"But you must sleep somewhere."
"I've found someplace nobody goes to." She didn't elaborate. What he didn't know, he couldn't tell. "I'm doing okay, but I don't know what to do. I've got to find some way to clear this up, Hutch, someone who can help me. Someone I can trust."
"You can trust me, Aleksi." He tried to smile. "And I kinda told Lonnie about some of it, though I don't know if she believes me or not."
"Lonnie? God, Hutch, don't let her get involved in this. I couldn't stand it if her life was ruined, too."
"Don't worry, Lonnie's smart enough to keep her mouth shut. Now." He squared his shoulders as if he was about to give a lecture. "What do you need from me besides money, clothes, food, and a place to sleep?"
She could almost have laughed at his tone, so sure, so matter of fact, as if he wasn't terrified of her.
"I don't think I can risk sleeping here, Hutch, but…um…" She nodded to the shower. "If I could maybe wash up and do some laundry?"
"Of course! Here, let me take your things. I'll run a load while you shower."
"Thanks, Hutch." She handed over her bulging pack and doffed her jacket, hoodie, boots and socks. Then, however, she balked, though he showed no signs of shock at her wiry arms, the thin membrane that trailed up her arm, the claws that extended from her toes. "I'll hand the rest out, if you don't mind."
"Oh. Okay. No problem. Oh, and I have a blood kit. Bornstein agreed to do some tests."
"Okay."
He took the bundle out to the main room and she heard the washer start. She quickly pealed out of her jeans, tee shirt, bra and panties and dumped them outside the door. She turned to the shower, then caught a glimpse of herself in the big mirror and caught her breath, startled by her own reflection.
Monster…
Her hair had receded at the temples and lightened to gold at the roots. The ridge of her brow was even more pronounced, her eyebrows now little more than a line of heavy scales. Her eyes, now bright yellow and slit-pupiled, blinked from enlarged sockets, and her nose had flattened, the nares wider above the thin line of her lips. Her cheekbones were more pronounced, and her chin more pointed, but she could still see her face there, could still see Aleksi behind the monster.
As for the rest, her skin seemed to shimmer in the light, her arms, torso and legs corded with muscle. Her breasts had flattened, and her body hair had completely vanished, replaced by a smattering of golden scales. She looked away, a pit of irrepressible disgust roiling in her stomach. Why had she come here? Why had she risked his life along with hers?
Aleksi turned the shower on and stepped in before it even warmed. Shampoo and soap took away a few layers of filth from living in a subway tunnel. She was lathering her hair a second time when she heard the bathroom door.
Panic shot through her like an electric shock, a cold ball of fear gripping her chest when she realized that Hutch was only wearing a robe.
No! She wiped the soap away and backed into the corner of the shower. "What are you doing?" Terror rimed her voice.
"I need to see you, Aleksi." He didn't reach for the shower door, didn't sound like he was afraid, horrified at her monstrosity. "I need to hold you again. You don't understand how much I miss you, just being with you, touching you." His voice faltered at the last. "If you don't…want me to, I'll leave."
"I…" Aleksi didn't know what she wanted. He said he wanted to hold her, to touch her, but how could he? Could she stand to see the revulsion in his eyes when he really saw her? "I don't know, Hutch. I don't think you want to see me like this."
"Okay, then, how about if I close my eyes."
"What?" She couldn't believe he was saying this. His tone was so flippant, so casual.
"Close my eyes. I'll promise not to look, okay?" Then, in a softer tone, "I just want to hold you again, Aleksi."
"Okay." She didn't know why she said it, why she wanted it, but it was too late to renege. Through the mottled glass she saw his robe drop away, and he reached for the shower door. She huddled back as far back as she could and watched as he eased into the shower and closed the door. His eyes were squeezed tightly closed. "You can open your eyes, Hutch."
He did, and his face changed. She couldn't read what she saw there, but there was certainly shock, surprise…and something else.
"Aleksi…you're…it's…" He paused, his eyes roving over her from head to toe.
