Blind Fear

Prologue

Motionless, he watched her from the deep shadows of the woods, fearing any movement would alert the dog. His heart contracted with excitement; he couldn’t believe he’d found her again. But she wasn’t perfect any more, and it was his fault. God had marred her beauty and it was his punishment. His hand clenched the thorny stem of a dark red rose.

Caught up in watching her gracefully stroll along the path, he paid no attention to the sharp thorns that pricked his skin or the blood that sluggishly oozed across his fingers and dripped onto his palm. With sudden alertness, the dog raised her head, growled, and moved into a guard position in front of her mistress. Panic surged through him. Sweat streamed down his face and back. He scowled. As he slipped into the dense woods, he whispered, “Something will have to be done about that dog.” 

Chapter One

Jessie Blake stood in the silence. Moments before she’d been strolling along, pausing occasionally to relish all the different sounds and scents of the woods. Reba’s rumbling growl had shattered the peaceful stillness. Jessie listened. Everything grew eerily quiet. It was unsettling. 

“Reba, what is it girl?” Jessie asked her guide dog and best friend. Reba had been her constant companion since their training together six years before. The dog gave her the independence that blindness had stolen. 

Jessie’s heart skipped a beat at the sudden swooshing sound overhead. What in the world? Her shoulders sagged with relief as she recognized the familiar shrieks. Just barn swallows. But what had disturbed them?

Reba growled again. Jessie shivered, her mind raced. Someone or something was there. She strained to hear. Hopeless fear swept over her. What was it?

She ran her fingers through the dog’s bristling fur. What could it be? A bear? Richard Cooper, her neighbor told her the week before that he saw one along the lake. Could this be what Reba saw or smelled?

Once more, she listened. Reba’s growls grew insistent. Uneasy, Jessie slowly backed toward the house and pulled the reluctant dog along. “Home girl,” Jessie whispered. It took a few minutes to get Reba calmed down enough to lead the way home. 

Truth be known Jessie felt like running, but if it was a bear, the last thing she wanted to do was arouse its attention. By the time they reached the yard, Reba had relaxed. 

***

...Jessie’s fingers trembled as she traced down the stem of the rose left on her front porch. Where had it come from and how did it get onto her steps?   Mashed and mangled and sticky--could it be blood? 

She shivered with an icy chill, remembering what had happened on her walk. With a hard thrust, she threw the rose into the trash. Washing the stickiness from her hands, she couldn’t get the thought of blood out of her mind.  Jessie felt a familiar overpowering fear build.

She took a deep breath. No. No one nor anything would ever terrorize her again.  It wouldn’t happen.  She wouldn’t let it.  It was Reba’s blood. It had to be, if it was blood at all.  But where had the rose come from?

“Stop it!” she told the silent room.  “There is a reasonable explanation.  I know there is.”  She needed to think about something else.  Anything...

Chapter Two

...Things like this didn’t happen in Cherry Falls. It was too beautiful and safe--blue-ridged mountains, tranquil green lakes and fresh clear air--at least it was until now.

Steve McGuire wondered if it would ever be so again.  

A feeling of deja vu swept over him as he gazed down at the decomposing body of a young woman. The elements had taken a toll on this person who had once breathed, laughed and cried. It looked like her throat had been slashed, but it was impossible to tell.

Turning away, he headed back to the road and slumped against his Jeep. His gut wrenched, thinking about the too familiar scene as he wiped the sweat out of his eyes. No way could it be the same psycho killer again. It was impossible that the bastard from Washington DC would be in Cherry Falls.

Luke Collins, one of the state troopers, interrupted his jumbled thoughts. “It’s bad,” he said.

“Yeah, it’s just really bad,” agreed Steve.

“How long do you think she’s been out here?”

Steve knew that with his background in homicide investigation, the officers expected him to have some ideas. He attempted to get his confused thoughts under control. “I don’t know. I’m guessing from the rigor and the decomposition a couple weeks, maybe.”

Blind Fear copyright © 2007 by Rebecca Conrad