Terror on the Beach (12 page)

“I saw those when I was driving in.
They’re about as cute as a bug’s ear.”

Dr. Anna took a key out of the pocket of her skirt and led me through the door I had seen earlier.
I looked around and was surprised. I had expected to see something like in the movie, One Flew Over The Coo Coo’s Nest. This place looked more like a country club.

Dr. Anna looked over at me and smiled, “Surprised, huh?
Most people are. When I had this built I didn’t want it to look like an institution. I tried to create a calm and comfortable atmosphere.”

“You actually own this place?”

“Yeah I do but I don’t usually tell anyone. I don’t think Judith even knows.”

She looked lost in thought and I asked her what was going on.
“I’ll tell you what; let’s go into my office before I take you to her room. I’ve been debating on whether or not to tell you this, but I think I will since you are her temporary guardian.”

When we got to her office
she picked up her phone and ordered coffee from someone. While we waited I looked around. Her office looked like a living room of a very nice home. There were paintings on the walls but none I recognized.

She saw me looking at the paintings, “Those were painted by some of the patients during art therapy and given to me when each one was discharged.
I like them better than Monet or Picasso because I know the inner struggle they represent.”

I wanted to ask more about this art therapy but our coffe
e was brought in by a pretty young girl about twenty years old. She set the cups and saucers, a pot of coffee, and cream and sugar on Dr. Anna’s desk. Dr. Anna thanked her and she left after turning a dazzling smile my way.

We sipped our coffee and Dr. Anna seemed to be in no hurry to talk.

Finally I could stand it no longer, “What were you going to tell me Dr. Anna?”

She gave me a wicked grin, “I’m sorry, I was putting you through a test.
I shouldn’t have but I can’t stop what I love to do. I was trying to see how obsessive/compulsive you were. You’re a very patient man.

“I told you over the phone that Sarah has made a lot of progress and over all that’s true.
There was one incident, however, when she became Beth and talked about her cousin, Bucky visiting her.

“It upset me at first because I am very strict about security.
When I questioned the security guards they assured me no one could have gotten into her room or in the building at all.”

“Actually, Dr. Anna, she told me the same thing when she was still in my jail.
At the time, I suspected one of the deputies, Freddy, the one you met, because they were the only ones who could have gotten in.

“When I went to Macon, I found out quite a bit about Sarah’s family.
She did have a cousin named Bucky who lived with them and had been in reform school. He tortured animals and set fires and all the stuff you read about in connection to serial killers.

“About three years ago, there was a fire that ki
lled both of Sarah’s parents. Sarah and Bucky disappeared. Simon and I believe that Bucky and Twoon are one and the same and we thought it was my deputy, Freddy.

“But his coloring, hair color and everything is all wrong according to one of the victims who survived his attack in the Florida Panhandle.
I don’t believe Sarah is Twoon. What do you think, Dr. Anna?”

“No, I most definitely do not believe that Sarah is Twoon
. I have met several of the personalities but still no sigh of Twoon. I even tried to antagonize her to try to get to the rage Twoon has exhibited when he kills, but it didn’t work.

“
I do think Sarah has some rage over whatever happened to her but I don’t think it will come out like that. She would more than likely hurt herself which we have to guard against as she continues her long journey.”

She stood up and stretched and I jumped out of my chair.
I felt like we had spent enough time talking and I wanted to see Sarah.

As we started down the hall I asked her, “Is there anything I should avoid when talking to her?
I don’t want to set her back.”

“I think you know not to talk about the murders.
Other than that, I think you can talk about anything. Although she hasn’t yet met her other personalities, she knows about them. So you can also talk about them”

When she open
ed the door to Sarah’s room, Sarah was pacing. She saw me and threw herself into my arms. We did nothing but hold each other for awhile.

Dr. Anna cleared her throat, “I’m going to leave you
to visit. By the way, Sarah can go into the enclosed courtyard. It’s pretty out there if you want to go out. Sarah has been dying to go down to the beach and if I finish seeing all my patients and it’s not too late, I’ll accompany both of you down there for a short time.”

“Oh, thank you, Dr. Anna,” Sarah said.

She took my hand and gave me the tour
, the art therapy room, the group room, the occupational therapy room, the individual therapy room where Dr. Anna did the private sessions.

I expected her to do this in her office but there was a small room with two plush chairs, a small table with a lamp and hardwood floor with a round teal blue thick rug in the middle.
The lamp was turned down low and there was no overhead light.

She pointed to a closed door, “That’s the biofeedback room.
Someone’s in there having their session.”

“Have you done biofeedback?”

“Yeah, it’s the neatest thing, Robert. They hook you up to these electrodes and you can watch on the screen as you relax. It’s almost as good as a message.”

We finally reached the enclosed courtyard.
It was between the buildings and there was chicken wire overhead. I didn’t feel closed in at all. Whoever had designed this had done an excellent job.

The courtyard was lush with all kind of vegetation with little walkways and benches along the way.
There was even a small pond with goldfish swimming around.

We sat on the bench by the pond and Sarah began to open up to me like she never had before.

“I don’t remember much of my childhood, Robert. I do remember my mother telling me how worthless I was and a loving daddy who was rarely home. He always brought me presents.

“I remember age fourteen
when my grandmother came to visit and handed me what she called a bearer bond and told me not to let it out of my sight and whatever I did not to let my mama know about it.

