Three Rivers (40 page)

"David I don't want to be pushy, but I need to get a move on. I have to go to work and now I'm more tired than ever, so I really think I need to take a nap. Can you come back and look for whatever it is you need later?"

"I understand. Uh, sure. Do you want to take your nap now?"

"David, no. I really think you should leave."

"Okay, but first maybe you should talk about this Griffen thing. Do you know anything about what he found about Jack? It must've upset you right?"

"It did upset me and I
don't
really want to talk about it." Her head was swimming and simply talking to David was making her more agitated by the fog in her brain.

"Tea, Jack worked for me. It's important I know if he did something that will hurt the university. What does Griffen think Jack did? Had he talked to anyone?" His words were logical but he was edgy and it made her nervous.

"I guess you're right, it really does affect the department." She sat down in a nearby chair to ease the heaviness in her limbs. "He thought Jack stole something, he's probably going to the authorities about it."

"Oh God," David whispered. He tugged at his hair and spun around, leaning over the dining room table, eyes wild. "Oh God."

"I know it's awful to think about it, but I didn't know. How could you have?"

"How could I know?" he asked himself quietly.

"Seriously, what is wrong, David?"

He choked out a mirthless laugh and looked at her with red-rimmed distraught eyes.

"
Everything's
wrong, Tea." He pressed the heels of his hands to his eyes, leaning back in complete torment. David dropped his hands and stared at her. "How tired are you Tea?"

A wave of exhaustion hit her and she couldn't deny the swimming of her eyes. David appeared before her, kneeling in front of her face, holding her upright by her arms.

"You're pretty tired I think, Tea. Good," he whispered. "Before you doze off, please tell me where to find Jack's things? I was going to wait until you went to sleep but it's too urgent. I can't wait a second!"

"Why, what do you need?"

"A flash drive. And I need it now. Please."

"A flash drive? Of Jack's?" She squirmed away as the connections between what Griffen told her and David's mania came together in her mind. "Please let me go."

"Please, Tea, don't fight me. I need you to answer me."

"No! David, why do you need a flash drive?
What did you do?
"

He suddenly squeezed her upper arms tightly.

"Dammit, Tea. I don't want to hurt you. Just tell me if you've seen it."

"I don't know what you're talking about David," she lied.

His eyes were so wild when he looked down at her that her breath caught in her throat. He was a stranger to her. There was no semblance of the gentle man who'd helped her through years of grief. There was only the strained face of a madman.

"Look, Tea," he breathed. "I've torn apart one of your houses before. I can do it again. Everything will be easier if you just tell me."

"What?
You
robbed my house?" He lifted her off the chair and pulled her body to his. She tried to fight him, pulling away for a moment, but he only grabbed her more tightly, pulling her back to his front.

She felt so lightheaded. The fear, the confusion, was all combining to overwhelm her with panic. She wanted to fight but her muscles were feeling more and more weak.

He leaned his head on her neck and breathed deeply in such an intimate way she felt almost nauseated. With each movement of hers, he simply pulled her closer, whispering in her ear, "Jack told me he made a flash drive that night I found him on my computer. He knew what I'd done. I had to find it."

"What had you done David?" Althea asked, but she had a horrifying suspicion she already knew.

He breathed her in again, shuddering against her. "When I couldn't find the flash drive in your old place I just stuck close to you. At first I just needed to keep an eye on you, see if you knew anything." He turned her around to look in her eyes and she hoped the movement would allow her a chance to get free, but he just pulled her in more tightly. Her head was fuzzy and she didn't know why, she only knew she needed to get away from him. "But I fell in love with you Tea. I love you so much. I've waited for you. Please help me." He stroked her face but she jerked away with as much strength as her quickly weakening body would allow.

"You're not making any sense, David. Just let me go."

"I was so in love with you,
am
still so in love with you. I don't want to hurt you. If you won't help me, I need you to just go to sleep, okay?"

"Please stop, David. You're scaring me. Let me go."

She finally managed to break free and ran for the door, but her legs were so heavy that it took all her strength to make it to her phone.

"Don't do that Tea, please," David begged as she squeezed her only lifeline.

She could feel herself getting hysterical as she fumbled with her phone. Before she knew it, he had her immobilized again from behind.

