The closet was almost empty with just a few pieces of linen hanging from the racks. She would have preferred a full closet, at least that way she could hide under something. She pulled her legs up to her chin and tried not to cry. The tears were welling in her eyes again, threatening to overflow. She needed to stay quiet, not get hysterical.
She sat still and strained her ears to hear for movement in the hall outside. There was nothing but quiet. Time was passing as if a second lasted a year – a minute a decade.
In the stillness of the closet, she jumped as she heard the crack of a gun being fired. She put her head down on top of her knees, unable to hold the tears back any more. Not knowing what was happening downstairs was killing her. She wondered whom, if anyone, had been shot. She prayed it was neither of them. She also prayed someone would hear the shot and call the police. Above all, she prayed she would get out of this alive.
Her mind was racing in the darkness of the closet. Suddenly she thought she heard footsteps. Her breathing seemed excruciatingly loud in the confines of the closet and she immediately held her breath.
She listened for more footsteps… nothing, then a creak in the corridor. This time she definitely heard footsteps. They were approaching, getting louder as they moved up the hallway. At intervals, they would stop and she would hear a door open and close before the footsteps started again. Then a voice rang out,
“Jasmine. Where is sweet little Jasmine?” Caleb’s tone was mocking and singsong. It made Jasmine’s blood run cold. She pulled her legs tighter to her chest, telling herself to be invisible.
“Oh Jasmine... Sweet Jazzy-Jasmine... I’m coming to find you. I’m going to kill you. You may as well come out now. It sure would save me having to look for you – will you do that for me, for your boyfriend?”
She was still holding her breath, certain that any noise, no matter how small, would give her away. She exhaled slowly and deliberately concentrating on being silent.
“Jasmine, come on, you said you loved me. Why hide from me? It’s just mean; spiteful.”
The footsteps were getting closer now. She sensed he was almost outside the door. Jasmine thought at most he would only have one or two more rooms to check before he reached the guest bedroom.
“How about one last round in the bed before I kill you? Would you like that? I have to say, you were pretty good between the sheets, I’m going to miss that. Logan said you were just a tease. I said he was wrong, I stood up for you – wasn’t that good of me?”
There was only one room left to check. Jasmine could hear the doorknob turn; she heard the click as it opened. The footsteps came into the room. She listened as he went into the en-suite and pulled open the shower curtain. Then he was back in the bedroom. The footsteps stopped, Jasmine’s heart thumped and her mind raced. She felt like a trapped animal. Closing her eyes for a moment, she wished that she were anywhere else in the world except in this dark closet.
She didn’t want to die, especially when she still had so much left to do with her life. She wanted to travel, get married and have children. She had done nothing with her life so far, just surviving. Her whole life she had just gotten by and now she was going to die in a closet and her body would probably never be found.
Gran and Gramps would be devastated that their little
granddaughter, who they had raised like a real daughter, had gone missing. Just vanished into thin air one day and was never heard from again. Lucy would know. She would guess they had got to her, killed her and covered it up. Just like her mother and possibly her father too.
She would understand what had happened, but be unable to tell anyone. She would have to suffer the knowledge in silence. Maybe she would leave town with Buster, just as she was planning. Maybe she would stay away permanently so that she wouldn’t have to re-live the memories. Wouldn’t have to look them in the face again.
Jasmine had stopped crying. She was angry now; a steely determination gripped her. Her family had been through enough and she didn’t want them to suffer more. It wasn’t fair to them and it wasn’t fair to her. She didn’t deserve to die and Caleb had no right to kill her. How dare he take her out last night, eat with her and have sex with her, when he was planning to kill her in the morning. Her anger grew. She primed every muscle in her body to action and waited. She would not allow herself to be another victim.
The footsteps continued around the room before they stopped outside the closet. A chink of light shone in as the door started moving, slowly at first, but then it was flung open. Caleb was standing there, the gun still in his hand. He had blood smeared onto his shirt.
“Gotcha.”
Jasmine tried to stand up, but she struggled to get her balance. It was difficult without the use of her hands to steady herself. Caleb watched her, holding the gun straight at her.
She summoned all her strength and courage. “Hello, lover. I thought you’d never get here.”
“So you heard my proposition then. What do you think, for old time’s sake?”
“Over my dead body.” She spat at him.
Caleb’s eyes narrowed. He put both hands on the gun to steady his aim and pulled the trigger.
Chapter 20
The gun exploded with the shot and made an ear-splitting bang. Jasmine had two seconds of realisation before feeling the bullet enter her body. The force pushed her into the back wall of the closet. Her face portrayed the shock she felt that he had actually done it. A small portion of her had still hoped that what they had shared together over the last few weeks would prevent him from actually hurting her.
She was wrong. Her right hand reacted instinctively to the shot and tried to grasp the open wound – the handcuffs dug into her wrists. Blood began to drip down her body. The bullet had hit her left shoulder. Her arm was numb and lifeless. It was a point blank shot. He could have easily shot her through the heart; instead, he chose the shoulder. For what reason, she didn’t know.
“You shot me!”
“You spat at me!”
“But I’m bleeding!”
“I can see that.”
