Page 42 of The Whispering Girls (Detective Katie Scott #14)

THIRTY-EIGHT

Katie felt the sway of being on a boat during rough seas. She tried to do everything she could to stop the rocking motion. What seemed like hours she had been fighting were indeed only minutes. The faint weird sickly-sweet smell lingered.

Opening her eyes, Katie tried to focus, but everything around her seemed murky, discolored. She flailed her arms and fought to sit up. The light was too intense to look at, so she shut her eyes again. Using her hands, she felt a smooth fabric that made her think of something she had felt before.

With her bare feet touching the floor, she prepared herself to stand. But when she tried she almost plummeted with horrible dizziness that made her feel like she were upside-down. It was no use. She flopped back again and waited out the feeling of nausea and weird disorientation.

A few minutes later, Katie tried again, sitting up, her heart pounding, raising her pulse rate.

Her body quickly weakened, but her vision had come back.

Looking around the room she saw sofas, a check-in desk…

she had a memory of this place. She stood up, a bit shaky, but she knew where she was and wondered why.

“Detective.”

Katie spun around and faced the person who had addressed her.

“Are you feeling okay?” he said.

“What?” Katie focused on the man’s face and remembered it was Jack, the veterinarian. Suddenly, she became wary of him. There were too many unanswered questions.

“Don’t worry, it’ll wear off and you’ll be just fine.” He smiled, but this time instead of being warm and inviting, it was sly. “Fluothane, which is similar to chloroform, but has some odd side effects that last from a few minutes up to an hour to dissipate. Don’t believe everything you see.”

“Why did you do this to me?” Katie could only think that if Jack had wanted to talk, why he didn’t say so. “Ugh…” she said and sat down.

“Take a breath and try to relax. I’m not here to hurt you despite what your mind is telling you.”

Katie couldn’t make sense of the situation, but slowly, just like he’d said, thoughts became clearer and she remembered what had transpired. She’d woken and decided to make herself some hot tea…

“What do you want?” she said, sounding more like herself. She stood up to face Jack. “Who are you?”

“I don’t want anything but to help you.”

Katie’s skin crawled and everything inside her was telling her to run. She had no other way to protect herself, no weapon, no backup, no plan. It was the worst possible scenario for her—a nightmare coming to life.

“I’m sorry, Katie. I really didn’t mean to scare you,” he said.

“You don’t scare me.”

Jack chuckled. “We got off on the wrong foot. Allow me to explain.”

“Am I being held here against my will?”

“Of course not.”

“Explain to me why you had to drug me then,” she said, watching his every move. She contemplated if she could race up those secret stairs to alert John and McGaven before Jack could catch her.

“I wanted to get you alone.”

“There are better ways to go about it.”

“I guess in hindsight it wasn’t such a great idea.” He took a couple of steps toward her.

Katie backed away. She still couldn’t get a solid read on the vet. Thinking about the time they had spent together, the hospitality, kindness, and him taking over as the forensic technician, all of it had seemed to be from a genuine person. Now she wasn’t so sure.

“I will explain everything to you,” he said. “I promise.”

“I want McGaven here too.”

“I thought about that, but no offense, I trust only you.”

“Why is that?” Katie eyed the entrance to the staircase. Her feet were frozen without socks or slippers, making her entire body shiver.

“I’ve been watching you all, and I admit it, I’ve looked at your investigation board.”

Katie felt exposed. “So you have cameras in the lodge?” She kept his gaze.

“Just in the main area. It is protocol for when I have guests and when the employees were present. I don’t have them to spy,” he said. “There are no cameras in the suites or other personal areas.”

Katie didn’t believe him.

Jack took a deep breath, as if he were deciding whether or not to tell Katie something.

“Why don’t you just tell me?” she said .

“I get the feeling that you and the others are closing in on the killer. I think you’ve learned a lot in the past two days.”

