Chapter 7

Sylvester woke up alone in bed and he sat up sharply.

He was about to call Penelope's name but then he heard the water running in the bathroom and he gave a sigh of relief; at least she was only in the next room...

It was morning and bright with it; the sunshine was streaming through the window and one glance outside told him in daylight the world looked nothing like the horrible place it had become last night; it seemed as if nothing bad could happen when the sun was shining, morning was a bright and happy place where monsters both real and imagined were not welcome at all...

He got out of bed and walked over to the bathroom, pushing the door open quietly.

Penelope was in the shower and the room was full of steam and he smiled as he quietly went up to her.

He slid the curtain back.

Penelope almost slipped as her hand hit the wall to steady herself.

Then she screamed.

"It's only me!"

Sylvester grabbed her and held her in his arms as the water ran over both of them and she sobbed as she trembled and her heart pounded with fear all over again.

Penelope let go of him and turned off the water.

Her face was as pale as the tiled wall and her fair hair hung in wet tendrils as she looked at him with frightened eyes.

"Don't sneak up on me again!"

Sylvester let go of her.

"I didn't mean to make you jump!"

He made a move to give her another hug but she grabbed a towel and wrapped it around herself then picked up a smaller one and started to dry her hair.

"You don't understand how afraid I was last night."

"I do understand."

"No you don't!"

Penelope left the damp towel on the floor and with her hair still wet walked out of the bathroom, leaving Sylvester standing alone in the steamy room as he got the strangest feeling that she was keeping something back from him; he knew she said someone tried to abduct her, but she had avoided going into detail. Last night all she had wanted to do was cling to him with the light on before eventually falling asleep in the early hours of the morning.

She had been too silent about what had happened...

Sylvester grabbed the towel from the floor and dried himself off before going back into the bedroom.

"Talk to me, Penelope."

She was wearing a bathrobe now, a small, pink bathrobe that barely covered her thighs and under any other circumstances he felt sure he would have led her back over to that bed and her bathrobe would have been off in a split second, but for now those thoughts had to wait because as he watched her through the mirror as she combed her long hair, he caught a flicker in her eyes that told him he was right, there was more:

Penelope didn't just look scared by what had happened - she looked haunted...

Sylvester stayed silent as he began to get dressed.

Penelope also said nothing as she brushed her hair and then put on some makeup.

By the time Sylvester was dressed and had put on his tie, she still hadn't said a word.

"We need to talk about last night."

Penelope had been sitting at that dressing table with her thoughts far back in a past that was now laid to rest and she felt as if she had been digging up old bones to think about it all over again.

She got up and looked into Sylvester's eyes.

And as she looked at him, seeing the man she loved, the man who had spent fifteen years of his life locked away because a brain tumor made him go crazy, made him become the man of her nightmares, she knew she coudn't tell him everything.

The past was over now, but what could it cost him this time around, what would it do to him after all he had been through if she said those two words that had once been responsible for destroying his life?

Two words, it was just two words but she couldn't say it to him:

Hooded Claw...

He was looking at her with so much love and concern in her eyes it was breaking her heart.

"Please, Penelope." He said softly, "I just want to know what happened, I need to know you're okay..."

She felt as if her heart was weighing heavy as lead as she spoke again and the thought that she was lying to him hurt her more than he could ever know, but she knew for certain that protecting him from this was the wisest move to make.

She gently ran her fingers thorough his hair, pausing to run her fingertips over the deep surgical scar beneath his hairline.

"It was dark." She said quietly, "I barely saw the guy at all. He was a stranger; he grabbed me and dragged me into his car. Clyde happened to be in the right place at the right time and he rescued me."

"And that's all there is to it?"

"Yes! And it was a scary experience and I don't want to talk about it again."

Then she slid her hands over his shoulder and moved closer, kissing him gently.

As she pulled back she ached for more but today other matters needed to be taken care of –like checking the shipping details on all of Clyde's dealings with her company...

"I'll be ten minutes." She told him, "I'll get dressed and then we can go over to Pitstop Shipping and I'll go through the company files with you."

"Okay." He said, "I'll take my meds and I'll be ready to leave."

Sylvester went into the bathroom and took his medication, then he put the pill bottle in his jacket.

Then his cell phone rang.

He answered it and smiled as he recognised the caller's voice.

"Morning, Snoozy!"

"I was just wondering if you needed some help today?" Snoozy sounded nervous.

"Do you know anything about shipping records?" He wondered.

There was a pause.

"Well no, but-"

"So stay home and take care of the bar. Don't worry about a thing, Snoozy. It's not as if we have to break into this place –Penelope owns the company, she can walk in there any time she likes!"

