He became aware of the pain, even before he awoke. A fleet of jackhammer’s pounded out the “Anvil Chorus” in his head while thousands of little people in spiked shoes polkaed through the mush that had recently been his brain. Yellow lights like points of ugly, glaring neon pulsed regularly behind his eyelids.
Slowly, carefully, he opened his eyes a little. The blur in front of him resolved itself into his white polo shirt and just below that, his dark blue denim jeans. He felt his chin brushing the soft, slightly fuzzy material.
To either side, his forearms rested comfortably on the broad, flat, wooden arms of the chair he sat in. Curiously, someone had left their belts looped over the chair arms and his wrists.
Raising his head seemed to speed up and intensify the pain but it also helped clear away some of the fog. Inch by inch, he managed to turn his head, taking in the bare gray walls and floor, the single overhead light bulb and the closed door in the right wall.
Futilely, Harm yanked his wrists. The belts he realized now were thick leather straps locking him to the arms of the large wooden chair. Bending over at the waist, he saw his legs, spread slightly, secured to the chair at the ankles with another pair of straps.
Suddenly, the room plunged into darkness. Harm struggled against the leather, adrenaline and fear pounding into his blood and gut.
A light came on in front of him and he found himself looking into another room. On a bed in the center of the other room, Elgin lay on her back, her head resting on a pillow, her arms at her sides. The red sundress in place, even her little red sandals on her feet. But he knew Elgin didn’t sleep on her back, at least not so perfectly posed.
“Noooooo!” he screamed, everything including the pain swept away by the horrible thought that she wasn’t merely sleeping.
The light flashed back on as the door opened.
“She can’t hear you,” Fisher told him calmly.
“I’ll kill you,” Harm snarled, his surprise at Fisher’s appearance erased by his fear for Elgin. The effort made him nauseous and he leaned back, shutting his eyes and gasping for air. A small line of sweat beads formed at his hairline and he prayed his head would explode. At least then the pain would stop.
“Oh, she’s not dead,” he continued. “At least, not yet. Little chloroform to relax her. Get her to come along without makin’ a lot a hoo-hah and spoilin’ everybody else’s Fourth.”
“You left the note for me.”
“Yep. Waited ‘til you were gone and then had the waiter take Ellie a note sayin’ fer her to meet you in the clearin’. Had a blanket and champagne. I knew that’d bring her. When she left, I put the note fer you and followed her. Knew you’d come sniffin’ after her like a hound after a bitch in heat.”
Fisher leaned down into Harm’s face, hate filling his body, twisting his face into a horrible caricature of the kindly old uncle he’d seemed.
“I knew the first time I saw you, you weren’t anybody’s secretary.” The word spit out like an obscenity. “I couldn’t believe my little Ellie’d bring her cheap lay up here and rub everyone’s nose in her dirt.
“Only thing that’s kept me alive all these years was Ellie comin’ home…comin’ back to me. Not that tramp who writes that trash, but my sweet little girl. But the tramp came back and I knew I had to get rid of you and her so I could have my Ellie back.”
“Go ahead and kill me,” Harm answered, trying to keep his voice calm but feeling the fear building inside him, “but don’t hurt Elgin. She’s not to blame.”
“Oh, but she is,” Fisher assured him coldly. “Everything that’s happened is her fault and she’s gonna make up for it before…before I’m finished with her.
“I’m gonna bring her in here and let her see you. Touch you. Talk to you. And I’m gonna tell her that if she does what I want, I’ll let you both go after a while.”
“She’ll know it’s a lie. She’ll know you can’t let either of us live now.”
“Maybe, maybe not. But she’s gonna want to save your skin and hers as well. She’ll do it, believe me.
“Then I’m gonna take her back in that room and she’s gonna strip naked and get in that bed and I’m gonna tie her down and do all the things I’ve dreamed of all those long, lonely nights, years. And you’re gonna sit here and watch me while I take her. Over…and over…and over. Listen to her squeal and scream ‘til she’s too weak to make any more noise.
