Obsessed by Darkness

by Autumn Jordon

  She was confused too, and had no idea why Nan acted as she did. Maybe her head injury had caused mental instability. If she went along with Nan, perhaps she’d settle down and see reason.

  But where had the gun come from?

  The driver introduced herself as Lauren Rotterdam.

  While the Uber driver loaded Nan’s bag into the trunk, Nan ordered Emma into the back seat before she slid in too.

  “Do you have an address in Philly?” The girl asked as she buckled her seatbelt. “I’ll put it into my GPS now.”

  “Philly?” Emma studied Nan.

  “4001 Bantam Ave,” Nan said.

  “Got it. Near the airport,” the driver said and then proceeded to leave the lot and drive out of town.

  “I’ll need you to make one stop,” Nan said. “So take 80 to Route 309. I’ll direct you from there. We can jump on the turnpike at the thirty-nine exit.”

  “Not a problem.”

  In the first few minutes, Emma learned from the chatty driver she also was a student at the college. In her sophomore year. She would skip a couple of classes that afternoon, because when she’d seen Nan’s post for a ride to Philadelphia with a payment of $500.00, ditching class had been a no brainer.

  Emma looked over at Nan. Why did she want to go to Philly? As far as she knew, Nan had no affiliations there.

  “Did you speak to your mother? Is she flying in to the Philadelphia Airport?”

  Nan chuckled and immediately winced. “No.”

  “Then why are we going to Philadelphia?”

  A wicked smile played upon Nan’s lips. “I have a surprise for you. Don’t ask me any other questions.” Nan’s eyes dropped to her side, where she exposed the gun she carried, to let Emma know she wasn’t kidding.

  “Relax. Take a nap. You look like you didn’t get much sleep last night.”

  She hadn’t. She never slept well in strange places and being so close to Chase hadn’t helped. When she’d finally realized he expected nothing from her, she had tried to sleep, but worrying about Nan had kept her from falling to sleep. And then the police arrived. After she left Chase, she had sacked out on a friend’s couch for a few hours before heading to the hospital to be with Nan.

  They drove for over an hour before Nan spoke up. She directed the driver off the main highway and twenty minutes later the driver rolled to a stop at a dead end. They were in the middle of the woods, part of state game lands, on a muddy gravel road. Deep ditches caused by runoff ran along both sides of the road.

  Lauren twisted around on her seat and her puzzled look transformed into horror as she saw the gun Nan pointed at her. “What the…?”

  “Take the keys out of the ignition and get out,” Nan ordered. “Both of you.” She looked at Emma.

  Emma heart hit her ribs in rapid succession. “What are you going to do?”

  “Get out. Now.”

  Slowly, both Emma and Lauren climbed from the car. Nan followed.

  “Put the keys on the trunk,” Nan said to Lauren.

  “Good. Now move over there.” Nan waved the gun at Lauren, indicting she should walk away from the car and toward the woods. The she picked up the keys and transferred them to her other hand.

  “Please don’t hurt me,” Lauren wailed when Nan aimed the gun at her. Sunlight glistened off the tears rolling down her cheeks.

  “Shut the fuck up,” Nan said between clenched teeth. “I’m so sick of whining coeds.”

  Emma stepped between Nan and the coed.

  Nan aimed the gun at her chest.

  Her heart pounded so hard she could feel its beat in her neck. She put out her hands as if to stop a bullet. “Nan, what are you doing?”

  “What do you think? Move.”

  Emma looked over her shoulder at the girl who visibly shook with fear.

  Lauren pleaded under her breath, something about being an only child, mother sick with cancer, and father working two jobs to keep her in school.

  Emma licked her lips and swallowed hard. She had no choice. She couldn’t live with herself otherwise. She held her ground between Lauren and Nan. “You’ll have to kill me, if you want to harm her, Nan.”

  It seemed like forever as Nan held her glare like a tiger watching its prey. Suddenly her ex-best friend exhaled a loud puff from her nose and said, “Ok, but don’t ask me for any more favors.”

  Nan stared at Lauren. “Run, you silly ass.”