Snoozy sounded disappointed.

"It's just that I know I should have told you about Clyde sooner and I wish there was something I could do to help."

"You've done more than enough." Sylvester promised him, "Just go back to work and don't worry about anything, okay?"

"Okay." Snoozy still sounded disappointed as he ended the call.

Sylvester left the bathroom and put his phone back in his pocket.

"That was Snoozy. He wanted to come with us but I told him to stay home-"

He stopped, staring at Penelope, who was dressed in a tight pink dress that barely covered her thighs and hugged her body in all the right places. This only drew more attention to her shiny, high heeled white boots and he was sure he regretted the fact that they were about to leave – if this trip tothe shipping company wasn't so important , they wouldn't be going anywhere right now...

"You look beautiful!" He exclaimed.

Penelope smiled.

"Thank you."

She gave Sylvester a kiss and then picked up her car keys.

"Let's go and take a look at those shipping records." She said, wanting this to be over with once and for all, hoping that they would find nothing so they could forget the rumors about Clyde's business dealings and just get on with their lives...

When Penelope's car arrived at the Pitstop Shipping building, they both got out of the car and went inside.

And across the street, Clyde was watching from a distance.

"Why the hell is Sylvester going in there?" He wondered aloud.

Then he thought about it – had Penelope offered him his old job back?

It made sense, considering how close they had become...

This only served to cause Clyde more worry; with Sylvester back at Pitstop Shipping he knew this could put his business dealings in danger:

Sylvester would check the records for sure.

He didn't know what kind of business man Sylvester was after fifteen years in jail but he knew for sure he must have been young when he became business partner to Penelope's father- he must have been some young hot shot who had more than a dash of talent for the job...

Clyde still had his gazed fixed on the entrance to the shipping company.

The more he thought about Sylvester, the more he knew he had to get rid of him – and as soon as possible - and the best way to do that was to first find out exactly where he was living these days, because that would be the first step to arranging a nasty accident...

Clyde waited in the car, not caring if they took all day in there:

He was going to tail Penelope for as long as it took, until he found out where Sneekly lived...

Once they were up on the top floor that lead to Penelope's office, and after Penelope spoke sweetly to the secretary who she hadn't seen for quite a while, they went inside.

Penelope locked the door behind her and switched on her computer.

She was about to sit down when Sylvester stepped in and took a seat at her desk.

"What are you doing?" She wondered.

"Nothing yet." He told her, "I kept up to date with technology while I was in jail but I can't get into this thing without your password –I'm not a hacker."

Penelope leaned over him and typed in her password.

"Do you want me to –"

"I can find my way." He said confidently, and clicked through several options and pulled up the shipping records, then he found the McDonald records and started to search through them.

Penelope carried on leaning over his shoulder, so close she could feel the warmth of his skin and smell the scent of it and as he noticed how close she had become he glanced at her and smiled.

"I'm almost done." He promised her.

Then he selected files for printing and sat back.

"You wouldn't see it unless you were looking for it." He told her, "But there's definitely something going on. I can see a pattern emerging with these shipments – dates times, the ports where the goods depart...the cops would see this as suspicious. But only if they were looking to find it."

He snatched up the copied data from the printer.

"Where's the paperwork? There's always a paper trail and I need all of it."

Penelope went over to a filing cabinet and took out Clyde's file.

"What do you want it for?"

Then her eyes grew wider as she watched Sylvester over ride the system and tap in a code she was unfamiliar with after highlighting every single digital record of the McDonald transactions.

As they deleted, she gave a gasp.

"You just wiped all Clyde's records off the company system?"

"That's right." He said as he got up and took the paperwork from her.

She was still staring at him.

"How did you do that?"

He smiled.

"I'm not a hacker but I do have a few tricks up my sleeve."

And he leaned closer and briefly kissed her.

"That's it; your company now has no records left of your dealings with Clyde McDonald. We can get out of here now."

Penelope signed out of the system and turned the computer off.

As they walked out of her office, Sylvester wondered about something.

"Don't you ever come into work these days?"

"Now and then." Penelope replied "But I have reliable people working for me –most of them used to work for my parents too, so I know it's all in good hands. I keep my eye on the company but that's about all I do these days. I keep planning to take more of an active role but something else always comes up and then I put off the idea yet again."

"So you don't need any extra staff?"

She laughed.

"Do you want your old job back?"

Sylvester smiled.

"Not right now, I'm happy working for Sparks. That's enough for me."

And he put his arm around her and they headed for the elevator.