“And when I’m finished, I’m gonna drag her back in here and make her watch while I kill you.”
Slowly, he reached behind him and pulled out a large, ugly automatic, a forty-five Harm noted almost in passing.
“First the knees.” He pressed the barrel against Harm’s knee and grinned. “Then the thighs. Lots a meat, lots a blood. Then your arms and hands.” The gun moved as he marked his targets.
“Next’ll be your balls. That’s how they do it in the big city gangs. Finally, your gut.” Fisher drove the gun barrel into Harm’s stomach so hard he gasped with pain. “Gut shots take time to die and they hurt like hell. I worked in a hospital once as an orderly. Saw lots a gut shots. When you’re finally gone, I’m gonna put a bullet in Ellie’s head.”
“Someone will miss us at Marty’s,” Harm tried to bluff. “The waiter you had give the note to Ellie will remember you. They’ll come looking.”
“Probably right. But even if someone does miss you, they’ll just think you two snuck off for a little nookie. And if the waiter says I gave him a note, I’ll just say you gave it to me to give to him. Won’t make any difference, though.”
“Why’s that?”
“Because in a day or two, one of the search parties’ll find what’s left of my number eight boat up on ‘Devil’s Fangs.’ Real nasty rocks up toward the north end of the lake. Everybody’ll figure you and Ellie took the boat, got drunk or lost or careless. Out there, they won’t even bother draggin’ for your bodies.”
Elgin stirred and Fisher’s attention focused back on her. “Well, guess it’s about time to get our little party started. You stay right there. I’ll get Ellie and then the three of us can get to know one ‘nother better.”
Harm watched as Elgin gradually came to, Fisher leaning over, trying to talk reassuringly, calmly to her. But by now, she’d figured out that she was his prisoner, not his guest and when she tried to get away, he grabbed her wrists in one big paw, raising his other one and obviously threatening her. Tearfully, she stopped struggling and he dragged her out of sight.
A moment later, the door flew open and Fisher almost threw her at Harm.
“Oh God, Camp!” she cried, clambering into his lap and kissing him. “Are you all right! Oh God, I’m sorry.” Her hands remained behind her back and as she cried into his chest, he saw the glint of handcuffs.
“Shhhh,” he tried to comfort, her tears like acid on his skin. “I’m all right. Shhhhh. Don’t cry, please.”
“I…I don’t understand Camp. What’s happening? What’s going on?”
“He’s the stalker.” The words caught in his throat. Not only had the maniac who’d been terrorizing her turned out to be someone she loved and trusted, he hadn’t been able to save her.
She blinked those beautiful dark eyes in amazed confusion. “I don’t believe you.”
“It’s a lie,” Fisher told her hurriedly. “I’m not no stalker.” His features softened then, his eyes filled with the love and caring that had so carefully hidden the truth.
“I love you, Ellie.” The words she’d longed to hear, soft and warm and real but filling her now, not with joy but with bone chilling fear.
“I’ve always loved you, Ellie. Since you were a little girl. You were so pretty. Remember how we’d go out fishin’ er boatin’ and you’d be in yer little swimsuit er yer T-shirt and cutoffs? How many times did you fall asleep in my lap, lookin’ like a little angel? I wanted you then. Wanted you real bad. Coulda had you more’n once but I knew I had to wait for you.
“God, that summer you were fifteen and a woman’s body and all them horny teenage boys hangin’ around you. I knew then that you were grown and I’d have you when you came back the next year.”
“What about your wife,” Harm asked, a cold picture beginning to form in the back of his mind. “What about Cissy?”
“That was her fault,” he shot back flatly. “I asked her for a divorce. Told her I didn’t love her anymore and that she could have anything she wanted. House. Marina. Whatever. But she wouldn’t hear of it. Said we were married and that she didn’t care about me makin’ a fool a myself over some little slut but she wasn’t gonna be made a laughin’ stock like John Crockett’s wife. I was hers ‘til death do us part.”
“You…you killed Cissy?” Elgin’s eyes grew huge with horror and shock. “You killed her…for me?”
