The next twenty-four hours limped along painfully. I couldn't focus in class, and I nearly broke my ass slipping on ice several times while walking through campus, distracted by inner turmoil over my date that night.
I wasn't going to back out, though. And if he knew about Cat, which seemed unlikely, then I would deal with it. If he didn't know, then Cat could stay gone forever and we could build something new, something untarnished by that part of me.
He'd given me an unfamiliar address for our date, and I'd assumed it was a restaurant, but when I arrived, I only saw abandoned buildings and an alley that had seen better days. The sun was setting, bringing the temperature down as it did. I parked Bridgette's car and checked the note against the street addresses again. Using caution in heels too high for me, I walked up and down the street, thinking maybe there was a hole-in-the-wall restaurant or cafe hidden somewhere here. Those places existed and sometimes were the best food ever. I could see Ash enjoying that kind of dining experience, but I found nothing like that.
Something clattered in the alley to my left, and I turned to investigate, but saw nothing. Probably just a cat.
My phone buzzed and for a moment I thought it was Ash, clarifying directions, but I remembered he didn't have my cell number. It had been too risky to give it to him. When I checked the text, I froze.
Gullible girls deserve what they get.
Someone wrapped their arm around me, covering my mouth with a rag. I inhaled something chemical and my body collapsed.
The world sunk in on itself until everything went black.
Chapter Thirty One
An Enemy in Our Midst
I WOKE IN pain and unable to move. At first I thought I was blindfolded, but then realized it was too dark to tell if my eyes were opened or closed. It took a moment for panic to set in, as if my brain and body had disconnected from each other. I observed my circumstances as if watching a movie or reading a book. My wrists stung from a thin wire binding them behind my back. My feet had the same wire wrapped around them, digging into my skin and securing them to a chair. Someone had shoved a ball gag into my mouth, the leather strap tugging at my hair, gagging me in a way that made my jaw ache.
My head felt groggy and I knew I'd been drugged with something to get me here.
When the panic finally hit, I wasn't prepared, and it ran through me like acid in my blood. I tried to scream but choked on my own tongue. When I struggled, the wire cut into me and blood trickled down my ankles and hands. I could hear nothing but the beating of my own heart. Feel nothing but the pain in my body and the terror in my bones.
Because it finally clicked, and I understood. Ash hadn't invited me to dinner. My parents' killer had. Somehow he knew about the blue dress. Knew about our most intimate conversations. Knew that I was Cat.
He knew everything, and now he had me.
I stretched my neck from side to side, but saw nothing in the pitch black. I would die tonight. I would die because I'd been stupid and gullible and had believed that Ash wanted me and not Cat.
How could I have been so stupid?
I heard a noise and jumped in my chair, sending sharp spears of pain into my arms and legs. A candle flared to life and the silhouette of someone in a mask approached me. "I'm going to take the gag out, if you promise not to scream." The man spoke through a synthesizer, giving his voice that sinister quality I knew all too well.
Fear spiked in me and I nodded, knowing I would need to cooperate to secure some semblance of freedom.
He took the ball out of my mouth. I retched, coughing and trying to breathe more deeply. I wanted to scream, to beg and cry, but I tried to keep my voice calm. "What are you going to do to me?"
He ran a gloved finger down my cheek. "That's not clear yet. First, I need to know where the book is."
"What book?" This wasn't the question I was expecting.
"The book your mother wrote. Where is it?"
"I don't understand. You can get that book anywhere."
He backhanded me across the face and my head snapped to the side, the crack of my neck loud in the small room. "Not that book, the one after that."
Now I cried, unable to hold in the tears or terror. "She never wrote it. It doesn't exist."
Another hand across my face. "Liar. Where is it? Tell me, and you might live through the night."
"I would if I knew, but it doesn't exist. The police looked everywhere, and there was nothing. She hadn't written any of it yet."
"I was hoping you'd do this the easy way. I learned to like you after all this time." He moved to a table I hadn't noticed and unrolled something. The light of the candle glinted off metal and I bit my tongue to keep from screaming.
Instead, I focused on every detail I could. Something tickled at the back of my mind, the way he walked, the way his shoulders slumped forward in a defensive posture. As he looked at his tools he brought his right hand to his upper lip, smoothing down the mustache hidden under the mask.
And then I remembered the one name that hadn't been on the party list. Someone I'd seen and talked with, someone who was supposed to be staff but hadn't been listed.