Breaker's Reef

  The girl turned around then and looked fully into Sadie’s face. She looked even younger now, with the smeared black makeup gone. “Your sister? Oh, yeah. You do look like her.”

  “Then you did see her?”

  Tina looked toward the door again, as if certain someone was listening. “We all saw her. You couldn’t miss those two. They looked like little preppies bopping up in here, perfectly innocent, like they expected to order room service and go for a swim.”

  Sadie lowered to her bed. “Did you talk to them at all?”

  “Yeah, once.” The girl’s voice lowered almost to a whisper. “I kind of passed out in my doorway, and they got me a glass of water.”

  Sadie’s heart twisted. “They helped you?”

  “Yeah, sort of. The one did, the one that looks like you. The other one acted like she was afraid she’d catch a disease just standing on my carpet.”

  “What did they say?”

  The girl’s eyes glazed over as she stared at her memory. “The one—Amelia—said she’d get me some food or take me somewhere. I told her I was fine. I told them they didn’t belong here, that it was dangerous for somebody like them. They just went on to their room. They should have listened.”

  “Why were they in danger?”

  Tina laughed then. “Are you blind? Haven’t you seen the people who live here? They were targets in the first ten minutes after they got here. They went to their room, all stiff, like they were scared to death. These dudes who live here, they smell fear, like animals.” She walked to her doorway, looked out. “Oh, man, what are they doing here?”

  Sadie stood up and looked past her. She saw a police car pulling into the parking lot. She might have known Cade would send someone to make sure she’d left. She stepped back into the shadow of the room. “I think they’re looking for me.”

  Tina turned around. “You in trouble?”

  “No. They just didn’t want me here. Chief Cade is my friend. He’s a little protective.”

  Tina watched out the door. “He’s gone now. Just drove through and looked around.”

  Sadie peeked out the window into the parking lot below. She saw the squad car pulling back into traffic, and relaxed.

  “Must be nice to have people looking out for you. Even if they are cops.”

  Sadie supposed that was true … most of the time. “Listen, the manager told me Marcus Gibson was here, snooping around.”

  “Yeah, talk about a weirdo.”

  “Was he here that day? Did you ever see him talking to the girls?”

  “No, not that day. But the way he crept around, he could have been here without my noticing.”

  “Did he ever threaten anyone or hurt anybody?”

  “No. He seemed harmless enough, until all this happened.”

  “You said they smelled fear. Was he one of the ones you meant?”

  “No, not him. People who live here.”

  “Who? I need names.”

  She grunted. “I’m not giving you names.”

  “Is it the men who are out there right now?”

  The girl turned away. “You’re crazy. You should go now.”

  Sadie touched the girl’s arm and tried to turn her back around. “Tell me about the girls getting into the car with two guys. What did you see?”

  Tina jerked her arm away and went to get a cigarette out of a glittery handbag with Audrey Hepburn’s face on the side. “Okay,” she said on a whisper. “I’ll tell you what I told the cops. I saw them with these two guys walking out to a car and getting into it. I didn’t see their faces, just the backs of their heads. Could have been anybody around here.”

  “What kind of car did they get into?”

  “Hey, it was dark. I didn’t see. Little boxy car, four doors. Dark colored, I think. I remember it rattled when it pulled away.”

  “Did you see which direction they drove?”

  “No, I didn’t think much of it, so why would I watch?”

  Sadie got up and went back to the doorway, peering out over the rail to the parking lot below. “Can you think of anybody else that was out that night, anyone who might have seen them? Somebody who might have gotten a look at the guys’ faces?”

  “No. We’ve all been talking ever since. I haven’t heard of anybody else who saw that.”

  Sadie wanted to write it down, but she didn’t want Tina thinking of her as a reporter again. She looked up at her, and noted the look of hopeless vacancy. “Can I ask you one more question?”

  Tina shrugged. “Not like I can stop you.”

