“She doesn’t know his name, but he’s not a complete stranger. She thinks she’s still somewhere on the campus but he blindfolded her so she’s not sure. He’s left her in the dark somewhere so she can’t even look around and try to recognize where she’s at, but it’s cold, so my guess is that it’s probably a basement.”
“In a basement near the campus,” Mac repeated dryly. “That doesn’t give me much to go on. You said she knows him.”
“Yes, but not very well. She trusted him though, because she had seen him around campus and was flattered by his attention.”
Rennie’s eyes met his. There it was; that look of total disbelief in her psychic abilities, accompanied by the idea she was somehow involved in the girl’s abduction.
“Look, Detective, I don’t expect you to believe I can psychically pick up on this girl without even knowing her, but you must believe I might be able to help find her or you wouldn’t be here.”
“Angel Starr,” he said.
“What?”
“Angel Starr, that’s her name. You’re right, I don’t believe in this mystical power you claim to have, but the girl is missing and if you can help locate her then I don’t care if you find the answer in the bottom of a tea cup.”
Rennie couldn’t help smiling. “I don’t read tea leaves, Detective, but if you can get your hands on something that belongs to Angel, I might be able to find her. It will be dark soon, so the faster we do this the better chance we have of getting to her before he does something.”
Mac wasn’t sure what to make of Rennie O’Neal, but she certainly didn’t seem to have any screws loose, as he had first believed.
“I’ll take you with me to talk to her parents and ask to see her bedroom. I can tell them you’re working with me, although letting them know exactly in what capacity we’re working together probably wouldn’t be such a good idea.”
She stood up. “You’re wrong, Detective Logan. When a child is missing, a parent will grab at any chance to bring them home safely, no matter how remote or far-fetched.”
Parents, she had discovered, were the only ones who didn’t look at her like she was a freak.
***
Rennie waited until Detective Logan closed the bedroom door and they were alone before looking around the room. Make-up scattered across a vanity, bed piled high with throw pillows, pictures of Angel and her girlfriends pasted to the vanity mirror. A dull ache settled in her heart at how happy and safe the girl always felt here.
Her eyes moved around the room, shifting from object to object until she spotted an old stuffed teddy bear propped up on the window sill. Half its fur was missing and one button eye was dangerously close to falling off, but Angel had a soft spot for it and hadn’t been able to part with it. She walked to the window and picked it up.
“Her father gave this to her,” she said. “She’s been crying for him, praying that he’ll find her before the man comes back.” Rennie drew in a shuttering breath. “Angel knows he is going to kill her.”
Mac watched her face closely, his chest squeezing at the very real pain she was experiencing. That wasn’t to say he believed in her psychic ability exactly, but he didn’t think she was involved with Angel’s disappearance. Rennie closed her eyes, hugging the bear as a child would do. Her breathing became rough, erratic, and she started to tremble violently. Good God, what was going on inside that pretty head of hers?
“He’s…talking to her,” Rennie continued, “She’s relieved because she didn’t realize how late it was or that the campus would be so deserted. They’re walking now, and she’s laughing at something he said and is flustered when he leads her down a dark path because she thinks he is going to kiss her. I want him to kiss me,” Rennie suddenly switched to first person. “He’s so handsome and funny and I really, really hope he kisses me.”
Mac forced himself to remain still when her eyes widened, a frightened gasp dying on her lips as though an invisible hand had been clamped over her mouth. He still wasn’t certain whether it was an act or not, but it was unsettling the way she spoke as if she was the one being lured into danger.
“He…he’s g-grabbing me and dragging me into the woods. I’m scared, so scared, because his kisses are rough and his hands are everywhere and he keeps saying that I asked for it, that it’s what I wanted, but I don’t, I don’t…”
Rennie abruptly stopped talking, the pool of tears in her anguished blue eyes spilling over to leave a damp trail on her pale cheeks. For several tense seconds she said nothing. Pain was etched in the delicate features of her face as she wiped the tears away and took a few steadying gulps of air.
“Angel was terrified and kept trying to convince herself that he would only assault her and then let her go. She knows now that it isn’t going to happen. My God,” Rennie choked, “she’s so young…too young to have to endure something like that.”
“Miss O’Neal, where is she?”
Rennie glanced at him, surprised to find that the sound of his deep voice calmed her. Her fingers stroked the tattered bear while she attempted to convey what she had seen and felt.
“He punched her in the face and must have thought she was unconscious, but she was only dazed by it. It’s strange, the things that run through your mind when something this horrific happens to you.”
“What do you mean?”
“He left her books on the ground. Angel was worried about the cost of replacing them. He carried her downhill and then veered off to the right, but he stayed off the path and it was so dark she was disoriented.” Rennie clutched the bear tighter. “That’s when Angel put up a struggle and tried to get away. He hit her again, harder this time, and she lost consciousness. ”
Mac moved closer to her. “Miss O’Neal, where did he take her?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know. I can only see what she sees. Maybe…maybe if we could locate where she dropped her books…”
“Let’s go,” Mac said, a sense of urgency prickling at the back of his neck. If she was right, they had less than ninety minutes to find Angel.