Disgusting…monstrous…horrible…hideous! She couldn't bear the thought of him finishing the sentence.
"Beautiful."
"What?" She couldn't believe it, couldn't believe him. "Don't say that! It's not! It's horrible! I'm turning into some kind of a freak!" She clenched her arms around her chest, looking away, blinking back the tears. "Can't you see? Can't you see what's happening to me?"
Then his arms were around her, holding her, crushing her against his beating heart, and she was crying, sobbing into his shoulder, holding him like she would hold a butterfly, afraid to crush him. Her shoulders heaved and she cried out the unfairness, the horror, the pain, and he held her all the more tightly with every wracking sob.
And it felt good.
The cops were out of their car the moment Derrick and his two keepers stepped out of the big SUV. Derrick kept his hands in the pockets of his heavy coat and squinted through his sunglasses at the two pudgy officers as they approached, flashing badges and asking who they were.
One of his minders pulled a leather billfold from a pocket and flashed it at the cops. "FBI, officer. I'm special agent Prendergast, and this is special agent Watson. We're investigating the theft from the university."
"And we're investigating a murder," one of the cops said.
Derrick kept his face averted. The cop smelled like coffee and fatty deep-fried food.
"Then our jobs overlap very little," his minder said. "You do your job and we'll do ours. Everybody's happy."
"Fine." The cop shrugged like he didn't care, but his tone said he did. "Our guys were already all over that apartment, but if you find anything, we expect full disclosure."
"No problem, officer. Your boss will get our report."
The cops returned to their car, and Derrick followed his escort up the steps and into Aleksi's apartment. They opened the door with a key that fit the lock. He didn't ask how they got it; these guys got whatever they wanted. He would like it even more when they got him what he wanted.
"What a shithole." Derrick removed his dark glasses and glancing around the place. It was tiny, cramped, shabby, and smelled like shit.
"Go ahead and have a look around," his head minder said. The guy's name wasn't Prendergast, and the other's wasn't Watson. He didn't know their real names and didn't particularly care to.
Derrick started with Aleksi's bedroom, knowing by scent that it was hers. He looked at her bed, sniffed her pillow. He looked through her dresser and found a tiny empty jewelry box. Her top drawer, where just about everyone on the planet kept their underwear, was mostly empty. He checked the tiny closet, the dirty clothes bin, and found that also nearly empty. The scent from that bin, the mingling of feminine sweat and something else, something not human, something like him, set blood racing through his veins. He reached in and pulled out a pair of plain white cotton panties, pressed them to his face and inhaled.
Yes… A flood of scintillating, primal, visceral need burned through his mind.
"She's been here recently." He tucked the underwear in his pocket and left the room.
"How do you figure?" Minder One asked. Minder Two didn't talk much.
"I read the police report and there are discrepancies."
"Like what?"
He raised an eyebrow at the man for questioning him. "Like the six pair of earrings, two rings, and a pendant that used to be in her jewelry box and are now gone. Also, there's not enough in her underwear drawer. She came back, took some clothes, her jewelry, and left."
"So much for police surveillance," the man said with a smirk.
"So much for your surv
eillance," Derrick countered, which earned him a scowl. He just smiled back and stopped at the other bedroom door. He entered and glimpsed a few photos of a perky blonde in the company of several other people. "Where's her roommate?"
"Julie Parks? She's in class. She's a drama student."
"Perfect." Derrick went through her things, memorized her scent, less interesting than Aleksi's, but still… "She might be interesting. Have you questioned her?"
"The police have. She was dating the Tomlin kid."
"She was dating Bob Tomlin? No fucking way." He looked again at her picture and licked his lips, remembering the taste of that salty, coppery spray, the gurgle as Tomlin fell to the garage floor clutching at his torn throat. "She must be crushed by the loss and starving for companionship."
"There's nothing to suggest that Rychenkna was particularly close to the Parks woman."