  “Do you know the guy Nate who lives on the end down there, next to where Amelia and Jamie were staying?”

  She turned away and put her cigarette out. “Yeah, I know Nate.”

  “What can you tell me about him?”

  “He’s just another doper,” she said in a low voice. “It wasn’t him.”

  “How do you know? You said you couldn’t see their faces.”

  The girl pulled open a drawer, began searching through her wadded clothes for something. “It wasn’t him, okay? He has a walk.”

  Sadie watched her. Why was Tina so nervous talking about Nate? The girl finally found what she was looking for—another pack of cigarettes. She pulled out the cigarette and lit up as she looked Sadie over.

  “You ever get high?”

  Sadie thought of those days when dope was readily available in her own home, when methamphetamine was going out as fast as other drugs were coming in. She’d experimented a couple of times, trying to escape the life in which she was trapped.

  She hated the memory of it.

  “No, I don’t get high.”

  “Smart girl.” Tina leaned back against the wall, blowing her smoke up toward the ceiling. “I used to be like you.”

  Sadie just looked at her feet.

  “You’re all clean and prissy and probably think you’re so much better than me. But if you came from the kind of place I came from, you’d be where I am right now.”

  Sadie had come from such a place. “We all have choices. It’s not too late for you, Tina. You can still turn around. I know some people who would take you in if you didn’t have a place to go.”

  Tina laughed and brandished a hand across her room. “And leave all this? Are you kidding me? No thanks.”

  Sadie thought of walking out, but something about the girl’s demeanor made her stay. She pulled her notepad out, jotted down her own name and the phone number for Hanover House. “Look, if you need help or decide that you want to turn your life around, call me at this number, okay? If I’m not there, talk to anybody who answers. Tell them I gave you the number. They can help you. I promise they can. I came here a lot like you—my mom was in prison and her boyfriend had taken over our house with his meth lab. I came to Cape Refuge all beaten up with a broken arm and bruises all over me … and Morgan Cleary found me and took me in. I was underaged too, but she didn’t send me back home. I’ve lived there for a year and a half now, and they’ve helped me change my life. It’s what they do. Most of the people who live there are right out of prison, all of them have drug problems—”

  “I can’t afford a rehab program.”

  “There’s no cost. Christian people donate money to keep the house going. God uses them to rescue people like you all the time.”

  “I’m a crack addict.” The girl lifted her chin almost proudly as she said it. “You don’t know what that’s like. You can kick it, think you’re over it, that you’ve got it under control. But then your mind tricks you into believing that you can’t do without it or you’ll die, and when you get like that, you’ll sell your grandmother’s pacemaker to get a fix. In fact, you’ll sell whatever you’ve got.”

  Sadie knew the girl had been peddling herself for that fix. She handed her the paper. “Take it. Call them if you ever feel like you want a hand out of here. Or call me. I’ll help you.”

  Tina stared down at the number, and tears came to her eyes. She turned and stuffed it into her drawe
r. “You two are a lot alike, aren’t you? You and your sister?”

  Sadie wanted to tell her that she didn’t know, because she’d never met her. “Why do you say that?”

  “You both want to help me.” She closed the drawer, drew in a deep breath. “Thanks for the number. I don’t happen to need it, but—”

  “Keep it anyway. One day you’ll find yourself crying out to God for help, begging Him for an escape, and He’ll remind you of that number. You’ll call, and you’ll find Jesus there. And that’ll be the beginning of your new life. Don’t lose it, okay?”

  Tina leaned back against the wall again. “I won’t.”

  Sadie left her room, feeling like she’d left a part of herself behind. She started down the stairs, as a wave of smoke drifted up to her. Someone was waiting down below. She slowed her step as she came down and saw a shadow of a man leaning against a car, right at the bottom of the stairs. She reached the bottom, stepped around the wall, and saw him. Nate leaned against a beat-up old Volvo, staring up at her with dull, impatient eyes.

  “Want to tell me why you’re asking around about me?”

