Wrong Turn

Daisy slammed the door behind her as she walked straight to the kitchen and over to the wine rack, grabbing a bottle without really looking as she dropped her purse on a counter. She then turned and strode towards the library. She slammed the bottle down on the desk and quickly looked around, trying to find the bottle opener that she left in there.

Finding it, she picked it up and tried to open the bottle, but her hands were shaking too much. Shouting in frustration, she threw the opener on the floor and began pacing around the room.

It was over. But it didn't feel like it was over. She kept glancing over at the board, going over everything in her mind. It was too easy. He had given up too easily. Surely the person who had put so much thought and effort into these murders – doing them without leaving a trace – wouldn't confess so quickly and without any sort of pressure. She would need more time to figure it out, but she felt like all the parts were there. Up on that board.

She then began racking her brain.

"Why can't I remember?" she said in frustration. It would all be so much easier if she could just remember what happened back then.

She then gasped suddenly as she saw a flash of a memory. She could see the man, albeit, much younger. Bursting into a room. His face contorted in shock and horror.

She looked down at the floor, wondering what it meant. She blinked furiously as she bent down to retrieve the bottle opener. Walking back up to the desk, she attempted to open the bottle again, this time managing to still the shaking of her hands. She focused on the task, finding it helped calm her.

The room - it had to have been in the church. It looked like an office of sorts - perhaps the youth minister's office? But why was the man shocked to find her there? Was she alone? She still couldn't remember anything that had happened to her. But she couldn't help but feel like that man – the youth minister – that he couldn't have hurt her. She couldn't explain why, but she just had a hunch. Maybe she did make everything up.

She poured the wine and then took a generous sip, staring out the window at the front lawn. Night had already fallen and all was quiet. Too quiet. She quickly flipped on some music and turned to look over the board, hoping to find the answers there. Taking in the candid photos of each woman, she then compared them to the crime scene photos. There was a large amount of brutality and hatred there. Whoever did this was most certainly after revenge. There was rage in these acts. But she couldn't seem to imagine the haggard older man sitting in the interview room doing this.

Her eyes widened as something hit her. He was older and looked frail. All of the women were relatively younger and in shape. They had put up a good fight as there was evidence of defensive wounds. Unless there was a lot more than what met the eye, she didn't think it was possible for him to have done this on his own. He had to have help or…

He didn't do them at all and was covering for someone.

Daisy quickly turned back to the desk, looking for her phone. She then realized that she had left it in her purse in the kitchen. She dashed out of the library and was halfway through the den towards the kitchen when she heard the door open. Turning, her eyes widened in confusion as the sheriff walked in.

"Sheriff Walker, what are you doing here?" she asked. He looked at her and smiled shyly.

"Told you, it's just Randy. And figured you could use some company… after finding out everything that you did today," he said, walking towards her. Daisy frowned. She hated how everyone in this town felt they needed to step into her life. She had wanted to be alone with her thoughts. He'd probably be around town gloating about how he helped solve the case and comforted her tomorrow even though he hadn't done a damn thing.

Sometimes Daisy really hated local authorities. They often got in the way.

"As you can see, I'm fine," she replied. "No need for the concern."

"You're not… going through, what's it they call it? Flashbacks or something?" he asked, continuing to move closer to her. "Read about it in those information packets they send out about dealing with rape victims."

"I wasn't raped," Daisy said firmly. "At least I don't think I was. They said he just confessed to touching me." Walker frowned.

"You don't remember any of it," he said, making more of a statement than asking a question. Daisy laughed haggardly.

"No. I mean, some things are coming back a bit… I remember being in his office and… him walking in and looking shocked to find me there. But I don't remember anything else," she said. "I'm not sure that I want to, to be honest. I've got enough bad memories without those…"

Walker finally stopped, feeling entirely too close for Daisy's comfort. He looked to the ground and shook his head.

"I had hoped that maybe you'd remember," he said, finally looking up at her.

"Why would you want me to remember what that, that beast, did to me?" she shouted, taking a step back. This was making absolutely no sense to her.

"There's a lot more to this story than you know, Daisy," he said softly, gazing down at her.

"What do you know?" she asked. "You're not even from around here." He took a deep breath and slowly let it out.

"I'm sorry about this," he said.

"About wh-"

Before Daisy could react, he swung out, hitting her in the head hard. The floor rushed up to meet her and she vaguely heard the sound of glass shattering next to her. Before she could move or even register what was going on, there was another painful thud against her head and everything went black.