  Lauren looked from Nan to Emma before she pivoted and raced past the chains blocking traffic from traveling further into the woods.

  Emma’s muscles transformed to jelly as relief washed through them. “Thank you.”

  “You drive,” Nan said, pointing the gun toward the car.

  Emma climbed inside.

  Nan opened her door but before she slid onto the seat she studied the woman racing into the woods and took aim over the door.

  Chapter Twenty-five

  Chase stared out the state police barrack’s window. Emma and Nan—or Theresa Rosaland, as they now identified the woman posing as Nanette—were gone. Where Nanette Yves had disappeared to, had become a new case file.

  He should never have let Emma leave Knepper’s apartment the way she did. The idea she was now in danger, twisted his stomach.

  “Penny for your thoughts.” The many charms of Jolene’s bracelet jangled together as she stirred a bit of cream into a coffee and then handed the cup to him. She looked as tired as he felt.

  “I should never have let Emma out of my sight. I had a bad feeling about Nanette—I mean Theresa—and I let go of it after she was beaten.”

  “Do you think she injured herself?”

  “Yeah. I do. She had help though.” He swallowed a sip of his coffee and thought about the crime scene. “For the amount of damage to their apartment, the brawl had to be heard by someone. Yet no one came forward. I let my suspicions toward Yves go because of Emma’s trust and love for her friend. Now Emma’s gone too.”

  “Do you think Emma was part of all this?”

  “Fuck no.” He glared down at his partner. Then he looked at the room full of officers staring back at him and said in a more controlled tone, “She’s in the hands of a psychopath. You read the report on Rosaland. This isn’t the first time she took another’s place.”

  “I know. She tried, unsuccessfully, to do the same thing, as a kid,” Jolene answered.

  “Well, she succeeded this time.” He clenched his jaw, thinking everyone told him to follow his instincts and he hadn’t. He should’ve checked on Yves or whoever the hell she was, sooner. How many lessons did he need before he’d trust in himself?

  “Detective Johnson.” A young state officer held a phone out from his ear. “We’ve got local officer on the line. He says he picked up a young girl, an Uber driver, who says her KIA Sorento was hijacked.”

  “What’s he want me to do?” Johnson scowled.

  “He says two women were involved. One had a gun. The driver picked the fare up on Tri-Penn Campus. He saw the APB on Rosaland and thought there could be a connection.”

  Chase’s head snapped up. Emma’s car still sat in the college parking lot near her apartment and as far as they knew, Nan didn’t have a car. They had already checked the bus line and taxi services in the area. No one had any information. Could this be…?

  “Where is she?” Chase crossed the floor and reached the officer’s desk the same time as Johnson. The man looked at Chase and then at Johnson.

  “Answer the Marshal,” Johnson ordered.

  “In Carbon County. She said her fare wanted to go to Philly.”

  “Philly. Shit,” Johnson spat. “Philly’s only a couple of hours’ drive from there. How long ago did this go down?”

  “Almost two hours.”

  “Damn.” The desk vibrated under Johnson’s fist.

  Chase’s gaze jumped east toward the window. “They’re not going to Philly. They’re heading to New York.”

  “What?” Johnson turned to him. “How the fuck do
you know that?”

  “Emma told me Nan, ah Theresa, likes to get lost in New York. That’s where she’ll go.”

  The young officer put up his finger. “We’ll be able to tell. The victim said her dad put a GPS on the car for safety reasons when she took on this Uber stuff. The vehicle is three years old, gray and has a Steeler’s license plate on the front and team sticker in the rear window.”

  “Get the GPS info and relay it to my boss, Will Hauser. Here’s his number.” Chase handed off his cell to the young desk cop and then faced Johnson. “In the meantime, do you have a chopper available? I’ll need it to get us to wherever they’re headed.”

  Not more than twenty minutes later, Chase and Jolene were in the air. Five minutes later, they learned Chase had been right.

  “You’ve caught a break, Marshal,” Johnson said. “The car is stopped on Route 80.” Chase had his phone on speaker and he and Jolene leaned closer to it.