  She stopped cold. “I wasn’t asking about you. I was asking about the girls—”

  “I heard you ask about me by name.”

  She knew there was no point in lying. If he’d heard the conversation upstairs, then she couldn’t deny her way out of it. “Okay, I was asking about you. I think you know something about my sister.”

  His eyebrows shot up. “Your sister?”

  “Yes. The girl Amelia. The one who hasn’t been found.”

  He let out a long stream of smoke and grinned. “Shoulda known.”

  “Are you the one she left with that night?”

  He started to chuckle.

  Sadie’s heart began to race. “I’m not trying to accuse you of anything if you were,” she said, keeping her voice level. “Just because she got in the car with you and went somewhere doesn’t mean—” The words caught in her suddenly dry throat. “Look, I’m just trying to retrace her steps. The more I know, the closer I’ll get to finding her. It was you, wasn’t it?”

  He drew in a deep breath and took a step toward her. She stepped back against the brick wall.

  He came closer, until she could smell his breath—that hung-over, didn’t-brush-your-teeth smell of whiskey and smoke. He reached into his pocket, pulled out a switchblade.

  With a flick of his wrist it came open, and she jumped.

  He stepped closer, the sharp point on that blade pressing against her throat. She closed her eyes and swallowed.

  “Don’t … please …”

  “I think you and me need to go for a ride.”

  “No! I’m not going anywhere.”

  He moved the blade up, breaking skin. He’d kill her right here, in this parking lot. Maybe someone would see and tell, but it would be too late for her. Where was that police car? She prayed it would come back. “Please …”

  He put his arm around her shoulders and moved the knife down to her side. “In my car. You and me, we’re gonna get real close, and I’m gonna walk you to my car. You’re gonna go like you’re willing, because you’ll know that if you don’t, you’ll have a knife through your ribs.”

  He started to move, pulling her beside him. She touched the nick at her throat, smeared the blood beading out. As they walked, she could feel the blade at her ribs. It had already drawn blood there too. One move could cost her life.

  Nate was in the mood for another murder.

  He put her into the car on his side, shoved her over, and got in behind the wheel. His car rattled as he pulled out of the parking lot.

  CHAPTER 37

  Where are you taking me?”

  “You’ll see.”

  “Please … you can let me out. I won’t tell anyone.”

  He laughed as his car picked up speed, heading onto Ocean Boulevard, toward the Tybee bridge.

  She tried to inch over to the door. If she could get it open, she could jump out. Whatever injury she sustained from jumping from a speeding car had to be better than certain death at his hands.

  “I wouldn’t do that.” He let her go long enough to reach under the seat … and come up with a gun.

  Her heart caught in her throat. She tried to calculate whether he’d be able to shoot her if she flung the door open and threw herself out. They’d crossed the bridge, and he was only able to go about forty in traffic. If she jumped, could he drive and hit a target at the same time? And if he did, wouldn’t he have police surrounding him in seconds? A gunshot on Tybee Island wasn’t likely to go ignored, especially on such a busy street.

  “Be still now, or I’ll kill you the same way I killed the others.”

  Terror made its screaming ascent in her head. Amelia was dead. Dear God, her sister was dead. Rage exploded inside Sadie, and suddenly she didn’t care if he killed her or not.

  She went for the gun, trying to wrest it out of his hand.

  He kept one hand on the steering wheel as he fought her. The car yanked to the right. He cursed, grabbed her by her hair, and jerked her back, getting control of the wheel again. She reached for the door, but he jerked her again, ripping her scalp.

  “Let go of me!”

  “You wanna mess with me?” he grated through his teeth. He turned left, off of the busy street, and drove to the center of Tybee, where there wasn’t as much traffic. He kept up his speed as he flew through a residential section. “Nobody messes with me and gets away with it.”

  Sadie kept fighting. “You killed her! You murderer!” She fought him for the gun or the steering wheel, and when he had to loosen his grip on her to get control of the car, she threw herself to the other side and got the door open.

