29-

After Pete hung up the phone the second time he sat on his air mattress and stared at Darcy for what seemed an eternal amount of time. Apparently the call had not gone as he had expected.

Of course she had only heard his half of the conversation. And the threats. He was probably serious about them. It struck her that Pete wanted to cut her, maybe wanted to play with his scalpel a bit, and was just looking for a reason that he could look back at later and claim she brought it on herself.

He didn't say a word, merely rose to his feet and left the house. A moment later Darcy heard the sound of an engine. She looked out the window and saw his drive off, confused. Apparently he was so rattled he forgot she was only wearing one handcuff and she hadn't been drugged.

Darcy wasn't about to look that gift horse in the mouth. The headboard was a lost cause. Three days and there was still no wiggle to it at all. Whatever was holding it together, if she got out of here, she planned on writing the company a congratulatory letter. They should be building prisons rather than furniture.

She looked around the room and raised an eyebrow at the object on the inflatable mattress. In his agitation, Pete had forgotten his cell phone. Or maybe he'd done it on purpose, looking for a reason to take his frustration out on her.

Either way – Darcy wasn't going to waste her time wondering. She got to her feet and experimentally pulled the bed. The floors were thankfully scuffed wood – Pete had dragged the bed around enough for her to know it was moveable. It only took a few minutes but it felt like time was going by way too fast. She managed to pull the bed far enough that she could reach the air mattress. Pete had moved it closer to the bed the night before. In his mind, he had been thoughtful and had given her some magazines to look out, so he'd shared the lantern.

It was like he couldn't make up his mind whether he was crazy or not. Which in her estimation made him more dangerous. So far he'd been controlling himself, but what was he going to do when he finally confronted Mark? She didn't think simply shooting him was part of the plan – she had yet to see Pete with a weapon other than the scalpel and his apparently unending supply of tranquilizers. She still had no idea what it was he'd been giving her, only that it worked fast and broke down in the system pretty fast as well. She had no idea where he kept it either. He usually waited until she was already dozing before he produced a needle to give her a dose.

Darcy snatched up the cell phone and then had to pause for a moment wondering just who in the world she could call. It would have been nice to hear Mark's voice but probably wasn't a good idea. Glen? The cops? Darcy wasted precious time debating her options, such as they were. In the end she dialed Glen's number because he was the only one she really trusted.

"Yeah?"

"It's me."

"Darcy…"

"He's gone. For the moment I think he's trying to figure out what to do next. He forgot his phone."

"Fuck…if he catches you using it…"

"Least of my worries." Darcy said. "I don't remember much of how I got here. He slipped me something in my drink at the hospital. It made me sick. We're somewhere out past the city limits, at an old abandoned farmhouse. One bedroom. I don't see anything outside except for trees and more trees." She spoke quickly, not giving him time to interrupt.

"We know he went north."

"Oh yeah? I don't think he stayed north." Darcy was looking out the window across the room, one she hadn't really paid attention to before. "As a matter of fact, I'd almost swear we were back in Gates Falls."

"What do you mean?"

"I can see the lake."

Glen was silent for a moment. "Part of the lake you know."

"Hard to tell. It's in the distance. But if Pete wanted to keep an eye on Mark then he would have wanted a place close. Maybe heading north was to mislead people who might look for me."

"How far from the lake? If you had to guess."

"Half a mile? Give or take. Hard to tell. I can't get close enough to the window to get a better look."

"Ok. I'm going to start looking." Glen sighed. "We're going to fix this."

"I'm gonna hold you to that." Darcy said, trying to keep her voice steady. She thought she heard the faint rattle of gravel and felt panic sink into her. "I have to go. He might be coming back."

"Be careful. We're gonna get you out of there as soon as we can."

"I know." Darcy whispered. She hit the end button then spent a few moments deleting the call record. She put the phone back on the inflatable bed in the same spot where Pete had left it and quickly shoved her own bed back into place.

By the time Pete walked in the door, Darcy was laying on her side facing the window, her cuffed left arm over her head. Pete was still agitated. She didn't have to roll over to see it. She could hear him pacing and tossing things around.

It wasn't until she felt the bed next to her shift that she paid any real attention. "He said he doesn't care about you. How much of that is a lie?"

Darcy closed her eyes. She knew that was a complete lie but Pete didn't need to know that. "I don't know." She felt something cold touch her arm and didn't have to look to know he had his scalpel in his hand.

"Whether he cares or not, I will deal with it. I have an idea but I'll need your help, Darcy."

She huffed out a short laugh. "Because I'm in a position to be helpful?"

"Because you want to save your own ass." As he spoke he let his hand drop until he was cupping her rear in his hand. He squeezed. Darcy made no indication of noticing. "You'll do one thing for me, and I'll let you go. Unharmed."

