Vibrations (30 page)

“What lady?”

“The lady that came to see me
here. She talked to me in my dreams. I heard she knows things.”

“You mean Miss Bentley. She
doesn’t know.”

“Can I talk to her?”

“She’ll probably be in to visit
soon. She’s helping to look for a boy lost in the mountains right now.”

Kevin turned his head away and
started crying.

“Kevin, what is it?”

“Derrick. It was Derrick.”

“Derrick? The boy in the
wheelchair? He took you into the desert?”

“He wasn’t…not in a
chair…walking…”

“Kevin, are you sure it was
Derrick?”

“Find the lady. Keep her away
from him…he’s bad.”

His voice trailed off and the
Nurse rushed into the room.

“He needs to rest now. His
heart rate and breathing are up too much.”

Kevin’s eyes had closed and
Teddy knew the interview was over. Teddy didn’t bother to wait until he was out
of the hospital to use his cell. He had to let the captain know and get some
men to Derrick’s house.

Teddy raced over to the
Kensington house and pulled up just as another patrol car pulled in the
driveway. The captain called and told them to wait for the search warrant. It
only took fifteen more minutes but it felt like an hour to Teddy. He knew that
Nick and Whitney were missing from the search and he was worried about his
partner. When they finally went inside, no one was home

Searching through Derrick’s
room they found a credit card statement showing he visited a Showlow gas
station quite regularly. That town was a right in the middle of the search
effort. He hadn’t used it for any other stores in the area. There were lots of
Internet purchases including night vision goggles, guns, knives, and more of
the same.

Teddy hoped Nick was just lost,
or out of range. If he ran into this guy on his own it wouldn’t be good. After
the search of the house was complete, Teddy drove straight for Showlow. His
partner would need backup this time for sure.

* * * *

The man stood up and laughed. He
pulled off the mask and spread out his arms. “Ta Da!”

“Derrick?” Her chest
constricted as the truth hit. “I… I don’t get it. I thought…”

“Yup, you and every other loser
in the valley,” he laughed.

“Wait,” she said, feeling like
she had to catch her breath. “Have you been able to walk this whole time?”

“I had a spinal injury in
college. I couldn’t walk at first. When I started to get the feeling back in my
legs, I was too depressed to care. I’d already ruined my life. I was a failure
before the accident. So I just stayed in the chair. People don’t expect much
when you’re in a chair.”

“So you pretended you were
paralyzed, to avoid facing up to your life,” Whitney said incredulously.

“Don’t push it lady. You’re still
tied to the chair, and my knife is right here.” He pulled a blade out of the
sheath on his belt.”

“Is that what you used on the
boys?” She had to try to distract him, but she couldn’t think of anything else
to say.

“They earned it. You know why? They
were the ones that played so hard they didn’t care what happened to the other
kids. You know what happened? Those other kids went home to parents who were so
disappointed in them they wouldn’t even talk to them. Even if they played their
hardest, it was never enough. You know what? I played my hardest. But look what
happened to me. My whole life was based on sports, and then my football
scholarship. Once I was injured I was nobody. Heck, before that I was nobody. I
tried hard, but I just wasn’t good enough. My mom’s the one who got me that
scholarship. Her and that stupid SVWC.”

“Your mom still loves you
Derrick. She wants the best for you.”

“She feels sorry for me. She
doesn’t tell me, but I can see it in her eyes. I never see her looking at me
like she did after we won a game or after I got the scholarship. Now she looks
at Joshua that way.”

“She told me herself she didn’t
want to push the boys. She felt bad that she pushed you so hard.”

“Well, it’s too late for me
now. But not for Joshua. I thought of trying to get him out of that stuff. But
it was too hard. He’s little and he thinks it’s cool. So I…”

“What Derrick. Is killing these
boys helping your brother?”

“Yes!” He was yelling and
pacing now. “It’s always the same. They don’t care who gets in their way. What
if they run into Joshua and he gets paralyzed. It would probably even be
permanent for him. And my mom? She can’t bear to see another one of her kids
fail. It’s all she knows. It’s her dad’s fault. She wasn’t a professional ball
player ‘cause she was a girl so she never felt good enough. Now it’s up to her
kids. I have to make it easier for Joshua. I plan to be there for him all the
way. No one’s gonna stop me.”