Rennie set the bear back on the window sill. “I need something else of hers that I can take with me. If we take the bear…” Her voice trailed off but Mac nodded his understanding.
If they took the bear, her parents would surely question it and they didn’t have time to explain. She walked around the room, picking up random items before zeroing in on a gold cross. Angel wore it often and it was almost as precious to her as the bear was. She slipped it in her pocket and headed for the door, then stopped suddenly when a wave of nausea rolled through her.
Mac caught her just as her knees buckled.
“You’re white as a ghost,” he said, keeping a firm grip around her waist. “Do you need to sit down for a few minutes?”
“No, he’s back. She can hear him walking around above her. Just help me to the car, I’ll be fine.”
They left in a hurry, stopping just long enough to tell Angel’s parents they would call as soon as they knew anything. Mac helped her to the car then took the driver’s seat and made the short drive to the college campus where Angel had last been seen. Even as his mind fought to make some logical sense of what was happening, he was beginning to believe Rennie really did possess some mystical power.
More astonishing than that, he could almost feel the electrically charged air around her, as if she was surrounded by a soft, invisible current. She didn’t speak on the way there and he didn’t push her. The poor thing looked like she would shatter into a million pieces if she had to expend even one more ounce of energy, but Rennie surprised him when she suddenly perked up as they pulled onto the campus grounds.
“Over there!”
She pointed towards the college library, barely waiting for him to come to a complete stop before scrambling out of the car. Clutching the cross in her hand, she stumbled across the parking lot, glancing up gratefully when Detective Logan again supported her by putting his arm around her waist. Rennie stopped about fifty yard
s from the library doors, taking a quick glance around before pulling away from him and taking a path that wound through a wooded area.
“Here,” she cried, leading him off the path and into the woods. A sob escaped when they spotted the scattered books not ten feet into the tree line.
Mac’s eyes turned to her with sincere admiration. “My God, you did it!”
He briefly inspected the area, being careful not to disturb anything. It was obvious there had been a scuffle here and one of the notebooks had Angel’s name neatly printed on the cover. He returned to Rennie, who was trembling even worse than she had back at Angel’s house.
“Miss O’Neal,” he said gently, “which way did he take her?”
She nodded off to the right. Together, they made their way downhill through the woods and wound up in a small clearing. She paused for a moment, veered right, and then walked for several minutes before coming to an abrupt halt.
“This is where he tied her hands and covered her face,” she said shakily. “I don’t…”
Angel’s cry echoed in her ears. Daddy, where are you? Rennie looked up at the detective, desperation and panic causing her voice to wobble.
“We have to hurry; he’s not going to wait until dark.”
Chapter 2
“You’ll have to carry me.”
Mac glanced at Rennie, not quite sure he’d heard her right. “You want me to carry you?”
“Angel couldn’t see where they were going, but she could tell when he changed directions by the way his body moved. We have to simulate it exactly the way it happened.”
Mac didn’t argue. He’d seen enough to know that something beyond his understanding was guiding Rennie and didn’t much care what it was as long as they got to the girl in time. He leaned down and lifted her effortlessly in his arms.
“What is he doing to her?”
“Playing with her,” she said, her voice catching in her throat. Rennie tightened her hold on Mac, drawing from his strength. “He’s touching her, telling her what he’s going to do to her.”
Mac’s lips drew into a tight line, determination setting in his eyes. “Now what?”
Closing her eyes, she rested her head on his chest. “Turn slowly. I’ll tell you when to stop.”
He did as she asked and when Rennie was sure they were aimed in the right direction, she told him to start walking. When they reached the bottom of the hill, she instructed him to angle to the left and continue for a few more minutes.
“Stop. He put her down right here.”
“I’ll be damned,” Mac said in a hushed tone.
Rennie opened her eyes and followed his line of sight. Nestled in the woods was a generator shed. It was run down and probably not used any longer, but there was a light on inside. He lowered her to the ground and drew out his weapon.
“Wait here. If I don’t come out in ten minutes, find your way back to the campus and call for back up.”
She watched him slip through the trees, silently making his way towards the shack. Without the protective warmth of Mac’s arm around her, Rennie suddenly felt utterly defenseless. The girl’s terror surrounded her, sank into her skin until it became her own. Her heart thumped madly in her chest, keeping tempo with Angel’s frightened heart.
She struggled to breath and nearly screamed out loud when she felt the attacker’s hand slip beneath her skirt. No, Rennie told herself firmly, this wasn’t happening to her, it was happening to Angel. She shivered, fighting to hold back the bile that rose in her throat when his hand found the tender spot between her thighs…Angel’s thighs…and began his merciless assault.
Rennie dropped to her knees. She had to separate herself from Angel somehow. Oh God, she was too close, too connected and it hurt, it hurt. She collapsed on the ground, writhing in pain, struggling against an invisible attacker, wanting to fight him, but how could she when he wasn’t really there? Pull your mind back, she ordered herself, break the bond, but it was already too late. Air hissed from her lungs as he forced his way inside her.