“For us. So we could be together. When you came back the next summer, I was gonna tell you how I felt and enough time’d gone by that people wouldn’t think nothin’ of it.”
The dreamy look faded and something hard took its place.
“Only…only you didn’t come back that next summer. All those years I waited. Thinkin’…plannin’…dreamin’…lovin’. And one day you did come back. Bought Moon’s End and I thought you’d come home to stay. But havin’ you here once in a while was almost worse than not havin’ you here all that time.
“I saw those books you write down at The Mercantile and I knew that ‘Gillian Shelby’ couldn’t be my sweet little angel, Ellie, so the last time you were up here, I followed you when you went home. Back to that big old fancy buildin’ you live in with the fella in the fancy suit openin’ your door for you. It was like it was you but it wasn’t you.”
“So you started sending her things,” Harm picked up, a glimmer of understanding for Fisher and his obsession with Elgin dawning. “Things Ellie would understand like the carnations and the candy and things Gillian would understand like the whip and handcuffs and the lingerie.”
Fisher nodded, the tip of his tongue running along his lips. “I found a program on the internet that let me break into Ellie’s computer. Let me be with her every day, even when I couldn’t actually be in the city with her. Let me know how she spent her days and who she saw and even what that whore, Gillian Shelby wrote.”
“How did you manage to get in the elevator and fondle her ass without her seeing…recognizing you?”
A proud grin lit up his face. “I knew where she was gonna be all the time. I just followed her into the elevator and then elbowed my way to her back. I wasn’t gonna touch her but when I felt her ass through my jeans, I couldn’t help myself. You felt so good and I wanted to take you right there if I could have. When the elevator stopped and people pushed out, I just stood in the corner by the buttons ‘til you thought everyone’d left.”
“And the beggar on the street?”
“He put his filthy hands on Ellie,” Fisher growled. “Scared her. Tore her clothes and hurt her arm. I’d bought two new pair of blue jeans, a pint of whiskey to bring back to Captain Jack and a new carving knife for the concession stand. Everything fell into place. Like God wanted me to get rid of that animal.
“I followed him until he went in the alley. I gave him the whiskey and when he turned around, I pulled out my knife and stabbed him and stabbed him ‘til he stopped twitching. Changed my jeans, wrapped them and the knife in my jacket, went back to my car and drove home. Went out on the lake and threw the jacket, pants and knife in the deepest part.”
“If you loved her so much,” Harm pushed, desperate now to know the whole story, “how could you possibly have tried to kill her? Running her down in the street?”
“I wasn’t tryin’ to kill her,” he insisted, “just scare her so she’d want to come back here…back home to me.”
“What about the man?”
“That was his fault. I saw him hangin’ around her and I wanted him to leave her alone. I woulda missed him clean except he pushed Elgin out of the way and turned back, tryin’ to get a look at me and I swerved.”
“And the night we came back from the fish fry at your house?”
“I wasn’t tryin’ to kill Ellie then, either. I was after you. I knew you’d have to go the long way round to Moon’s End and get out at the gate. Shit, after all the hard cola Ellie’d had, I knew she’d be sound asleep before you got back to the main road. So I jumped in my pickup and took one of the logging road short cuts I know. I waited in the brush ‘til you stopped that big fancy truck of yours and got out. Just snuck up, turned the wheels, put the car in gear and took the emergency brake off. I figured the car’d run you over while you weren’t lookin’ then run into the ditch. Even if it’d run all the way down and into the trees, Elgin wouldn’ta been hurt bad because she had on her seatbelt.”
Fisher took a step toward them. “Guess I’m gonna have to finish the job the old fashioned way.” The gun reappeared.
“No, wait!” Elgin screamed, turning to face him. “Please! Don’t hurt Camp! I’ll…I’ll do anything you want. I’ll stay with you as long as you want. Anything, but please…”
The two men shared a knowing look, a cold smile touching Fisher’s lips.
“I don’t know,” he pretended to ponder. “I mean, if I let him go, how do I know you’ll keep your word?”
