Kiss the Girls

visit. Just let me collect my thoughts. You’re a policeman?”
    I nodded. I wanted to make this as easy for her as I possibly could. I wanted to hug her, hold her hand, do something supportive and yet not threatening, after what she’d been through the past few days. I also wanted to ask her about a hundred important questions.
    Kate McTiernan looked away from me. “I think he drugged me. Or maybe all that was a dream?”
    “No, it wasn’t a dream. He used a powerful drug called Marinol.” I told her what we knew so far. I was being so careful not to push Kate the wrong way.
    “I must have been really tripping.” She tried to whistle, and made a funny sound. I could see where she was missing a tooth. Her mouth was probably dry; her lips were swollen, especially the upper lip.
    Odd as it seemed, I found myself smiling. “You were probably on the planet Weirdness for a while. It’s nice to have you back.”
    “It’s really nice to be back,” she said in a whisper. Tears welled up in her eyes. “Sorry,” she said. “I tried so hard not to cry in that horrible place. I want to cry now. I think I will.”
    “Oh, please, you just cry your eyes out,” I whispered, too. I could barely talk or keep back tears myself. My chest felt tight. I went over to the hospital bed, and I lightly held Kate’s hand as she wept.
    “You don’t sound like you’re from the South,” Kate McTiernan finally spoke again. She was grabbing control of herself. It amazed me she could do that.
    “I’m from Washington, D.C., actually. My niece disappeared from Duke Law School ten days ago. That’s why I’m down here in North Carolina. I’m a detective.”
    She seemed to see me for the first time. She also appeared to be remembering something important. “There were other women at the house where I was kept prisoner. We weren’t supposed to talk. All communication was strictly forbidden by Casanova, but I broke the rules. I talked to a woman named Naomi—”
    I stopped her, cut her off there. “My niece’s name is Naomi Cross,” I said. “She’s alive? She’s all right?” My heart felt as if it were going to implode. “Tell me what you remember, Kate. Please.”
    Kate McTiernan grew more intense. “I talked to a Naomi. I don’t remember a last name. I also talked to a Kristen. The drugs. Oh, God, was it your niece? … Everything is so hazy and dark right now. I’m sorry…” Kate’s voice trailed off as if someone had let the air out of her.
    I gently squeezed her hand. “No, no. You just gave me more hope than I’ve had since I came down here.”
    Kate McTiernan’s eyes were fixed and solemn, staring into mine. She seemed to be looking back at something horrifying that she wanted to forget. “I don’t remember a lot of it right now. I think Marinol has that side effect…. I remember that he was going to give me another injection. I kicked him, hurt him enough to get away. At least I
think
that’s what happened…
    “There were thick, thick woods. Carolina pines, hanging moss everywhere…. I remember, I swear to God… the house… wherever we were being kept, it disappeared. The house where we were being held captive just
disappeared
on me.”
    Kate McTiernan slowly shook her head of long brown hair back and forth. Her eyes were wide with astonishment. She seemed amazed at her own story. “That’s what I remember. How could that be? How could a house disappear?”
    I could tell that she was reliving her very recent, terrifying past. I was right there with her. I was the first one to hear the story of her escape, the only one so far to hear our witness speak.

Chapter 51

    C ASANOVA WAS still disturbed and highly agitated about the loss of Dr. Kate McTiernan. He was restless and had been wide-awake for hours. He rolled over and over in bed. This was no good. This was dangerous. He had made his first mistake.
    Then someone whispered in the darkness.
    “Are you all right? Are you okay?”
    The woman’s voice startled him at first. He
had been
Casanova. Now he seamlessly switched over to his other persona:
the good husband.
    He reached out and gently rubbed his wife’s bare shoulder. “I’m okay. No problem. Just a little trouble sleeping tonight”.
    “I noticed. How could I not? The human Mexican jumping bean strikes again.” There was a smile in her sleepy voice. She was a good person, and she loved him.
    “Sorry,” Casanova whispered, and kissed his wife’s shoulder. He stroked her hair