"Still…" Derrick left her room and circuited the kitchen. There was a whiff of Aleksi here. He looked in the fridge, then the trash. Nothing.
The living room was dismal. The couch was threadbare, the TV tiny. They had no DVD player and no stereo. He found the remote and turned on the TV; it came up to the local PBS station. Typical. He turned it off and started at the sound of rattling metal from the corner. The scent of shit was stronger here, and he peered around the couch to find a wire cage with a big lizard inside. It stared at him and lashed its tail.
"An iguana?"
"Rychenkna's pet."
"Disgusting." He peered closer at it and wrinkled his nose. "Might as well keep a fucking rat for a pet." He reached for the cage door.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm investigating." Derrick cast the man a glare. "You want to bring someone out in the open, you take something they love away."
"You're going to take her iguana?"
"In a way." He flipped the door open, and before the lizard could escape, he snatched it up, careful not to let his claws pierce its scaly skin.
"Don't do anything we'll have to clean up, Mister Penningly. Those cops got a good look at our faces."
"I was told to find Aleksi Rychenkna." Derrick strolled into the kitchen. "What you've been doing hasn't been working so well."
He stuffed the thrashing lizard in the microwave and slammed the door, then grabbed a post-it note from the fridge and scrawled, "Aleksi, Weld Boat House, midnight." and stuck it to the door.
"You are not going to—"
"You want Rychenkna, or not?" He punched in ten minutes and pressed cook. The light came on and the carousel began to turn, but Minder One shoved past and stabbed the cancel key.
"You are not going to cook her goddamn lizard!" He grabbed a dish towel and wiped down the keypad.
Derrick stared at the man and grinned. The minder's glare didn't waver. "Fine, Special Agent Gutless. We'll see if it works without sending the filthy little reptile to lizard heaven. I guess it's the message that counts anyway, but a threat doesn't carry the same weight if it's not demonstrated properly. She'll probably write us off as a bunch of pussies."
"You really think she's dumb enough to show up at the boat house?"
"No, but she'll be watching it, and I'll be watching for her. See how that works?"
Minder One waved toward the door. "Now, where to next?"
"I think Dr. Hutchinson's place." Derrick sighed in disappointment and allowed them to escort him out of the apartment. "Fucking tree-hugger's probably got nothing but a bunch of house plants. You gonna get all teary eyed if I nuke his Chia pet?"
Someone was in my apartment, Sergeant, and your goddamn cops let them walk right in!" Julie Parks' call had brought Jasper running like a terrier after a rat, but she had surprised him. She was more angry than upset. "Either you get me some decent protection or you leave me the hell alone!"
"I'll have a talk with my people, Miss Parks." He handed the heavy cage to Willis and smiled at her. "My forensics people will be done in no time."
"And I want someone to get Aleksi's stuff out of here. I'm not sharing an apartment with a murder suspect! I'm going to have to advertise for a new roommate, and I can't do that with her stuff still here."
"We'll contact her parents and see if one of them can come up and pick up her things. Don't worry, Miss Parks. You're safe."
"Bullshit. Nobody's safe when someone like Bob Tomlin can get his goddamn throat torn out in a goddamn parking lot! Just get your people the hell out of here and let me have my life back!"
"We'll be out of here as soon as we can. You have my word." He left the apartment to the forensics team and joined Willis on the stairs.
"So, where are we taking the lizard?"
"The lab first. I don't know if they can lift a print from an iguana, but someone picked him up."
"How do you know it's a him?" Willis lifted the cage higher and squinted. "Not like it's got a package."
"Rychenkna said it was a boy. Didn't you read her statement?"
Willis made a sound of disgust. "Okay, lab first, where to next? This thing's not sitting in the squad room."
"Actually, I think I might give Dr. Hutchinson a call about a possible adoption. I'd like to have another look at his place again anyway."
"You'll think he'll take the thing?"
"I don't see why not. They're both vegetarians, and I'd be willing to bet that they're both a lot closer to Aleksi Rychenkna than the good doctor lets on."