“You know me, Jim,” she stammered between sobs. “If you let Camp go, I’ll stay. I promise.”
“What about him though?” He nodded at Harm. “What’s to say he’d even go without you? Or that he wouldn’t come right back with the law?”
She glanced at Harm and then back to Fisher. “He’ll go because I want him to. And even if he does come back with the sheriff, it will be his word against ours. I’ll tell everyone that I’m with you of my own free will. We…we can have the life you always wanted.”
“Elgin,” Harm barked, “don’t be stupid. He’s lying. He can’t afford to let me live because he knows if he does, I won’t leave without you.”
“Make up your mind, Ellie.”
Tears flowed and she buried her face in Harm’s chest again.
“Listen to me,” he whispered, bringing his lips as close to her ear as he could, “and don’t say anything. Just nod if you hear me.” He felt her head move slightly and he took a deep breath. There was nothing left to do but make sure she knew the truth and that she had only one option.
“He’s crazy, Elgin and he’s going to kill me. There’s nothing you can do to prevent it. He intends to take you back into that room and…and rape you.” She shuddered and his arms pulled against the straps in their need to hold her, comfort her. He didn’t want to hurt her, but he had to make her understand the gravity of the situation and how much worse it could get.
“Rape you over and over and make me watch everything. When he’s finished, he’s going to drag you back here and he’s going to kill me…shoot me and make you watch me bleed to death. Then he’s going to kill you. Do you understand, Elgin?”
She nodded again, great sobs wracking her body. Harm felt as if a knife were twisting in his chest, but he had to keep going. There was no other way.
“I don’t mind dying,” he told her softly, his voice catching, his cheek brushing her hair, “except that I won’t be with you. But I’m not afraid. What I couldn’t stand would be to sit here and watch that monster…hurt you. Put his hands, his cock…” His voice faltered as he struggled against the pictures in his mind.
“You have to try and get away.”
Her face rubbed an emphatic “no,” in his shirt.
“I mean it,” he insisted, his voice a harsh whisper. “Let him take you back to the other room. He won’t be expecting you to try anything. Look for something to use as a weapon…your nails or fists or feet if that’s all you have. Remember how you took down the homeless guy. Just let yourself go and you can do it.”
“I won’t leave you,” she mumbled.
“You have to. I want you to. You mean more to me than my life. I could die if I knew you were safe. And if you get away, you can make sure Fisher’s punished for everything he’s done. If we both die, he gets away with it all.”
“Don’t ask me…”
“I’m not asking, I’m pleading. Please try to escape. For me.”
Elgin raised her head and blinked back the tears. His face brushed against hers, their tears running together. “I love you, Elgin.”
As their lips touched, Fisher grabbed her and pulled her away. “Leave her alone,” he bellowed, the back of a giant hand catching Harm’s face at the jaw line, the rough knuckles traveling across his mouth like steel. A trickle of blood trailed from the corner of his mouth down to his chin.
“Come on,” Fisher ordered, yanking Elgin by the elbow toward the door. He dragged her next door, pushing her to the bed in full view of the window. Releasing her from the handcuffs, he stood back, almost drooling with anticipation.
“Okay now, strip. Nice and slow for me and your secretary.”
Elgin glanced up at the window. She couldn’t see him but she could feel Harm in the darkness.
Fear engulfed her and she felt as if she were drowning, her heart pounding, her lungs starved for air. A wave of nausea and she thought for a moment she’d be sick or even pass out.
“Now!” The sharp edge of his voice hit her like a physical slap.
All right, she thought, fighting to regain the upper hand of her mind and body, calm down. Think. Our lives depend on you keeping your head.
Trembling, Elgin forced herself to look up, her gaze sweeping the small area in front of her. The slightly rumpled bed. A small wooden nightstand with drawer and an open shelf. Her already racing heart felt as if it would explode in her chest at what she saw.
A vibrator, a little bigger than a regular flashlight lay on the shelf. Cream-colored plastic, a large round knob on one end. From the look of it, Elgin knew it was hard, solid, powered by at least two “C” batteries. If she could take him by surprise…
“Strip!” he barked again, “now.”