When Penelope's pink car left Pitstop Shipping, Clyde followed behind at a safe distance weaving behind other cars, making sure he wasn't spotted.

He followed Penelope all the way down the highway, turning off into the town and then winding through some streets, eventually turning into the road that led to the Moonlight Bar.

He watched as Sylvester got out of the car, then leaned in the driver's side and kissed Penelope.

Then as she said goodbye he stepped back and she drove off.

Clyde gripped the wheel tighter as he glared at Sylvester- it was nothing to do with the fact that he had just kissed Penelope – he had just noticed Sylvester had gone into Pitstop Shipping carrying nothing but was now going home with a pile of paperwork...

He wondered again, had he just got his old job back?

Then Clyde stared at the man who came out of the bar and greeted him.

"I'll be damned..." He murmured, seeing a face had not laid eyes on for fifteen years:

Snoozy was working at the bar?

The same place where Sylvester was staying?

Those two guys knew each other?

He watched as the two men went inside together and then his eyes darkened:

Snoozy knew everything about him.

And with Sylvester back at Pitstop shipping and so close to Penelope, it was all adding up to a disaster waiting to happen.

Something had to be done...

He had made his decision now; something would be done, and soon because he had a shipment coming in tomorrow and he needed Sneekly out of the picture forever, before he worked out what was going on...

Then Clyde turned the car around and took off at speed, determined to get back to Penelope's house before she did, because his plans for Snoozy and Sylvester could wait - he still had a set of keys to Penelope's house and he needed to get in there before she arrived home - because the Hooded Claw would soon have another surprise waiting for her...

Penelope did not rush home.

She drove into town, she parked the car and she went shopping.

She tried to push the thoughts far from her mind that caused her blood to run cold:

Clyde and his suspicious dealings that seemed to point to the worst she could imagine, the thought that he had lied to her and deceived her for so long...and of course, the hooded man who had grabbed her in the dark...

Hooded Claw...

The memory of her attacker haunted her as sure as if he had whispered his way inside her head and started to haunt her like a ghost, like that man of her nightmares in the dark days after her parents had been murdered...

Questions revolved around in her mind all the while she shopped for perfume and underwear and then went into a shoe shop and tried on a new pair of boots:

He had said he killed her parents and now he had come back for her...

But the murders were not a secret it had made the news- anyone could have said that to her, it didn't mean he was her parent's murderer.

She tried to tell herself that Clyde was right; her attacker was just some random guy who had pounced on her.

But he seemed to know so much...

Penelope decided to buy the boots.

She paid for the boots with her credit card and left the store moments later and headed back to her car.

She was still thinking about him:

Hooded Claw.

If he was not the Hooded Claw, then who else could he be?

But the Hooded Claw was a man her own imagination had created, a response to her parent's murder.

There was no Hooded Claw...

She sat in her car and thought about everything all over again, wishing she could talk to Sylvester about it but feeling sure he was much better off not having such terrible reminders of the past.

"How could he know about the Hooded Claw?" She wondered as she thought about her attacker, "No one knows I called him that..."

Then she drove off, heading for home, glad to be getting there while it was still light, because after what had happened she was sure she would never want to be alone in that house in the dark again...

Clyde had parked his car far from the house and then let himself in through the gate, he hurried up the shady pathway and went in through the front door, then he laughed as he put those useful spare keys back in his pocket.

He went straight up the stairs, into Penelope's bedroom to wait for her to arrive.

He had everything he needed:

Rope and tape...

He walked into the bathroom and looked around, taking in the bright white room with the tiled walls and the pink towels folded so neatly over the heated rails, making the only splash of color in the room.

He thought about how terrified she would be when she saw him standing there and he guessed this ought to be enough to drive her over the edge.

If this didn't work she would break soon enough after she found out her boyfriend was dead.

He had already decided what to do about Snoozy and Sylvester:

He would wait until tomorrow night after the shipment had safely arrived and then go over there when it was late and the bar was closed and then he would set the place on fire.

He figured one fire bomb through the window of the downstairs bar ought to be enough to burn the place to the ground, it was old and buildings that old burned well once a fire got going - Snoozy and Sneekly would be trapped upstairs; they'd have no chance to get out of there alive...

Maybe after today, Penelope wouldn't come back here to the house again.

Maybe she would go over to the bar and stay with Sneekly.

Maybe she would be there with him when the place went up in flames.

But after seeing him come out of Pitstop Shipping with the papers in his hand, after finding out Sneekly knew Snoozy, he was getting to a point where Penelope's life was less and less important to him.

He was sure he could manage without her money and if the worst happened, find a new shipping company – but he had to cover his tracks and while there was still a chance he could get back with Penelope, he was going to try for it.

