Carlton Adams - The blackmailed teenagers

The telephone suddenly rang.

Still giggling, Sandy forced herself up from the seat and went to the bedside phone. She waited a few seconds for her giggling to stop and then picked it up.

"Hello."

"Lucy? What the hell have you been up to?" It was an angry male voice at the other end of the line, a voice that Sandy could not identify. The ominous voice frightened her.

"This is Sandy… uh… Sandra Robinson, that is! Did you… uh… did you want to speak with Lucy?" A cold chill ran down her naked spine.

"Damnit! Put Lucy on," the angry voice replied, "and hurry it up, will you?"

Sandy carefully laid the telephone receiver down on the table and walked back toward the bathroom. She wondered who the angry man was. The voice sounded vaguely familiar, but she could not for the life of her think who it might be. She wanted to believe that it was just Ed or Jimmy playing a joke on them, but something told her that it was far more serious.

"Who is it, Sandy?" Lucy called out to her as she neared the bathroom door. Sandy could see that Lucy was out of the tub, her heat-pinkened body partially wrapped in a large white bath towel.

"I don't know!" Sandy replied, her voice full of puzzlement. "It's a man and he wants to talk to you! He sounds awfully mad about something… he almost took my ear off!"

Lucy's smile disappeared immediately, to be replaced by a look of apprehension. "Wants to talk to me?" she asked. "It must be Jimmy playing some sort of joke!"

"No, I don't think so! You'd better answer it, Lucy!"

Lucy went past her friend and into the bedroom, her feet leaving wet footprints on the plush carpet. She stood next to the telephone for a moment as if summoning up courage and then picked it up.

"Hello… this is Lucy."

Sandy watched the color drain from Lucy's face as the voice began to come out of the telephone in an indistinct jumble of angry words. The towel slipped from her shoulders and one hand went to her breast as Lucy sat there on the bed, her head nodding silently as the voice assaulted her ears. It seemed to go on for ever, but finally, Sandy heard Lucy mumble something and drop the phone heavily onto its base.

"For God's sake, Lucy! Who was it?" Sandy asked, terrified at the change in her friend. Lucy's mouth opened but no words came out. She seemed to be gasping for breath.

"Lucy, what is it?" Sandy repeated, trying to make her voice firm.

"That was my father!" Lucy moaned. "Ed and Jimmy tried to blackmail him with the… the film they took! Oh, my God! What am I going to do?"

Sandy could only stand there, shocked by the words that came out of her friend's mouth. They were awful, horrible words, and she wanted to shut her ears against them. How could Ed and Jimmy have done this? What possible need for money could they have that would make them do something this terrible? It was like some insane nightmare, Sandy told herself, as she heard Lucy beginning to sob loudly.

"Oh, Sandy! What am I going to do?" Lucy repeated through her tears.

"Calm down a minute, Lucy!" Sandy said, forcing herself to speak with authority. She sensed that Lucy was close to hysterics and she needed to know all of the details. "What else did your father say? Did he pay them?"

"Oh, I don't know… no, he didn't!" Lucy's voice was rising. "He called a friend of his on the police force and… and the man made them give him all of the prints and the negatives!" The terrified girl was shaking as she tried to continue. "I'll just die, Sandy! I know I will! To think of my… my father, watching me do all those awful things!"

What about my parents? Sandy could not bring herself to verbalize the terrible question. She wanted to kill Jimmy and Ed Walsh! She could have happily done it herself if they were here and she somehow had the means to punish them for the rotten thing they had done.

Lucy suddenly jumped to her feet, her body naked and ashen-white as the towel dropped to the floor. "I've got to get to my mother before he does!" she cried out, and she ran to the dresser and pulled out a drawer, searching for clothing to put on. Lucy remembered her mother telling her that she would be at a friend's home in Las Vegas for a few days. If she could only get to her before her father did, she could make everything all right again! Her mother would protect her, she just had to! Quickly she pulled on a pair of jeans and a sweater.

"What about me?" Sandy asked. "Did your father say what he was going to do? What if he calls my parents?"

Lucy bent down to slip into a pair of tennis shoes, her long hair falling wildly around her shoulders. She didn't even bother to look up as she answered Sandy. "How could he? He doesn't even know who you are!" She stood up and almost ran to the bedroom door and threw it open. "I've got to find my mother and try to explain things to her," Lucy called out over her shoulder as she disappeared into the front room.

Sandy ran after her, afraid of being left alone in the lodge.

"Wait for me, Lucy! I'll go with you! Wait for me to get dressed."

Lucy was already at the front door, but she stopped and turned around to face her friend. Her hands were fluttering nervously as she spoke. "No! You stay here in case my mom shows up!" She could see that Sandy was on the verge of hysterics herself, and she tried to reassure her. "She's the only one who can handle my father! I'll make her see that she's got to protect us from him! Please, Sandy! You've got to stay in case she comes!" Lucy was pleading with her friend now, afraid that she might refuse. "I'll call you from Las Vegas if I find her. If she shows up here, don't tell her anything! Just make sure she stays! Please!"

Sandy tried to think of what she should do. It did make sense for one of them to be here if Lucy's mother arrived. She was their only hope now. From what Lucy had told her of her divorced father, he had an insane temper and might be capable of anything. She nodded silently at Lucy.

"Thanks, Sandy. I won't forget this! And I promise to call you as soon as I find her. Okay?" Without waiting for an answer she ran out of the house.

Sandy heard the sound of the car motor roar to life and a screeching of the tires as the car backed around and drove down the gravel road at a great speed. Slowly, almost in a trance Sandy walked to the front door and pulled it closed. Then, she rushed back into the bedroom and threw herself onto the bed, her naked body wracked with great sobs.

It was several hours later when the sound of the car door closing awakened Sandy. She sat up with a start, the memories of her tortured nightmares still fresh in her mind. For a moment she listened for some identifiable sound. Then her fevered body went clammy as she heard the crunch of footsteps outside the lodge. She got up from the bed quickly and raced to the window to pull the drapes apart in the hope of seeing who it was coming. Outside it was dark and she realized that she must have slept for hours. She could see the shape of a car but could not identify it. It must be Lucy's mother, she thought to herself. She raced back to the bed and pulled on a bathrobe. Running her hands through her tangled short hair to try and straighten it, she went into the front room just in time to see the door open and a figure step inside.

It was the stranger from the cove! Sandy almost fainted as the memories of that fateful morning came back to her. The man stood by the door, smiling at her expectantly, as if waiting for a fond greeting. This time he was dressed in an expensive sportcoat and slacks.

"What… what are you doing here?" Sandy asked in a terrified voice, clutching her bathrobe tightly at her throat.

"That's hardly the warmest welcome an old friend has ever had, is it, Sandy?" the man said with a grin. He pulled off his coat and threw it casually onto a chair.