He was reaching around her body for the phone. She managed to enter a "9" before he eased away from her back for a moment.

"Why won't you just go to sleep, Tea. Dammit!"

She stumbled at the newfound hope of freedom, but instead felt a swift hard pressure on the back of her head.

Then, there was nothing.

"Jenna, thank God! Have you spoken to Althea?"

"Hey Griffen. Yeah. I gotta say she's pretty worked up."

Griffen made his way onto Liberty Bridge and came to a dead stop as the cars merged slowly into one tight lane.

Fucking Pittsburgh! Hundreds of bridges and half of them are under construction
.

He could only hope Althea's car was stuck in this mess, too.

"Where is she? Please tell me she's still in the car."

"No. She should've just made it home.”

Dammit, and I'm stuck!

Impotent rage coursed through his veins as he honked and changed lanes, desperate to get across this river that was keeping him from saving his woman.

"With David? Shit. I need to get to her. Listen to me Jenna, David's dangerous. I'm pretty sure he killed Jack."

"Oh my God! Did you call the police?"

"I did, they said they're on their way."

"I'll call Carol. She's got all kinds of connections with the cops, and fire department, too. I bet she can get someone there faster. And I'll call my guys with the paramedics, in case..."

Griffen couldn't let her finish that sentence. "Yeah. Thanks Jenna," he interrupted.

"Of course."

Griffen hung up and honked and waved his arm out of the window with all his might, his stomach flipping over itself with each inch he made it closer to Althea.

He could only hope David's apparent obsession with Althea would keep the bastard from hurting her.

Althea opened her heavy eyes, struggling to make them focus. She couldn't see David but could hear him tearing around in the study. She jumped in her seat, suddenly realizing her hands were tied behind the chair. Panic was rising in her throat and her head was throbbing so hard that she was having a hard time focusing on any thought or image in front of her. She scanned the room as she slowly wiggled her hands against her bindings. They were tight but she felt like there was enough slack that she could get one hand free — if she could only get her brain and muscles to cooperate.

Her eyes widened when she saw how trashed her first floor was. The sofa was sliced apart, papers were everywhere. Althea's brain was slow but it was processing just how desperate, crazed...and dangerous David really was. She saw the rope he'd used on the dining room table, disgusted to recognize that it had come from her own utility closet.

She started fumbling more frantically with her ropes, trying to keep her sobs in her throat, but every part of her was wrapped in terror. Just when she thought she might make some progress on her right hand's ties, her wristwatch clumsily knocked the back of the chair in such a way that the thud reverberated through the room.

She stopped moving immediately, praying it was just her fear that made it seem so loud to her, but all sounds and movement from the study stopped. David emerged and walked to her with that slight limp in his left leg that he got whenever he was really tired or stressed — another residual torment from his car accident of seven years before.

"You're up.” He walked to her and knelt down with an agonized look on his face as he slowly reached a trembling hand to her cheek. She jerked away as much as her aching head and secured arms would let her.

"I'm so sorry Tea. I didn't want to do that. I never wanted to hurt you, but I couldn't let you leave. You weren't supposed to be here.” He was rambling and his eyes kept darting around the room.

"What are you doing David? Why am I tied up?" she whispered as he stood and slumped down on the destroyed couch.

"I couldn't have you calling the police. You know that, Althea.” His eyes were unfocused and crazed. "Why can't I just find Jack's flash drive?"

He stared at her, making nausea roll over her in waves, but she wouldn't look away. She wracked her brain to remember all her tips from the self-defense classes she'd taken.

The one that kept coming to the forefront of her mind was:
Keep him talking. Don't let the conversation stop
.

Griffen had finally made it across the river and broke about every traffic law he could think of as he sped up Mt. Washington to Althea's home.

No need to worry about stoplights or speed limits now. In fact, being followed by a cop would've been a good thing. Unfortunately, he made it there with no police escort.

The streets were quiet with everyone at work. All he could hope was he wasn't too late.

He felt sick at the time that had passed, imagining all the things David could have done to her. He pulled up to park a block down from Althea's home. There were still two cars in front of her half of the duplex and he chose to believe it was a good sign as he walked quietly closer.

"Maybe if you tell me what's on the flash drive I can think of where Jack put it," Althea choked out.

"Military information."

"Were you stealing information from the department? Why?" she slurred.