Chapter 20

Vikki’s eyes fluttered open. She was still a bit woozy from the drug, her mind trying to comprehend what had happened.

“I’m sorry, my dear, perhaps it would have been more humane to have dispatched you while you were unconscious, but I thought I, at least, owed you an explanation even though it will do you no good.” It was only then that Nikki realized she was nude and tied securely to a straight back chair. They seemed to be in some kind of cellar.

“It’s an old bomb shelter my grandfather had built back in the red scare days of the fifties,” said the woman.

“It’s quite soundproof and we’re over twenty miles from the next ranch, but if you feel inclined to scream...”

“I won’t scream.”

“Thank you. I could gag you but I’d rather avoid such unpleasantries.”

“You? You’ve been killing these women? But why? asked the deputy.

“It’s quite simple really, revenge.”

“For your daughter’s rape and murder? But what do these victims have to do with...”

“Oh, not the victims themselves. They are simply the instruments of my revenge.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Let me regress a bit. You were right about my knowing that Burt Toomey was being paroled. I’ve waited patiently these twelve years for his release. Then three weeks ago when he was released, I arranged to meet him at a bar, I drugged his drink, offered him a ride back to his motel and brought him here where I tortured him until he finally broke down and told me the truth about what happened twelve years ago.”

“But he confessed at his trial.”

“Yes, and at first, I thought my revenge would be only in torturing him the way he had my daughter. But after a few hours of pain, he told me what had really happened.”

“You mean... ?”

“Oh, no, he raped and, tortured and murdered my daughter all right. But, he wasn’t alone that night.”

“There were others involved?”

“Five other men were at that road house. He first took my daughter in a back room and raped her repeatedly. The other men had to have known what was going on because he said she screamed at the top of her voice for help. But not a one of them responded. It was then he took her to a remote location, tortured and murdered her.”

“But what do these women have to do with...”

“Come now, deputy, each of these women is the daughter of one of those men who refused to help my daughter that night. I could have murdered each of them but what satisfaction would that bring? Toomey was a bachelor, so I reeked my revenge on him directly. I buried his body over in Talmidge County. But it wasn’t nearly as satisfying as providing for each of those daughters what my daughter suffered twelve years ago.”

“So that’s the connection we were looking for,” breathed Nikki.

“And with one more my revenge will be complete.”

“But why me? My father died shortly after I was born.”

“Oh, you have nothing to do with my daughter’s murder. I truly am sorry that you’ll have to die. It’s just that you were putting the pieces together so quickly that I was afraid you might spoil my last act of revenge.”