“But look at Dustin. He’s just
a little kid. He’s just doing what his parents tell him. It’s not his fault.”

“You were at that game a few
weeks ago. Did you see him slide into third base? He almost broke the other
boy’s leg. What if that was Joshua? I can’t let him do that to my brother.”

“I understand you love your
brother and want to protect him, but what about the other kids. How do their
brothers feel when they turn up dead? What about their mothers?” Whitney tried
to put empathy in her voice instead of the fear she felt.

“That’s not my problem. I
screwed up and got hurt. Now the best thing I can do is help Joshua make it
big. He’s good you know. He’ll do it. Especially now that you’re out of the
way. You made it a lot harder. If I’d known you couldn’t figure me out, I
wouldn’t have worried so much,” he said shaking his head.

“The boys must have seen you at
first, so why the mask?” Whitney thought she knew the answer.

“Sure they did. They would see
me in the van and come over to say hi. The never knew what hit them when I gave
them a pat and stuck the dart into their shoulder. They just woke up to a
masked man and got their due punishment.” He smiled wickedly. “You saw what I
did. I didn’t know how important that mask would be at first. It was kinda cool
later knowing I had an audience even if it was after the fact.”

Whitney shuddered at the mixture
of joy and malice in his voice. She had thought of Derrick as a moody young
man, but now she could see the madness that ruled him. Reason and logic didn’t
work on the insane and Whitney was out of ideas.

“Done with all the questions?”
he asked mockingly. “I have plenty more for you,” he said smiling at her, “but
I have other things I’d like to do first that don’t include talking.”

He sat back in his chair, slid
it closer, and put both hands on her thighs. As he slid them slowly up toward
her stomach Whitney’s stomach lurched.

“Wait,” she said, her voice
high and whiney. Steadying herself she tried for logic again. “What if Joshua
finds out? What will he think of his big brother? How will he feel about
winning all those years with the blood of other boys paving the way?”

“He’ll never know,” Derrick
answered, not appearing worried at all.

“So you plan to sit in that
wheelchair the rest of your life just for a good alibi? Sounds pretty
difficult, and lonely considering how potential girlfriends might be put off.”

He stopped and rubbed his hand
over the light stubble on his chin. “I’ve been thinking about that. I could
always have a miraculous recovery. But then I’d have to work harder at not
getting caught. When the time is right I’ll know what to do.”

He ran his hand down a strand
of her hair and Whitney shivered. She couldn’t seem to block his thoughts now
that she had connected with him. Her stomach clenched as he moved his hand to
her neck.

“If you untie me I can clean
up,” she said in desperation. “I promise I won’t try anything.”

“Yeah right. And I’m an idiot. I’ll
let you loose, but you won’t be getting away ‘cause I’ll be right by your side.
And if you do, you know that boy will die the slowest most painful death I can
think of and,” he paused to make his point, “you’ll probably feel every minute
of it. So behave yourself.”

He slid his knife down between
her palms and cut the rope binding her hands. When the blood rushed back into
them they stung like a thousand bees stinging all at once. He cut the ropes
from her feet and backed away.

“Time to clean up. Let’s go.” He
waved his knife in the direction of the bedroom. “The bathroom is through
there.”

“Nick, where are you?” Whitney
thought desperately.

“I’m here. I think I’m close. I
see smoke at the top of the hill. Is that where you are?”

“I don’t know. Probably. He has
a woodstove. You feel close. Hurry.”

“What’s wrong? Are you okay?”

“I have to go now. Just hurry!”
She cut the link hoping if he wasn’t in time, at least maybe he could save the
boy.

* * * *

Nick was panicked. His body
wasn’t working right. The fever had risen and he was getting weaker. He gripped
the gun hoping he could get a clear shot. He wouldn’t risk Whitney’s life
considering his weakness and his lack of accuracy with his left hand. In an
effort to speed his pace he stepped off the edge of the trail and ended up at
the bottom of a steep bank. Tucking the gun in his pants, he found a tall stick
and heaved his tired body back up the hill.

