Just for Research

The outside world was unknown to her, but she could see a glimpse of it through the window in his room. Her eyes burned as she tried to focus on any image that may be distinguishable after being in the dark for days upon days.

She couldn't remember exactly how she had gotten to his place, but it certainly wasn't willingly. Her last memory before this frightening reality was sitting at the bottom of the long staircase inside the college library. She had just finished her latest research into the senior project for her journalism degree. She had chosen the subject of crimes committed on college campuses and found herself immersed in a murder that had happened at her very own school. She was hoping by adding a local flavor to the paper, she could excite the review board and help bump her to the top of the class.

Her research included several visits to the police station and requests for any evidence material they would release to her, a college student. The case had been cold for almost twenty years so there wasn't much hesitation to copying some of the reports they had on file. Oh, by the way, it did help that her father was a local circuit court judge.

With this material in hand and using the college internet access, she had filled several pages of manuscript and even had a working theory of the crime scene herself. Her other resources included interviews with current professors and staff members at the school along with former students that were still residing in town.

She began having some problems getting people to talk after she was interviewed by the college newspaper. They had heard she was looking into the murder and thought it would be a good story for their readership. Local news is always a better subject matter for ratings than to copy and paste the national releases.

There were also a few phone calls that disturbed her. One caller threatened to expose some "dirt' he had on her father if she continued looking into this matter. Since judges are always a target for offenders that had experienced judgment in court, she figured it was an idle threat at best.

When she first awoke from this nightmare, so she thought, she was in pitch black. She could smell something that was recognizable as gas. Propane, ethanol, natural gas maybe but not quite sure. She also heard the constant clanging of gears, flapping fans, and water running. Obviously, this is some type of industrial room or building but where she had no idea. She could feel the ropes tight against her chest along with her hands and feet being bound. She could feel the floor she sat on was oily and dirty and the wall where she was bound hard and cold.

There was no way to know how long she had been here. Other than the discomfort of the moment, the only other pain she felt was a burning in her neck, as if she had been stabbed by a very sharp needle. That must have been how she was knocked out.

Now, what was going to happen? Had she missed enough class time that someone was looking into her disappearance? She didn't have a roommate so that didn't offer any help. She could only hope someone had seen what happened at the library and notified the authorities.

Suddenly, there was a clanging sound behind her, and a stream of light from an open door shot across the floor. The sound of a paperbag filled with something, hit the floor to her side. Then the door shut again and darkness settle back into her world. Her hands were bound but at least they were in front of her. She reached out for the bag and lifted it into her lap. She could smell the mixture of french fries and onions coming from the source and opened the gift. She grabbed a few potatoes and placed them in her mouth. This wasn't what she would choose at a normal mealtime but this was in no way normal. She opened the sandwich wrapper and took a bite of it as well. Well, I don't guess the plan is to starve me yet.

The day or night, whatever part of the day this was, crept along for an eternity. She was visited once more by the stranger with another meal. This time it was only a vending machine bag of chips. She tried to turn around quick enough to see the face or size of the person but could only make out a silhouette of a very large man with a cap on.

Finally, the door opened again, and man walked right up to her. Her handed her a phone and said, "there's someone wanting to talk to you." She took the phone from him and frantically scream out for help. The voice on the other end started talking in a low and soothing voice, "Clara, please calm down and listen to me."

Could it be who she thought was on the other end of the line? "Daddy, is that you?"

"I'm sorry honey that you have forced me to take this action. You have become a liability that I can't afford to keep around. I don't want to hurt you or see any harm comes to you but your research into the crimes in town have gotten to close to the truth. Your father is responsible for assisting or covering up the one murder you have been researching. I did it for money to help our family, especially you. I wanted to give you everything, but I couldn't make a good living even as a judge. That's why when the man you see before you now, Dr. Henry Duggs, murdered another college professor, he came to me with a bribe I couldn't refuse, to help him avoid the cops. The evidence was always circumstantial, and I was able to cloud the inspection in my own way. So you see, we can't let that story of yours get legs or it will destroy us."

"Henry has promised me that you will be in a place from now on that will be safe and you will be taken care of but it is so isolated you will not be able to return until both of us are gone from here."

Clara shook her head and tried to make sense of all of this and finally said "Daddy, please come and get me." The phone went dead.

Duggs reached down and untied the ropes and without saying anything pointed towards the open door. Clara got up and walked out to a set of metal stairs leading up. Once on the next floor, she could see there was only door and one window in the whole building. The rest of her life was before her surviving in this environment.

Looking through the window, the outside world was unknown to her, but she could see a glimpse of it through the window in his room.

END