Erica Spindler - Shocking Pink

She would just skim it, she decided, looking longingly at the front doors, then back at the scientific journal. Then she still might have time for that Coke.

She flipped open the journal and began to read quickly. A sentence jumped out at her. She stopped, her world tipping on its axis.

Sometimes, death provides the ultimate sexual thrill.

She struggled to calm herself, to catch hold of the fear racing through her. With forced calm, Andie went back and carefully read the entire article. It went on to explain that such instances were rare, though quite a number had been documented. One man had actually killed four partners over the course of three years, before he was caught. During his pretrial psychiatric evaluation, he had insisted that his partners had been willing victims, that they had helped plan the tableau that had been their last and that they had received as much pleasure in the act as he. A half-dozen or so graphic photographs were included.

Andie gazed at the images, stomach lurching up to her throat. She had been right to be afraid for Mrs. X, she knew now. The woman was in real danger.

A sense of urgency pressing at her, Andie snatched up the journal, and went in search of a copier. She found one, dug in her pocket for change, then began photocopying the article, pictures and all. She had to make Raven and Julie understand; had to get them to see the danger Mrs. X was in. She had to make them as certain as she of what they had to do.

They had to go to their parents. They had to.

The minute Andie got home, she called her friends. She told them to meet her at the toolshed, a.s.a.p. It was an emergency, she told them. They had to talk; they couldn’t chance being overheard.

Within twenty minutes the three of them were sitting cross-legged on the shed floor. Julie looked guilty and nervous, Raven curious. Seeing them now, Andie realized she had hardly spoken to them in two days.

Without waiting for their questions, Andie launched into the reason she had called them together. She told them how she had gone by bus to Columbia and the university library, describing in detail what she had discovered there, finishing with the last, most devastating piece of information.

“Look.” She took the article from her back pocket, unfolded it and handed it to her friends, hands shaking. “Our imaginations weren’t running away with us. We were right to be afraid. This guy’s bad news.”

Julie stared at the photocopy, her eyes huge behind her glasses. “Do you think he … he’s … going to kill her?”

Andie swallowed hard. “I think he might.”

“Oh, God.” Julie wrapped her arms around her drawn-up knees and looked pleadingly at Raven. The other girl sent her a warning glance, and Julie moaned and pressed her face to her knees.

Andie watched them, frowning. “What’s going on, you guys?”

“Nothing,” Raven said smoothly. She handed the article back. “This doesn’t prove anything.”

“Of course it does. It proves he could hurt her. It proves we can’t just sit back and do nothing. We have to go to our—”

“Parents?” Raven supplied. “I don’t think so.” When Andie opened her mouth to argue her point, Raven cut her off. “She likes what they’re doing, and if she’s not afraid for herself, why should we risk our butts for her?”

“But the article said—”

“That sometimes the dominator can’t stop and kills his partner. I know.” Raven tossed aside the pages. “But it doesn’t say how often, Andie. It could be one time in a million.”

“And what if this is that time?”

Julie lifted her head, her expression stricken. “Raven … we have to.”

Raven ignored her. “This is Thistledown, Andie. Not New York. Not even St. Louis. Stuff like that doesn’t happen here. Besides, can you imagine what Julie’s dad would do if he found out? Can you imagine what mine would do?”

Julie began to whimper, and Andie cut her a worried glance. “I’ll keep you guys out of it. I’ll tell my mom it was only me.”

“Do you really think she’ll believe that? The three of us spend almost every minute together, we have, almost all summer. Do you really think she won’t know the truth.”

Andie pressed her lips together to keep them from trembling. She and her friends had never disagreed this way before. It made her feel funny, almost as if she were on trial and they were judging her. Why couldn’t they see this the way she did?

Andie scrambled around for another solution. “How about this? Instead of our parents, we go to the police. We make them promise not to tell our folks. We tell them—”

“It’ll never work,” Raven inserted, flushing. “We’re minors, Andie. Get it? Minors. The first thing they’d do is call our folks. It’s like a rule. And then we’re dead. Grounded. Separated from each other, probably. Shipped off to some private school. And for what? Your imagination? To help a woman we don’t know, a woman involved in a kinky love affair? I don’t think so.”

“You can’t tell! Please, Andie.” Julie began to cry. She bent and pressed her face to her folded knees and rocked, her sobs high and scary-sounding.

Sending Andie a furious glance, Raven went to Julie and put her arms around her. “You’ve got to drop this, Andie. You’re flipping out, or something. I know it’s been a tough summer for you with your parents splitting up and all, but don’t screw up our lives … our friendship because of it.”

Tears flooded Andie eyes. “But what about … what if something happens to her?”

“Instead of worrying so damn much about this Mrs. X, why don’t you try worrying about us? We’re the ones you’re supposed to care about.”

Julie lifted her head then, her face blotchy from crying. “Rave, what if she’s right? What if he’s killed her?”

“Shut up,” Raven hissed. “You promised.”

“We have to tell her. We have to.”

Andie’s blood ran cold. “Tell me what?”

“I’m sorry, Rave,” Julie whispered. “But she could be dead.” Her voice rose. “What are we going to do if she’s dead?”

“She’s not, but if you have to, fine. Tell her. I’m not stopping you, am I?” Raven stood and walked to the doorway, now just a big, rectangular hole in the wall. She folded her arms across her chest and glared at them.

Julie looked at Andie, then slid her gaze guiltily away, her chin trembling. “Raven and I went back to the house and spied on Mr. and Mrs. X.”

“What?” Andie moved her gaze between her two friends, not believing what she was hearing, but knowing it was true. “You went back … after we’d agreed that we wouldn’t?”

“Raven explained it to me,” Julie said, wiping her nose with the back of her hand. “We had to figure out what they were up to, and we didn’t want to upset you.”

“I see.” Her best friends had lied to her. She looked at Raven. The other girl met her gaze almost defiantly. That hurt, maybe most of all. “How many times, Julie?”

“A bunch,” she whispered, hanging her head. “I’m sorry, Andie. I didn’t mean to.”

How did one not “mean” to lie? Tears burned Andie’s eyes, she blinked furiously against them. “So, why are you telling me now? Why not keep lying?”

Her sarcasm was lost on Julie. She brought her hands to her throat. “Because I’m afraid he’s … killed her.”

Julie went back, describing in detail the acts she and Raven had witnessed, she told Andie about the rope, about Mr. X’s alternating tenderness and brutality. She finished by telling Andie how he had left Mrs. X alone, bound and blindfolded two nights ago.