Book
Description
There
are real monsters out there. The worst part is that they're human.
They took her away from me.
I mumbled a protest through the haze of
pain and exhaustion that had turned me into little more than a zombie. I'll
never be able to watch a zombie movie again without remembering this night, I
thought.
"It's all right - we have to move her
to take care of her. She's hurt worse than you," I was told. "We need
to treat you, too. There's a gunshot wound in your shoulder."
One of the hospital staff looked grim and
came over. She started firing questions at me.
"Name?"
"Nathan Miller."
"What happened?"
"I was shot."
"By whom?"
"A homicidal lunatic with a gun and
bad aim."
"Her name?"
"Caitlin Lockyer."
"What happened to her?"
"Looks like someone tried to kill
her."
Nathan found Caitlin on a beach covered in
blood. Saving her life was just the start. Now he's the prime suspect and he
has to find out who's really responsible. Both of their lives depend on it.
Who hurt her?
Why was he shot?
What did he promise?
Why doesn't his story add up?
Who was the dead man on the beach?
What will she remember when she wakes up?
A
tiny taste of what's in store:
"Stay away from her, Nathan. That girl
isn't good for you."
Stay away from her? I'd go crazy with worry
in a day. "You don't know her."
Chris looked grim. "Neither do you. Is
there anything you wouldn't do for her?"
"Yes," I snapped. "I
wouldn't die for her."
Chris turned around to stare at me, her
mouth hanging open.
"Do you want to know why?" I
asked steadily. "I wouldn't die for her because I wouldn't be able to
protect her any more. What if I missed one of the people who hurt her? I
couldn't take that risk. She's too important."
Nightmares
Trilogy
Dark, disturbing and definitely scary -
Nightmares of Caitlin Lockyer is the first book in Demelza Carlton's Nightmares
Trilogy. The second book is Necessary Evil of Nathan Miller.
Excerpt 1
They took her away from me.
I mumbled a protest through the haze of
pain and exhaustion that had turned me into little more than a zombie. I'll
never be able to watch a zombie movie again without remembering this night, I
thought.
"It's all right – we have to move her
somewhere else to take care of her. She's hurt worse than you," I was
told. "We need to treat you, too. There's a gunshot wound in your
shoulder."
I couldn't remember how long it had been
since I'd last slept, so it took a few seconds to register what she'd said.
Gunshot wound. My shoulder. Oh yeah, it hurt. I couldn't help her 'til that was
sorted. Hospital staff would take care of her until I was okay.
The pain began to dull as a local
anaesthetic took effect. I turned to look at the mess of blood my right
shoulder had become. The smell of disinfectant jolted my brain out of sleep and
most of the way to alertness. All that blood and it was barely more than a
graze. A few stitches would sort that.
One of the hospital staff held a clipboard
while she spoke to two police officers just out of earshot. She nodded, looked
grim and came over. She started firing questions at me.
"Name?"
"Nathan Miller."
"What happened?"
"I was shot."
"By whom?"
"A homicidal lunatic with a gun and
bad aim."
The next question came tersely. "Her
name?"
"Caitlin Lockyer."
"What happened to her?"
"Looks like someone tried to kill
her."
"Was that you?"
"No, it was the homicidal lunatic and
his mates, for all I know."
"What's your relationship to
her?"
"Friend." What the hell, I
thought. She'd probably agree with that, for the moment, at least.
"There. Done." The nurse
stitching up my shoulder was cheerful, glad to be finished with me. "Now
I'll show you to your room – just overnight..."
"I want to see her."
"She's still in Emergency."
"I want to see her," I repeated.
"Only family are allowed. She's in a
critical condition..."
"Which is why I want to see her."
"But you can't..."
"Take me to where she is, now."
Nurse Grim was reluctant, but Caitlin
wasn't that far away. Instead of a normal Emergency Department curtained
cubicle, they'd put her in the room for child patients, with cheerful pictures
and mobiles on the ceiling. Small though she was, I hadn't made the mistake of
thinking she was a child.
Nurse Grim stopped to speak in a low voice
to an orderly outside. I accosted a nurse on her way out of Caitlin's room.
"How is she?"
"She's fighting us. Calls out for
someone and tries to get up. We can't do anything for her unless she calms
down."
I glanced inside and saw someone with a
syringe, advancing on her. "Please – don't hurt her!" I blurted out.
The orderly blocked my path. "You're
not family..."
"I'm the one she's calling for."
"You said your name was Nathan Miller,
and..."
"But she doesn't know that." I
pushed past him.
The syringe-wielding nurse stared at me,
her mouth open. Caitlin struggled to sit up and grabbed the syringe from the
distracted nurse. "Don't let them hurt me again!" For an instant, I
saw her face. Her eyes had hell in them.
I approached her slowly, looking deep into
her tortured eyes, avoiding looking at the injuries that caused her so much
pain. "I'm here. We're in a hospital and they're trying to help you."
I kept my voice calm and steady.
She sagged back against the bed as she took
this in, her eyes never leaving mine. The syringe rolled across the floor as it
slipped from her fingers.
"So... tired," she managed to
say, "but... scared to sleep. What if... I wake up... you're gone and I'm
still... there... with them?" She didn't look away, even as her eyes
filled with tears. "Please."
