Frowning, she pulled the papers from the envelope and began reading. The first page was what looked like a breakdown of a chemical compound. There was a long list of chemicals, but she only recognized two of them, one being Ketamine, and the other Jimsonweed. And she knew that both could be very dangerous. Flipping to the second, and last, page, she read:
Long term use of Ketamine can cause learning disabilities and impaired memory. At the high dosage found in the pills, delirium, amnesia, depression, and fatal respiratory problems could occur.
Jimsonweed: Taken in high doses, can cause hallucinations. Hallucinations that can often be more intense than those experienced while on LSD. Other side effects include mental disorientation, and extreme panic.
The combinations of drugs found in these pills have no therapeutic value whatsoever. In fact, the compound could be lethal. Because Ketamine is a Schedule 111 on the Federal Classification list, a copy of this report will be forwarded to the proper authorities. There are still other chemicals that have been yet to be identified, and a sample has been forwarded to the Virginia State Police for testing. It would be advisable for anyone taking these drugs to seek immediate, legitimate medical treatment.
Granger watched nervously as she reread the paper, knowing the betrayal from Brett was deeply affecting her. It had to hurt her. She had always been a trusting soul, and she had entrusted her well-being to the low-down, crawling snake for three years. And to learn the truth this way, and finally realize the full scope of the lies and manipulation, well, it would most likely devastate her. We just can't catch a break, can we? He thought.
Folding the paper and taking a deep breath, she released a long sigh, then calmly put the papers back in the envelope. Grabbing her purse, she slid the envelope inside, and retrieved three bottles of pills. Putting her purse down, she made her way to where he was standing, and looked up at him solemnly. “Brett always wanted me to have them. When I go too long without them, I get sick.” she said quietly as she handed the three bottles to him. “Guess now I know why. I also know why my memories never returned.” she said as she laughed humorlessly. Feeling as if she had just received a punch to the gut, she felt nauseous for a moment, ashamed that she had been foolish enough to trust the man, and ashamed at the way she had taken his side, initially, over that of her own husband. She wanted to be angry with Brett, but couldn't summon it. She simply felt indifferent. Well, it doesn't matter what he did. At least I know, now. And now maybe I can remember, that's the important thing... she thought.
Loathing the man like never before for hurting such a sweet, innocent, trusting woman, his beloved wife, Granger silently vowed for the hundredth time to make the man pay dearly. Tossing the bottles on the sofa and not caring where they landed, he cupped her delicate face with both hands, and peered at her intently, making her stomach flutter. “Cass, I know this is upsetting, and you're feeling a bit overwhelmed at the moment, but just be patient. And I want you to know you're surrounded by people who love you dearly, and we're all pulling for you.”
Lifting both her hands in the air, she began caressing his hands. Even though she knew she had every right to be feeling angry and hurt, all she could concentrate on was the feeling of comfort she had at the moment, from his mere presence.
“We'll get through this my love.” he murmured.
Favoring him with a heart-melting smile, she said nothing, and instead took one of his hands in hers and kissed the back of it.
Looking directly in her eyes, he said, “If you give me a just a liiiiitle bigger smile on that lovely face of yours, I'll give a big surprise.” he teased.
Giving him a smile like a ray of sunshine, her brown eyes began twinkling as she giggled and said, “Here you go. Now...gimmie gimmie gimmie!”
Reaching in his pants pocket, he pulled out a small cell phone and handed it to her. “This is for you. All the important numbers are already programmed in, thanks to Malcolm. Your number will show when you push 'send' twice.” he informed her. “Regan will be expecting your call around seven tonight.”
Clutching the phone to her chest, she looked up at him, her eyes wide with excitement. “Oh, Granger, I can’t believe it! I have a son, and I'll be hearing his voice! If only I could remember anything about my life before. I want to remember everything about him.” she said, then stopped and looked at him as a realization hit her, hard. Feeling a pleasant tingling that began in her stomach, she looked at him solemnly again, then said in a very quiet voice, “I want to remember YOU. What we were like. I want to remember your…touch. Granger, about Brett, I never...”
Thrilled at hearing her words, that she wanted to remember him, he placed a finger on her lips to silence her. “Sssshhh...that doesn't matter. I had no right to ask you that, and it was wrong of me to get angry. I'm truly sorry about the way I behaved, my love.” he mumbled as they gazed at one another, both of them forgetting and forgiving the wrongs of the past. Wrongs that neither one of them had had any control over.
Standing on her toes suddenly, she pulled his face down until his lips met hers, and he felt the blood in his body surge from his fingertips to the tips of his toes as her tongue sought his, then caught his upper lip with her teeth, nipping him, then kissing him again, deeply and passionately.
Granger felt as if a river of fire was running through his veins, a fire that was being stoked by a bellows. He wanted her like he had never wanted anyone, or anything, in his entire life. His hands moved down to her lush rump, cupping her cheeks, and he pulled her into his almost painful, raging hard-on, grinding it against her.
Surrendering herself to him completely, Cassandra felt a lurch of excitement within her as his strong hands kneaded her buttocks. “Mmmmmm....” she moaned deliriously as she ran her fingers through his hair.
