Page 95 of Cougar Point

We hear a commotion in the background behind Rebecca, and Jack comes rushing out the back door, saying, “Rebecca. Come quick. Call Ronnie to come home.”

SIXTY

Ronnie drives. She knows a shortcut only using part of Interstate 5 North then backroads. We make it to Cougar Point in twenty minutes instead of thirty-five. If I had driven, we would have made it faster even on the Interstate. When we pull up out front, Rebecca is waiting in the driveway for us. Vinnie stays in the vehicle.

“Oh, Ronnie!” Rebecca cries. “Dad’s in the kitchen. Come quick.”

Ronnie jumps out and chases after her sister. I get out and look at Vinnie. “You coming in?” I ask.

“I don’t want to cause trouble.”

“I’ll protect you,” I say, and pat my gun.

“I’m not afraid of Jack,” he says, “I don’t want to have to hurt him in front of my nieces. God knows what they’ve been told about me.”

“Suit yourself,” I say, and go after Ronnie.

Ronnie and Rebecca are standing around Jack, who is seated at the table. In front of him are Ronnie’s laptop and a shoebox with bloodstained sides.

Another gift.The kidnappers are enjoying this. Jack has gotten the money ready but they still push him with brutality.Jack looks like a broken man. Anger is the only thing propping his daughters up. I watch Ronnie’s mouth set and see the murderous rage straining to be released.

Ronnie leans over Jack’s shoulder and reaches for the box, but Jack’s hand stops her.

Rebecca says, “A flash drive was with the box.” She opens the laptop and starts a video.

The screen is dark and the sound of screaming blasts from the speaker.

A woman’s voice yells,“Hold still, damn it.”More screams and a different voice pleads.“Don’t do this. He’ll pay. He’ll get the money.”The first voice says,“I’ll cut your head off if you don’t stop moving.”The other voice pleads and the panic in the voice is palpable.“I can get the money. Just let me talk to him. I can take you to the bank. I have the money in the bank.”

Another scream and then the picture zooms in on the scene.

A woman wearing a ski mask and camouflage jacket has another woman spreadeagled on the floor while a big man holds the woman down. The man is also wearing a ski mask and camo hunting fatigues. The woman on the floor is naked and filthy.

I want Jack to stop the video so I can see them better but it’s impossible to stop looking.

The man kneels in the woman’s back with one knee on her neck crushing her face into the floor while the other woman kneels on the naked woman’s forearm. She’s holding a small hand ax, and I watch in horror as she raises it overhead and brings it down on the other woman’s wrist. The screams that follow are animalistic and taper off to a whimper and then are stilled. The naked woman goes limp, and the man says,“You were just supposed to get her fingers, you bitch.”The hatchet wielding one says,“Shut up. You don’t have the stomach for this. Besides this bitch had it coming. I hope she bleeds to death.”Theman says,“Give me that.”The camera jerks and then crashes to the floor and the screen goes blank.

Ronnie pulls the box over in front of us, and Rebecca says, “I can’t. I just can’t. I’m sorry.”

She leaves the room but Jack just sits, dumbstruck.

Ronnie lifts the top from the box and lets it fall to the table. Her hand goes to her chest and she lets out a wail and starts pacing, alternately clutching her fists and grinding her teeth.

Rebecca comes back and stops Ronnie’s pacing and hugs her tightly while Jack sits staring at the box that contains a pale hand with a wedding band still on the ring finger and the small finger is missing. Tears fill my eyes and my heart goes out to this family. If Victoria is still alive, she’s being mutilated, slowly, painfully, one piece at a time.

The sisters are a wreck so I ask, “Jack. What happened? I’m sorry to ask but we may not have much time.” I cringe at my own insensitivity but it’s the truth. The kidnappers might be preparing anothergiftfor Jack as we speak.

He looks at me and sucks in a deep breath and lets it out. “Can’t you see what happened? What is wrong with you?”

“I guess I deserve that, Jack. I’m truly sorry.” I am. “When you feel like it, please tell me and Ronnie how…” I stop there. I don’t know how to ask how he got the hand so I just come out with it. They can hate me but I’m going to find Victoria. “How did the box get delivered? Did you have the cameras recording?” He’s struggling to keep it together but the kidnappers are upping the game. That means I have to be insistent. “Talk to me, Jack.”

Thankfully, Ronnie and Rebecca come out of it enough to talk.

Rebecca says, “Dad went for a walk in the woods behind the house. There are no cameras back there. He came in with the box and couldn’t speak. Who could do such a thing?”

Feral animals can. The human kind. I say, “Where did you find the box, Jack?”

Rebecca says, “He hasn’t told me. He said to call you and he hasn’t spoken until you got here.”

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