“Dad?” Wyatt said as he approached the porch. Heck couldn’t respond when Wyatt approached him, he just stood up and embraced his son. He wasn’t normally a man that showed emotion, but it was at this moment that Heck burst into tears.
“Where is he, Dad?” Wyatt asked gently.
“The bastard dismembered him. He’s all over the place.”
Wyatt started looking around and could see that there was blood all over the porch and leading out onto the ground outside. He looked toward the wood pile and saw that Wyatt Sr.’s head was placed on top of it. Wyatt had to swallow the bile rising in his throat.
“We’ll catch the monster, Dad. Come hell or high water, he will pay for this,” Wyatt said as felt his phone buzzing in his pocket. He pulled it out and saw that it was Lindsay’s mom. “Hi Karen, are you and Lindsay ready to head out?” he asked.
“Wyatt . . . she isn’t here. She never arrived. What the hell is going on?”
“Fuck!” he said and hung up before answering her question, instead dialing Lindsay’s number. The phone rang, but there was no answer. He hung up and called Ness, she answered practically instantly.
“Wyatt, what’s up?” Ness asked, concerned.
“It’s Lindsay. She never made it to her mom’s place, and she isn’t answering her phone. How far are you from North Utica?”
“I’m about 15 minutes out,” Ness said.
“Push it, I’m on my way.” Wyatt exclaimed, and got into his truck. At that moment, his phone buzzed, and he saw it was Lindsay calling. “Lindsay, where . . .”
“Hello, little Wyatt. Did you like my present that I left for you at the cabin?”
“Where’s Lindsay?”
“She’s here, but she’s rather indisposed at the moment.”
“I’m going to gut you for this, Eddie,” Wyatt said.
“Oh, so you think you know who I am just because your baby sister spilled the beans?” Eddie laughed into the phone.
“She didn’t spill anything, I figured that out on my own. You see, you made a mistake.” Wyatt said as he tried to negotiate the treacherous road.
“How’s that?” Eddie asked in a monotone voice.
“Oh, no. I’m not going to make it easy for you. But if I figured it out, it’s only a matter of time until others figure it out, too. Your game is almost up, Eddie Rose,” Wyatt knew that taunting him probably wasn’t the best move, but if he was still on the line, he couldn’t hurt Lindsay anymore. His stomach clenched at the thought. Please, let her still be alive.
“Very well, little Wyatt. Our time will come shortly where you will share all sorts of intimate secrets with me,” Eddie laughed and hung up.
“Shit,” Wyatt threw his phone onto the passenger seat and drove even faster down the road.
10 minutes later, Ness parked her car a few houses down from Wyatt’s house, and she got out and ran down the street. If Eddie was inside, she didn’t want to warn him of her presence ahead of time. She ran straight for the door and saw that all the lights were off, but the front door was ajar. She moved inside quietly and could hear water running upstairs. She sprinted up to the second floor and straight for the bathroom, she kicked open the door and saw Lindsay’s bloody, limp body being held under the water as the bath filled up.
Eddie turned and looked at her with a fiery malice in his eyes. “It won’t be long now: all of her life is almost gone,” he laughed as he continued to hold Lindsay’s head under the running water.
Ness charged him but Eddie turned, and push-kicked her in the abdomen. There was a loud whoosh of air as his foot made impact with her soft tissue of her midsection. Ness flew backward into the bathroom door hard. She regained her composure as quickly as she could and kicked directly for Eddie’s knee. She knew that he expected a kick to the groin and would dodge it if she tried, but a kick to the knee was much faster. There was a crack as the cartilage gave way under the force of the well-placed kick, and Eddie screamed in pain as he went down to the ground.
Ness got up and pulled Lindsay out of the bathtub. She turned to deal with another attack from Eddie, but he was already limping down the stairs. Ness wanted to chase after him, but she couldn’t leave Lindsay. She held her ear close to her mouth, and there was no breathing. Ness moved her onto her back and quickly started compressing her chest on her sternum. A few seconds later, Lindsay started sputtering as bloody water was expelled from her mouth.
Ness rolled Lindsay onto her side and could then see the full extent of the damage that Eddie had done to her. Her back was slashed open in multiple places, and there were multiple lacerations on her face. He was obviously trying to inflict as much pain as he could before she died, and he didn’t allow for any of his cuts to go too deep. He wanted her to die slowly. She grabbed her phone and called 911 and explained the situation. As soon as she hung up, she called Wyatt.
“Ness, what’s going on?” he said quickly.
“I’m with Lindsay at your house. She’s hurt badly, but she’s alive. The ambulance is on route.”
“I’m 10 minutes out,” Wyatt said and hung up.
Ness stroked Lindsay’s wet hair while she was laying
