The ARC Chronicles Collection

Chapter 7

Eva’s eyes opened to a new world, and instantly she regretted it. Her head was fuzzy, mouth dry, and eyes gritty from drinking late. The sun blazed across white sheets at the foot of the bed, dazzling her. It was too much. She clamped her eyes shut once more, determined to begin this day anew.

As she tried to gather her thoughts, she felt a movement behind her, and an arm snaked around her waist. Eva realized she was naked. She had not slept naked in years. Unsure as to whether she was in peril, Eva turned in the stranger’s embrace and came face to face with a somewhat familiar man.

His eyes still shut; he pulled her closer. “Morning, gorgeous. You weren’t kidding when you said you wanted something for yourself.” He shifted to kiss her, and Eva backed off, placing her hand on his chest.

“I think we did enough of that last night, Madden.” The name was difficult to recall which unnerved her. She had a good memory.

“In my book you can never have too much of a good thing,” came his cheeky reply.

“If you have a good thing too often, you lose the taste for it, I find,” countered Eva.

This brought Madden fully awake. He lay there studying her. After their intimate night together, she felt no self-consciousness at all “Did you get what you wanted?”

Eva stretched. There was a dull ache in her loins, but it was an ache of satisfaction. “Most definitely. But it ends there.”

“It doesn’t have to, you know.”

Eva smiled in spite of herself. There was an addictive appeal to Madden and she found herself wanting to be drawn in once more. It was clear in the morning light how she had been beguiled by his charm, but it did not bother her in the least. He was an attractive man and she had gotten what she needed.

“It does for now, Madden. I know you to be honorable, and you will back off. Whatever else, I am still a married woman. Even if I don’t love my husband, there are customs to be observed.”

“Come away with me,” he pleaded. “I can take you to Jamaica; show you the whole West Indies. We can sit on a tropical beach drinking rum and coconut while the melon traders hawk their wares in the distance.”

“Sounds nice, but I can’t. I would love to drop it all, but I have responsibilities. I have patients who rely on me, investigations I need to complete. What’s the time?”

Madden leaned over to check the clock. “About half past nine.”

“Christ! I’m late!” Forgetting her lack of clothes, Eva jumped out of bed, grabbing whatever she could. With an armful of clothing Eva turned back to find Madden admiring her.

“You look good like that. Nice bum.”

In a moment of sheer rebelliousness, Eva dropped her clothes and stood, hands on hips, staring back at him. “Just a reminder of the night for you. I’ll put my number on this note. Thank you for last night, Madden. I had a great time. It’s probably best if you aren’t here when I get out of the shower.”

He climbed out of bed, as naked as she was. “I could scrub your back.”

“Tempting, but no.” Eva brushed his lips with her own. “You leave your number and I may call you when all the unpleasantness is over.” Refusing to look him over once more, Eva bolted for the bathroom, and locked the door.

It was all Eva could do to keep the door shut, but she knew she was taking the sensible course of action. Brian was still out there, and would be all the more dangerous because she had escaped his prison. After one night of freedom, Eva knew she had to take control of her life.

“Small steps,” she said aloud, and turned the shower on. ‘Small Steps’ was a book her boss had had published. It was what had carried him to prominence in his field of psychotherapy. Eva had read it as a student and become a devotee of Gideon Homes overnight. The book preached a simple approach to the understanding and treatment of mental patients, specifically looking for minor improvements regularly rather than the big cure. Eva took this approach with everything. As she luxuriated in the hot water, she realised her first small step was last night’s encounter with… the name evaded her again. The second step was this shower, then going to work, eventually leading to the final confrontation with her husband and leaving him behind her.

But what was his name? As Eva thought to call out and ask, she heard the hotel door slam shut, and her stomach tightened. Eva tried to picture the man in her mind, but there was nothing. She began to panic. The ache in her loins, which she had thought was a pleasant reminder of last night’s encounter now only served to indicate she had s*x and nothing more. She had used no protection.

“Oh my God. No protection!” Eva cried to the room. The uncaring spatter of water on the shower cubicle was the only answer. Eva turned the shower off, grabbed a towel and wrapped herself in it. As the possible implications of the night before hit her, Eva lost control. Sliding down the wall of the bathroom, Eva collapsed in a heap and sobbed. She had been date-r***d. That had to be the only answer.

She remained, numb with shock, for a good five minutes or so before her logical mind began to reassert itself.

“I must have been given something,” Eva said to nobody, “but what?” She began to tick off drugs on her fingers. “Zolpidem. Benzodiazepine. GHB. They are most likely. Zolpidem doesn’t last very long though, and Benzodiazepine is so powerful a sedative I wouldn’t be up now doing this. It has to be GHB. It is. It must be. It is tasteless in strong alcohol.”

The realization of this made Eva’s stomach clench, and she vomited into the toilet. She remained this way for a good half hour, waves of guilt racking her body and sending her stomach into spasms. Finally, utterly wasted, and unable to now recall a single moment of the previous night’s encounter, Eva stumbled out of the bathroom and to the bed.

Sitting, she reached for the notepad provided by the hotel. Looking at it in the sunlight, she could see her own number engraved in the sheet, in her own handwriting, but Eva, for the life of her, could not remember writing it down. Whoever had been here had taken it. She grabbed her handbag, fearing robbery. Inside everything was as it should have been. Whoever had drugged her must have only been interested in the s*x.

Eva switched her cell on, and it blared into life with a barrage of message-received alerts. Reading down them, Eva went cold. They were mostly from Brian. Whatever had happened last night, her memory was crystal clear regarding the afternoon before. The messages were mostly apologies, but there was an undertone that chilled her.

The office messages were more perfunctory. Enquiries as to her well being from Gideon. Given she had nobody else to call, and her job was important, Eva settled on phoning him. The other end of the line clicked into life.

“Homes.”

“Gideon. It’s Eva.”

“Eva? What’s happened? Are you all right? Where are you?”

Trying not to break down, Eva bit on the knuckles of her free hand. The fear of what had been done to her without her knowledge grew into outright panic. “Gideon, I think I have been raped.”

There was silence for a moment. “You think?”

“Yes. I think. No. I know. Gideon, someone has given me GHB and r***d me and I can’t remember!”

“GHB? Eva, are you sure?”

The uncertainty in Gideon’s voice sent her into a fresh outburst of tears. “It has to be. I went out, and I must have had a lot to drink. A cocktail maybe, I don’t know.”

“And you think GHB why?”

“Because diazepine and Zolpidem are too short term, and I would know them. We have used GHB with the patients, but only in drinks that are strong so it is masked. Plus, it lasts longer.”

“Are you injured?”

“No… no. Nothing other than the usual after effects of such an encounter. There is another problem though. I don’t think any protection was used. The bed is a mess. Gideon. I’m married. What if I end up having a child?”

“Worry about that later. First things first you need to call 911. We need to make sure you are safe. Eva, I have to ask. Is this to do with Brian?”

“No. Yes… Oh, I don’t know. It is and it isn’t. Could Brian have done this? Not a chance. He doesn’t think that quickly.”

“So I have noticed,” came the sardonic reply. “Call the police. I will be at the station as soon as I can.”

“No, that won’t be necessary.” Eva asserted, still, despite his concern for her, a little reluctant because of the previous day’s argument. “Look, I’ll speak to you later on, Gideon. Thank you for your concern.”

Not waiting for a reply, Eva switched her cell off, and reached for the phone beside the bed. Dialling in the numbers, becoming numb with shock, Eva spoke the words mechanically: “Police, please. I think I have been raped.”