Jasmine couldn’t stand on her legs any longer; they felt like jelly underneath her. She slid down the wall and sat motionless on the floor. Her shoulder felt like it was on fire, sending jets of pain through her body. She could do nothing except stare at Caleb. She was at his mercy.
“Are you giving up? I have to say, I’m a bit disappointed. I expected more of a fight from you.” He crouched down beside her.
“You shot me!” she repeated.
“I know. You really should learn some manners.” His tone was hard and sarcastic.
“Just kill me. I don’t want to hear you gloating anymore.”
“Oh, Jaz. Don’t be like that; I really am going to miss you.”
“Then don’t kill me. Problem solved.”
“You still don’t see it, do you? I have to; it’s a self-preservation thing. Didn’t you spend the last few weeks trying to protect your family?”
“I wasn’t protecting them, I was seeking justice. It’s totally different – my family hasn’t done anything wrong.” Her head was starting to feel light and her body was getting weaker from the loss of blood and searing pain. She didn’t think she would be able to stay conscious for much longer. She tried to fight it; she didn’t want to die this way. Lying quietly in a bed with her grandchildren or even her great-grandchildren around her, that was how she was supposed to die.
“You say tomato, I say to-may-to. What do you say we call the whole thing off?” He laughed.
“You’re sick.”
“Probably am. Then again, could be inherited from my delightful parents.”
“Do they know what you’re doing? Drug dealing and murder isn’t exactly the same.”
“Close enough though. After all, don’t drugs eventually kill you anyway? It’s not a far leap. To answer your question, no, they don’t know. But I’m sure they’ll approve. Not that they’ll ever find out. You will be buried somewhere
private, in my special little grave for you. They’ll just think I took their advice and dumped you”
“Someone will find me. You won’t get away with it.”
“Maybe someone will find you eventually, but you know what? I’m sure my parents and the good Brent McBain will help me deal with it. Real friends help you move a body. Real friends kill to protect you.”
“What about Logan? Are you saying he wasn’t a real friend? Did you kill him?”
“Logan has been dealt with. It was his fault. I told him to stay away today, but he just didn’t listen to me. He should have listened, taken my advice, but that’s the problem with Logan, he never trusts me.”
“He obviously knew you better than me. I trusted you.”
“Aww how sweet of you, little Jasmine. You did trust me, it was very touching. Even when you found out about my parents, you still gave me the benefit of the doubt. You are a good girlfriend, so loyal. Two thumbs up.”
“I think we’ve broken up. I’m not your girlfriend anymore.”
Caleb laughed. “Come on, a relationship is about compromise and working through problems. Are you just going to bale on me like that?”
“You’re demented.”
“And you fell in love with me. What does that say about you? I think it says you’re a little crazy yourself. Look at you; you’re making such a mess. I think I’m going to have to finish this before you make a stain.”
Jasmine summoned up all her remaining strength and held her head up to look him straight in the eyes. If she was going to die this way, she wanted her innocent eyes burned into his memory. So that every time he closed his eyes, he would see her face and be haunted by it. It was her only weapon against him.
Caleb stood up and took a step backwards. He raised the gun and aimed it, not at her chest as she had expected, but her head. This time it would be a clean shot. Not just to make a point, but the ultimate point. He would get it over and done with. The rest of the day would be filled with digging and cleaning up. The sooner it was over now, the better.
He stood there, gun raised. Jasmine stared at him. She had heard your whole life was meant to flash by in your mind just before you die. Her mind was blank; the only thing she could think of was the pain in her shoulder. Maybe the flashing was still to come. Perhaps it happened just after you died.
She wouldn’t put her head down. With every muscle she had, she kept it up to face him. She wanted to close her eyes so she didn’t have to look at him; it was only her determination to haunt him that kept them open. She braced herself for the shot. She knew it would hurt. She knew it would kill her and this time she’d have no chance.
Caleb tightened his grip on the gun and moved his index finger to the trigger. He prepared himself for the kickback of the gun and stared her right back in the eyes.
Jasmine couldn’t do it any longer, she had seen Caleb’s finger move to the trigger. She closed her eyes and let her head slowly fall down to her chest. The silence was deafening as she waited for the inevitable bang.
Jasmine sat with her eyes squeezed tight, waiting for what felt like eternity, then, instead of the gun being fired, she heard a heavy thud, followed swiftly by another. She opened her eyes, dreading what she was about to see. Unbelievably, Caleb was lying on the floor, the gun no longer in his hand, but just out of reach. Her gaze moved up from his body. Standing by the bed, with a large lump of wood held in both hands and a shocked look on his face was Brad Goodman.
“Brad? What are you…?” Semi-conscious and confused, she started to speak, but it was too much. Jasmine let her body fall back against the wall and into darkness.
Brad stepped over Caleb’s lifeless body to check the extent of Jasmine’s injuries. He pulled out a mobile phone from his pocket and dialled 000. He requested both police and ambulance. No fire department would be needed today.
He went back to the bed and pulled a pillowcase off one of the pillows arranged perfectly on the bed. He crouched over Jasmine’s lifeless body and pressed the material to her shoulder. Within seconds, the cream coloured pillowcase turned bright red. Brad lifted Jasmine out of the closet and carried her downstairs. He laid her down on the white tiles in the hallway and pressed again on the wound, trying to stem the flow of blood.
