"Come here, My Love," the man’s silken voice penetrated the foggy haze that had settled through Jennifer’s brain. She began her struggles anew, twisting and writhing to free her hands from the stockings he had used to bind them; They were her own stockings that her captor had stripped from her along with the flimsy protection of her underwear. She started to choke on the latter item, and her masked captor gave her a reprieve, pulling them from her mouth, only after whispering savagely, "Try screaming again and I’ll slit your throat too."
Jonathan! Oh God! In her writhings, she turned and saw him beside the bed in a crumpled heap, the blood congealing in a pool around his head. His eyes were glassy, their perpetual spark now gone. His stiffened hand reached toward the bed, toward her, but her own were bound behind her back.
Jennifer desperately fought back the screams. One part of her brain wanted to die with her valiant Jonathan. She wanted to join him wherever he was now. But before her own life ended, she had to see that Jonathan was avenged. She would see that the man who had murdered him, and who was now ripping her blouse from her body met his own painful death.
Jonathan never had a chance. He was holding her hand, smiling, when they entered the bedroom. Before either of them was aware of an intruder, the blade of a hunting knife had sliced across his throat. He immediately fell to the floor, an indescribably gurgling noise coming from the gaping wound. Jennifer had sunk to her knees, screaming in pain and horror, and then the world blacked out as the assailant struck the back of her head with the handled of the same knife that had ended Jonathan’s life.
Jennifer stared in terror at the lifeless body of her husband, and felt the bile rise in her throat. She began to retch, and her captor cursed, and pushed her head over the side of the bed.
When she was finished, he released her head, and she turned to face him, pleading in her eyes. "It wasn’t supposed to be this way," she sobbed. "You weren’t supposed to kill him!"
The stranger twisted his hands cruelly in her hair and pulled her face close to his. "This is my story, Jennifer," he hissed. "I make the rules. Now tell me how much you want me…"
"No!" Jennifer screamed, sitting upright in the bed. Her eyes blinked, struggling to see through the darkness.
"Jennifer?" Jonathan’s voice held a mixture of fear and disorientation, and he sat up beside her, taking her in his arms.
She was crying now, and he pulled her head to his shoulder. One of the hardest things for him to be able to deal with was a crying female, and Jennifer’s tears were toughest on him of all.
For long seconds she clung to Jonathan, her body shivering as her brain tried to convince her she had been dreaming. Jonathan really was there, holding her in his strong arms. He whispered comforting words in her ears, assuring her it had been a nightmare and she was all right now. A knock came at the door, and they heard Max’s voice in the hallway. "Is everything okay, Mr. H?"
"Yes, Max," Jonathan called back. "Sorry to wake you."
"You didn’t," Max replied. There was still concern in his voice. "I just got home. Good night."
"Good night, Max," Jennifer was regaining her composure, and finally lifted her head from him, sniffing back more tears.
"Are you okay?" Jonathan asked, looking into her eyes. "Do you want to tell me about it?" His eyes had grown accustomed to the darkness, and the moonlight filtering through the window allowed him to make out her features. She had a very frightened, very lost look in her eyes.
"I’ll be all right," she said, managing to nod.
"What were you dreaming?" Jonathan asked.
Her eyes grew wild as she remembered. Seeing he tears spring up again, Jonathan held her tighter. "It’s all right," he whispered. "You don’t have to tell me about it right now."
"Thanks," she said softly, trying to block the vivid images from her mind. She gave Jonathan a brief kiss on his cheek. "Go back to sleep, Darling", she said gently. "I’ll be back in a minute." She disentangled herself from him, and stood up.
"Where are you going?" he asked.
She gave him a slight smile. "I’ve got to blow my nose," she said, receiving a reciprocating smile. Even in her weakest moments, she demonstrated a lot of pluck.
When she returned a couple of minutes later, Jonathan was still sitting up in bed, waiting for her. "I’m sorry I woke you," she apologized, crawling back into bed.
He took her into the crook of his arm. "Better now?" he asked, ignoring her previous statement.
"Much," she answered. She accepted the loving kiss he gave her, then curled up against him.
"Good night, Darling," Jonathan told her tenderly.
"Good night."
Both of them were still slightly bleary-eyed when they came downstairs the next morning. "Everything okay now, Mrs. H?" Max asked immediately as they entered the kitchen. He had heard noises from the Harts’ bedroom before, many times, but never the terrified scream of Jennifer’s voice as it had sounded last night. He adored Jennifer, and was very concerned about her.
"Yes, thanks, Max", she replied, looking slightly embarrassed. She accepted the cup of coffee he offered her. "I guess all the tension of the last couple of days just got to me." Jonathan reached out and gave one of her hands a comforting scream.