Reid felt his heart start to pound as he saw the front door gaping open at the manor. Running into the large house, he looked over, seeing the library door open and music still playing. He looked inside, finding no one there though there was an open bottle of wine on the desk and Daisy's shoes were under it.

"Daisy!" he shouted, going back out into the foyer and looking around. He hoped perhaps she was somewhere else in the large house. Maybe in the bathroom or the kitchen. That the open door didn't mean what he thought it did. "Daisy, are you here?!"

He then came to a stop in the archway to the den, seeing the spilled wine and broken glass. Hurrying over, he bent down, seeing a small puddle of blood nearby. Pulling out his phone as he stood, he ran his fingers through his hair as he dialed and waited for Emily to pick up. This couldn't be happening again. They couldn't lose another one. He couldn't go through getting there too late yet again. They had to find Daisy.

"What is it, Spencer?" she asked.

"Daisy's not here. The door was open and there's a broken glass on the floor in the den with some blood," he said quickly. "I think he took her." He started towards the front door. "I'm on my way back in-"

"Stay there. We'll come to you. I'm on that right now," she said. He could hear her shouting orders and a flurry of movement on the other end.

"Has Garcia found anything more on the sheriff?" Spencer asked.

"We have some more information, but she's still working on it. Going to talk to Fischer again," she said hurriedly.

"Okay, well… I'll do what I can from here," Reid said, starting towards the library. "Get Garcia to track Daisy's phone. Maybe she has it on her."

"Already on it," Emily replied. "Someone should be there soon."

"Got it," Reid replied before hanging up. He stopped in the doorway to the library, looking around. He wasn't sure what Daisy had figured out, if anything. But here was as good a place to wait for the others as any.

When Daisy slowly started coming to, the first thing she registered was the painful ache in the side of her head. She then felt the restraints. She was sitting in a chair, though her head lulled forward. Her hands were tied behind her to the chair as were her legs. She couldn't really move. Keeping her eyes closed and her breathing even, she relied on her other senses, hoping to get some sort of idea of what she was facing before she opened her eyes.

"I know you're awake, Daisy."

She finally opened her eyes, blinking slightly as they adjusted to the light. She was in a barn or something - the floor was a bunch of dirt. It was darkly lit. She then ventured a look up, seeing Randy standing there watching her, his arms crossed in front of him. He had a curious look on his face.

"Where are we and why am I here?" she managed to croak as she met his eyes.

"Old farm on some of my family's old land. They sold it years ago, but I managed to get it back," he said, taking a step towards her. "Needed a place where we could talk without any interruptions."

Daisy looked around the room, stopping when she came across a large metal table with dark stains. The bitter metallic scent of blood drifted towards her as she whipped her head over to look at him.

"If you're going to kill me, just get it over with," she said dully.

"Daisy, Daisy… that's not what this is about," he said gently. "You're not like the others. They deserved what they got. I don't intend to do that to you."

"Well, since you want to talk, mind filling me in on why you killed them?" she asked. "What does all of this mean to you? You're not even from here."

"You still don't remember," he murmured.

"I told you that!" she shouted. "I was five years old!"

"You always were precocious. Seemed far older than you actually were. While all the other girls were running off and playing princess, you… you were reading. Or watching everything around you. Made some pretty interesting observations about people. Even then, you seemed to think that this town and its hierarchy was ridiculous," he said. Daisy frowned. How did he know? He didn't move into town until she was in high school. Even then, she had barely spoken to him. He was a good 8 or 9 years older than her and she had been focused on graduating and getting the hell out.

"And then in high school, you were so focused on writing and news. Searching for truth. I thought maybe it was because of what happened, but then… you didn't even recognize me," he said. "Though I suppose that was a good thing. If you did, then there was no way that grandmother of yours would have let me anywhere near you…"

"None of this makes sense," Daisy spat, glaring at him. "You moved here when I was in high school. How could you have known me as a child?

"I did know you because I was born and raised here," he said. "What's more, I'm cut from the same cloth. Though no one really respected the Fischers. Not after what happened. My momma got remarried after that, and the first thing she did was have my step-daddy adopt me so she could change my last name," he said, his eyes starting to light up with anger. "Fischers weren't worth dirt. But I thought… I thought maybe we'd bond over that… seeing all the things people said about the Whites…"

"I don't give a shit what people say about us. None of us did," Daisy replied.

"I know. But they still respected you lot," he said. "I thought… well didn't matter what I thought, because first chance you got, you hightailed it out of here… I had to find a way to bring you back."

"Get to the fucking point," Daisy retorted, growing tired of his psychotic babbling. He stopped his slow pacing and stepped up to her, bending over so they were eye to eye.