  “How’s that a break?” Chase asked.

  “There’s been a major accident, a charter bus and a tractor trailer got cozy. A few other vehicles joined the party. The pilot will be able to set down about a mile away.”

  “We’ll take it from here. Thanks for your help, Detective.”

  “Good luck.”

  “Thanks. We’ll need it.” Chase hit the end-call button. His mind raced. How would he get to Emma without being seen?

  “Jolene, get on the phone to Will and tell him to contact the locals and let them know we’re entering their grounds and see if we can get a ride closer to the car. Get the coordinates from the pilot.”

  “I’m on it.”

  Chase scratched his chin and quickly played out the scene in his mind with different approaches resulting in different outcomes.

  Suddenly it came to him.

  He sat up straight and his eyes widened.

  “Oh, and make sure no one,” he ordered Jolene, “and I mean no one, approaches their car. I have a plan.”

  A wicked smile played on Jolene’s lips. “Roger that.”

  ***

  Would this beautiful autumn day be her last? Clouds drifted in a wide ocean of sky the same mesmerizing hue as Chase’s eyes. Emma knew it was foolish to think she was in love, but the phrase It’s better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all repeated in her mind each time he entered her thoughts during this ordeal.

  Would he even look for her after what she’d said to him?

  And, if so, how would he find her?

  Emma bit down on her lip. When the time came, would she grab the opportunity to try to escape Nan, or would she hesitate? She had to stay alert and prepare to do whatever it took to survive this nightmare. She sensed there would be no room for indecision.

  She had to be quick—and very shrewd, like her abductor.

  Emma watched as people who’d sat in their vehicles too long, got out of their cars and headed to the bushes alongside the highway. After a minute or two, they’d race back to their cars with heads bowed, ashamed they had to take the walk to relieve themselves.

  She sighed, feeling the air in the car grow staler with each passing second. Traffic had been at a standstill for nearly forty-five minutes and Nan refused to allow a window to be cracked. Emma knew why. Nan feared she would cry out for help and then… What would she do?

  Would Nan really shoot her? Would she shoot anyone who tried to help?

  Emma stretched her legs, arched her back against the car seat and pushed her feet against the floorboards. She was a patient woman. This wasn’t the right time. She squinted sideways, wondering why Nan was doing this? She needed to know.

  “Thank you for letting Lauren go,” she began, keeping her voice steady—an effort, considering the immobilizing fear that zipped along her taut nerves.

  “That was a mistake. I normally don’t make such stupid mistakes.” Nan remained focused on the scene ahead, but her fingers worked under the sling. Her swollen, black-and-blue eye, and split lip made her look dangerous and not at all weak.

  Had Nan held others at gunpoint? Had she killed them? Emma licked her lips while she mustered enough courage to ask more about the woman she’d believed to be her best friend, but really hadn’t known at all.

  “Why are you doing this, Nan?”

  “My name is Theresa. Nan was a whiney little bitch who had the world by the ass and still wasn’t happy.” Nan shifted on her seat.

  “What?” a confused Emma asked as she watched the barrel of the gun Nan handled, poke at the material. The gun remained aimed at her.

  Nan, or whoever she was, referred to the real Nan in the past tense. What had happened? Was there really another person or did Nan have a split personality? Either way, the woman she’d considered a friend was crazy. Fear, like a weight, rested on Emma’s chest, making it hard for her to inhale.

  “Where is she?”

  “Probably in the cemetery for the indigent, if she was ever found.”

  Searching into Nan’s lifeless stare, Emma felt like she’d stepped into hell. “What do you mean?”

  “You want the whole story? Ok. I’ll give you the Cliff Notes version, so you know I’m not fucking around. I ran into the whiney bitch in the bus station in Philly last year, in August. I’d been on the streets for a year, homeless. I went to the bus station to wash up after doing some guy for twenty bucks when this French cunt walked in, looking like a princess. She was on her way to college.”

