Free Book Excerpts

Lady suffering emotional trauma and social stigma of rape previous year finds herself fighting for her life again when the psychopath escapes and returns to kill her.

Excerpt

Passing through the big gate, she headed down the lane toward the river, walking slowly to convince anyone watching that she was relaxed and unafraid. She wished she had her paints and easel so she could give a more convincing appearance of normalcy, but all her paint supplies were still down by the river or destroyed by the fire.

She turned on the radio and allowed her hand to slide over the bulge in her dress where the pistol was tucked beneath the cord. Having the gun didn’t relieve her fears, but it made her feel secure enough to keep going.

She was approaching the bend in the lane when she became aware of a strong sense of being watched. It told her Sadac was indeed in the area and had spotted her. More nervous now, she searched the lane for signs of Ted’s tracks, having taken special notice of the soles of his boots the night before.

Spotting one of Ted’s boot prints near the edge of the lane, she pressed on with renewed confidence, but had gone less than a dozen steps when she froze, becoming so weak she almost fainted. There, some three feet ahead of her in the sand, was another shoe print, larger and deeper than Ted’s.

She looked back toward the storage shed, but couldn’t see it for the mesquite trees. She turned and studied the brush and trees between her and the river, but didn’t see Sadac or Ted. Where is Ted, anyway, she asked herself. She hoped she was far enough down the trail for him to see her now. If she wasn’t, surely Otis will get here in time to save me when Sadac rushes out to grab me. What had ever possessed her to believe she could carry out such a bold plan?

She took a deep breath and continued down the trail, passing the spot where the larger shoe prints led off toward the river barn. It was a fresh print, made no earlier than the previous evening.

Upon reaching the landing where her second raft lay tied to a Cypress root, she checked her easel and paints left during her last visit. Finding them intact, she looked upriver and then out into the trees along each bank and behind her, hoping she would see some sign of Ted.  She didn’t, and that caused another chill to run up her spine. The feeling of being watched was stronger now.

Stepping over to the tubes, she unbuttoned her dress and reached in to loosen the cord, but realized that she couldn’t do that without Sadac seeing what she was hiding. If he did, he might chose not to risk attacking her, and that would spoil all her plans to stop him, because she would never dare attempt such a dangerous plan again.

She sank down on the tube in an attempt to think calmly about how she could transfer the pistol and cord to the raft. She was trembling all over now, and her hands were cold and clammy.

Knowing she must give every appearance of normalcy, she got back on her feet. Holding one hand against the gun to prevent it from falling, she jogged back and forth along the bank for several minutes as if warming up before getting into the cold water.

Returning to the raft, she began to sing, but when her voice broke she stopped. She made herself begin again, loud enough to be heard by Ted so he would know her exact location in case he couldn’t see her.

She moved her hands to the top button of her dress, but a wave of revulsion at the thought of undressing in view of Sadac made her freeze. A wave of dizziness swept over her, almost causing her to fall.

She sank down on the tube again, fighting back tears of defeat and absolute terror. She asked herself: How can I go on with this? She knew Ted was guarding her, but her insides had suddenly turned into a quivering, cringing mass.

Then she thought of Papa, realizing that if she quit now she would be letting him down. Didn’t she promise herself in the utility shed that she would avenge his murder at any cost?  She did, and if she really meant it, why should setting a trap for the one who killed him upset her so? Hadn’t she already died a thousand times? And she had told herself many times that she’d rather be dead than keep on living in constant fear, and having to endure vulgar men like Wart Chisholm who believe that no woman is capable of striking back at those who molest her. Was she capable, or was she not?

Her anger gave her the strength to turn her mind back to the task at hand.  Clenching her teeth, she unbuttoned her dress and loosened the cord, allowing it and the pistol to slide to the ground inside the garment.

Shuddering violently, she glanced around her as she again sensed the dark eyes of the mad Sadac boring into her. Should she continue or run screaming back to the shed?

Dressed only in her panties and brassiere now, she reached behind her to release the catch that would allow the upper garment to fall, but her hands were trembling so she couldn’t unhook it. When she tried again, a wave of disgust swept over her, convincing her she could not expose herself further.

She sank down on the raft and cried. Moments later, after again telling herself why she was there and the reasons she could not fail, she became calm enough to proceed.

Wiping her eyes, she moved the bundled-up dress with the gun inside it into the raft, pulled her panties up tighter and untied the anchor rope. Throwing the rope into the raft, she pushed the tubes away from the bank and jumped into the one in back, sitting down on the boards across its bottom. With the raft drifting lazily toward deeper water, she pulled the cord and the gun from inside her dress and tied the loose end of the cord to her right ankle. Examining the opposite end of the cord to make sure it was still securely fastened to the trigger guard of the old Colt, she leaned back against the large tube and swung her bare legs over the rope binding holding the tubes together. With her feet hanging extended into the front tube she tried to relax.

At mid-stream, she began to move slowly drift with the current, and as she did, she pulled out the radio’s metal antenna and found a station strong enough to be heard under the trees. Glancing around her, she checked the gun’s safety and made sure the rope wasn’t tangled. Papa had always been a strong advocate of gun safety. The safety catch would not allow it to be discharged, but it could be moved to “Fire” in an instant, allowing her to fire as fast as she could pull the trigger. She returned the pistol to the floor.

