N3D | Chapter 1

April 11, 2014 | Day 1

 “Behind every great fortune lies a great crime.” - Honore de Balzac

FRIDAY | 11:11 P.M.

A lone gunshot pierced the quiet cloudless April sky of Lucky, Texas. James Gibson slowly pulled out of his dream and opened his eyes to the darkness of his bedroom. The sound of his wife breathing deeply beside him nearly made him dismiss what he thought he had heard and drift back to sleep. He had been dreaming about catching the biggest catfish of his life and was about to win first prize in the annual Lucky Fish Festival. It was something he had been thinking about lately with summer fast approaching. A second shot was fired and James sat up with a bolt. His rustling of the bed sheets woke his wife, Victoria. She moaned and wiped at her sleepy eyes. James had already swung his legs over the edge of the bed and was grabbing for his blue robe that was draped over the end of their wooden antique poster bed.

            “James, what is it?” Victoria whispered, being mindful of their sleeping children just a few doors down from their bedroom.

            “Gunshots,” he said. “Two shots and they were close.”

            James scrambled into a pair of sweatpants, made his way to the drawn curtains in their room and slightly pulled open the two panels of fabric. He then opened one slat in the blinds and looked out onto their twenty acres of wooded land. The moon was bright and allowed for him to quickly survey the parts that were closest to their aging wood-framed country house. His riding lawn mower was next to their shed casting shadows as well as a saw horse and some pieces of wood he had been planning to use in their vegetable garden. Mesquite trees and cactus were mostly what he saw while his eyes scanned the other parts of the terrain. He could barely make out the barbed wire fencing that separated their land from where their ten head of cattle roamed freely. Victoria came up behind him and pushed open the curtains a little further. She peered through the blinds, as well, and tried to make out any movement. They both heard the shrieking scream at the same time. James moved first.

            “I’ll get my gun,” he announced while hastily moving out of their room in his bare feet. “Call Sheriff Barnes and tell him the situation. Someone may be in trouble.”

            “James, be careful,” Victoria warned.

            By now both of their young children were up and moving into their bedroom. Victoria turned on her bedside lamp. She noticed her hands were shaking a little.

            “Hey, you two, what are you doing up?” she asked while folding them both into her arms. Tommy, aged ten, just groaned as he sunk his face into his mom’s night gown. Amy, newly turned twelve, seemed wide awake as if she were well rested and had been asleep for hours.

            “Were those gunshots, mom? Tommy said he heard two shots, but I told him I only heard one,” Amy said as she looked up at her mom for confirmation. Her long brown hair was pulled back into a ponytail. Victoria could barely make out the cute freckles across the bridge of her nose in the dim light.

            “Yes, those were gunshots,” Victoria confirmed. “I need to call the sheriff. You two get back to bed. It’s late.”

            “Aw, mom, I want to see what’s going on,” Tommy complained.

            “Me, too,” Amy added and then padded away. “Come on, Tommy, let’s go see what dad is doing.”

            Victoria had dialed the sheriff’s office and someone was already answering before she could stop her nosey children. “Deputy White, yes, hello, this is Victoria Gibson. We have a situation out here on our land and need help.”

            Amy and Tommy snuck through the house without turning on a light. The moon coming through the windows was enough for them to see and not bump into anything. Tommy stayed close behind his sister and didn’t say a word. It was as if he knew not to be his usual chatter-box self. When Amy would pause, Tommy would do the same. They both heard their dad at the same time. He was closing the door that led to the outside from the kitchen. A white bunny nightlight was on in the kitchen and lit the way for them to easily follow. They waited a moment before they opened the door so that he did not hear them. Just as they were about to close the door behind them, Victoria pulled it open and the kids froze on the tiny square concrete landing just outside the back door. They could see the warning and concern on their mother’s face.

            “What are you two doing out here?” she demanded in a stern whisper. “I told you to get back in bed. Now, get back in this house! It’s not safe out here. Someone has a gun. Your dad will take care of this.”

            Before they could protest, another scream came from the woods just beyond their fence line. The three of them watched as James turned with his flashlight just in time to see a figure run out from behind the closest trees. James raised his gun, pointed the light and said something to the stranger. Before anyone could react to the surprise, the figure was upon Victoria and throwing its arms around her. It was a woman. Whimpers escaped her mouth and she was hysterical. Victoria pushed her away a little and tried to calm her. She kept pointing behind her and literally was trying to climb onto Victoria.

            “Who are you? What are you doing out here?” Victoria asked in a somewhat calm but high-pitched voice. She didn’t know what else to say or do with this woman clinging to her.

            “Mom, she’s naked,” Amy whispered.

