Hunger of the Wolf (16 page)

It could not be
just
a
coincidence th
at he had written a story
so close to reality
and
she had seen clothes identical
to those worn by the missing girl in his closet. S
he wondered why the police weren’t more interested in him.
Amber
was just pulling the blinds shut when she saw the dust rising on the driveway, heralding the approach of a car. A few seconds later
Kat’s
battered old station wagon
came into view. She
was so relieved to see her friend’s face that
for a moment
she almost forgot
the terrible task that lay ahead of her
. With a heavy heart she unlocked
the door and walked down the path to meet her.

             
Kat waved and smiled as she
drove past Amber to park her
car. She looked so happy and carefree that Amber’s heart sank even lower.
When she got out of the car Kat
ran up the path to the house and threw her arms around her friend.

             
“Boy
,
am I glad to be here.
I really need
this break.” She took a deep breath of fresh air.
“
I left
fairly
early but the traffic out of the city was murder. A truck overturned on the fre
eway
,
and I was stuck
behind it
for over two
hour
s
. To make things even worse I lost my cell
phone when I went out last
night.
I had nothing to do bu
t stare out the window.
W
hat’s for dinner
? I know it’s early
,
but
I’m starving. I on
ly had a packet of chips at a gas station
on the way
here
. Did
Chris
make it here last night? He probably tried to call me but couldn’t reach me. I brought a new phone but haven’t worked out how to use it yet. I’d better give him a call soon or he’ll start to worry.
You can help me work it out since you’re much more tech-savvy than me.
What’s wrong?” In the midst of her excited chattering Kat finally noticed the expression on Amber’s face.
“Oh my G
od
,
it’s
Chris
isn’t it?
He’s had an accident.”

             
Amber put her hand on
her friends arm and led her up the path towards
t
he house. “No
,
it’s not
Chris
. W
ell
,
actually it is
Chris
but he h
asn’t had an accident
.”

             
Kat stopped dead
and pulled her arm away
. “What is it Amber? What’s going on? You’re really starting to scare me now.”

             
“Just come inside
and I’ll tell you.” This time Kat let herse
lf be led inside the house. S
he sat nervously on
the edge of the couch, fiddling with her car keys
as she waited for Amber to speak.

             
“There’s no easy way to say this
,
so I’m just going to come right out and tell you what happened.” Kat looked like she was close to tears. “
Chris
did turn up here last night and everything was fine at first, but then I noticed he was drinking a lot.”

A look of intense relief crossed Kat’s face
and she let out her breath
. “Is that all this is about? You really had me worried there
,
Amber. I know
Chris
has been drinking a bit more than he should lately
,
but he’s been under a lot of pressure at work. He’s promised me he’s go
ing to cut back
,
and I know he’s really been trying. When he’s not on the road so much it will be easier.”
She sank back on the couch
and p
ut her hand on her heart. “
I didn’t know what you w
ere going to say. I thought
Chris
had tried to hit on you or something.”
She laughed at the thought
,
but w
hen Amber didn’t laugh with her she sat forward on the couch again. “
T
hat’s it
,
isn’t it.
Chris
put the moves on you.”

“Please
,
just let me finish.” She took a deep breath.
“I said to him that he shouldn’t be drinking so much and that’s when things began to get scary. He told me that I sounded like you
,
and then he started going on about how unhappy he was in his job and how….” She hesitated because she knew her next words would break Kat’s heart. “How unhappy he was with you. He said he never really loved you.”

Kat began to cry softly
,
and Amber knew she had to continue before she
lost it too
. “He claimed that it was me he always wanted to be with
,
and he told me that now that I was single again we could finally be together. Of course I told him he was being ridiculous
and that he
had
just
fixated on me as the answer to his problems
,
but he wouldn’t listen to anything I said.
He pushed me up against the wall and tried to kiss me
,
and I had to slap him across the face to
get him to wake up to himself.”