Still trying hard to appear nonchalant as she searched both banks, she made herself concentrate on the songs coming over the radio. She loved the old country and western numbers, and she was desperate for a way to relieve the growing terror within.

Using her hands as paddles in order to keep her face forward, she occasionally held one of them in the water longer enough to swing slightly to the side in order to get a better view of her surroundings. She still saw nothing that told her Ted was in a position where he could see her, but so far she did not see Sadac. She hoped Otis had already moved into the brush near Big Red’s river barn.

It was becoming harder to keep her mind on the music now, and she was becoming more afraid that she did not have the strength to finish her mission after all. But she again recalled what happened to Papa and Max, and what she promised herself she would do to the man who ruined her life if he attacked her again. She would do it if Otis or Ted missed.

She turned anxious brown around her again, then at the brush beyond the river bank where Ted was supposed to be. If he couldn’t see her in her present position, she was sure he could once she moved around the next turn in the river.  She wondered how long it would take him to aim and shoot when Sadac sprang out of hiding.

She looked up through the tops of the trees, welcoming the warming rays of the sun which were now seeping through the openings in the branches along the east bank. It seemed that the horse barn would never come into view.

The music on the radio stopped and a newscaster began his commentary. “Ladies and gentlemen, we want to report new developments in the politically explosive River Girl case unfolding along the Frio River. Helen Kipling, called River Girl by reporters on the scene, has survived all efforts of the alleged murderer Animal Sadac to kill her, but to date the alleged rapist/killer has not been arrested and returned to custody. The local sheriff, Warther Chisholm, has called off the search for him because he believes the fugitive has left the area. More controversy was thrown into the case when that sheriff claimed that from the beginning of his efforts to save her, River Girl has not been cooperative. He told reporters she made advances during his recent vigil at her ranch home, a charge that The River Girl has not denied to date. Reporters at the scene also report that some of the officers working on the case suspect that River Girl wants to see Sadac again, a belief based on the fact that she insists on remaining at her grandfather’s ranch where she was abducted last fall. Reporters also say she has not denied wanting to see Sadac again, and that a reliable source has also told them that such bizarre behavior should not be considered unusual for a woman who was treated for emotional problems following her abduction last year”.

The commentator told of the state-wide political implications of the crimes allegedly committed by the fugitive since his escape, particularly the shooting of the much-loved state trooper Max Klaus, affectionately referred to as Santa Claus by those who know him best. He added, “There is no proof, of course, that Sadac is the one who shot Santa Claus, but he is the most likely suspect, according to Sheriff Chisholm. We will interrupt programming to report further developments in the River Girl/Santa Claus case as they come in. Now back to our regular programming.”

In the pause before the music began playing again, Helen heard a slight sound that she could not identify up near the lane she’d followed to the river, and upon looking that way saw a slight movement of a bush near the barn. She smiled, convinced that Otis had arrived. With two state troopers watching over her now, she was safe.

She turned her full attention back to the river’s banks, but saw nothing except the usual bushes, trees and rocks. In the distance she heard a crow, a couple of green jays and the sounds of the swift water rushing through the rocks below the barn. They were comforting sounds.

Arriving at the midway point on the way to the barn landing, she paddled with her hands to swing the raft around for a better view of the area on each side of the Frio. She didn’t see Sadac, but still was consumed by the sensation of being watched.

As soon as the barn came into view, she raised up higher to get a better view of the area, and saw right away that some of the visiting lawmen had pulled Big Red’s carcass away. She was thankful for that. Poor Big Red. She loved that horse. She felt partially responsible for his death, because she was the one responsible for his being there. He was to have been a vital part of her rehabilitation.

More anxious now that her floating journey was about to end, she maneuvered the raft away from the center of the stream to avoid being pulled into the swift water beyond the barn and again searched both banks. Perhaps she was wrong in believing Sadac would attack her on her first attempt to lure him out of hiding. Maybe he meant to but had seen Ted and Otis. She asked herself: Where are they anyway? If they were not situated where they were supposed to be, Otis was now closer to her than Ted.

When she arrived at a point less than twenty feet from the landing, she raised up on her knees in anticipation of jumping out of the raft upon reaching shallow water, and when she saw no sign of Sadac, stepped out when the front tube bumped into the bank. Still afraid that Sadac might still be near but wouldn’t show himself if he saw the pistol, she dropped the gun into the water and allowed the string to unroll as she moved toward land. If Sadac did not appear by the time she stepped out on the rocky shore and put on her dress, she would pull the Colt from the river and rejoin Otis and Ted for the return trip to the house.

She again looked around her, still puzzled as to why Otis and Ted had not revealed their whereabouts. Since Sadac had not appeared, there was no further need for them to hide. Perhaps they suspected, as she did, that Sadac might be waiting until the last moment to spring out at her.

Turning her back toward the brush, she had just leaned down to remove the dress from the raft when she heard a movement behind her. Thinking it was Ted or Otis, she turned. “Thank God you’re..”

She froze, rendered speechless when she found herself looking at a bedraggled, fierce looking Sadac standing beside a cedar tree not more than twenty feet away..

Read more about Lady in Peril – Men Blunder, Women Suffer and Calvin Bowden HERE.

Copyright 2010 Calvin Bowden. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author.