Page 25 of Kidnapped in Dark Waters
“Dominique, what’s wrong?” he asked, all lingering vestiges of sleep falling away.
“Please…just come here as soon as you can,” she replied and then hung up.
He jumped up from the chair and shoved his cell phone into his back pocket. He then hurried into the kitchen where he strapped on his shoulder holster, grabbed his keys and then raced out of his apartment.
He didn’t know what was going on, but he had never heard her sound the way she had. It was obvious something had tremendously upset her and all he wanted to do was get to her as quickly as possible.
He drove as fast as he could, given the other traffic on the road. What on earth had happened to her? He couldn’t imagine and he refused to allow his imagination to roam free. He just needed to get to her as soon as possible and find out what was going on.
It didn’t take him long to reach the swamp’s entrance, where he jumped out of his car and headed in. He moved quickly along the paths that were now fairly familiar to him.
It seemed like it took him forever but he finally reached her bridge and raced across it to her front door. “Dominique, it’s me,” he called out.
He heard her unlock the door and then it opened and she half collapsed into his arms. Her sobs tore at his heart as he held her tight for several long moments. At least she didn’t appear physically hurt.
He moved her farther inside and then closed the door behind them and led her to the sofa. She remained clinging to him as she continued to weep.
“Hey, hey,” he said softly as he caressed her up and down her back in an effort to comfort her. He gazed around the room to see if anything looked amiss. But the room was as neat and tidy as it always was. “What’s happened? Tell me what’s going on, Dominique.”
She finally released her hold on him and sank down on the sofa. He sat next to her as she drew several deep breaths in an obvious effort to get her tears under control.
“I—I was walking back here a-after work,” she began. Although the sobs had finally stopped, tears still oozed from her eyes. “I wasn’t paying a-attention. Th-that was my mistake because I never heard him come up behind me.”
Her words instantly made all of Luke’s muscles tense and a chill walked up his spine. He reached for her hand and she grasped his tightly, as if it was a lifeline. She released a deep, shaky breath and stared down at the coffee table as she continued to speak.
“He came up behind me and pulled what felt and smelled like a burlap bag over my head. Oh Luke, I was so terrified. For a moment I just froze. As he tried to pull the big bag down farther on my body, I fumbled in my purse and managed to grab my knife. I started stabbing out all around. I guess he didn’t expect me to have any kind of weapon.”
The words now tumbled from her, nearly tripping over each other as she continued to relay what had happened to her. Her fingers squeezed together with his even tighter as tears once again filled her eyes.
“I… I think I managed to stab him somewhere because he let out a low grunt. I kicked and stabbed and tried desperately to get the bag off of me. I fought as hard as I could and then I heardhim running away. I pulled the bag off my head and tried to get a look at who it was, but he was already gone.”
She released his hand and instead swiped at her tears, then finally gazed at him. The fear was still in the depths of her eyes and her lips trembled slightly. “I don’t know if he wanted to rape me, kill me or kidnap me.”
He reached out and gently drew a thumb across her cheeks to wipe away the last of her tears. His heart still thundered in his chest with fear for her. “Thank God you managed to fight him off, Dominique,” he said. “And now I need to call Daniel. We need to make an official police report of this.”
She nodded and he pulled his phone from his pocket to make the call. Dominique looked so small, so fragile half curled up in the corner of the sofa. All he really wanted to do was hold her and comfort her until the residual fear was gone from her beautiful eyes.
Once he made the call to Daniel, he did just that. He reached out and pulled her into his embrace. She came willingly into his arms. They didn’t speak. He just held her and occasionally he felt a small shiver go through her body.
She finally moved out of his arms and leaned back against the sofa. “I just can’t believe this happened to me.”
“Thank God you managed to get your knife out of your purse,” he replied.
“If I hadn’t, he would have had me.” She wrapped her arms around herself, and once again looked small and vulnerable. She sat there for a long moment and then got up. “I’m going to go change out of my work clothes. I’ll be right back.”
As she left the living room and disappeared into her bedroom, Luke leaned back and released a deep sigh. Who had attacked her? It had to have been whoever had left her the note. Unfortunately, Clay had been unable to pull any prints from it.
You will belong to me.
The words now took on a far more ominous meaning. Whoever had written the note had been the man who had attacked her, Luke was sure of that. It had been a very bold move considering it had taken place in the middle of the afternoon and other people could have been around.
However, surely if anyone had seen her being attacked, the person would have come to help her. The fact that nobody had come to her aid let him know there were probably no witnesses to the assault.
She came back into the living room, now clad in a housedress that was dark with light blue flowers. It appeared there were snaps that ran from the neckline to the bottom of the garment. It skimmed her body and she looked beautiful and casual in it, except for her eyes. They remained dark and haunted with fear.
“Feel better?” he asked.
She nodded and returned to the sofa. At that moment there was a knock on the door. “I’ll get it,” Luke said and got up. He assumed it was Daniel and he was right. Clay was with him, along with Roger Teasdale, another day cop.