"That’s quite understandable," Max replied. "If you want to talk about it, you know where I live."
Jennifer lifted the mug to her lips. "Thanks, Max," she said gratefully. Freeway rubbed against her leg, and Jennifer bent to rub his head lovingly. He never failed to bring a smile to her face.
Jonathan felt relieved at the tender exchange between Max and Jennifer, and smiled at Jennifer. Then he turned to Max, "I’ve got to go to the office for a couple of hours," he said. "Are you going to be around the house today?"
"Yeah, Mr. H", he answered. "Why?"
"I think he’s arranging a babysitter for me," Jennifer answered, but she didn’t look as if she minded.
"Not really," Jonathan said, in defense. "I know you can take care of yourself. It’s Max I’m worried about."
"Me?" "Max?" Max and Jennifer’s voices sounded simultaneously.
Jonathan’s eyes just twinkled.
He returned home a little after noon, to find Jennifer at her desk in the living room. The Jennifer book was on top of the desk, and she was writing on a note pad. As Jonathan approached her for a kiss, he noticed she was working on some kind of outline.
"What’s up?" he asked, casually, sitting on the edge of the desk. His eyes searched over her, checking to see if any of the stress from the previous night had returned. He was satisfied to see she looked completely like her normal bright-eyed self.
"Well, I finished the book," she answered, moving it slightly. "And I’m jotting down an outline of the events in the story so we might get some idea what we’re up against."
"Are you sure that’s a good idea?" Jonathan remarked. "I mean, you said yourself that he hasn’t followed the book to the letter."
Jennifer’s mind flitted back to the dream, especially the part right before she woke up. "I know," she said. "But if someone is even using the book loosely, at least we can have an idea of what might be coming next."
She wasn’t convincing either one of them. "Trying to keep yourself busy, huh?" he asked pointblank his eyes boring into hers.
She sighed, knowing how perceptive and persistent he was, particularly with her. "Trying to," she admitted with a wry smile.
"How’s it working?"
"Not too well."
He put an arm around her shoulder, and gave her a slight squeeze. "How about telling me about the dream you had last night?" he asked.
He was disturbed when he felt her shiver. The fearful, haunted look began to reform in her eyes. "I’d rather not, Darling," she whispered, fresh tears starting to well up. "I just want to forget about it, okay?"
The pleading look in her wet hazel eyes was a sight that tugged at his heart. He couldn’t help but wonder what she had been dreaming that terrified her so much, but he didn’t want to upset her more. "Okay," he said, "but if you change your mind…"
Jennifer took his hand from her shoulder and pressed her lips against it. "I know," she said, "and thank you, Darling."
He stood up and supporting himself on his right arm, he leaned in close to her. She had to look up to see his eyes. "I love you," his softened voice caressed her ears. "And we’re going to get through this just fine."
Jennifer stretched upwards and gave him a kiss. "I love you too," she responded in the same quiet tones, "more and more each day." Their gazes locked for long seconds, then Max’s call of "soup’s on" from the kitchen door broke the moment.
When lunch was finished, Jennifer asked Jonathan, "Do you have to go back to work this afternoon?"
"No, I’m free the rest of the day. Do you have something planned?"
"How about we see if we can locate Amanda Wayne? Maybe she can give us some information."
"Okay," Jonathan replied. "I had Deanne track down her address. She lives in San Diego, so we’d better get started. I’ll call Deanne and get the address."
"All right," Jennifer agreed. As Jonathan walked off to use the phone, Jennifer turned to Max. "Do you want to go with us?"
"Sure, Mrs. H," he replied.
Jennifer gave him a bright smile. What she didn’t voice was the thought that she wasn’t comfortable with any one of them being left alone in the house.
The gate buzzer sounded just then. "I got it," Max said, walking over to the intercom. He turned to Jennifer a few seconds later. "Mrs. H, it’s the photo developing service with the latest batch of photos."
"Good," she replied. "Tell them to come up."
Max nodded and moved to do her bidding.
Jennifer signed for the photos; then laid the package down by her purse in the front foyer. She looked up to see Jonathan approaching from the living room. "I’ve got the address," he told her. "I tried calling her number, but I got a disconnect message."
"You think she was having trouble with her phones too?" Jennifer asked, not masking the concern in her tone.
"I don’t know," Jonathan replied. "We’ll ask her when we talk to her."
Jennifer nodded. "Are you ready to go? Max is waiting for us in the car."
"All set," he said. Jennifer picked up her purse and the photo envelope, as Jonathan held the front door open for her. Freeway was right on her heels. Jonathan noticed, and gave Jennifer a look.
"It’s been a while since he’s been to San Diego," she explained with a shrug and a smile.
