Chapter 17

SEVENTEEN

Victoria hears someone enter and a light switch click.

"I know you're awake, bitch," the man says, and the pointy toe of a shoe strikes her in the side and takes her breath. She begins hyperventilating and blackness clouds her consciousness. She is going to die. She is going dark like a light switch had turned off, but a hand is shaking her.

"Stay awake."

She hears a click and then something whirring. She recognizes the sound, He's taking pictures with an old Polaroid camera, the kind where a photo pops out of the bottom and develops itself. He slaps her several times on the face and her broken nose, and when she cries out he takes several pictures.

Her eyes are still watering from the sudden pain in her nose when she feels the gag being removed; now he's wiping her nose and mouth with it.

"I thought you were a goner there. That would be a damned shame after all the effort it took to get you here in one piece. Tell me your name and where you live."

Victoria's mind is fuzzy. "Wha…?" Her jaw aches and the sides of her mouth feel raw from the rough cloth that cut into them.

"The gag came off so you could answer some questions. I can put it back on."

Victoria hacks up a wad of blood and spits it on the floor before another coughing fit overcomes her.

"I know you didn't just spit at me. But that's okay. I'm glad to see you have some spirit in you. We'll break that soon enough. Now. Are you going to answer my questions? Or do I have to wear your kidneys out?"

"Sorry," Victoria says in a weak voice. She hadn't spit at him. She was choking on it and he probably knew that. "My name is Marsh."

"And what's the rest of it. I need to make sure my girl didn't give you a concussion."

Victoria felt a sliver of hope. They wanted her lucid. At least for now. Maybe they'd release her. "Victoria Marsh. My name is Victoria Marsh. I live on Cougar Point."