Chapter 27

  Kidnapped<
br />
  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.”