Katie didn’t say anything, but she did think it was interesting that he referred to the killer —one, singular—rather than killers. She decided to just blurt it out. “Who killed Theresa Jamison, TJ, and Natalie?”

“Direct. I like that.”

“Well?” she said. “If I don’t get any answers, you’re holding me against my will.” Katie began to move toward the interior stairs.

“I said I didn’t want to hurt you. I wanted to talk to you alone.”

“I’m tired of talking in circles. You are holding a law enforcement officer against her will.”

“I don’t think so, but first?—”

“I thought you could handle this, Jack,” said a familiar voice coming from the examination rooms. “I’m sorry, Detective. I can only imagine what you’re thinking.”

Officer Bobby Clark, dressed in casual clothes without his firearm, came into the living room.

“Clark,” said Katie. She was surprised, but not entirely. “Where’s the chief?”

“Good question,” said Clark. “I don’t know. The last time I spoke with him was at the hospital.”

“I don’t believe you,” she said, flatly.

“I’m telling you the truth. Whether you choose to believe me or not is on you.”

“Look at all this from my perspective,” she said.

“I want answers. My partner and I both want answers.” Katie walked toward the secret staircase.

She wanted to retreat, reevaluate, and proceed accordingly.

Since there wasn’t any law enforcement in charge, Echo Forest was like a Wild West town. A literal free-for-all.

“Fine. Let’s sit down,” said Jack .

Clark nodded.

“I want to know who tried to kill us at the hospital. And where is the chief? Is he even alive? He called us saying he was at the hospital and that we needed to come. So why did you try to kill us?” she said.

Clark seemed genuine and calm. “I will tell you everything. We’re not holding you here. Get your partner if you like.”

Katie studied both men. She couldn’t get a complete read on them.

It was strange. She wasn’t sure if it was the drug still in her system or not—but it made her reasoning skills a bit skewed.

They appeared honest, but the fact that she had been drugged didn’t sit right with her.

She didn’t respond but turned and headed to the stairway to get back to the second floor.

As Katie climbed the staircase, she half expected to hear gunfire at her back, but it remained quiet and the men remained where she had left them.

Katie reached the kitchen and ran into the living room. “Get up! Now!” she yelled to John, who leapt up.

“What?” he said groggily.

Katie made her way to McGaven’s suite and burst through the door. “Get up!”

Cisco barked from her room and Katie let him out.

“Everybody get up!” She grabbed a pair of socks, shoes, and a sweater.

When McGaven and John met up with Katie in the living room area, she explained everything to them. They were quiet for a moment, digesting the new information.

McGaven seemed the most upset. “So you’re saying Jack sedated you to bring you to his vet office. And Officer Clark is somehow his accomplice…”

“We don’t know that for sure,” she said.

“And it’s not like we can call the cops because they’re all missing except Clark. Who knows how much spying they’ve done on us? There’s probably listening devices in our cars…and…”

“I know how you feel, Gav, but we need to hear them out,” she said.

“You’re crazy.”

“Listen…whether they are the good guys or not we need to know,” said Katie. “We need to know not only for this investigation, but for our safety too.”

“You’re quiet,” said McGaven to John.

“Just processing it as if it were a mission. I think they’re trying to figure out what we know. Sometimes you need to know your enemy in order to make a sound judgment…and then ultimately a battle plan.”

McGaven looked at Katie. “You good with this?”

Katie nodded.

“You too?” he said to John.

“Yes. I’m with you both.”

All three of them changed their clothes, made sure they had their weapons, and Cisco was going along as well.

Katie was nervous because they could be walking into another trap like the hospital, but they didn’t have many other choices.

They were isolated and the two men downstairs seemed to be the only ones who knew what was going on.

Katie looked at the men and she knew they had her back. They all had each other’s backs. Cisco included.

It wasn’t like a typical investigation, or even a fight. No one was who they appeared to be and they were all alone. It was still hours before any backup arrived.

She stayed solemn. “C’mon, stay alert.”