"I'll be here. When you wake up I'll
be here. Here, in hospital with you," I promised recklessly, forcing
myself to smile as I reached to touch her hair.
"Thank you," she murmured,
closing her eyes.
I waited until I was sure she was asleep before
I said anything else. "You cut her hair off. She won't like that."
Her long hair was now a short, dark cap that curled slightly around her ears.
"She didn't," came the nurse's
voice behind me. "That must have been what woke her up. But we couldn't leave
it – it was matted with blood and sand. We had to clean the wounds on her back.
I've never seen so many ulcers, especially ones that bad. It's a good thing
she's unconscious for this, because those must really hurt..."
She talked as she worked. I tried to keep
my eyes firmly fixed on Caitlin's sleeping face, so I didn't see the extent of
her injuries, but occasionally my eyes would stray to the subject of the
nurse's running commentary. Every time I wanted to close my eyes in horror at
the thought of what Caitlin had been through, but I didn't. Instead, I dragged
my eyes back to her face.
When the nurse had finished with her
now-cooperative patient, she said, "Now I'm taking her up to her
room..."
"And I'm taking you to yours," an
orderly behind me chimed in.
"If you think you're taking us to
separate rooms, you've got another thing coming."
"The police want you under
guard..."
"And she won't feel safe without some
sort of protection. We'll share."
As they wheeled her bed out, I followed,
along with a police officer I hadn't noticed earlier.
"Can I have a word with you?" he
asked abruptly.
I shrugged. My eyes were on Caitlin, asleep
on the hospital bed.
"Look, you found an injured girl on a
beach and got her to hospital, probably saving her life. That sort of thing can
get you a medal. But there are a few suspicious things that just don't add up.
You were walking down a beach in winter at 2 am. You got into the ambulance
with her. She refused all medical assistance until you were there. There was a
dead body on the beach, not far from where you found her, shot with the gun you
were holding. And she was last seen three weeks ago, speaking to someone in a
car just like yours."
I shrugged again. "Look, I've already
told two different officers this, but I can tell you, too, if you like. I
couldn't sleep so I went for a drive, then decided to take a walk on the beach.
I saw a couple going for it near where I'd parked my car when I got back, so I
decided to take a longer walk and come back a bit later.
"When I returned later, they were
still there and I tried to keep my distance from them, but I heard her telling
him to stop. When I gathered he wasn't stopping and she was getting
increasingly upset about it, I went over and asked if they were all right.
"She asked me to help her and the guy
told me to fuck off. He pulled a gun out and started waving it around and
threatening me. I dived for the gun and got into a fight with him. I managed to
knock the gun out of his hands and I didn't see where it landed.
"The next thing I knew, there were
gunshots and I threw myself to the ground, but he didn't. She'd gotten hold of
the gun and shot him. I'm lucky she didn't hit me, her aim was so bad.
"I told her that he wasn't going to
hurt her again and tried to take the gun off her, but she wouldn't let go until
I promised they wouldn't hurt her again. So I did."
I took a deep breath and went on.
"I rang an ambulance and waited with
her. The police turned up, someone got mixed up and figured I was the one
responsible, possibly because I was holding the gun.
"They let me carry her to the
ambulance. Then one of your guys shot me, or tried to, but he only grazed me
and managed to shoot her instead. The last thing she said before she passed out
was, 'You promised...'" I gritted my teeth, remembering what she'd looked
like as she said it. "I got in the ambulance because I was carrying her, I
stayed because I'd been shot and I'd promised.
"She's been beaten and worse by the
dead guy, then when I tried to help her we both got SHOT by the police who were
supposedly trying to help her. About the only person who hasn't hurt her is me,
so she doesn't trust anyone else. Damn it, your guys shot her!
"And yes, I'm staying. I found some
random girl on a beach, fought off her attacker and helped to get her to
hospital, while getting shot in the process and winding up in hospital myself.
So I'm sticking around because I want to know she's okay. If you were in my
place, I imagine you'd want to know whether you'd wasted your time, too."
I let out a breath I hadn't known I was holding.
He looked unmoved. "You have no
witnesses to confirm your story before the police showed up? Anyone you told
you were going for a walk, anyone who saw you?"
I nodded toward Caitlin. "She saw
me." After thinking a moment, I added, "My doctor knows I have
trouble sleeping. He gave me something called Temaze, but I only use it as a
last resort."
"And how do you explain that your car
was seen when she disappeared?"
I narrowed my eyes. "My car? I drive a
red Mercedes. I know it's an unusual car, but I bet it's not the only one in
Perth. You know it was my car? Someone saw the licence plates of my car?"
The cop looked abashed. "Okay, no, we
don't know what the number plate was. We don't know it was your car. But it is
a hell of a coincidence, all the same."
I took a deep breath and laughed.
"Look mate, do you think she'd trust me if I was the guy who'd raped
her?" More soberly, I continued: "Hell of a coincidence – more like
someone's trying to set me up for this."
He looked indecisive for a moment, before
replying in a low voice, "If someone's trying to set you up, they'll need
to set you up with accomplices. Her medical report says that she's been raped
repeatedly by at least four of them, probably including the dead one on the
beach. And judging by her injuries, they've been at it for at least a couple of
weeks. Three of them are still out there. When she wakes up she might be able
to tell us who they are. But I never told you."
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