CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

Pain seared through Amanda’s skull. Concentrated right between her eyes like the migraine headache from hell. Only worse.

She tried opening her eyes. May as well have tried lifting one-hundred-pound weights off the floor. What had…happened? She moved her right arm, wanting to pinch the top of her nose to ward off the stabbing pain.

That’s when she realized her right arm was not doing what she wanted. Why didn’t she have use of her arm? Take a breath. Start over. One. Two. Three.

She pushed her eyelids open. Strained her shoulder to see why her right hand wouldn’t respond. Both her arms were pulled behind her back. What the hell? She pressed her feet to the ground and attempted to stand. No. She’d been strapped to a chair. Both feet zip-cuffed to a heavy chair. Her arms throbbed in pain from being yanked behind her, where metal cuffs kept her hands immobile.

“What…who…what’s happening?”

Why couldn’t she hear her own words? Each one sounded distant, unclear. She started to lick her lips but couldn’t. Something was in her mouth. A gag? She blinked rapidly, doing her best to keep her eyes open while her head pounded. Trying to swallow, she found it difficult with a bandana-like gag messing with her tongue.

Who had gagged her? And why?

A breeze blew, rustling a few pine needles and specks of dirt across the floor. She reached deep in her vocal chords, straining to say, “Help?”

Her words sounded muffled. Could Jake hear her? Oh no. Jake. What if he wound up in here like her? She had to figure out a way to stop him before…

Randall charged toward her. Inspected the gag. Her pulse raced, her eyes widening in fear at seeing him.

“Need to keep quiet, or your boyfriend will hear,” Randall whispered in a sickly sweet voice, the kind reserved for creeps telling bedtime stories.

She tried to scream, but only muffled noises came out.

“Let’s see,” Randall said. “You wanted to ask me what a nice guy like me is doing in a place like this.”

Her head instinctively retreated several inches away from this psycho. When she dared to meet his gaze, she saw a maniacal ferocity brewing behind his light-blue eyes. He was truly insane—at least at the moment. He belonged in a mental hospital. Not her—or anyone else who saw ghosts.

Ghosts. Maybe she could signal one of them.

“Shh, your boyfriend should be joining us any minute,” Randall whispered.

No. Warn Jake. Have to warn Jake to call police. She let out a guttural scream. The constrictive gag turned her desperate vocal pleas into a soft whimper.

Jake! Get help. Don’t come in.

Randall banged a few pieces of metal together to hide the remnants of her soft whimper. He waited by the entry flaps, holding a shovel and ready to hit Jake on the head.

She screamed again. No use.

Jake pulled open the flaps. His eyes widened upon seeing her. “Amanda! What happ—”

Randall slammed the shovel’s hard surface into the back of Jake’s head. Jake crumpled to the floor and remained still.

“You stupid son of a bitch! What do you think you’re doing?” It might have sounded garbled, but he’d get the gist.

Randall cocked a smile. “I can’t quite understand you with that gag. What did you say?”

The sadistic psycho was enjoying his sense of power. Evil bastard.

Randall hauled Jake’s limp body over to another chair. Chairs hadn’t been there before today. The jerk had planned all of this, but how? When?

She watched as he handcuffed Jake’s feet and hands. Inside her, a flicker of hope. Maybe Randall had been spying on them, wanted them to stop investigating the derailment. But he couldn’t know Jake’s hobby back in Georgia was magic and picking locks. She had to hold on, stay positive. Then Jake could somehow get free and take Randall down.

Was there a way to summon for Declan’s help? Seriously, the damn ghost had been bugging her the entire week to help him. The one time she really needed assistance, he was nowhere to be found?

“Once I take care of you two,” Randall spouted, “things will go back to normal round here.”

She jutted out her chin to force her red amulet necklace forward and back. Maybe there was a way Declan or another ghost could get her signal? She’d never tried it from a distance before, but anything was worth trying at this point.

Nothing happened. Oh no. She’d given the amulet to Pearl at the Abandon Inn. Damn it! There was no way to signal for Declan now. Maybe she could try and negotiate with Randall?

“Let me talk,” she tried to say.

Randall finished tying Jake and propped the shovel against one of the carousel horses. “What?”

She repeated her muffled words.

He sauntered over, put his hands on her gag. “If you scream, I put it back on. Then I hurt you. A lot.”

She wanted to deck the guy with a right hook and watch him squirm on the ground. For now, she simply nodded.

Randall pulled the tie down. Amanda instantly gasped for more air.

“Why are you doing this? We were leaving town today.”

“You aren’t going anywhere, missy.”

“Missy? Who the hell are you? What do you want with Jake and me?”

Randall adjusted his stained baseball cap. “You two kids meddle in everyone’s affairs. Mary called me, told me your man here visited her last night. Jake knew I lied. Eventually he’d figure out why.”

Anger flooded through Amanda’s veins. “You sabotaged the roller coaster, didn’t you? You killed all those people.”

Jake moaned, struggled to move his head.

“Lookee who’s awake!” Randall shot her a grin. “Now the fun can begin.”

That didn’t sound good. Not at all.