Slowly, Elgin reached for the button holding the thin strap that crossed over her shoulder and connected to the front of her sundress, just above her breast. She never took her eyes off the vibrator, her mind churning.
She’d have to make a grab for it. How far? Not more than a foot, eighteen inches perhaps, but almost at her knees.
“Turn around,” he ordered.
As slowly as she dared, Elgin turned toward him, inching backwards as she did so. Hopefully, he wouldn’t notice anything but her front.
Her shaking fingers fumbled with the button a little more. She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t do this.
The beggar had been a fluke, a purely instinctive reaction, requiring no thought. This meant life and death, literally and had to be planned as carefully as possible in the blink of time she had.
Perhaps if she gave him what he wanted…
His eyes riveted on her breasts, a cold mesmerized look in those now alien eyes, his face filled with naked, animal lust. He wasn’t Jim Fisher anymore. He’d become a predator whose only satisfaction would come from blood and pain and death.
With agonizing slowness, Elgin put a hand behind her, fingers stretching, searching blindly until they brushed the front of the nightstand. Fisher, still focused on the dress, didn’t seem to notice.
The button gave way and her strap slipped off her shoulder and down her back. He swallowed hard, the tip of his tongue just barely visible between his lips. The predator, having stalked her for so long, enjoying the last moments of the hunt before striking for the kill.
She moved her fingers to the other button, watching his eyes as they followed her.
With a last deep breath, Elgin popped the button. The strap fell, lowering the top of her dress and revealing a flash of breast. Pretending to collapse, she bent backwards, clutching the nightstand as if to catch herself from falling. Almost by themselves, the fingers of her right hand wrapped themselves tightly around the vibrator and she swung her body slightly so that her back stood to him, hiding her makeshift weapon.
“Ellie,” he yelped as he came to her. “Are you all right?”
A last dizzy second before she felt his hand on her shoulder, strangely gentle as he turned her. In his eyes, she thought she saw a flicker of concern.
With all the force terror fueled adrenaline could give her, Elgin brought the vibrator up almost from the floor, her arm rising as she turned, swinging an arc as she came.
Plastic shattered with a sickening “thud,” shards splintering, the knob exploding in a spurt of blood, batteries flying like tiny missiles. Impact waves shuddered through her hand, arm and shoulder as the vibrator connected with Fisher’s temple.
Startled, he released her and stepped back, the gun slipping from his hand, bouncing once off his heavy boot and skittering under the bed. Putting his hand to the gash in slow motion, he instantly pulled it away, looking first at the blood and then at her, apparently shocked by Elgin’s attack.
Oh God, she thought, frozen now with panic. She hadn’t finished him; even knocked him out. She’d only wounded the crazed animal.
Fisher’s mouth moved a little but no sound came out. Blood poured down his face, filling his left eye and dripping from his chin.
Wordlessly, he collapsed, twisting slightly as he fell face down almost at her feet, sprawled like huge sleeping bear.
She stood for a few seconds, paralyzed by terror and disbelief. Perhaps she’d killed him.
Camp!
The thought snapped her back to reality. Not able to take her eyes off the body almost blocking her path, she managed to tiptoe around him and dash out the door.
“Elgin!” Harm screamed as she crossed the room to him. “For God’s sake, get out of here. Run. Now.”
“Not without you,” she answered firmly, starting to unbuckle the first of two small straps holding the larger one in place.
“Don’t argue, damn it! I’m telling you to get out. Call the police. I’ll be fine ‘til you get back.”
Abruptly, Elgin stood up and glared at him.
“Campbell Harm, did you mean it when you said you loved me?” she asked angrily.
“This is not the time…”
“Did you meant it?” she repeated.
“Of course I meant it,” he replied, totally exasperated that she’d pick now to discuss the subject. “I didn’t want to die and not tell you how I feel.”
“And if I was tied in that chair, would you leave me?”
“Elgin…”
“Would you?”
“Of course not,” he yelled, “but that’s not…”
She grinned down at him.
