Читать книгу Once Stalked - Блейк Пирс - Страница 10

It was still dark when Riley’s commercial flight took off. But even with the time change, she knew it would be daylight in San Diego when she got there. She was going to be in the air for more than five hours and she was already feeling quite tired. She had to be fully functional tomorrow morning when she joined Bill and Lucy for the investigation. There would be serious work to do, and she needed to be ready for it.

I’d better get some sleep, Riley thought. The woman seated next to her already seemed to be dozing.

Riley tilted her chair back and closed her eyes. But instead of falling asleep, she found herself remembering Jilly’s play.

She smiled as she recalled how Jilly’s Persephone had bonked Hades over the head and escaped the Underworld to live life on her own terms.

Remembering how she had first found Jilly made Riley’s heart ache. It had been night in a truck stop parking lot in Phoenix. Jilly had run away from a miserable home life with an abusive father and climbed into the cab of a parked truck. She had fully intended to sell her body to its driver whenever he came back.

Riley shuddered.

What would have become of Jilly if she hadn’t stumbled across her that night?

Friends and colleagues had often told Riley what a good thing she’d done by bringing Jilly into her life.

So why didn’t she feel better about it? Instead, she felt pangs of despair.

After all, there were countless Jillys in the world, and very few of them were ever rescued from terrible lives.

Riley couldn’t help all of them, any more than she could rid the world of all vicious killers.

It’s all so futile, she thought. Everything I do.

She opened her eyes and looked out the window. The jet had left the lights of DC behind, and outside there was nothing but impenetrable darkness.

As she peered into the black night, she thought about her meeting that day with Bill, Lucy, and Meredith, and what little she knew about the upcoming case. Meredith had said that the three victims were shot from a long distance by a skilled marksman.

What did that tell her about the killer?

That killing was a sport to him?

Or that he was on some kind of sinister mission?

One thing seemed certain – the killer knew what he was doing, and he was good at it.

The case was definitely going to be a challenge.

Meanwhile, Riley’s eyelids were feeling heavy.

Maybe I can get some sleep, she thought. Again she leaned her head back and closed her eyes.

*

Riley was staring at what looked like thousands of Rileys, all of them standing at odd angles toward each other, becoming smaller and finally vanishing into the distance.

She turned a little, and so did all the other Rileys.

She lifted her arm, and the others did as well.

Then she reached out, and her hand came in contact with a glass surface.

I’m in a hall of mirrors, Riley realized.

But how had she gotten here? And how was she going to get out?

She heard a voice call out …

“Riley!”

It was a woman’s voice, and somehow familiar to her.

“I’m here!” Riley called back. “Where are you?”

“I’m here too.”

Suddenly, Riley saw her.

She was standing directly in front of her, in the midst of the multitude of reflections.

She was a slight, attractive young woman, wearing a dress that looked many decades out of style.

Riley immediately knew who it was.

“Mommy!” she said in a stunned whisper.

She was surprised to hear that her own voice was now that of a little girl.

“What are you doing here?” Riley asked.

“I just came to say goodbye,” Mommy said with a smile.

Riley struggled to understand what was happening.

Then she remembered …

Mommy had been shot to death right before Riley’s eyes in a candy store when Riley was only six years old.

But here Mommy was, looking exactly the same as when Riley had last seen her alive.

“Where are you going, Mommy?” Riley asked. “Why do you have to go?”

Mommy smiled and touched the glass that stood between them.

“I’m at peace now, thanks to you. I can move on now.”

Little by little, Riley started to understand.

Not long ago, she had tracked down her mother’s killer.

He was now a pathetic old vagrant living under a bridge.

Riley had left him there, realizing that his life had been punishment enough for his terrible crime.

Riley reached out and touched the glass that separated her from Mommy’s hand.

“But you can’t go, Mommy,” she said. “I’m just a little girl.”

“Oh, no, you’re not,” Mommy said, her face radiant and blissful. “Just look at yourself.”

Riley looked at her own reflection in the mirror next to Mommy.

It was true.

Riley was a grown woman now.

It seemed strange to realize that she was now much older than her mother had lived to be.

But Riley also looked tired and sad in comparison with her youthful mother.

She’ll never grow any older, Riley thought.

The same was not true for Riley.

And she knew that her world was full of trials and challenges still to be endured.

Was she ever going to get any rest from it? Would she ever be at peace for the rest of her life?

She found herself envying her mother’s timeless, eternally peaceful joy.

Then her mother turned and walked away, disappearing into the infinite tangle of reflections of Riley.

Suddenly there came a terrible crash, and all the mirrors shattered.

Riley was standing in near-total darkness, up to her ankles in broken glass.

She gently pulled her feet out one by one, then tried to make her way through the wreckage.

“Watch your step,” said another familiar voice.

Riley turned and saw a rugged old man with a lined, hard, and weathered face.

Riley gasped.

“Daddy!” she said.

Her father smirked at her surprise.

“You hoped I was dead, didn’t you?” he said. “Sorry to disappoint you.”

Riley opened her mouth to contradict him.

But then she realized he was right. She hadn’t grieved when he had died last October.

And she certainly didn’t want him back in her life.

After all, he’d scarcely ever said a kind word to her in all his days.

“Where have you been?” Riley asked.

“Where I’ve been all along,” her father said.

The scene began to change from a vast expanse of broken glass to become the outside of her father’s cabin in the woods.

He was now standing on the front stoop.

“You might need my help on this case,” he said. “It sounds like your killer’s a soldier. I know a lot about soldiers. And I know a lot about killing.”

It was true. Her father had been a captain in Vietnam. She had no idea how many men he’d killed in the line of duty.

But the last thing she wanted was his help.

“It’s time for you to go,” Riley said.

Her father’s smirk twisted into a sneer.

“Oh, no,” he said. “I’m just settling in.”

His face and body changed shape. In a matter of moments, he was younger, stronger, dark-skinned, even more menacing than before.

He was now Shane Hatcher.

The transformation struck Riley with terror.

Her father had always been a cruel presence in her life.

But she was coming to dread Hatcher even more.

Much more than her father ever did, Hatcher had some kind of manipulative power over her.

He could make her do things that she’d never imagined she’d do.

“Go away,” Riley said.

“Oh, no,” Hatcher said. “We’ve got a deal.”

Riley shuddered.

We’ve got a deal, all right, she thought.

Hatcher had helped her find her mother’s killer. In return, she allowed him to live in her father’s old cabin.

Besides, she knew she owed him. He’d helped her solve cases – but he’d done much more.

He’d even saved her daughter’s life along with that of her ex-husband.

Riley opened her mouth to speak, to protest.

But no words came out.

Instead, it was Hatcher who spoke.

“We’re joined at the brain, Riley Paige.”

Riley was awakened by a sharp jolt.

The plane had landed in the San Diego International Airport.

The morning sun was rising beyond the runway.

The pilot spoke over the intercom, announcing their arrival and apologizing for the bumpy landing.

The other passengers were gathering their belongings and preparing to leave.

As Riley groggily got up and pulled down her bag from the overhead luggage compartment, she remembered her disturbing dream.

Riley was hardly superstitious – but even so she couldn’t help but wonder …

Were the dream and the rough landing somehow portents of things to come?