The Hunter Inside (13 page)

Sandy walked past Melissa
and into the hallway of the house. ‘Wow, this is a really nice place,’ she
said, looking around the lounge and spotting their high school graduation
picture hanging on one of the walls as Melissa ushered her towards a plush
looking sofa.

‘Thanks, I’m glad you’re
finally able to come and see it,’ Melissa replied with a tone of genuine happiness
that made Sandy smile. ‘I’m not interrupting anything am I?’

‘No, no, of course not,’
Melissa said, a wide smile spreading across her face that Sandy was able to
match. ‘Can I get you a drink?’

‘Yes please. Do you have
any orange squash?’ Sandy needed refreshment quickly; driving all the way from
Springfield without stopping had exhausted her and her mouth felt as dry she
imagined the surface of the moon to feel.

‘Don’t tell me you’ve
driven all the way here from Springfield?’

‘Yeah, I have.’ Sandy flopped
down onto the sofa and instantly decided that she was never going to get up
again. This was the best sofa in the world. She knew that if she closed her
eyes for one minute she would be fast asleep.

‘You must be exhausted,’
Melissa said, then turned and walked through an archway decorated with a
variety of small cactus plants on shelves to either side, into the fitted
kitchen. She took a carton of orange squash out of the refrigerator before
reaching into a cupboard above her head and extracting two glasses.

‘I am,’ Sandy replied, ‘I
didn’t stop all the way here. My belly thinks my throat’s been cut.’ This quip
from Sandy made Melissa laugh her old high school laugh. It was raucous to say
the least. It had always amused her back then, and it had the same effect on
her at that instant. Melissa put the squash and the glasses on the floor next
to the sofa and sat down, putting her arm around Sandy as they both laughed
uncontrollably for half a minute.

Laughing along with Melissa
made Sandy feel better and for a second she forgot the reason for being there
unannounced at this late hour of the day. Just one second, but boy was it good
to be there in Melissa’s house, away from the fear she had felt at home. She
didn’t know for how long she would be away from these problems, or whether she
would go to them or they would come to her, but for the moment she felt safe.

If Melissa didn’t mind her
staying on a couple of days then she could maybe sort herself out. Maybe her
stalker would decide to leave her alone. That was what had happened after he
had killed her parents, so why should that not be the case now? If he didn’t
know where she was then he could not hunt her and he could not do her any harm.
The only problem was that she didn’t know how long she would be able to stay
away from Joe and the boys. She had a responsibility to them, and she knew that
the longer she was away, the more upset the boys would be. For now, she thought
they would be okay, but in a couple of days that would begin to change.

As Sandy allowed her
thoughts to flow, Melissa poured a glass of juice and handed it to Sandy.
‘Thanks,’ Sandy said, before gulping down half of the juice in one long swallow
and issuing a relieved gasp. She placed the glass on the floor near her feet
and reclined into the sofa’s soft caress.

‘I hate to ask, but do you
mind if I stay here a couple of days? That is, if it’s no problem.’ The way in
which Sandy spoke made it even more obvious to Melissa that there was a
big
problem. Sandy knew she was always welcome in Melissa’s home – no matter the
circumstances – and Melissa wondered if Sandy’s vulnerability was due to
problems with Joe.

‘Of course you can stay.
It’ll be like old times.’

‘Thanks Melissa, I’m not
sure we’ll be having any slumber parties tonight though; I’m beat.’ The relief
Sandy felt at her arrival not causing a problem would only be bettered by the
relief that an eight-hour deep sleep would provide.

‘Listen Sandy, you can tell
me to mind my own business…’ Melissa was ready to probe, ‘but is everything okay?
I mean, you look a bit green around the gills and you shocked me to death
turning up out of the blue.’

Sandy thought for a moment
and decided to tell another lie. She was getting good at telling lies. Other
people might have thought she was selfish to put her friend at risk, but Sandy
didn’t feel selfish. Desperate times called for desperate measures, and Sandy
didn’t think a desire to stay alive could be considered a selfish thing. She
would stay while things were quiet. If anything happened she would leave.

Straight away, without
delay.

‘I’m having a few problems
at home. Joe and I have both been working really hard and it’s kind of getting
to us both at the moment. I can’t keep up with it; just need a little break
from the routine.’ Her ability to lie wasn’t good, and she was sure that her
over elaboration would not go unnoticed by Melissa.

‘Well, okay. If you’re
sure. But you can talk to me any time you need to. You know that, right?’
Melissa was not convinced that it was as simple as Sandy made it out to be; but
support would be enough for now. Sandy could wait until she was ready to say
something.

‘I appreciate you letting
me stay like this. I know I kind of sprung myself on you.’ Melissa thought she
made out a tear in the corner of Sandy’s eye and she hugged her. Sandy buried
her head in her friend’s shoulder and composed herself while wiping the tear
into Melissa’s sweater.

‘What are friends for?’ she
said as they parted, and both smiled at the other.

For now, Sandy’s problems
seemed a thousand miles away, as she sat in Melissa’s lounge. Waves of
sleepiness poured over her. These waves increased as the heat in the room began
to take its toll and Sandy knew within five minutes of sitting down on the sofa
that she would be able to stave them off no longer.

‘Do you mind if I go to bed
Melissa? I feel like flaking out.’

‘Of course I don’t mind.
Just go up the stairs and to the left. That’s the guest bedroom, and the
bathroom is on the right.’

‘Thanks Melissa.’ Now all
that Sandy had to do was get up the stairs; something else that may prove a
problem as the pain in her legs, caused by holding them in the same position
throughout her long drive, made stiffness encroach upon her mobility.

Melissa laughed as Sandy
rose laboriously and replied, ‘It’s no problem. Stop saying thanks. I’ll see
you tomorrow and we’ll catch up properly then, okay?’

