Chapter 9: Violence

Two weeks had elapsed since the girls left L.A. and they had no idea what Fred was doing about looking for them. They discussed what their father might have done when he found out they were gone, but each of them suggested something different.

Linda's own view was downright pessimistic but she kept it to herself, knowing better than discourage her younger sisters. Nikki and Zoë had a more positive idea of what might be happening in L.A. They even laughed about a possible change of heart - Mom and Dad pleading on national TV for them to come back home, saying everything was forgiven and forgotten.

'Fat chance, ' Linda thought, driving down the dirt road. After some grueling doubts and confabs, they decided that one of them had to go and buy some fresh food, especially fruit and vegetables. They tried to live on what they could find in the mountains but their survival skills had been, after all, overestimated. That was worrying... That meant they wouldn't last long up there and that sooner or later they would have to leave the cabin and find a better hiding place... and money.

Linda finally reached the main road and made a right turn to go downhill. She knew there was a small town thirty miles away where she could buy groceries and let someone repair the spare wheel. She knew the risks, but driving without a spare in the mountains was not too a good idea. To minimize the chances of being recognized, she wore shades, tucking her long hair under her baseball cap. She took a deep breath and hit the gas pedal.

The small town was Libertyville - population 2,530 according to the sign - had several stores for tourists, selling T-shirts and Indian handicrafts, which Linda noticed with some relief. She would be just another dumb tourist, looking for food, and with a spare wheel to be fixed.

Linda parked the Jeep in front of a grocery store, its windows plastered with posters screaming the current bargains. She waited for a moment before stepping out of the Jeep, sizing up the passersby as potential sources of danger. She caught a few stares but most of the people minded their own business. This reassurance allowed her to leave the Jeep and enter the store.

As Linda had guessed, she was not the only tourist in town. The store owner and a couple in their fifties were bent over an unfolded road map and chatting about the best road to take and how to make the best of the couple's two-week vacation. Cackling out loud and casting an affectionate look at her husband, the woman referred to their trip as a kind of second honeymoon.

Linda turned away and looked around the store for fruit and vegetables. Once done with her shopping, Linda waited nervously at the back of the store for the couple to leave. The cackling woman, though, was too talkative, recounting her wonderful stay in San Francisco and Monterey just a couple of weeks before.

'Come on, ' Linda urged silently, staring at the woman through her shades. She waited for a while longer but the woman and the owner kept joking and laughing at each other's stories. Losing her patience, Linda came closer and said, "I'm sorry to interrupt you but I'm kind of in a hurry. Where can I pay for this?"

The couple and the owner looked at her with surprise. Then the woman smiled and said, "Why, the youth of these days's always in a hurry!"

"I know that," the store owner confirmed, scratching his puffy right cheek, "I have two kids of my own. Never stay two minutes in the same place, those two."

Linda ignored their remarks, licking her dry lips, almost sighing with frustration. She paid for the groceries and left, shaking and cursing the woman and the man with the puffy cheeks.

"Geez," she huffed as she started the engine and drove away.

It didn't take long before she spotted the gas station. She was grateful that this time she was the only customer and that a grinning, attractive young man - instead of a lecturing old geezer - closed in.

"How can I help you, Miss-?"

"Just fill 'er up, please," she replied, paying no attention to his curiosity. She was going to mention the spare when a sudden urge to go the bathroom came over her. She asked directions, which were promptly given, and left the Jeep. Before she reached the restroom, a poster on one of the windows caught her attention.

"Shit!" Linda caught her breath and looked back, just making sure that no one was staring at her. She examined the poster again. With huge printed letters, the poster trumpeted "MISSING, PROBABLY KIDNAPPED: Linda McDougall, Nicole McDougall, Zoë McDougall and Jeannie McDougall", followed by their descriptions, photos and the promise of a 50,000-dollar reward for any information leading to their rescue. 'Shit, ' she repeated, hurrying into the restroom, her legs shaking from fear.

She swallowed, her heart beating like crazy, wondering what to do and if that guy had recognized her. The cops would be there in no time if he had. Her fears seemed justified when she peeked at the Jeep around corner of the building where she stood. The guy was nowhere to be seen. She strained her ears but heard nothing either.

'Dammit... Now what?'

Taking off without paying could be one solution, she thought. She took a deep breath and sped across to the Jeep. She looked for the keys but couldn't find them. Of course, the guy had them!

She glanced at the empty road, breathing anxiously. With desperation she hit the horn but no one appeared. She beeped a second time and in a moment the guy showed up at the entrance of the garage, wiping his hands with a white handkerchief. He grinned and apologized. A friend of his had called. They were going to shoot some pool that evening after work.

Preempting any "wanna come?" Linda asked how much she owed and paid him. Then she found she had the keys in her purse after all. Deciding not to do anything with the blown-out spare, Linda didn't look back as she raced her Jeep up the road.

'Kidnapped?' she said to herself, shaking her head. 'Kidnapped?!... How can he say we were kidnapped? That doesn't make any sense at all!'

A couple of weeks later, Linda began to sense her sisters' boredom. Zoë was more volatile than usual, Jeannie seemed down in the dumps... and Nikki wanted to make love all the time. It suited her fine to neck and pet with Nikki that often but the twins were making her anxious. Maybe all that sexual activity between Nikki and herself was having a negative effect on the younger sisters. Zoë and Jeannie had gotten into a catfight the afternoon before. Zoë had been vicious, drawing blood from Jeannie's breasts and arms. She had to hit Zoë and knock her down in order to break the two apart.

Linda asked Zoë and Jeannie why they were fighting but the twins wouldn't tell her. She had witnessed a lot of brawls between those two, but their last catfight had been the most violent by far. Linda recalled the horror she felt when she saw the wounds on Jeannie's breasts. It had made her feel strange. It made her want to hit Zoë again, and that scared her. She never believed in being physical. Her quick wit and imposing presence were normally sufficient to avoid the worst. But those two... God...