I appreciate you calling me, Sergeant." Hutch held the elevator door open for the two detectives. He punched his floor and the doors closed. "I don't know what I'm going to do with a two-foot iguana, but I'll be happy to look after Iggy until all this gets cleared up."
"Iggy?" Jasper handed over the cage.
"Yeah, Aleksi told me about him." He peered through the wire. The lizard looked pissed off. Jasper had called him that afternoon, but Hutch couldn't get out of his office until after six. "She said her roommate Julie called him her boyfriend."
The doors opened and Hutch led the way into his apartment. He dropped his keys in the bowl, put the iguana's cage down by the kitchen counter, and waved a hand at the rest of the place. "Feel free to have a look around. I can't believe someone broke into Aleksi's apartment and threatened her."
"Well, they didn't exactly threaten her, but the lizard was in real danger," Willis said. "Two minutes from being an iguana pot pie."
"That's just sick." Hutch looked around his place. He doubted that they would find a trace of Aleksi here. He'd done a thorough cleaning after her visit the previous night. "Can I offer you anything?"
"No, thank you. You're being very accommodating, Dr. Hutchinson." Jasper peered around at this and that, checking the refrigerator, the freezer, the microwave, and the oven.
"I know we got off on the wrong foot the other day, but I see how hard you're working on this, and I know Aleksi could not have killed Bob Tomlin." He shrugged and pulled a bottle of iced tea from the fridge. "I realized that the more I help you, the sooner this will get cleared up."
"Well, I can't argue with you there, Doctor." Jasper looked around the living room. "If you see anything out of place, please let us know. If they broke into Miss Rychenkna's apartment, they may have broken in here, too."
"Sure." Hutch looked around, not really expecting to find anything out of place. The TV remote wasn't where he remembered putting it, but that was probably nothing. The office was the same as it had always been, and the bathroom was spotless, though his hairbrush was displaced. He knew Aleksi had used it, but he'd been careful about cleaning it thoroughly. He didn't want to give the cops any ideas that she might have been there, so he didn't mention it.
"So, with two of your students gone and that specimen stolen, you must be in a hard spot with the university." Willis looked at him sidelong. "You seem pretty upbeat for a guy on the ropes."
"Attitude determines success." He cocked an eyebrow at the cop. "If you let the negative aspects determine your attitude, your chances of success plummet."
"Sounds like deni
al to me." Willis turned away to pass through the door into Hutch's bedroom. "So, tell me Doc, did you get a new decorator, or is this part of your positive attitude thing?"
"What?" Hutch stepped into his bedroom and froze, staring at his shredded bed. One pillow and half the bed were torn to pieces. Comforter, sheets and right down to the batting of the mattress were ripped apart, and a yellow post-it note lay on the torn pillow. "Holy shit!"
"I'm guessing from your sudden shift in attitude that this is not your usual way of making the bed."
"You've got that right!" He started forward, then stopped when Jasper's hand closed on his arm.
"Sorry, Doctor, but we've got to get a forensics team in here to look at this before anyone touches a thing."
"Oh. Uh…sure." He could see from where he stood that the sheets and pillow case had been slashed in four parallel strokes, ripped open not unlike Bob Tomlin's throat. But only the half of the bed where Aleksi had lain was destroyed. He lifted the bottle of iced tea to his lips and took a long drink, easing his suddenly dry throat. "You sure I can't get either of you something to drink, because I suddenly feel the need for something stronger than iced tea, and I hate to drink alone."
35
There must be money in politics. Aleksi peered through the wrought iron gate at Congressman Twain's glittering front door. The place was little less than a mansion, with manicured grounds, gleaming windows, brick drive and more security cameras and motion sensors than the entire Boston subway system. There was a service entrance in the back, but it was flanked by more security cameras. Also, as she strolled around the perimeter, she caught flickers of red at the edge of her vision. If she squinted just right, she could see the ruby beams lacing the yard like a cat's cradle.
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