Vanessa caught her breath as her mind reeled. Her brain struggled to process what she was looking at. The walls around her were covered with writing.
All four walls had the same thing but in different colors and what appeared to be different hand writing. She tried to make sense of the words.
Time and time again, the same thing. Some of it was legible and some it was scrawled in random bits.
I will never call you bloodstain again
I will never call you bloodstain again
I will never call you bloodstain again
Vanessa had seen her abductors face. There was some sort of birthmark that took up almost the entire left side.
Could all this be about name calling?
Was it revenge for some kind of abuse?
Vanessa was no expert but all of the writing appeared to be done by women. Her mind swam with fear. She realized that she was probably looking at the last thing some of these women ever did. She felt tears welling up in her eyes.
Forcing herself to regain focus, she continued to scan the room. Her eyes settled on a door at the far end. Still feeling weak and dizzy, she crawled down to the door. Instead of opening outward, it slid sideways revealing a closet.
Vanessa fell back and studied the clothes hanging there. A 7-11 uniform, a couple dresses, jeans and a shirt. She realized she was looking at the clothes from the victim descriptions. They were trophies kept by a mad man. She heard the lock click behind her and the door swing open.
Chapter 14
Jason hung up the phone. He had called Sandy to let her know he wouldn't be home for dinner. She understood, after all, Vanessa was her friend, as well. He figured there was a good chance he might not be home at all tonight.
He had called the lieutenant before calling Sandy and told him that Stephanie Morris was awake. Lieutenant Patton was just as frustrated as Jason at not being able to get answers but they both knew that arguing with the doctor was a losing battle. At least she was awake and they should get some answers soon.
The lieutenant told him nothing was going on that he needed Jason for and he could stay at the hospital. Jason didn’t bother telling him that he had no intention of going anywhere. Stephanie was his best hope to find Vanessa.
The description of the vehicle on the news had brought in hundreds of responses, and they were still following up on them, but nothing appeared promising. Jason looked at his watch.
5:30 pm.
It had been about three hours since the girl had come around and Jason figured it was time for an update. He made his way up to the third floor and found a nurse.
“Has Stephanie Morris come awake again?”
“No. However; they’ve ordered a tray for her and I think they’re going to wake her to eat soon.”
“Alright. I guess I’ll go downstairs and find something at the cafeteria. Any recommendations?”
“Yeah. Eat out.”
Jason laughed out loud. It felt good and immediately made him feel guilty. With Vanessa missing, there was little to smile about. He headed downstairs to get something to eat.
****
Vanessa stared at her abductor. He wasn’t fat, in fact he was well built. He would probably be attractive if not for one thing. The birthmark. He stopped just inside the door.
“Take your clothes off.”
Vanessa shuddered. She knew the other victims had not been raped but that hadn’t been much comfort.
“No.”
He didn’t come toward her, didn’t even act as if he heard her.
“Hang them in the closet with the others.”
“No.”
This time he looked directly at her.
“When I come back you will have your clothes hung up or I will kill you.”
“Please don’t do this. I’m pregnant.”
She didn’t mean to let him know but it slipped out. He stared at her for a long minute.
“Hang them up!”
He slammed the door.
She didn’t get undressed.
****
Jason ignored the nurses advice and went to the cafeteria, anyway. Nothing looked good to him, so he ended up with coffee and a banana.
Sitting alone in a booth, he thought of Vanessa. He didn’t know what she was going through but he had seen the result. He was torn between fear for her and anger at her abductor.
Jason thought of Rob. He knew that if something like this happened to Sandy, he wouldn’t be able to function. He’d be paralyzed with fear.
He finished a second cup of coffee and threw away his banana peel before heading back up to the third floor. He looked at his watch.
7:15
Vanessa had been missing for nearly 12 hours. He knew that Stephanie Morris had only been missing about 24 hours when the loggers had seen her. Two of the other cases supported the 24 hour window. If this guy kept the same timeline, and there was no reason to think he won’t, Jason had 12 hours left to find her.
****
When he got to the room, Stephanie Morris was sitting up in bed. A tray of half eaten food was on the rolling table next to the bed. Jason lightly knocked on the door. She looked up.
“Yes?”
“May I come in, Miss Morris?”
“Yes. Who are you?”
Jason took a chair next to the bed and opened his pad.
“My name is Detective Jason Strong. Your friend, Brooke Donald reported you missing to me and now I’m trying to find your attacker.”
The mere mention of her ‘attacker’ brought tears to her eyes and she started shaking.
“When you walk the streets, you know something like this can happen but….” She let the sentence trail off.
“I know this will be difficult but I need to ask you some questions.”
“Okay.”
“Did you know your attacker?”
“No.”
“Could you describe him?”
“I guess. I saw his face.”
She shuddered visibly.
“Could you describe him to an artist?”
“I can try. The most obvious thing about him was the birthmark on his face.”
Jason’s hopes began to lift.
“Okay. Will you excuse me a minute?”
She nodded and Jason stepped into the hall. He dialed Lieutenant Patton.
“Patton.”
“Lieutenant, this is Jason. Stephanie Morris is awake.”
“Excellent. Does she know anything?”
“Yes. She said she would do a description for a sketch. Can you get someone over here?”
“I’ll make the call.”
“Thanks.”
Jason hung up and returned to the room. A nurse was there checking on the girl and took the tray away. Jason sat back down.
“We have a sketch artist coming. Are feeling okay to do it?”
“I guess. Can you call Brooke for me?”
“Absolutely.”
Jason put down his pad and looked the number up in his phone. He dialed and Brooke answered on the second ring.
“Hello?”
“Brooke, this is Detective Strong.”
“Hi.”
“I’m sitting here with a friend of yours, perhaps you remember her?”
Jason smiled and Stephanie managed a little smile herself.
“Steph…Is she awake?”
“Yes. Would you like to talk to her.”
He handed the phone to Stephanie and left the room. His questioning could wait a few minutes.
When he returned to the room, Stephanie was off the phone and her eyes were red from crying.
“Thank you.”
“Not a problem. You okay for a few more questions?”
“I think so.”
Jason returned to his chair and retrieved his phone. Pad open, he looked up at Stephanie. He realized that normally, if he had his pad open, Vanessa would be asking the questions. He forced himself to focus.