Her body went rigid; the violence of what he was doing shattering the thin grasp she had on her own mind. Then abruptly, the assault stopped. But the fear lingered. It pulled her down, strangling the life from her until there was nothing except a blissful darkness that took hold and made it all go away.
***
“It’s okay, sweetheart, I’ve got you.”
As the grey mist began to clear, Rennie found herself staring up into a pair of incredible green eyes. “Detective Logan…what happened?”
Mac cradled her to his chest, his insides still shaking. “I’m not sure. I came back and found you unconscious on the ground. How do you feel?”
“He was attacking us,” she replied in a strained voice. “I…I was as helpless to fight him off as Angel was. Then it suddenly stopped, but I don’t know if it was because she took her mind away or he killed her.”
Mac smiled softly. “She’s alive, Miss O’Neal. She’s alive because of you. I never would have found her in time.”
She let out a sigh of relief but the sound of voices off to their left made her head snap up in alarm. The place was crawling with policemen, some of them scouring the area around the shed, others emerging from the entrance with evidence bags in hand. There wasn’t enough room between the trees for a squad car to fit through so they were using police motor cycles to haul the evidence out. For Angel, the horror of being locked inside with that monster was over.
Rennie turned back to Mac. “What about him?”
His expression hardened. “I could have killed him when I saw what he was doing to that poor girl. He fired on me so I had to shoot him. Unfortunately, he’s going to live.”
“Angel?”
“They’ve taken her to the hospital. She’ll have to deal with what happened, but she’s alive, and her parents will be there to help her through it.” Mac studied Rennie’s face, grimacing at the wide, frightened eyes and alarming pallor of her skin. “I have a stretcher and a couple of paramedics on the way to take you to the hospital.”
“No! No hospitals. Please,” she pleaded, “there’s so much pain there, so much sorrow. I just can’t…not after all this.”
Something deep inside stirred at the panic stricken look on her face and, for a moment, Mac felt a distinct twinge of grief wash over him. Shaking it off, he offered Rennie a reassuring smile.
“I’ve already talked to the responding police officer and the lead detective so there’s no need for me to hang around here any longer. If I can’t convince you to go to the hospital, what do you say I take you home?”
Rennie put her head back on his shoulder. She didn’t even try to pretend she would be able to walk under her own steam. “That sounds nice.” She yawned. “I think after this, I’ll sleep for a week solid.”
Mac began picking his way back through the trees. “After this, you deserve it.”
She closed her eyes, feeling safe and warm with Mac’s strong arms around her. She liked the way he smelled too. It was clean and soapy, mixed with a musky, masculine scent that made her want to inhale deeper. His stride was long and purposeful, but she hardly felt his movements at all. He walked with the grace of a cat, smooth and sleek, and she was quickly being lulled to sleep. By the time they reached his car, she was barely able to open her eyes long enough to crawl into the passenger seat. Less than two minutes later, she was out cold.
***
Mac pulled up to Rennie’s house and cut the engine. She’d drifted off shortly after leaving the college parking lot and hadn’t stirred since. He thought of waking her up but she’d been weak as a kitten after regaining consciousness and he doubted she was in any better condition now. Her purse lay on the seat beside her and after a moment’s hesitation, he dug through it and found her keys, then got out and went around to the passenger side. He lifted her out gently and carried her up to the front porch, fiddling with the keys for a minute before finding the right one.
It was fortunate she’d lef
t a light on in the living room, so that’s where he took her. After dropping her purse on the coffee table and settling her on the sofa, Mac couldn’t help hovering over her for a few minutes. She looked so fragile, so worn. He couldn’t even begin to understand what she had gone through this evening but somehow she had been down there in dark with Angel, suffering the same brutal attack.
She had to have known what was going to happen, yet she had braved it anyway. What if he had been too late? What if that monster had managed to kill Angel? Would Rennie have felt it and experienced those last dying moments?
If the incident with Angel was any indication of the visions that came to her, he shuddered to think about the kind of life she must have. Whatever it was that happened out there tonight, it had utterly drained her. He doubted she would wake up for several hours, but Mac didn’t have the heart to leave her on the sofa so he went in search of her bedroom.
After checking the rooms on the first level, Mac climbed the stairs and located it just down the hallway to the right. He flipped on the light, glancing around appreciatively. It was simple and tastefully decorated, but not all feminine and frilly as he would have expected. After pulling back the bedcovers, he returned to the living room and scooped her up in his arms. Rennie opened her eyes sluggishly and gave him a weak smile before letting her head fall back on his shoulder.
“You smell nice,” she mumbled.
Mac chuckled. He hadn’t been immune to her soft, sweet scent either. “I’m going to tuck you into bed. If you don’t mind, I’d like to call you tomorrow and see how you’re holding up.”
“I don’t mind,” she murmured, wishing she wasn’t so tired.
She wanted to ask more questions about what had happened but it felt like she had been drugged. She could barely keep her eyes open as Mac carried her to her room and lowered her onto the bed. He took her shoes off and pulled the covers up to her waist, which only served to lure her closer to the dark edges of sleep.
WHISPERS TO THE HEART Page 2
