3. The Fortress of the Mind (D1)

(D1)
__ "C'mon, think," R. Lee prodded as he drew another cigarette from Ardy's pack. "This is some spooky stuff you got goin' on in that pretty little head of yours."
__ He lit the smoke with her lighter and tossed the lighter on the table. It clinked against the crystal ball. For some reason, that made him laugh.
__ Ardy squirmed and scooted on the couch, trying to get herself to a comfortable upright position. No matter how she twisted, the handcuffs continually fought her. Wanting to ask her captor to remove, or at least loosen, her bonds, she instead blurted, "What're you gonna do to-- With me?"
__ She cringed at the misspoken word. While it was obvious she didn't need to give him any ideas, she also didn't want to inadvertently dare him to rape her.
__ He turned his head and squinted through the stream of blue smoke rising from the cigarette. He appeared to consider the option she desperately tried to push from her mind.
__ "You're afraid I'm gonna rape you, ain't it?" R. Lee muttered.
__ Ardy quickly shook her head. No. Then convulsed a shrug or two. She began to feal queasy.
__ "See." His laugh was a harsh bark. "I'm a psychic too!"
__ "P-Please."
__ "Don't worry about it, Ardy dear. I ain't no rapist. I'm a killer." He took a long draw of the cigarette, let the smoke form whisps around his words as he said, "Hell, you saw that, didn't you?"
__ She shook her head slowly, then with greater, yet false, conviction.
__ "You said Clye."
__ Ardy just stared at him. She couldn't look away and she couldn't pull out of the twin black holes that were his piercing dark eyes.
__ "Ain't it interestin' that I just happen to kill a man named Clye. Then here you go sayin' his name not two minutes after I walk in here."
__ She remembered the vision, the clarity within that tiny glint of light reflected from the jewel in her phony gypsy head wrap. Ardy had entered another world in that glint, as though she were pulled by some unseen energy force into a parallel universe. There she was a man. A killer. This man. But it wasn't an alternate universe. It wasn't even as phony as her getup. It was real. It was recent. It had happened and she had seen it. Lived it.
__ The killer stood and replaced the chair at the small round table, then he rounded the table to the throne-like chair she sat in when doing readings. He sat down and leaned forward, stairing into the orange light in the frosted glass ball.
__ "Know what I see?"
__ Ardy shook her head.
__ R. Lee Munson reached out slowly, dramatically, and caressed the sides of the crystal ball as he stared deeply into it. His eyes twitched and widened, darted from side to side as though he could actually see something.
__ "I see a woman in a corn field. She's dressed like... Like a...," he glanced toward Ardy, "What do you call 'em? Like the old lady in that old werewolf movie?"
__ She swallowed, "A gypsy?"
__ His laugh was a mischievous chuckle, but it wasn't infectious. "Yeah, that's it. But she's young, ya know." He squinted into the light. "Yeah.... Young and beautiful. A real looker."
__ R. Lee turned and faced Ardy directly. "And she's being raped."
__ Ardy gapsed and shuddered, a sudden chill rocked her bones and made bile rise in her throat.
__ "By worms," he quickly added.
__ Then he stood again, took a final draw of the cigarette, and stomped it out on the floor. Slowly moving toward her, R. Lee smiled a wide greasy grin. "You know why, Ardy dear? Why worms?"
__ Again, a shake of the head. Not committal. Not adamant. She kept telling herself, Tell him what he wants and give him what he expects. You might live --
__ "She's dead, dear. She's dead because she didn't cooperate. She didn't answer questions."
__ Ardy swallowed again. This time the lump in her throat burned as it met the rising bile.
__ "And you're dead if you don't tell me how you knew about Clye. I mean.... How many people in this town are named Clye?"
__ And that's when the next flash came to her.