"You've gotten so beautiful, Daisy. I knew you would. You take after your momma, after all. Got that spark too, though suppose it's from both sides," he said, reaching out to caress her cheek. Daisy flinched, jerking her head away from his hand. "No one knew the real story, save me and my uncle. And I had hoped you."

"Then what is the real story?" Daisy asked, trying to keep her voice even. She was tired of being jerked around, but at the same time, there was something unsettling in his eyes. She had always gotten a creepy vibe from Walker. But up until now, she didn't understand why.

"My uncle - Mitch Fischer - he was no pedophile. He didn't touch you," he said, straightening up.

"Then why did he confess?" Daisy asked. "Why do I remember being in a room with him?"

"He didn't touch you!" Walker shouted, an unhinged look coming into his eyes. "No one hurt you! It wasn't like that!" He took a step closer to her.

"Then why does everyone think he did?" she retorted.

"It was because of those damn girls! You weren't supposed to say anything to anyone and the first chance you got, you ran off and told them!" he shouted. "It was supposed to be our secret!" Daisy stared at him a moment before a small trickle of memories started flowing into her mind.

An older boy, about 13 or 14. Following her around. Always trying to talk to her.

You're mighty pretty, Daisy…

Wanna see a hiding spot?

You can't tell no one…

She remembered not understanding what was happening. She remembered crying.

"He only caught us the once but made me promise I wouldn't do it again and I'd stay away from you. That he'd take care of it," Walker continued. Daisy blinked as she looked up at him, a lone tear trekking down her cheek.

"It was you," she said softly.

"Finally, you're starting to remember," he said, smiling.

"You hurt me."

"No. No, Daisy. I didn't hurt you. I loved you. I still do," he explained. Daisy shook her head.

"That's not love. I was a child! A FUCKING CHILD!" she shouted.

"Shh! Shh! No need to get so worked up," he crooned, stepping up to wipe the tears away.

"Don't touch me!" Daisy shouted, trying to jerk away from him, feeling disgusted by his touch. "You hurt me and your uncle covered it up! YOU SHOULD BE IN JAIL!"

Walker stepped away from her, appearing as though he had been slapped in the face.

"You're… you've turned out just like them…" he murmured.

"Like what? A normal person who knows that touching a five-year-old girl like that is wrong?! You are seriously twisted if you think that is in any way okay!" Daisy shouted back. "What's more… YOU FUCKING KILLED MY FRIENDS!"

While part of her knew she shouldn't bait him, she couldn't help as a deep-seeded anger coursed through her. This was the man who had killed her old friends. Friends who had tried to help her back then, even though making up stories probably wasn't the best way to go about it. More memories started slowly coming back to her. They were muddled, but she remembered being afraid that no one would believe her.

Don't worry, Daisy. We can say that he touched us too… they'll believe us then…

"You killed them because they were trying to help me," she said.

"I killed them because they deserved to pay for what they did!" Walker shouted. "Their lies ruined my uncle's life! But more than that, I did it for you! It was the only way I could get you to come back!"

Daisy was stunned into silence. This was all about her. He had brutally murdered four women she went to school with, who, despite their stormy relationships, were innocent. They hadn't done anything to deserve this.

"There are other ways you could have gotten me back home. None of them deserved to be murdered!" she shouted, feeling the guilt start to well up in her. This was all her fault.

"Why are you defending them! They turned their backs on you! You heard the shit Vanessa and Toni said about you!"

"I don't care! And what's more, Marley and Becky were my friends! They were good people!" Daisy shouted. "None of them deserved that! The person who deserves anything horrible is you!"

Walker stared at her a few moments before growling in rage.

"I just wanted us to be together!" he said, stomping over to the table and picking up a hunting knife. "I wanted you to understand!"

"How could I ever love a monster?" Daisy replied, finding herself suddenly calm as she stared at him. He was going to kill her. But for some reason, she suddenly didn't feel any fear. Part of her felt like she deserved what was coming. It was her fault he had killed the others, after all. Walker growled again and started for her. Daisy closed her eyes, waiting for the inevitable.

It was then that she heard the gunshot. She jumped and opened her eyes, seeing Walker stop, a look of shock on his face as he dropped the knife and then fell to his knees.

"Daisy! Are you okay!"

She wasn't sure who said it or where the voices were coming from. All she could do was stare at Walker as he fell onto his back, turning his head to look at her, reaching out to her.

"I love you…"

"Daisy? Daisy!"

Finally, we discover what actually happened 28 years ago. And we only have two more chapters after this.

Thanks for following and reading!