She said, “I’m sorry, honey. I didn’t mean to scare you like that. Let’s… Let’s find somewhere to park. We’ll get you in your seat and then we’ll go see grandma, okay?”
Amber took a right and drove until she found an empty parking space on the side of the road near the beach. She placed Riley on the passenger seat and kissed her forehead, then she turned on the dome light. From the periphery of her vision, she saw a shadow rise in the back seat through the rearview mirror. She froze as the terrifying realization set in.
Someone had been hiding in her vehicle, crouching behind her seat during her short drive.
Amber said, “Please don’t hurt my—”
A loud crackling sound interrupted her. Before she knew it, a stun gun touched the side of her neck. Foamy saliva spurted from between her clenched teeth. Her limbs locked up. She crashed into the steering wheel, then she fell over the center console. An unearthly moan escaped her mouth. She regained control of her body five seconds later.
She looked at the back seat and saw Miki sitting next to Riley’s rear-facing safety seat. Despite the mask covering her face, she could tell the intruder was smiling.
Riley sucked her index and middle fingers while mewling as she watched her mother. She couldn’t see Miki from her position.
Amber mumbled incoherently as she turned to face the steering wheel. In a daze, she could only think about speeding off.
As Amber grabbed the key in the ignition, Miki prodded the nape of her neck with the stun gun. Amber lost control of her body for eight seconds—seconds that felt like minutes. A string of drool hung from her mouth. Her fingers were curled towards her palms, as if she were stopped halfway into clenching her fists.
Miki grabbed two fistfuls of Amber’s red hair from behind, then she swung her head at the driver’s side window. She slammed her head against it five times—thump, thump, thump, thump, thump! She was unconscious after the third blow to the temple. Amber’s head slumped forward and her fingers uncurled as Miki released her hair.
Miki looked at Riley, and Riley looked back at her. The toddler had stopped crying, but the expression of fear and dismay remained on her face. She knew something was wrong, but she didn’t know how to react.
Miki said, “Mommy should have locked her doors.”
“Goddammit, Amber, answer your phone,” Adam muttered as he listened to the ringback tone. The call went to voicemail. He said, “Amber, for crying out loud, I’ve called you five times already. I really hope you’re not going to your mom’s place right now. You can get into an accident out there. Please, if you get this, call me back or come home. I’m begging you.”
He ended the call and threw his phone at his desk. He walked around his office, scratching the back of his head and rubbing the small of his back. Anxiety wouldn’t let him stand still.
He went through several scenarios in his head. ‘If she goes there, if she goes here… If I do this, if I do that…’ He thought about barricading himself in the house, but it wouldn’t look good for him if the police showed up. He considered going out into the streets of Los Angeles and finding the elusive ‘Carved Face’ serial killer himself.
But what can I do if I find her? Or him?—he thought.
He wasn’t equipped to capture or murder a sadistic serial killer. He had committed acts of violence, but he sincerely regretted his past actions.
He stopped pacing upon catching a glimpse of a picture frame on his desk. He bent over and inspected the photograph. It was a picture of himself, Amber, and Riley at Pacific Park on a sunny day. Amber and Riley brought a smile to his face and tears to his eyes. He didn’t recognize himself, though. Guilt, like stress, accelerated the aging process and poisoned the human mind.
“Oh shit,” he said. “I was wrong. I was so fucking wrong.”
He decided to race to his mother-in-law’s home in hopes of finding Amber. He grabbed his cell phone and hurried out of his office. He didn’t even think about changing from his reeking bathrobe.
Adam stopped next to the kitchen bar. The front door was wide open. Then he heard a whimper from the darkest corner of the living room. He saw Miki standing there with Riley in her arms. Despite her mask, he recognized his secret lover straight away. His undivided attention, however, was captured by his daughter as she shook and whined. Although Riley was alive, Adam went through the stages of grief.
He started by shaking his head in denial, then he scowled at Miki and thrust his index finger at her—so angry that he couldn’t speak. He closed his eyes, sending tears to the floorboards between his grubby feet, and clasped his hands in front of his chest. He spewed a garble of nonsense, but he was obviously bargaining. The bargaining came with a spell of depression.
And, finally, Adam accepted reality. Miki was inside his home, cradling his daughter, and Amber was nowhere to be found. He took a step towards them, but then he noticed the pocketknife in Miki’s hand. She held the blade up to Riley’s back. It was a short blade, but it was enough to kill a toddler.
Adam said, “Don’t hurt her.”
Miki didn’t say a word. Behind her mask, she smiled, frowned, snarled, then smiled again. She was on her own roller coaster of emotions. She felt a sense of nostalgia, as if she had run into an old friend at a supermarket. Then sadness swept through her as she remembered the assault in her apartment. Anger followed, then amusement.
Adam reminded her of the countless transients she had encountered in Los Angeles. His life was already in shambles.
“She’s innocent,” Adam said. “You do wha–whatever you want to me, but please don’t hurt her. Please, Miki.”
Miki’s smile grew. He remembers me, she thought.
She said, “There are some handcuffs on the bar. Plastic ones. Grab them. Put them on. Then get on your knees and face that wall next to the hall. And keep your head down.”
Adam was surprised by Miki’s calm tone. He looked at the cable tie handcuffs on the bar. He noticed a wet crowbar next to it. He thought about using it against Miki, but he knew he wasn’t fast enough to stop her from stabbing Riley if he tried to attack her. He looked back at the intruder.
He said, “I can’t do that. I need you to put Riley down and I need to see Amber. Once I know they’re safe and free, I–I’ll do whatever you say.”
“Your beautiful wife is fine, Adam. She’s tied up in the back seat of your SUV with some tape over her mouth. She’ll join us as soon as you do as I say.”
“A–And what are you going to do? Are you going to hurt them?”
“I don’t want to hurt your family. This isn’t about them. It’s about us. But… I’ll hurt them if you don’t follow my instructions. I will kill your precious daughter—right now, right in front of you—if you do anything stupid.”
“Okay, o–okay. Just… What do you want from me, Miki? Where is this going?”
“The truth, Adam. I just want the truth. We’ll get into it soon, but I don’t like standing here with a knife to your baby’s back and the door open. If your neighbors show up, I’ll kill your sweet little Riley. You don’t want that, I don’t want that, so just do it already. Handcuff yourself and kneel down.”
Adam figured she wanted a confession. He didn’t trust Miki, but he was out of options and he was running out of time. He couldn’t fight her with the knife touching Riley’s back and he couldn’t wait until one of his neighbors noticed his open door. He tied his wrists together in front of him with the cable tie handcuffs, then he turned around and knelt in front of the wall.