He stayed there for five long minutes, praying for the ambulance to arrive. He couldn’t hear the sirens, nor see any flashing lights. He knew she wouldn’t last much longer with the amount of blood she was losing. He scooped her up and ran for his car.
He swiftly placed her in the backseat and jumped behind the wheel. Within seconds, he had started the car and was screaming down the road, hoping all traffic lights in Avalon would be in his favour and there wouldn’t be any traffic police around. He didn’t have time to pull over, not for any reason.
Dodging cars as he sped along, weaving between traffic at the red lights he encountered, Brad pulled up outside the emergency department in record time, his heart pumping with adrenaline. He raced around to the back door of the car whilst simultaneously yelling for help. Two nurses rushed out in response.
Brad picked up Jasmine’s motionless body and ran into the hospital, the nurses alongside shouting instructions. They directed him to an empty bed, where he gently placed Jasmine’s broken body before being ushered out of the way, as the doctors took over. He was guided to the waiting room and assured they would do everything they could for her.
Brad thought of Jasmine like a daughter, he couldn’t sit still whilst her life ebbed away. In his frustration, he began pacing the floor of the tiny room. His mobile phone rang, breaking the silence.
“Yeah, got to her just in time. We’re at the hospital, but I think you should get here as quickly as you can. It’s not looking good.”
* * *
The doctors and nurses wheeled Jasmine into the operating theatre. The bullet had torn straight through her shoulder causing extensive damage and the entry and exit wounds wouldn’t stop bleeding.
The hospital staff worked on her for over four hours, repairing bones and muscle tissue. They pumped blood into her body to replace what she had lost. The doctors sewed up the wounds and placed white gauze under a bandage before wheeling her to the Intensive Care Unit where Brad was waiting.
She awoke twenty minutes later, groggy from the anaesthetic, but alive. Seeing Brad confused her. The memories and realisation slowly came flowing back to her. The morphine had numbed the pain in her shoulder and she was grateful for that.
“Brad, what were you doing there?”
“I was in the neighbourhood.” He smiled at her. The glass door to the room opened and a man entered. Jasmine looked at him. He looked familiar, but she didn’t think he was a doctor; he didn’t have a uniform on. Could it be her imagination playing tricks? She didn’t want to let herself believe it.
“Dad?”
He walked to her bedside and gently took her hand. He sat on the edge and looked down at her, taking her in.
“Yes, honey, it’s me. You’re going to be fine.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Shhh. We can talk about it all later. For now, you just need to rest. You’re safe now.”
Then Jasmine remembered Caleb. “Someone has to call the police. Caleb shot me.”
“We know, they have been told. They’ve been sent to the house to get him. He can’t hurt you anymore.”
“He shot Logan. They need to help Logan.”
“Was he in the house?” She nodded. “Then don’t worry, they’ll find him too. He’ll be okay.”
Without another word, Jasmine and John Parker just stared at each other, until her eyelids – heavy from the morphine – slowly closed and she drifted off into a deep sleep.
Chapter 21
Two days later, Jasmine was strong enough to be moved to a ward. She was being protected by an armed policeman, which reassured her. She wasn’t worried about her safety, but her father’s. He was supposed to be dead and she was certain there were people in Avalon who would se
e to it that he really was.
She had spent the two days floating in and out of consciousness. There had been so many questions she wanted answered, but so far had been unable to ask. She hadn’t been strong enough to hold a proper conversation. The only piece of information she had been able to ascertain was that the police had found Logan and he was recovering in the same hospital. She didn’t have any other details about what had happened.
Her grandparents had come in to see her and so had Lucy. They had all cried when they saw her. Jasmine hadn’t looked in a mirror during her stay. She thought she must look like hell.
The doctor had told her she was close to dying. The bullet had scraped by a major blood vessel, causing it to leak. If it had been even a millimetre to the left, then it would have severed the blood vessel and she would have been dead within minutes. They had said she was lucky; Jasmine wasn’t sure how lucky she was to have her boyfriend try to kill her. But she was happy to have survived.
She hadn’t been able to recount her story to the police yet. Every time they had come sniffing for a statement, the nurses had shooed them away in an instant. They were looking after her as if she was a princess and she enjoyed every minute of it.
Now, as she looked around the room she saw only her father and Brad. She hadn’t seen the rest of the family at the same time that she had seen her dad. She wasn’t sure if they had been reunited yet. Gran and Gramps were going to be in for a shock.
“Dad?” He came over from the hard plastic chair in the corner of the room to sit on the edge of the bed. Jasmine looked at her father, studying his face. He didn’t wear his age well. His forehead was in a permanent wrinkle, his eyes weary, and he didn’t walk straight upright anymore. His body had adapted to living in secret, hunched over so no-one would see his face and recognise him. He had obviously been living with the world on his shoulders, not just hiding away on a tropical island like in the postcards. If Jasmine hadn’t known him her whole life, she probably wouldn’t recognise him, the old man he had become.
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