“The bond was worth thirty two thousand dollars,
which was a lot of money for a fourteen year old. I remember going to her funeral later but I don’t know how much later. What bothered me the most about my life was the missing time. It was very confusing for me and I always thought I was crazy. It’s good to know I’m not.

“My daddy would give me money when he came home from his business trips and I saved it all
, along with the bond my grandmother gave me. I hid it all by lifting the edge of the carpet in my room and stuffing it in there.

“My daddy always told me not to tell mama about the money he gave me
. I’m sure she would have taken it away from me.

“When you think about it, it’s amazing how well I functioned with all the time I was missing.
But I managed to finish high school and then get a job in the local diner. I managed to hold down the job.

“There was a fire and this part is very fuzzy except I had the presence of mind to run inside the house and lift the carpet and grab my money before heading for the woods.

“I must have made it to the bus station and I must have bought a ticket because the next thing I knew I was getting off in Monroe Beach. You were passing by and I flagged you down. You remember that, Robert?”

“How could I forget it?
You were the prettiest thing I had ever seen. I couldn’t believe it later when you accepted a dinner invitation from me.”

“Yeah, you took me to Lily’s Bed and Breakfast and introduced me
to Lily and she took me under her wing for awhile, until she thought I could fly on my own.

“You kept taking me around the neighborhood until I saw the area
where I wanted to live. I bought the shop and the condo. It felt wonderful to be on my own. You were so nice to me. I fell in love with you.”

When she said that it took my breath away, “Sarah, you never told me that before.”

“See how much therapy has helped me? I’m becoming more open, honest, and real according to Dr. Anna.”

“I’ve been in love with you for a long time, Sarah.
I was afraid to say it, afraid I would drive you away. Then when you started responding to me in bed I felt that we had reached a closer point in our relationship, but you didn’t want to discuss it so I had to let it go for then. But now, Sarah, you’ve made me so happy.”

I pulled her onto my lap and started kissing her all over her face and neck.
I thought about asking her to marry me then, but decided she needed to concentrate on working on herself and not be distracted.

CHAPTER 26

Dr. Anna found us in the courtyard and asked if we wanted t
o walk on the beach with her.

“After
we walk on the beach, I’d like you both to have supper with me,” Dr. Anna said.

Sarah said she wanted to put on her bathing suit and would only be a minute.

Dr. Anna and I sat down on the bench by the pond. It was so nice and quiet that neither of us spoke, we just watched the fish. Dr. Anna reached into her pocket and pulled out a piece of bread and broke it in two and handed me half.

We sat crumbling the bread and feeding the fish until Sarah came back out to join us.
She was wearing her latest one-piece bathing suit, one she had designed herself, with matching material tied around the waist to form a long skirt. The bathing suit was navy and aquamarine blue stripes woven with silver and gold threads. She was a knockout. I whistled.

Dr. Anna checked in with her secretary
on the way out and picked up a handful of messages and stuck them in her pocket.

As soon as we got close to the ocean, Sarah untied her cover-
up and threw it on the beach. She ran and dived into a wave.

“WOW, if I had know it would make her this happy, I would have written a prescription for it,” Dr. Anna said.
“Let’s sit on one of these sand dunes over here, Robert. I don’t think I can make it any farther down than that.”

“You need any help?”

“Not right now, but I may need your help getting up.”

I watched Sarah while Dr. Anna read her messages.
She suddenly handed one to me, “You better read this, Robert. It sounds urgent.”

It was from Freddy.
“Excuse me, Dr. Anna,” I said as I pulled out my cell phone, “I think I need to call Freddy. He says it’s urgent.”

I got up and walked down the beach and made the call.

“You’re not going to believe this sheriff. We have two more bodies. Whoever is doing this thought they were safe as long as Sarah was locked up. He buried these two. If it hadn’t been for the wind we would probably have never found them.”

“Who found them and what about the wind?
What’s that got to do with it?”

“A family with two kids, ages ten and twelve
were having a picnic on the beach. It got so windy they ended up between the sand dunes. After they finished the picnic the parents stretched out on the blanket and decided to nap. The two kids, two boys, decided to build a big fort with a mote.”

“Which family are we talking about, Freddy?”

“The Voyles family. The two boys decided to see how big they could build the fort and how deep they could build the mote. The parents were waked up by the boys whooping and carrying on about finding a hidden treasure.

“It was a silver charm bracelet.
They showed it to their parents and went back to digging to see what else they could find. But when they got deeper, the sand was a rusty brown and they said it stunk.

“Mr. Voyle told the boys to stop digging and that’s when he called us.
Sheriff, this is the worst ones yet. It’s a young couple. The boy’s throat has been cut. But it’s the girl that I couldn’t believe.

“If they hadn’t been buried so deep, I would think an animal had started eating her.
Her breast and genitals have been eaten off. What kind of monster are we dealing with here, sheriff?”

“I don’t know but it sounds like he’s sunk to a whole new level.
Has the autopsy been done?”

“Yeah, Simon had a hot shot forensic man down here.
Don’t ask me to pronounce his name. He’s from India and is supposed to be the best in the FBI.

“Robert, he said both of them had been buried alive.
They both have sand in their lungs. George has started more patrols on the beach and I’m down there every chance I get. What else do you want me to do?”