            James came up to them with his gun still raised and flashlight trained on the stranger just in case something happened. They all surveyed this woman and tried to make sense of what was happening. The young lady was completely naked except for a pair of black lace panties. Her hair was a tangled mess. Mud covered her arms and streaked her legs along with what appeared in the strained light to be blood and dead grass. A tattoo of the word Priceless was on her back under the right shoulder. She went from panting to sobbing and then back to panting again. James took off his robe and covered her with it.

            “H-H-He’s a-a-a-fter m-m-m-e,” the woman stammered and then nearly passed out into Victoria’s arms.

            “Who’s after you?” James asked. He turned and shone the flashlight into the woods beyond the fence line.

            “James, let’s get inside,” Victoria said. “I have a really bad feeling about this. She doesn’t seem well. I think she’s in shock.”

            “Did you call the sheriff?” James asked. He was on full alert and his past military training was kicking in on instinct. He scooped up the shaking girl into a cradle hold and carried her into the house. Tommy took the rifle from his dad. Amy stayed close behind with the flashlight trained on everyone.

            “They are on their way,” she confirmed. “I told them it was urgent. Come on, kids, let’s get into the house.”

            “May want to call Dr. Tanner, as well,” James added as he made his way through the doorway and back into the kitchen.

            “Good idea. Come on, kids, quit dawdling,” Victoria said, nervously. A shiver ran down her back as the breeze picked up behind them and rustled the leaves in the trees. She suddenly felt like they were being watched. Someone was out there and very close by. She was sure of it.

            Once inside, Victoria quickly turned on the lights and started a pot of coffee. She figured it was going to be a long night and knew nobody was going to be able to sleep any time soon. The kids were wide-eyed and unusually quiet. James was very serious and just stared at the strange woman who now sat at their tiny kitchen table. He was thankful that he had thrown on a pair of sweat pants and at least had on a t-shirt now that he was without his robe. Victoria sat down in a wooden chair next to the woman and gently took her hand. The woman jumped and stared at Victoria. Her eyes were bright blue and piercing. Mud streaked through her mostly blonde hair. A bruise could be seen under her left eye and her bottom lip was swollen and discolored. James’ large robe covered the rest of her body and Victoria could only imagine the bruising or cuts underneath. The woman never took her widened eyes off Victoria.

            In analyzing the woman, Victoria figured her to be in her mid-to-late-twenties judging by her beautiful skin and youthful appearance. She wore no makeup and yet had a magazine model allure to her. Her hands were soft and her fingers were long and delicate. There was no polish on the nails and it was safe to assume this girl had not had a manicure for a while.

            “You’re safe now, sweetie,” Victoria said in a soothing voice. She tightened her hold on the woman’s hand. “Can you tell us your name?”

            The woman shook her head but no words came from her mouth. She finally tore her gaze away from Victoria and glanced around their tiny country kitchen. She brushed some strands of hair from her face while taking in her surroundings. The wooden table was big enough for four people and after years of use was in need of a new staining. The linoleum floor had been polished recently but now was streaked with mud from all of the recent tracks. Wooden cabinets surrounded them with cream colored plastic laminate countertops along with a small dishwasher and stainless steel sink. There were a few pictures on the plain white walls of roosters and bluebonnets but not much else. She breezed past the door they had come in from outside, and her eyes stopped on the older model refrigerator. She licked her lips.

            “Are you hungry?” Victoria asked, noticing where she had stopped in her assessment.

            The woman nodded.

            Victoria stood and started toward the refrigerator. She tightened the sash on her burgundy robe and then adjusted her pony tail. She felt as though she looked a wreck and every gray hair she had was showing. With no makeup on and only night cream, she felt much older than thirty-five years of age. Amy moved over to help her mom by getting a plate and napkin. Victoria smiled at her little helper and noticed that her daughter was wearing one of James’ old t-shirts as a nightgown and her big furry slippers that she received last Christmas. Tommy sat up on the counter and just took in the whole scene without saying a word. He was without his usual electronic gadgets and wore athletic shorts along with a Dallas Cowboy jersey. His eyes looked very sleepy but he would never admit fatigue.

             Meanwhile, James poured a cup of coffee for himself and Victoria. He then got down another cup and poured it for the stranger. The woman took the steaming cup cautiously from James and then smelled it as if it were poisonous. She took a sip and resumed her analysis of the kitchen. She stared at the children at times and made everyone feel uncomfortable, especially since no sound came from her mouth. When Victoria put a ham sandwich down in front of the woman, she looked first at each person staring at her, and then devoured it as if she hadn’t eaten in days.

            “Oh, James, this is so horrible to watch,” Victoria whispered with tears in her eyes. “Who could have done something like this?”

            James put his arm around her and held her tight. The children came over and joined in the hug. None of them could take their eyes off the woman in the kitchen.

            “I don’t know, but I can bet you that Sheriff Barnes will get to the bottom of it.”