“Of course it’s the same thing,” she finished. “I love you, too. So why don’t you stop wasting precious time acting like a macho horse’s ass and let’s get the hell out of here.”
Bending down, she kissed his lips quickly and went back to the buckles.
“As soon as I get your hand free, I’ll start on your ankles while you free your other hand.” The second buckle opened, releasing him.
Instantly, she dropped to her knees as he began working on his other wrist.
“By the way, that was pretty clever with the vibrator.”
“You’d be utterly amazed at how inventive I can be with my sex toys, given the proper motivation.” Elgin laughed as the last strap came off this ankle.
Standing up, he grabbed her hand, helping her to her feet as they embraced tightly and kissed passionately.
“Really? I guess I’ll have to file that for future reference. In the meantime, I think you’re right about getting the hell out of here.” Grabbing her hand, they ran to the door.
Besides the two small rooms, there was only a large, windowless area, dirty gray cinderblock walls and some old cardboard boxes and trunks strewn around. In the far left-hand corner rose a flight of rickety wooden steps.
“Come on.”
Crossing the room, Harm took a last look back to make sure they weren’t being followed, pushed Elgin in front of him and they raced up the stairs. The door at the top flew open and they found themselves in a small pantry area leading to a large, country style kitchen.
“This is Jim’s house,” Elgin told him, turning her head in all directions to take in the familiar room. “Cissy and I used to make chocolate chip cookies in here and then the three of us…Jim and Cissy and I would go out on the deck and drink milk and eat cookies and laugh. Sometimes we’d even go up to the meadow across the road and catch fireflies at night.”
A pleasant childhood memory flickered in her mind, wiping away the horror of the present moment. It hurt him to bring her back but they didn’t have any time.
“Elgin, where does he keep his car keys?”
She looked at him blankly for a moment, the child Elgin caught between the familiar and the foreign. It took her a second to get back.
“Uh…probably in his pocket. He keeps them with him until he gets ready for bed at night.”
“Damn! That means he’s probably got the SUV keys too.” Harm took a deep breath and stood silent. “Okay, where’s the phone? We’ll call the police, tell them what’s going on and then head for the nearest neighbor.”
“It…it used to be on a little table by the sofa in the living room. The sheriff and his deputies are probably all out directing traffic and doing crowd control for the fireworks and all the neighbors around here are probably down at the fireworks too.” Harm could hear the panic creeping into her voice.
“It’s all right. When they hear what’s going on, I’m sure they’ll send someone. And if we don’t find any neighbors home, maybe we can find an unlocked car I can hotwire. We can’t stay here.”
Nodding, she turned and they ran into the living room, Elgin leading the way to the phone. It was an old-fashioned thing, heavy and black with a rotary dial. Harm grabbed up the receiver and reached for the dial. Instead, a look of confusion and uncertainty clouded his face and he pounded the small black receiver hook several times.
“What’s wrong?”
“I don’t know. I picked up the phone, got a dial tone and…and then it just went dead.”
Terror showed again in Elgin’s eyes, the color draining from her face.
“Let’s go,” he ordered, throwing down the receiver, grabbing her arm and taking a step toward the front door, all it seemed to her in one fluid motion.
Something roared behind them; a great, enraged Grizzly howl that filled the room with its deafening power, freezing them in mid-stride.
Instinctively they turned to the roar, fear washing over them like the massive sound waves.
A creature that had once been Jim Fisher stood just in the kitchen door. Fury shook his body, now covered in his own blood, one eye swollen shut, the automatic like a child’s toy in his huge paw.
“Bitch!” he screamed. “Whore! Tramp!”
Harm edged himself between her and the monster.
“It’s over Fisher,” he bluffed calmly. “I called 9-1-1 before you pulled the plug. The sheriff will be here any minute.”
“Liar!” he bellowed. “Thief! Whoremonger! You didn’t call anyone. But you’re right…it is over for the both of you. I don’t care about having you anymore, you faithless harlot. You teasing, heartless cunt. You’re not my Ellie…you’re that dirty book writer, Gillian Shelby. I can’t believe that I was taken in by you and your sweet smile and warm caress.
