Part 27 (1/2)

'I will.'

Hilary hung up the phone. She didn't know how to interpret what she'd found. Pam knew Jensen from his years in Fargo, which overlapped with the timeline of the fire. That meant one thing: Gary Jensen was not Harris Bone.

So who was he?

Amy and Pam had both used the same word to describe him. Creepy. Creepy. If Pam was right, the coach also had a history of s.e.xual relations.h.i.+ps with underage girls. If Pam was right, the coach also had a history of s.e.xual relations.h.i.+ps with underage girls.

Like Glory.

Hilary stared at the fuzzy image of Gary Jensen in Amy's photograph. She wished that the phone call with Amy hadn't ended so abruptly.

She wished she knew where Amy was.

Chapter Thirty-Two.

Amy awoke to find that her senses had been stripped. She opened her eyes and saw nothing. She tried to scream, but her mouth was stuffed with a wadded-up cloth that made her cough and choke. When she moved, she found that her wrists and ankles were tightly bound. She was on her back on what felt like a soft mattress. When she turned her head, her brain was still dizzy with pain. She tried to piece her memory together, but her mind was blank, and she struggled in confusion and panic before she remembered Gary Jensen.

He'd done this to her.

He handed her a gla.s.s of wine, and she drank. That was when it all started, when she'd become disoriented. He'd put something in her wine. Stupid, stupid, stupid. She'd heard all the stories about date rape drugs, but she had taken the wine without even thinking about it. She wondered what he'd given her. Ecstasy. GHB. Whatever it was, the effects lingered. She kept feeling her head float away.

Think.

She had no sense of time or how long she'd been lying here. It could have been night or noon outside. She breathed through her nose and tried not to think about the saliva gathering in the back of her throat that made her want to gag. The aroma that she smelled was of flowers and dust. It was the same Victorian home smell from last night, and she realized that she was still inside Gary Jensen's house.

Amy heard the noise of the furnace and felt warm air from a vent near the bed. Outside, as the wind blew, a ghostly rattle sc.r.a.ped across the roof above her. She was upstairs. The noise was caused by tree branches rubbing on the metal gutters. Inside the house, below her, she thought she heard voices. It might have been the radio or television, but she felt the floors shudder, and she knew she wasn't alone. Gary was still in the house with her. She didn't know how much time she had before he returned.

There was no way to free herself. Pulling at the tape on her wrists and ankles only seemed to make it tighter. She tried to spit out the scratchy cloth in her mouth, but tape on her face held the gag in place. The only noises she could make were stifled, guttural groans, and she was afraid the effort would cause her to vomit and choke. In frustration, she squirmed frantically on the bed, struggling against her restraints, and she felt the whole structure lift off the ground and bang on the floor.

s.h.i.+t. He'd heard her. He'd heard her.

Footsteps moved below her, coming closer. She heard him on the stairs. In the hallway. Outside the door. As he came inside, she lay completely still, playing possum with her eyes closed, but she knew she wasn't fooling him. She could sense his presence looming over her. She heard him breathing and smelled the musk of his cologne. He switched on the bedroom light, and she reacted involuntarily, opening her eyes and squinting.

'h.e.l.lo, Amy,' Gary said. His voice was hushed and sounded almost sad. 'I'm glad you're awake.'

She struggled, desperate to escape.

'I'm going to take off the gag now, so we can talk,' he continued. 'Don't scream. No one's going to hear you, and I'll have to get mean, and I really don't want to do that.'

She felt his fingernails on the side of her face, digging under the tape. 'It's better if I do this quickly,' he said. In the same instant, he ripped the tape from her face, and she moaned with the pain of her skin tearing away. He pulled the long ribbon of cloth from inside her mouth, and she gulped air. Her cheeks burned, and she tasted blood in her mouth.

'You f.u.c.king b.a.s.t.a.r.d!' she screamed. 'Let me go she screamed. 'Let me go!'

His palm flew across her face, shocking her into silence with a stinging slap. 'Please don't make this harder than it has to be, Amy.'

'What the h.e.l.l do you want?' she demanded, squirming against the restraints.

Gary dragged a wooden chair from the opposite side of the room and sat down near her. They were in a guest bedroom, dark and brooding like the rest of the house. 'I like you, Amy. I really wish you hadn't put yourself in the middle of this.'

'The middle of what?' Amy asked.

He didn't answer. The back of his fingers caressed her face and under her chin. She turned her head to get away from him, but she couldn't. He touched her lightly with the fingertips of one hand, making a line between her b.r.e.a.s.t.s and then following the slope to her right nipple.

'Stop it,' she hissed.

He let his palm rest on top of her breast. 'I have to tell you, you were one of the girls I fantasized about. I dropped hints, and I always hoped you'd take me up on it.'

'Dream on.'

'Was it because I was older? A lot of girls seem to find that exciting.'

'I'm sure you were a pervert when you were twenty-one, too.'

His fingers tightened until she gasped in pain. 'Be nice, Amy.' He released her from his grip, and she breathed heavily.

'What do you want?' she asked.

'I have some questions for you. Mainly, I just want to know who you told.'

'Told what?'

'For starters, you saw me with Glory Fischer in Naples. Who else knows about that? Who did you tell?'

Amy froze. Her roommate's face flashed in her mind. Katie. Katie. He was going after her. She also remembered - or thought she remembered - making a phone call to Hilary before she collapsed. Oh, G.o.d, what had she done? She'd put them both in danger. He was going after her. She also remembered - or thought she remembered - making a phone call to Hilary before she collapsed. Oh, G.o.d, what had she done? She'd put them both in danger.

'The police,' she said. 'I told the police.'

He chuckled. 'Nice try.'

'It's true. I have a friend who's a Green Bay cop. I told him I was coming here, just in case you did anything.'

'Really? What's his name?'

'You'll find out when he knocks down your door, a.s.shole.'

'That's clever, but he's not coming. You didn't call the police. I want to know who you did tell.'

Amy sighed. 'OK. You win. I didn't tell anyone. No one knew.'

'I'd like to believe you, but I don't.'

'I didn't tell anyone else. I didn't even know I was right, you idiot. You could have lied, and I would have believed you. You didn't have to do this.'

'The hard part is, I know you, Amy,' Gary said. 'I've seen you practice and perform. You're determined. You don't let go of something until you get it right. It doesn't matter what I told you. You wouldn't quit.'