But if she happened to be in the bar tomorrow night it would be her own bad luck because Sneekly and Snoozy had to go...

Clyde buttoned up the long black cape and pulled up the hood, covering his features.

Then he stepped into the shower and pulled the curtain closed, waiting for Penelope to come home...

On arriving home Penelope walked up the path towards the front door.

She was carrying her shopping bags and as she went up the path she found her fears began to slide away:

By daylight the path was dappled with sunlight that escaped through the tree boughs and on looking around she saw no threats lurking, because in daylight everything was visible here.

She also remembered she had her cell phone in her pocket; she could easily reach for it and call for help if she got the slightest hint of anything suspicious.

She recalled the way that maniac had grabbed her and a shiver ran down her spine...

He had worn a hooded cape.

But Clyde had said he hadn't seen that.

She knew she couldn't trust Clyde but she also knew how her parent's death had affected her; the Hooded Claw was'nt real, he was a figment of her imagination...of course she had seen him when that guy had grabbed her, she was afraid at the time...that made sense.

All the same, when she walked up the steps to the porch and slid her key into the lock, she looked back sharply, just to be sure - but of course, no one was there behind her...

Penelope took in a deep breath and turned the key, then went inside, left her bags by the door and closed it firmly.

The house was silent.

But the house was always silent when she was alone; it just seemed different because of what had happened...

Penelope walked up the hallway and went into the kitchen.

Thoughts were still crowding her mind, but now they were thoughts of the past:

A hooded stranger stepping into her parent's bedroom and firing two shots into their sleeping bodies...

She shook her head, determined to cancel out the dark memories.

She could have sold this house long ago and cut ties with the past once and for all - but she had never wanted to do that, to allow the gunman to win - because if she did that she was sure she would spend the rest of her life looking over her shoulder, always afraid, knowing he was still out there somewhere...

No, it hadn't been him, not their killer.

Clyde had to be right; who ever that man had been, he had grabbed her by chance.

He wasn't the Hooded Claw. Her mind had dreamed that up...

Penelope opened the fridge and took out some chilled lemonade and poured herself a tall glass, then the put the bottle back in the fridge.

She stood there for a moment thinking about how hot the day had become, about how much she needed a shower to cool off - but instead she kicked off her boots and added some ice to her glass and went outside and sat in the garden.

As she sipped the iced lemonade she smiled as she thought about Sylvester; in time, when he was ready, she was sure he would move in with her. Unlike the on off relationship she had share with Clyde where she had never wanted to move forward, this was different:

She could picture her and Sylvester living here together, being happy.

She could see them getting married some day, having kids, too.

Penelope knew these things were a long way off because Sylvester had just got out of jail and he still needed to feel as if he was back here in a world that he belonged in; he needed time to adjust before making any big decisions.

But the time would come, she felt sure of it – and this time, she was looking forward to sharing her life with the man she loved...

The sun was still hot and seemed to be getting hotter.

Penelope left the glass on the table as the ice began to melt and went back into the house, stripping off her dress and leaving it where it fell on the kitchen floor.

She walked in her underwear to the bottom of the stairs and looked up, getting a strange feeling that she wasn't alone.

She thought about her cell phone left on the floor in the pocket of her dress and shook her head:

If she let the paranoia get to her now, she would never be free of it...

Penelope began to climb the stairs.

She kept her gaze fixed at the top of the staircase, her fears playing on her mind as she imagined a hooded figure jumping out at her all over again.

"Stop it!" She whispered as she went on up the stairs, "Get a grip, Penelope... you're all alone in here..."

A floorboard creaked as she reached the top of the stairs and she caught her breath and almost toppled backwards.

Gripping the rail to get her balance she stepped on the old loose board again and heard another creak that reassured her and drove her fears far from her mind:

Yes, she had done that herself...

Penelope took a deep breath and walked down the upper hall, towards her bedroom and the bathroom beyond it.

As she opened the bathroom door she hesitated, then she gave a sigh and decided she could take off her underwear in here just as well as in the bedroom, so she stood in the middle of the room and reached around to unhook her bra straps.

Then as she stopped, freezing in movement as her eyes grew wider, she felt sure it had to be another one of those moments where her eyes played tricks on her:

She could see it but she wanted to make sense of it in such a way that she would stop shaking with fear, that her blood would warm back up and stop turning to ice...

The shower curtain had just moved.

Maybe it was the breeze from the open –

She cancelled that thought; the bathroom window was tightly shut...

Penelope drew in a tight breath as she kept her gaze on the shower curtain that hung there looking pale with a faint pattern of roses printed all over it.