Although he wanted to go slow their first time back together, he knew it was hopeless. He simply had to have her. Right now. Clutching the skirt she was wearing with both hands, he hoisted the garment up around her waist, and with one hand grabbed the lacy panties she was wearing and ripped them off, letting the torn material fall to the floor. His fingers made their way to her wet passage and slipped inside, and as he worked them in and out slowly, his lips brushed across her face, then he nibbled her earlobe and whispered in a lust-filled voice, “I want you, right now. Cassandra, I know I promised to go slow, but I can't wait any longer.”
Her knees nearly buckling from his assertiveness, all she could do was whimper and nod her head weakly. “Yessss....ohhhhh...yes, now...please.” she gasped as her eyes glazed over with pure lust of her own.
“Chief!!!” Malcolm's booming voice and the slamming of the suite door penetrated the sexual haze that surrounded them.
They both jumped apart quickly, behaving like two randy teenagers who had been caught doing some heavy petting by a parent.
Blushing, Cassandra quickly pulled down her skirt, hoping that Malcolm hadn't gotten a free peep show.
Granger quickly stepped behind her, in order to hide his embarrassing, still-raging hard-on. “Goddamn it, Malcolm! You ever heard of the concept of KNOCKING before entering?” he growled as his assistant sauntered into the room.
“Well, hello there yourself. Me? Why, I'm fine, thank you for asking.” Malcolm blinked with surprise, just as his eyes drifted to the floor. It took every resource at his command to keep from laughing out loud as he spotted the torn, lacy white panties that lay on the floor at Cassandra's feet. A huge grin spreading across his handsome face, he stammered, “Oh...wow...this is awkward. Didn't mean to...uhmmm.....what can I say? So solly Cholly.” he finished, and unable to help it, finally succumbed to roaring laughter.
Blushing in confusion, both Granger and Cassandra glanced down at the floor to see exactly what it was that Malcolm found so interesting. And funny.
“Jesus.” Granger muttered as his face turned three shades deeper of red. He knew he would never hear the end of this, from Malcolm.
Horrified, Cassandra reached down and snatch
ed the panties up, wadding them up in one fist and hiding them from sight behind her back. “Excuse me, I need to freshen up.” she mumbled as she quickly made her way past the still-laughing Malcolm, all the while wishing the floor would open up and swallow her.
Laughter finally subsiding, Malcolm wiped the tears of mirth from his eyes and tried to ignore the fact his friend and boss was glaring at him like he wanted to kill him. “Ooops, maybe I should go check on the car. Why don't you freshen up too, before you embarrass yourself. A cold shower, maybe?” he chuckled. “If you don't, you're going to be walking funny for hours.” he teased as he gave him a knowing wink, then turned and left.
“You're so, almost fired!!!” Granger shouted as he did his best to comfortably arrange his erection, which was still struggling to make its way out of his trousers.
Chapter 30
Zeke watched as Cassandra and Granger walked out of the Inn, hand in hand, and climbed into the SUV. Drumming his fingers on the steering wheel of his rental car, he thought of his conversation with Martina hours earlier. She had sounded desperate, and wanted Cassandra Mortensen taken care of as quickly as possible. She told him she would be going back home to get the money for the hit, and expected to be back by the end of the week with the cash. Taking a drag from his cigarette and a sip of his Burger King coffee, he muttered, “Well, Mrs. Mortensen, you have less than four days. I hope you enjoy them, I honestly do.”
Suddenly disgusted, he flicked the half-smoked cigarette out the window and took another sip of coffee. She deserves to be protected, not hunted down like an animal... he thought, and was suddenly angry with himself. He couldn't understand why he suddenly wished she would leave with her husband, and go someplace safe where people like him couldn't get to her. He couldn't understand why, for the first time in his miserable adult life, he could care less about a big payday. And he couldn't understand why he had been unable to look at himself in a mirror ever since he had met the woman. Oh, who are you kidding, you know perfectly well why. She's the first truly decent person you've ever been asked to take out. A person who doesn’t deserve it. She reminds you that there's still some goodness and decency in this fucked up world... he thought, then, uncharacteristically nervous and on edge, he fished another cigarette out of his pocket and lit it with a hand that trembled almost imperceptibly.
“Goodness and decency.” he whispered as he stared straight ahead blankly, then felt a long-dormant pain lance his heart as a vision of his beloved mother manifested in his razor-sharp mind. His beloved mother, who had always doted on him, had such high hopes for him, had believed in him. His beloved mother, senselessly raped and murdered as she made her way out to her car late one night after work. His mother, indeed, his entire world, taken away from him at the age of twelve. It was the sole reason he had became a police officer to begin with, to rid the world of scum, no matter what methods it took. He had made himself into judge, jury, and executioner. And in the process, he himself had became the worst kind of scum, a criminal with a badge, excusing his own actions and deluding himself into thinking that every drug dealer he had ever shook down, every person he had ever carried out a hit on, had deserved it. After he had been fired by the State Police, he had carried on pretty much as he had before, the only difference being that he had excused his actions by labeling himself as some form of righteous vigilante.