"And what thing is that?"

His hand lifted away from her for a moment, then came down again and slid up her hip, over her side, until he was cupping her breast in his hand through the thin pajama top she wore. Darcy did not worry about this. He seemed to be doing it simply to see her reaction, not because he was motivated sexually. Darcy was almost convinced he wasn't able to act on it – that was what the problem was. He might want to, but his body would not cooperate with him. She would have laughed had she been in a different spot; a would-be rapist with erectile dysfunction. Her psych prof would have a field day.

"Don't worry. Nothing too taxing. As a matter of fact, you might enjoy it since you're so mad at him." He squeezed her again the pulled away and paced off through the house. Darcy fought the urge to shudder and wished, not for the first time, for a hot shower. Now her mind turned worriedly to what exactly it might be that Pete expected her to do that would hurt Mark. A few stray tears slipped from her eyes but she blinked them away quickly. She could break down later. For now she needed to keep her mind clear.

~~!~~

It was almost time to hear back from Pete. Mark kept looking at Glen's phone, willing it to ring. He tried to pay attention to the matter in front of them but it was lost on him – this was not his home turf, he knew practically nothing about the geography.

It amazed him that Darcy had managed to call Glen again. And he'd missed it. Then again, maybe that was for the best. He had never had any sort of anxiety issues, not even when he was sitting in a holding cell waiting for his trial to start. He knew why of course – the trial had only affected him, and he hadn't cared. He'd been defeated before he'd ever stepped into the courtroom. This wasn't about him though. Darcy was innocent, she didn't deserve this. Yet another reason why he should have stayed out of her life.

For her sake, he wished he could have resisted the urge to see her again. She wouldn't be in this mess now. He felt like he had somehow cursed her, even if Glen had cleaned up the fiasco that had been his trial and conviction. It was as if a dark cloud followed him, and Darcy was paying the price for it.

Glen had cleared off one of Ava's drawing tables, which was easier than moving computers around. He had also scrounged up a few maps that showed Graves Falls. One of them showed property lines. Mark had been amazed at first but then he realized that Glen's family had been the founders so it shouldn't have shocked him to learn that besides a few small properties the rest of the county was owned by Graves Trust Partners – Glen, in other words. It was one thing hearing it, quite another to see it on paper.

"There are still too many places they could be." Ava said. She had pins, which she affixed to the map at all the properties that were within a half-mile of the lake. There were several dozen.

"We can eliminate some." Glen touched one of the pins. "This one. Those college kids from one of the frat houses rented it for the summer. Too close to the water, and hardly where you'd hide somebody. I think there were eight of them."

Ava flicked the pin away. "These are too close together. You can see houses on either side from the middle house." Glen nodded and pulled the pins. "That one is Jack Winslow's place. He's got eight kids."

"We could do this all day." Glen pointed out. He eyed the map. Forget where it couldn't be. Give me some possibilities."

Ava eyed the map. "You know the place better than I do."

Glen didn't have to answer. His phone began to ring. He looked at it, then the clock, then Mark. "Bound to be him. Go ahead."

Mark nodded and picked it up. "Yeah?" The phone was still connected to Glen's computer. Mark otherwise would have been pacing with it.

"Here's the deal." Pete didn't bother with any fake pleasantries, or taunting. "An even trade. You for her. You come here…alone…and do what I say, she walks."

"Fair enough."

"You understand what I mean by alone right? No cops. No friends. Just you."

"Yeah. I get it."

"Good. I'm going to text you directions and instructions. And I'm going to be timing you. You take longer than you should, I give Darcy a new and interesting scar to share with her friends. I see someone with you, or even thinking you contacted the police – well. A scar will be the least of her problems."

"You can stop with the threats. I understood the first time."

"And no weapons. Not even a pair of nail clippers."

"Fine."

"You'll get your first text in five minutes. I'd suggest you head to your vehicle." With that, Pete hung up. Mark looked to Glen.

"Did you get all that?"

"Yeah. And you of course are not going alone."

"I have to."

"Mark…"

"I won't risk her."

"You honestly think he'll just let her go?"

"I honestly don't know. And I honestly don't want to put her in any more danger than she's already in."

Glen eyed him. "I'm going. I'll be right behind you. Here." He held out his hand for the phone. Mark handed it over reluctantly. Glen pulled the cords and opened the message function. "Every time he texts you, you forward it to me. You just hit this button, then this one." Glen showed him. "I can follow without him knowing it."

"With the cops?"

Glen looked at him steadily. "Do you honestly think the cops would fare better?"

Mark slowly shook his head. As a victim of the system, such as it was, he didn't trust anyone in uniform as a general rule. Even less when it was his own neck on the line. But what Glen was hinting at was doing something worse than involuntary manslaughter. They were edging into cold-blooded murder territory.