‘Okay. Goodnight ‘Liss.’
Sandy hugged her again, before slowly ascending the stairs, too tired to take
any notice of the framed New York skyline photographs that were placed at
intervals on the stairway. By the time she reached the top of the stairs,
almost tripping on the thick blue carpet, she was ready to go to sleep right
there on the landing.

The five yards she had left
to travel seemed like five times more as she forced her aching legs to plough
onwards towards the sanctuary of her best friend’s spare room. She would not
bother with the bathroom; she didn’t feel that her arms contained the energy
needed to raise a toothbrush to her mouth. She had been in too much of a haste
to pack any clothes, or anything else for that matter. Tomorrow she would have
to try and get some clothes, and shop for other items she would need while she
was there, but for now she was pleased upon entering the room to feel a nice,
secure air around her. It was an air that suggested good Feng Shui; her instant
feeling was that she would be okay here.

The room was small and
homely. The huge army of teddy bears that almost covered the bed would protect
her while she slept. Melissa had always had a love affair with teddy bears.
Ever since childhood she had to have whichever one she saw and Sandy thought
that the army she had for company was probably only a division of a much larger
army that Melissa had set up to be a decorative comfort; not to fight.

Sandy pushed half of the
bears off the bed and onto the floor. She did not worry about sitting them all
nicely as Melissa would have liked her to do; she was so eager to get into bed
she did not even bother to undress. Her complete weariness meant she would not
even think about ringing Joe until tomorrow. She didn’t want to wake up Sean
and David; she knew that they could be a handful at the best of times, and they
were more likely to be so with her away.

As she slipped between the
fresh white sheets and inhaled the lavender odor of detergent, she thought
about Joe, wondering if he was still awake.

This was the worst time for
Sandy. She was not used to being alone in bed, and being away from Joe did not
seem right. It only increased her desire to curl up into a ball and ignore the
rest of the world. Maybe rest would do her good and give her a desire to fight,
but at that moment fighting was the last thing in the thoughts of Sandy Myers.

Joe was not asleep. Pacing
up and down the lounge of their home in Springfield, he tried to think of all
the places his wife could have gone to. He knew she had gone somewhere to ride
it out alone. She did not have any family besides him and the boys, and the one
real friend she had lived miles away. Besides, they only really sent birthday
and Christmas cards to one another nowadays anyway, and very rarely spoke on
the phone. Joe ruled out the possibility that Sandy had gone to Melissa’s after
considering this, and his thoughts turned to the lack of a phone call.

Wondering why she had not
rung brought out his own paranoid streak. He considered the possibility that
the phone line was tapped. Maybe Sandy was reluctant to ring in case her
whereabouts were disclosed to her stalker through the conversation.

Sandy lay, exhausted but
unable to close her eyes, as Joe panicked at home. He decided that she was not
going to ring and went through into the boys’ room to check on them. He would
sleep in the spare room at the front of the house in case the boys woke and
needed him and, after seeing that they were both fast asleep, he sat on the
edge of the spare room’s single bed while he undressed.

As he did so he threw each
item of clothing onto the floor. He could not be bothered to fold them; his
organization was shot to pieces, but he knew that come morning time he had to
put on a brave front for the children. Therefore he must try and get a good
night’s sleep.

He lay down on the cold
mattress and was struck by the emptiness of the bed. Even this single bed
seemed too big for just him, and he hated the fact that Sandy was not there.
Everything had happened so fast. The shock of Sandy’s revelation and her
subsequent disappearance hit him, as his feeling of emptiness and loneliness
fostered a feeling of helplessness. He said a prayer that his wife was being
watched over and was safe, before switching out the light and trying to achieve
the impossible of sleeping through such turbulence.

Despite thinking their
exhaustion would mean they went to sleep instantly, both Joe and Sandy took more
than an hour to fall asleep; their heads whirling with all the possible
outcomes to this unexpected situation. When they finally did sleep they had
similar dreams, in which they each stood on a ledge and tried, unsuccessfully,
to reach one another.

The inability to reach one
another came as a result of a gap between them; a chasm that dropped as far as
either of them could see. The more they reached, the further apart they seemed
to be.

The prayer that Joe Myers
had said for his wife was actually quite apt.

Sandy
was
being
watched over.

There
was
somebody
at her side - wherever she went and whatever she did. It was only the safety
part that was in question.

Sandy had decided to go it
alone and try to escape her stalker, hoping he would tire of chasing her. But
Sandy still had one crucial thing to realize if she was going to survive. She
could not run. It knew her every move. Wherever she went, whenever she went
there, it would know.

Sandy Myers had to realize
that she had to stand and fight.

Paul Wayans was tired. It had taken
until 6:15 PM for Jim Brown to arrive, and he had been left alone up until that
time. Spending the time thinking about what his next move would be had done
little to provide him with a sense of relief. His time at the cop shop had not
been pleasant and he would be glad to get away, but the person that waited for
him; or the thing that waited for him, seemed like a whole different
proposition from the big cop who had assaulted him earlier.

Paul considered himself to
have two options. If his fear overwhelmed him he could stay in Atlantic Beach
and not go home. That would mean not speaking to Todd and telling him
information that may save others: if his wildest fears were true. Also, he knew
that whoever had sent him the letters, whether Shimasou or not, had definitely
been in Atlantic Beach, and therefore his decision was to go and speak to Todd,
while he still had the chance.

By the time he made up his
mind to go back to Stamford and speak to Todd, half an hour had passed and he
had been allowed to make a phone call in a room halfway down the long corridor
down which he had been led upon his arrival. He called Todd at home and spoke
only for a minute, asking Todd to meet him at Chee-Uz later.