A movement from the corner of his eye caught his attention, and he turned to see the Mortensen's pulling out onto the street. Sitting up straight, the burning cigarette between his fingers all but forgotten, he started his own engine, then began following them from a discreet distance. As he drove, he felt uncustomary panic grip him, and this, at least, was no mystery. He knew that there was no stopping Martina, or that lunatic Brett, once they were locked on course. If he didn't carry out the hit, he knew perfectly well that she would find someone else to do it, and afterwards, would have a hit put out on him. “I have to go through with it! Martina, the sick fuck, said she wanted the woman's death slow and painful, and even wants me to record it, but fuck that! If I....do go through with it, and I MUST, I'll make it quick and merciful. If someone else carries out the hit, she'll suffer terribly, AFTER she's been sexually assaulted, most likely. I can't let that happen!” his mind gibbered in genuine fear. Feeling as if a pit was closing over him, he followed the couple's SUV , wondering if there really was such a thing as salvation. And praying that there was.
*************************
Granger's body was tightly coiled as he prayed Doctor Zachrick could unlock the mystery behind Cassandra's attack, and in truth, he hoped and prayed there would be no evidence that his mother had anything to do with her assault and disappearance. But deep in his heart, he felt she was involved, in some capacity.
“Cassandra, can you hear me?” the doctor asked in a soothing voice.
Cassandra was stretched out on her back, on the plush couch, her head resting against a pillow, legs covered with a hospital blanket, in a deep state of hypnosis. “Yesss, I can hear you.” she slurred.
“Now, Cassandra, you're back at the point in time right before you were injured. Tell me where you are, and what's going on.” the doctor prompted.
Watching her closely, Granger noticed her hands, which were resting on her lap, were balled tightly into fists. Suddenly, an angry scowl spread across her lovely features, and her lips clamped tightly together for a moment. “Baby's room, I'm in our baby's room. I'm upset they won't let us leave together. I'm holding him...I'm...I'm crying, I'm scared. I don't know what to do.” she answered with a choked sob. “They won't let me take my baby with me.”
Doctor Zackrich glanced at Granger, but said nothing. Looking back at her, he continued. “Ok, Cassandra, now you're moving forward in time, to the day you were attacked.”
Her only answer was a whimper of fear.
Tensing even more, Granger scooted to the edge of his chair, every nerve in his body humming like a high voltage wire.
“I'm at my special place. The place he made for me. Where I fell in love with him.”
“Special place, what is that? And who made it for you?” the doctor asked.
“Granger made it for me. I left home, I needed to time to think. I'm afraid he's going to divorce me. I still love him. I just called Granger at work. He answered, but I was too afraid to speak, so I hung up. I'm afraid he's still angry at me, I'm afraid he'll never want to see me again.”
Granger knew what she meant, and his stomach clinched as a profound sense of shame washed over and through him. If only I would have stayed and listened to her the day she left, she never would have gotten hurt. It's all my fault ! He thought.
“Cassandra, what special place?” the doctor repeated.
Leaning close to the man, Granger whispered, “She's talking about our cabin at Roaring Branch I had built for her. It was a wedding present.”
Nodding, he continued. “Cassandra, are you at Roaring Branch?”
Tossing her head from side to side in an almost violent fashion, she suddenly let loose with a blood curdling scream that made the hair on the back of both men's necks nearly stand on end.
In a panic, Granger bolted from his seat, but the doctor quickly stood and placed a hand on his chest and shook his head, stopping him.
“Someone else is in here, I just heard footsteps walk right up behind me and stop....I'm afraid to turn around and look, but I have to. It..it’s a woman, not a man…OH, GOD IT HURTS...” she screamed as her suddenly trembling hands fluttered and flew to her head. “Someone’s hitting me over the head with something...I'm on the floor, but I can't see...there's something in my eyes....oh God...I think it's blood...MY BLOOD....I CAN”T MOVE!” she screamed.
Tears began streaming down Granger's eyes as he watched helplessly, hoping and praying that the doctor knew best.
Quickly, yet calmly, the doctor went to her, pulling her hands from her head gently. “Cassandra, I'm going to count backwards from five to zero, and when I reach zero, you'l
l be back here with us in the office, safe and sound. Safe and sound with your husband Granger, and myself.” Cupping her face in his thin, cool hands, he began just as she clutched at both his wrists desperately. “Five...slow, steady breaths, Cassandra..four...three..two...one...zero...you're waking up now, safe and sound, and you'll remember everything that has happened during this session.
Slowly, her heavy breathing began to subside, and she opened her eyes.
Releasing his hold on her, the doctor stood up straight and motioned to Granger that it was Ok to approach her.
Sitting on the edge of the couch, he took both her hands in hers, and waited.
Cassandra looked up at him with tears streaming down her face, only this time, they were tears of happiness. Sitting upright, she suddenly kissed the back of both his hands. “Oh Granger, it really wasn‘t you!” she half laughed, half sobbed, as relief and happiness shone in her eyes. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she hugged him tightly as she begged his forgiveness for her ever doubting him.
Remember Me Page 35