“I’m going to kill this pretty little cock of yours just the way I said. One piece at a time. Then I’m going to choke the life out of you with my bare hands.”
The room seemed to lurch suddenly, swaying with a dizzying wobble, Elgin’s knees growing too weak to hold her up, her stomach turning Olympic caliber back flips. She wanted to be sick, to pass out, to scream. All of them seemed to be running through her at once, vying for first chance.
And then the fireworks started. A loud bang and a little bug whizzed by her ear, so close she could hear the whine of it going by. Another explosion and a dart of fire. Elgin could feel the room spinning like a top. Disoriented, she heard firecrackers popping behind her and a crack like shattering glass. The acrid smell and faint haze of smoke filled her lungs. Crowd noises as the fireworks built to a climax. Screams and shouts. People pushing past her. Camp going down on his knees to give her a better view.
“Elgin?”
“Marty?”
“Are you all right, Dear?” he asked anxiously, taking her shoulders and looking her up and down. “You aren’t hurt are you?”
“No…I think I’m all right…” She cocked her head quizzically to one side, the reality of his sudden presence just sinking in. “What are you…?”
Behind him, Chad knelt on the kitchen floor beside two long, denim-clad legs.
A soft moan at her feet attracted her attention. Looking down, she saw Tom although it looked like him but different somehow. Instead of his slow movements and slightly disconnected speech, he squatted beside Camp, ripping his red shirt, speaking quickly, decisively and…
Camp’s shirt was white. And why was he lying on the floor?
Screaming, she dropped to her knees, tears flowing like the blood from the hole in his chest, streaming down his side and spreading on the highly polished wooden floor and being absorbed by her dress.
“Shhh,” Harm soothed, reaching for her hand and bringing it softly to his lips. “It’s okay.”
“Camp!”
“Shhh,” he repeated. With a grin, he moved his head in Tom’s direction. “Elgin Collier, I’d like you to meet Charlie Simons. Charlie, this is the beautiful lady I’ve been telling you about.”
“Miss Collier,” Charlie responded politely. “Camp’s told me a lot about you.”
“Charlie? But I thought your name was Tom.” Confusion mingled with panic about Harm, the lingering terror of Fisher and relief at the unexpected, dramatic arrival of the trio. “I…I don’t understand. What’s going on?”
Chad came up behind Charlie and handed him several folded dishcloths. As he took them, he glanced into the other man’s solemn face. Almost imperceptibly, he moved his head from side to side. Charlie nodded ever so slightly and returned to Harm.
“I work with Camp,” he explained, rolling three of the cloths together and pressing them to Harm’s chest. “He sent me up here before you arrived to scout things out and get settled in. Become part of the scenery so I could keep an eye on all our players without attracting attention.
“Here, press down as hard as you can.” Taking her hands, Charlie crossed them and put them on the towel. “Lean on it. You’re not going to break anything and we need to stop or at least slow down the bleeding.”
Rising, he grabbed his cell phone from his pocket and went into the kitchen.
“Apparently,” Marty continued, “Chad, Fisher and I became the prime suspects. Mr. Simons tells me that my summer houseboy, Ernesto, is actually one of Mr. Harm’s agents. Pity. Wonderful young man and very efficient. I’d planned to keep him on after Labor Day.”
“And,” Chad added, “it turns out my housekeeper, Mary, works for Mr. Harm as well.”
“Mr. Simons only attended my party to watch Fisher and to keep a pre-arranged meeting with Harm. When he discovered you both gone and being unfamiliar with most of the people there, he had no choice but to reveal himself to me and ask for my help in determining if anyone else had gone missing.
“Having already discovered that your ‘secretary’ was in fact a private detective and that both of you might be in grave danger, I made a quick circuit of my guests. I discovered Fisher gone and that he’d given one of my waiters a note to give you. Well, it didn’t take Sherlock Holmes to figure it out.”