  He was going fifty, at least, down a shady neighborhood street. She hesitated, and he grabbed her hair again, trying to hold her back. She clawed at him, tearing her fingernails into his arm, trying to make him let go.

  The car screeched to a halt, and Nate grabbed her arm, yanking it up behind her back. Sadie arched, feeling the strain on the same bone that had been broken before, the ripping of tissue in her shoulder. He shoved the gun up under her chin, its nose threatening to puncture her skin and come up into her throat.

  “I’ll show you what it costs to fight me, just like I showed the others.”

  He opened his glove box and got out a roll of duct tape. With his teeth, he peeled back the end, then slapped it over her mouth and wrapped it around her head.

  Sadie fought with all her might, praying that someone would come out of their house to get the paper and stop this madness. She felt the binding of the tape as it came around and around her face, and then he ripped it with his teeth again and bound her hands behind her. She bucked and kicked at him, trying to get her footing so she could get out the door, but he grabbed a foot and wrapped it with tape, then grabbed her other one, pulling her to her back, and bound her ankles together.

  He stank with sweat as he reached across her and slammed the car door, sealing her fate. She tried to scream, but the tape muffled her voice, rendering her efforts useless. He sat there for a moment, catching his breath, watching her with those bloodshot eyes. She bucked and writhed, trying to break free of her bonds, but to no avail. Clearly satisfied that she was restrained, he slid back behind the wheel and drove the car to the end of the street where a grove of trees gave a little more privacy. He got out, and she prayed he would leave her there to be found.

  But he walked around the car, opened her door, put one arm under her knees and the other behind her back.

  As he lifted her, she jerked and kicked and twisted, sending out muffled screams into the tape.

  He threw her into his trunk, and she fought to break her hands free or separate her feet or scream out for help.

  “Who’s in charge now, baby?” he asked through sneering lips. The trunk slammed, encasing her in darkness, and Sadie squealed, trying to be heard. The car started again, the engine rattling …

  Sadi
e closed her eyes. Was this it? Was this how it had been for Emily and Jamie and Amelia? Would he murder her too and walk away free?

  She tried to reel her thoughts back from her panic and focused instead on the possibilities. God knew where she was. Maybe He’d orchestrated things so that someone saw the struggle on Ocean Boulevard or on Butler Avenue on Tybee. Someone in one of these quiet homes might have heard the screaming and screeching and looked out the window …

  Scott or Cade would come after her, bringing a brigade of police to surround Nate’s car and stop him. He wouldn’t get far.

  But that was unlikely.

  Her hopes flattened into despair again. If no one had called them, would anyone even know she was missing for another hour or so? Realistically, it could be hours before anyone grew alarmed.

  What had she done?

  Why had she taken such stupid chances for a person she’d never even met? And now she knew Amelia was dead, so it was all worthless. She’d never meet her, never see how much alike they were, never know the pleasure of having a sister like Morgan had Blair.

  Oh, God, help me!

  Where was Nate taking her? Would he kill her wherever they stopped? Would he terrorize her first?

  How would her mother ever survive this? Two daughters killed by the same hand. She would go back to drugs for sure, wind up back on the streets and go back to prison. Poor little Caleb would be abandoned once again.

  Morgan and Jonathan would grieve for years. Blair would blame herself.

  Oh, why had she done such a careless thing? So many people would be hurt.

  Please, God, my refuge and my strength …

  He would help her fight. He had to. Nate might kill her, but it wouldn’t be without cost.

  CHAPTER 38

  Sadie felt the car turn off of a paved road onto an unpaved one. Rocks crunched under the wheels, and the car bucked and bounced, as if it weren’t meant to take such a path.

  He was going to kill her and leave her body out in the middle of the woods. Or would he pose her like the others, in a boat or a cave? Was it all a game to him, or was there some sinister motive she couldn’t even imagine?