  Nan skimmed a finger under her nose and immediately tucked her hand back into the sling. “We looked similar.” She snorted. “Bitch said she needed to vent. Hell, if anyone needed to vent, it was me, damn it. She whined on and on about her overbearing parents who, by the way, paid her every bill. I always wanted to go to college. She had nice things in her suitcase. I saw the opportunity and took it. Like I’ve told you many times, you’ve got to grab them when you can, Emma.”

  Emma feared the answer to her next question and swallowed before she asked, “What did you do to her?”

  “I became her. For over a year I lived the good life. It took a little finesse and a hell of lot of work.” Her gaze went off into the distance. “I’d made it through tenth grade. I had decent grades too. Shit happened and I ran away from home. I couldn’t go back. I wouldn’t, even if I could.”

  Nan’s eyes flared with hate.

  “I’d rather eat garbage from restaurant bins, and do a john once in a while, than be abused by my father. The shithead treated me like I was his property.” Her tongue played with the cut on her lip. “Anyway, I had stayed in the city library most days to stay warm or cool, depending on the time of year. I read a lot, so stepping into Nanette Yves shoes wasn’t all that hard. Everything went great until greedy Tony Packard fucked things up.”

  Tony was dead; that much Emma knew. “Did you kill Tony? And shoot Knepper?”

  Theresa’s lips twisted into a wicked smile. She winced and for a split second her hand left the gun as she touched her lip then inspected her fingertip for blood. “How could I? I was in the hospital.”

  That was true, but there was no doubt in Emma’s mind Theresa had known about the attack on Tony and Knepper. Did she know about Mark too? “What about Mark?”

  Theresa’s jaw clenched. She shifted her attention back to the window.

  Determined to know everything the woman had done, Emma asked, “Where’s Mark?”

  “I sold him. He’s making drugs in labs for some very powerful people.”

  A chill running down her spine caused Emma to shiver. “You sold him? He was your friend.”

  Theresa’s head spun her way. “I had to,” she spat. “He was part of the deal. He had the recipe for the ice.”

  “Mark?” He knew nothing about chemistry as far as she knew.

  “Yes. He helped Bart cook it last year and received a share for his own use. The recipe was actually Bart’s.”

  Emma gasped. “Bart? Why would Bart—?”

  “Personal use, not for sale. Then Mark got hold of
a share and sold some to the girls on campus, including Denise. He’s such a fuck up. He has the world by the ass and yet…” Nan sighed. “I liked Mark. He was a good guy, even though he was a bit of a whiner himself. I hope he makes it out of the situation Ok. One day.”

  The remorse in Nan’s voice surprised Emma.

  “You used my key card?”

  “I took it from your purse. I kept you busy while Tony and Mark went to the lab. Tony, being a campus cop, made access easy. The cleaning crews never blinked twice.”

  Emma’s gaze bounced from Nan to any and all objects close at hand. Her mind went on overload, absorbing what Nan told her. How had she missed what was going on? Most of the people Nan spoke of, Emma considered her friends. She was closer to them than to anyone on campus.

  In her defense, she really didn’t have close friends, except for Nan. Bart was a pain-in-the-ass friend. He wanted to be more, but that would never happen, especially now. But the rest of them, Mark and Denise, they had been more like acquaintances. Friends of friends. “You mentioned Denise. Was Mark the one who killed her?”

  “She probably overdosed. He said he wasn’t with her Saturday night. If anyone was with her when she nosedived, my money would be on Tony. Denise was all over him and Tony wasn’t the type of guy to turn down a free piece. He probably got her high so he could fuck her.”

  Pieces of the puzzle connected in Emma’s mind. She had one more question. “Who attacked you? Do you know?”

  “It was part of my deal.” Nan uttered the words in a monotone whisper that shot ice into Emma’s veins.

  She had someone do this to her? If Theresa had arranged this for herself, it was obvious she’d have no qualms about inflicting injury or death on others.

  Theresa stiffened. Her gaze drawn to the activity ahead on the Interstate.

  “What the fuck is going on?” Color drained from Nan’s face and the bruising showed up even more.

  Emma followed her glare. “I don’t know,” she said, watching the officers that went from car to car, pausing to talk to those standing outside their vehicles.