By now the tears were flowing freely down Kat’
s face
,
and she was deathly pale
. “
He apologized
and told me he would leave me alone. I went up to bed but he kept on drinking
,
and just after one
o’clock
he c
ame pounding on the door. B
efore I could do anything he opened it and got into bed with me. He climbed on top of me and I couldn’t move.” He voice broke and she felt tears spilling down her own cheeks. “I really thought he was going to rape me
,
Kat.
I only got away because I kicked
him in the groin
,
otherwise I hate to think what could have happened. I ran over to
Jesse
Davidson
’s cabin and stayed there for the rest of the night, and this morning I went into town and pressed charges. There’s a warrant out for his arrest
,
and the police are looking for him now.” 

When she had finished there was a stunned silence.
Kat opened and closed her mouth a few times but no words came out. “I’m so sorry
,
Kat, but there was nothing else I could do. The policewoman at the station told me
he has already been charged with assaulting a woman
six
years ago
bu
t the charges were thrown out when she didn’t show up at court
. This isn’t the first time he’s come onto me either. When we went on holidays last year
he told me then that he loved me and tried to kiss me on the balcony when you and Dominic went to bed. At the time I didn’t say anything to you because I thought it was just the alcohol talking, but this time I couldn’t ignore it. I think he’s dangerous
,
and I couldn’t live with myself it I let him get away with it.”

Kat stood up abruptly and Amber stood up with her and reached out to tak
e her hand. Kat pushed her
away. “Don’t
. Don’t come anywhere near me. D
on’t touch me.”

“Please Kat, let me help you through this.”

“How could you
,
Amber? How could you do this? You’ve ruin
ed our lives.” She walked
towards the door.

“I didn’t have a choice. You would have done the same thing.”

Kat spun around to face her
,
and Amber had never seen her so angry before.
“I would never have gone to the police the way you did without talking to you first. I would never do that to a friend.”

“I tried to ring you.”

“You could have waited until I got here. You could have waited till I talked to
Chris
. It’s all
just a big misunderstanding. He was drunk and just didn’t know what he was doing. He didn’t hurt you,
look at you,
you’re fine but now you’ve gone and destroyed everythi
ng. I hate you Amber.
I hate you
,
and I never want to see you again
.”

She ran
down the path to her car
,
and Amber
followed her halfway
before stopping because there was nothing more she could do. “I’m sorry,” she called weakly. “I’m so sorry.” Kat was about to get into th
e car but she
stopped abruptly and
stood still for a
long moment before turning
arou
nd
slowly and walking
back up the incline.
Amber’s heart began pounding in her chest
as she came straight towards her with an unreadable expression on her face
. She had no idea what her fri
end was going to do
,
and she was
extremely
relieved when she pu
t her arms around her and pu
lled her into an embrace.

“Don’t apologize
,
Amber. You have absolutely nothing to apologize
for
.
Chris
is the one to blame here. I know you would never lie to me about something like this
.
He’s done similar things with others friends
,
but I didn’t want to believe it.
I just need to be alone for a while to think things through. I’ll be back later.”
Her voice was choked with emotion.

“But where will you go? It’s getting dark
,
and you don’t know these roads very well. Please stay.”

“I have to go.
Please don’t try to stop me.
” Kat moved towards the
car like she was in a trance. She
got in the car and gunned the engine a couple of times. T
he
ancient
car backfired
loudly
,
and
then she was gone. Amber went
back
inside and locked the door before sinking down onto
the couch in a state of complete exhaustion
. She
had
thought about following Kat to make sure she was okay
,
but she knew her friend well enough to realize that it was better to leav
e her alone for a while. She prayed that Kat
would be careful out there in the dark because she was not a very good d
river at the best of times.

Amber
did not bother t
o turn any lights and she
lay on the couch
for hours
watching the shadows de
epen as she waited
for Kat’s
return.
At the back of her mind was
the thought that
Jesse
could be out
there in the woods plotting
to
do God knew
what to her,
but there was no way she could
leave until
Kat came back.
She closed her eyes and trie
d to focus her mind on positive affirmations
from one of her books
,
but all she could think about was how heartbroken her friend had looked as she drove away. She tried to shake the terrible
feeling that she would never
see her
alive
again
.

Chapter 11