“I saw Tom and Marty huddling and looking worried,” Chad picked up the story, “so I decided to see what they were up to. Followed them to Marty’s den where I eavesdropped and found out everything including the fact that Fisher might be a homicidal stalker.”
“Broke in,” Marty smiled. “Demanded to be part of the posse.”
“But why didn’t you just call the sheriff?” Elgin asked, glancing up from the towels now starting to turn red.
“Because as Mr. Simons pointed out,” Marty answered, “we had no way of knowing if Fisher actually had you and if he did, where he might be holding you. Not to mention that if he had abducted you, the sight of police cars might have caused him to do something drastic. So we decided to reconnoiter as it were. Since this place is only about ten minutes from my house, it seemed the logical place to start.”
“And Jim?” she asked timidly.
Marty sighed, glancing from Chad to Elgin and back again. “We could see through the window Fisher was armed,” he replied quietly. “Fortunately, so was Mr. Simons. He broke the window, shouted at Fisher to drop his gun and put up his hands. Fisher fired and Mr. Simons returned.” He stopped, looking again at Elgin, the pain of his story evident in his face. “Before we could do anything, he put the gun to his head and pulled the trigger.”
“Oh!” Her eyes went immediately to his body sprawled on the floor. Unaccountably, after everything that had happened, she could only remember her lifelong friend, Jim and the tears started anew, Harm running his fingers lightly up and down her arm, powerless to comfort her.
Charlie reappeared, pale and drawn. Quickly crossing the living room, he knelt by Harm, wadding up more towels.
“How you doing?” he asked, smiling thinly and replacing the soaked towels.
“Other than it hurts like hell?” Harm managed.
“We have to get him to a hospital,” Elgin sobbed.
“Yeah, well you’re gonna have to hold a little longer, Pard. We’ve got a problem.”
“What do you mean, ‘a problem?’” Marty leaned down slightly.
“9-1-1 says there’s a major smash up on the north end of the lake. Chain reaction. At least ten, twelve cars. Most of the sheriff’s deputies are either on scene or stuck in the traffic trying to get there. Only ambulance and paramedics on this side of the lake are up there too. They’re trying to get another team up there from West Shore right now. And the Life Flight ‘copter from West Lake is making an emergency flight to the coast with a kidney for a transplant.”
“What about a local doctor?” Chad ventured. “Surely there must be someone on this side of the lake?”
“I’m afraid not,” Marty shook his head. “We’ve been trying to get a doctor up here for years. I’ve offered to build and furnish a clinic and pay a doctor myself but there’s such a shortage and we just can’t afford to compete with big cities and rich suburbs.”
“Then let’s put him in my car and take him to West Shore.”
“According to the dispatcher, the fireworks traffic is a solid jam all around the lake. Who knows how long it might take to get there.” Charlie glanced down at Harm. “Don’t worry, Camp. We’ll think of something.”
“I know.”
They lapsed into silence, watching as the stains on the towels grew larger.
Suddenly, Marty snapped his fingers and dug into his slacks for his phone. “I think I might have an idea.” He punched a speed dial button and waited a few seconds.
“What…?”
Marty held up a finger and spoke quickly into the phone. “Paul? It’s Marty. Listen, I don’t have any time to explain. Is ‘The Monkey’ ready to go?”
“Yes, sir,” the boatman answered. “In fact, everyone’s boarded. We’re just waiting for you so we can cast off.”
“Get everyone off the boat…now…and get her up to the dock in front of Jim Fisher’s place as quickly as you can.”
“I don’t understand…”
“There’s nothing for you to understand,” Marty snapped, an authority in his voice that Elgin had never heard before. “I’m your boss and I’m giving you an order. Tell everyone that we won’t be going out on the lake for the fireworks this year but that the deck and grounds afford an excellent view of the show. I want ‘The Monkey’ up here and I want her up here now!”
“Yes sir. We’ll be there in about ten minutes.”
Snapping the phone off, Marty looked at the others. “She’s the fastest thing on the lake,” he told them. “Now, how do we get Mr. Harm down to the dock?”