By the time he made it to the
top, he had to sit and rest. The trail continued in front of him, winding down
to a small cabin spewing smoke, but otherwise looking unoccupied. He’d have to
keep out of sight now. Dropping the stick, he pulled out the gun and followed
the tree line to the back of the cabin. When he finally had this guy in his
sights he would aim straight for the heart.

* * * *

Whitney could feel Nick getting
closer. She just had to stall a little longer. Derrick followed her into the
bathroom and told her to take off her clothes.

“Derrick, why do you want to do
this? This isn’t helping your brother. Don’t you have a girlfriend that would
get jealous?”

“Yeah right. The cripple in the
chair with a pretty babe. Like that happens. They don’t give me the time of
day. I haven’t been with anyone since… Never mind. Just get your clothes off.”

“Could you just wait outside? There
aren’t any windows in here and I can’t get away. I’ll clean up and come out.”

“No! I stay here. You’ll find a
way to waste time, and I’ve wasted enough time here. If you don’t hurry up and
get them off I’m going in to cut a finger off that little boy.”

“Okay, Okay. I’ll do it.” Her
hands shook as she tried to remove her shirt and her jeans.

“I have to pee,” she said
nervously eyeing the door.

“Go ahead,” he answered nudging
her farther into the small room. “When you’re done you can get in the shower
and get pretty for me.”

Whitney tried not to think as
she took care of business and then slowly stepped into the shower. He was
watching every move. She didn’t dare contact Nick now. She couldn’t bear him
knowing what was happening. Feeling him close she prayed he’d find the strength
to end her torture.

The warm water felt good and
she hurried to wash herself before he made her stop. Her hair was tangled
beyond hope, but she worked the shampoo into it trying to take as long as
possible.

He was the reason she stunk so
bad, and he acted like it was her fault. Now he wanted her nice and pretty so he
could rape her. A sob escaped from Whitney as the images of him violating her
came to mind. She was trying not to let his distorted, violent thoughts get
through to her but it was too much. She had already used some of her strength
trying to read his mind, and then Dustin’s, and now blocking him was sapping
what energy she had left.

* * * *

Derrick decided he’d waited
long enough and he was tired of waiting. He reached in and turned off the
shower. “Everyone out of the pool!”

Whitney stepped out slowly and
grabbed for the nearest towel. She tried to cover herself and he just laughed.

He leaned in and sniffed at her
neck. “Mmm. Much better. Let’s go get comfortable in the bedroom. You’ll be the
first to see what great shape I’m in. I may not be an athlete on a team but I
still have the body of a star quarterback,” he said flexing his arms. “Actually,
I have to try not to gain too much weight. People in wheel chairs usually have
skinny legs.”

He pushed Whitney back onto the
bed and pulled off his shirt. “See. Feel these abs.”

He grabbed her hand and ran it
down his chest and his stomach. Whitney tried to pull back but he pulled the
knife from its sheath and twirled it in her face.

“Remember, the boy will lose a
finger unless you be nice to me. I mean, really nice. I want you to tell me how
much you want me. Go ahead.”

Whitney felt like gagging. She couldn’t
get the words out of her mouth. He stepped toward the door and she stood up. “Okay.
I want you.” She sat back down and looked away.

“Well, that’s a start. You’ll
be meaning it by the time I’m done with you.” He started slowly unzipping his
pants, watching for her reaction.

“Move Whitney!”
She
heard Nick’s voice and realized he was just outside the window.

She tried to lean out of the
way so he could get a shot, but Derrick saw her movement and noticed Nick at
the window. He dove for the floor as the bullet smashed into the mirror behind
him. By the time Nick came crashing into the room, Derrick had Whitney in front
of him and the knife to her neck.

“Well, well, well. So lover boy
came to the rescue after all. You’re just in time. I was about to sample the
goods. You’ve already done that now haven’t you?” Derrick licked the side of
Whitney’s neck and pushed the knife tighter against her neck.

“Put down the knife Derrick,”
Nick said calmly. “You’re in enough trouble already. We can get you help. Hurting
her isn’t going to help anyone now, and you’ll just end up dead.”