Page 11 of Save Me
“Okay, so why say anything at all. Tell them what you normally do. Let them assume whatever they want.”
She dipped her chin under the water and then nodded. “Okay.”
“Since we’re on the subject… Want to fill me in on anything else you can remember about the calls?” he asked. Instantly, her eyes and her mood darkened.
Again, he waited while she thought for a moment.
“The voice is deep. Almost… as if he was trying to make it much deeper than it normally is,” she said slowly.
“Okay.” He nodded, making a mental note. “Did he speak with an accent? Southern or… anything you could discern?”
“No. Possibly a slight lisp around the S’s. But… I’ll have to listen for it next time.”
“So, you believe the calls will continue?” he asked.
She nodded quickly. “Without a doubt.” She pushed through the water towards the stairs and the shallower part of the pool. He followed her and they both sat on the shelf area. She hugged her knees to her chest as he leaned back against the wall.
“He’s been pretty steady for the past few weeks,” she finished.
“And you just told my father about the calls today?” he asked. “Why now?”
She glanced over at him. “Do you know how many calls like this I’ve received over the past two years? Sick men thinking what I went through was simply a joke or, worse, a lie told to cover up an affair I’d had. Some even believe there weren’t any murders at all. They think it’s some sort of conspiracy to make the police look bad because…” She dropped off and averted his eyes.
He clenched his back teeth together, remembering standing in the doorway, seeing his partner lying dead on the floor after he’d kidnapped Jamie Garner, the woman who had been kidnapped by Daryl’s half-brother, Scott Alcott a year earlier. Jamie had luckily escaped and in the process had killed Scott.
He remembered the sick feeling when they’d discovered the first body on Alcott’s property after finding Crissy alive in that shipping container. They’d discovered eleven more bodies buried around the grounds in the following weeks and months. Even now, the land around the massive property was still checked thoroughly after storms, just in case something new was unearthed. DNA from both men was found all over most of young woman that had been discovered.
Four of the bodies only had Collins’s DNA, which meant that his partner had kidnapped, raped, and killed four women in the year after his half-brother had gone missing. Crissy had been his fifth victim.
“Well,” he finally said.
“Most of the calls I can brush off… after a while. It shocks me, always does at first.” She looked up into the dark night sky. “But after a while, I convince myself that it’s just someone trying to get a thrill. There are those that love pushing a victim around and”—she quickly glanced in his direction— “I refuse to be a victim again after that day.”
“Good for you,” he said with a nod. “What set this call apart from all those others?”
She turned her face away again and bit her bottom lip. “He knew things that the others didn’t.”
“Such as?” He hated to ask, but he had to know what he was working with. Was this sicko just another man trying to, as she said, push a victim around?
“He knew about my tattoos,” she finally said. His eyes moved to the large floral tattoos on her shoulders. “Not these,” she said, running her fingers over the area.
He glanced at her and frowned. “I don’t see…” His words dropped off when she glanced at him with raised eyebrows, and suddenly he understood. Whatever other tattoos she had were private. “Okay, so it’s someone you’ve been with before?”
She shook her head. “I’ve only been with one man.” She made a strange little gasp and then shook her head as she closed her eyes. “Before…”
He understood again. She’d only slept with her ex-husband, Carl, before being kidnapped and raped by Collins. He instantly wanted to kill his partner again.
“Okay, so… maybe someone who was able to get their hands on a police report?” he suggested, and her face paled.
“They… have pictures of me?”
God! He was an idiot. “Hey…” He reached out to touch her shoulder, but she jerked away and stood up as she wrapped her arms around herself.
“Oh god! Have you seen…”? She shook her head as tears started rushing down her cheeks. “Oh god!” She stumbled to get out of the pool.
He made a move to help her, but she jerked away.
“Don’t!” she said, holding out her hands. “I… can’t…” She shook her head. “Goodnight.” She rushed to gather the towel she’d dropped by the deep side of the pool.