There was no one behind it, there was no one hiding in the shower, waiting to jump out on her...

She stood in front of the closed shower curtain.

"There's nobody here." She whispered as her shaking hand reached out to grab the curtain.

She hesitated, glancing over her shoulder:

No one else was here.

She was alone in the bathroom.

All she had to do was pull open that shower curtain and prove it to herself...

Penelope grabbed the curtain and pulled it aside.

He sprang forward dressed in black with his face hidden, pouncing on her and knocking her to the ground as his hand over her mouth choked off her scream:

It was him - The Hooded Claw.

Her head ached from the way she had hit the tiled floor and for a moment the world blurred but then as she felt the weight of him pinning her down, she knew he was very real.

He was real and he was in the room with her.

He was here to kill her...

He taped her mouth again.

She kicked and struggled and his fist slammed against the side of her face, stunning her long enough to give him time to bind her wrists and then her ankles.

Penelope felt an ache spreading through her face and she blinked, trying to breathe through her nose because the gag had covered her mouth just like before.

She looked up at him but his face was still in shadow.

"This time," He hissed, "No one will save you, Penelope Pitstop!"

And he lifted her into his arms.

Fear had made her grow weak and as he carried her over to the bath tub her eyes grew wider.

"It's time to say farewell, Penelope!" He told her, turning on the water and lowering her into the tub.

She looked up at him with terrified eyes as she gave a choked off scream behind her gag and fought in vain to free her bonds:

She got it now; he had tied her up and put her in the bath and now the water was running.

She was trapped flat on her back as the water continued to run into the tub, the level slowly rising.

He was standing over her watching the water rise, watching her struggle.

He was going to watch her drown...

The water level was still rising, covering her shoulders, creeping over her body and the harder she struggled the tighter her bonds became, the more she cried for help the less air she could take in because of the gag and all she could see was the Hooded Claw standing over the tub waiting for her to drown.

He reached down and ran a gloved finger down her bare flesh.

"We could have had a lot of fun today." He whispered, "But I decided it would be much more fun to give you a slow and horrible death, Penelope..."

And then his gloved hand moved up to her throat, as he squeezed and pushed her head under the water her muffled scream was choked off as she struggled for air, thrashing about with her head under water, hearing nothing but the sound of the water as it continued to run and feeling nothing but the choking pain of suffocation as he squeezed her harder and held her head to the bottom of the tub until the last of the air bubbles escaped from her nose.

Then he let go and she rose to the surface, dragging in water and air and choking and fighting for breath.

"If I do that one more time," He whispered, "I do believe I'll kill you. Let's find out, shall we?"

And he shoved her head under the water again.

Penelope weakly fought back, seeing nothing above her but the watery image of the hooded Claw leaning over her, holding her beneath the surface.

Then he pulled her upwards again and she tried to breathe.

She fell limp, losing consciousness.

He gently slid her back into the tub as he let out the water.

Penelope lay there bound and gagged in her underwear, her hair was soaking wet and her eyes were closed and she looked dead.

He peeled the gag from her mouth and her lips parted as she took in a sharp breath, coughed and began to breathe harder.

She was coming around now, so he leaned closer and ran his hand over her wet hair.

"I'll get you next time, Penelope." He whispered in her ear, "Next time, I'll kill you!"

He pulled back sharply as she dragged her eyes open, seeing a blurred image of her attacker leaning into the bath.

Then with a swish of his dark cape he was gone.

The last of the water was draining away now.

Penelope dragged in a deep breath then another and another, then she gave a sob as she struggled to sit up and slipped back down again.

"Please help me..." She sobbed quietly, unsure if he had left the room or if he was just standing back watching her suffer.

"Please..."

Penelope took in another deep breath as she lay in the empty bath and then she screamed loudly.

Her scream echoed around the bathroom and no one heard her, even the Hooded Claw was not around now, he had set out to terrify her and he had succeeded...

She sat up again, yelled for help and slipped back again, smacking her head against the side of the wet tub.

Penelope saw a splash of colour and realized blood was running from the wound to her head, it was running down the side of the wet tub and mixing with droplets of water, running pink down the wet strands of her platinum hair.

She felt ice cold and the bonds were so tight she could barely move.

"HELP ME!" She screamed again.

Her voice carried from the upper floor down the stairway, hitting emptiness and silence.

Penelope cried for help again, but the Hooded Claw had left her there and gone.

Another scream echoed from the upstairs bathroom as she lay tightly bound in the bath tub, but the house was empty now except for the echo of her screams; Penelope was all alone now...