Chapter Fifteen
Katherine felt as if there were no more tears left, as if she had cried her last one. She had already run all the gamut of emotions and felt empty. Her intense fear was replaced by the knowledge that her death was imminent. How long had it been since those ruffians had left her here to die...alone? Did or could Charles have brought them what they wanted in time or had they any intention of letting him know where she had been hidden?
The tide was coming in. She knew that without seeing the black water rising against the narrow ledge on which she had been left. No moonlight permeated this coffin. There was only the faint glimmer of light on the distant water visible through the narrow openings that could be seen from her precarious perch.
Kathy thought back to the events of the past few days. Less than a week ago, she had been safe, secure, perhaps alone without a companion, without much happiness in her future, but at least with a lengthy future in sight. Why hadn't she insisted on knowing more about Charles as the man he was now? Why did she allow him to keep this secret that was now endangering her life? And of secrets, she hadn't yet shared her own. What about Beth; there were so many unsaid things. Now she wasn't sure if she would see another dawn. Could this be revenge from Frank? Was this his way of punishing her for betraying his memory? How terrible to suffocate in the cold water and salty at that. Stop, Kathy, she admonished herself. What did it matter how the water tasted? She would soon be unable to know the difference, not tasting or even breathing at all. If there were only something she could do...
Ridiculous thoughts of television programs where the hero or heroine managed to get out of any situation popped into her head. “Okay, MacGyver," (thinking of one of her favorite heroes) "tell me how to get out of this one.""Don't give up," came her answer." You haven't even tried to assess your circumstances. You're just giving up, planning your death and how your family will accept it."
"Yeh, right," she thought back, "at least you had some chance with your hands free. All you had to do was use your mind. Even with my mind, how can I get loose from these?"
"Water, rope, water, tape, think Kathy."
Katherine leaned toward the ocean spray as far as she could. If the tape got wet enough.... At least she could scream for help and in a cave, the sound could reverberate. Maybe some of those people who had been watching the rescue were still near. Her mouth soon soaking, she bent forward against the rock and attempted to adhere the piece of tape to the rock. One more time, she kept telling herself, one more time. Why didn't it work? Finally an edge stuck to the rock and she pulled back quickly. No luck. All the tape did was loosen from the rock. Again. Again. She knew it would hurt when it was pulled from her mouth, but oh, to be able to speak and scream. Maybe she wouldn't get loose in time, but she would not go down without a fight.
"Ow, ow, ouch," the involuntary yell came forth as the tape was finally wrenched from the tender skin around her mouth. Oh, that hurt, but it felt so good. "Help, help" she screamed over and over. It didn't matter that she wasn't heard. She was trying. Kathy would not give up. Now for the ropes. If they got wet, they could stretch, maybe. Was that they way it worked in the movies? Or did the wet rope tighten. She couldn't recall. The only problem seemed to be that they were already wet and getting wetter as the tide kept coming in relentlessly. If they were supposed to, they did not stretch enough.
"A rock," she shouted aloud. If only she could find some little sharp rock upon which she could force the rope and work it back and forth until it broke. That happened in every shoot-em-up she had ever seen. But the waves had taken away every little rock within its power. There were none she could feel or see anywhere near. That big rock; surely there had to become sharp corner, somewhere within reach. If only there were more light than the already dimming flashlight....
There she went with those words again. If only...
If only she hadn't run into Charles again. If only he hadn't been involved in something so dangerous. What could it be and then, what did it matter? If only those men hadn't chosen her to grab for their ransom. If only that stupid idiot hadn't chosen that time to run his truck off the cliff.
"Kathy, enough with the 'if only's. If only you don't get free soon, you'll only be drowning in more than your sorrows and very soon." Leaning her face forward toward the rock, she tried to feel with her cheeks as well as her bound hands for some sharpness in the rock. There, she did feel something at her ankle level. She didn't know what good it would do to get her feet unbound, but it would be accomplishing something constructive. Positioning the ankle rope over the sharp rock, she began moving back and forth. The rope was beginning to tear.
The cold menacing water was rising higher, she was sure now and there was a lot less time than she had anticipated. It sounded as if it were just below the ledge, like a mythical creature reaching up to pull her down to its depths.
"This isn't fair,” she spoke aloud. "I need more time.”How much more time did she have Kathy wondered. Soon the water would come up and over the rock. How long would it be before the waves would threaten to smother her? Would she ever be found and would her daughter understand what had happened to her and why?
Beth? Jesey? How would they re-act to losing their mother so soon after their father? How would her girls manage? There was the small bank account and the college funds. Suppose those men don't tell anyone where I am. I may never be found. The girls won't even know I died, only that I disappeared. What a mess that will leave for them. Kathy hadn't even changed her will since Frank's untimely death and would a will work if her body wasn't discovered? Her daughters were not really old enough to manage on their own. They wouldn't even be able to sell the house, perhaps not even live in it. There were no relatives to help them. Would they be able to get jobs and complete schooling? How terrible it would be to not know whether their mother were alive or dead. She began to cry. "It's not fair," she called out to the darkness. "Charles, you rotten...." she didn't know what she wanted to call him at that moment. It was his fault she was there. His fault that her daughters would lose their mother and not know anything. That man had never been anything but a problem to her. Well, at least she would have some revenge. He would never know that he had fathered a wonderful daughter. Katherine was the only one who knew and she would not be around to tell him. Even if by chance she did survive, she knew she would never let him know. It would serve him right for his entanglement in whatever was his involvement. How could he have changed so much?
"Charles, I hate you." she screamed out to the shadows. "If I ever get loose from here, I'm going to...."
The cold black water seemed to be rising, the mythical monster lapping against the rock. It was coming after her, the harbinger of death to take her lifeless body into the depths. She struggled harder. There was so little time.