A Killer Cup of Joe

by Jennifer Templeman

  His voice held the barest hint of an accent that she couldn’t place. It was like his parents were not native to this country and he had picked up the subtle nuances of their diction. He was in his early forties, and while she believed he was in good shape, he was more long and lean than strong and large, like Phillips, or even Joe.

  “Where did your mind just go?” he asked, his face becoming stern as though he did not appreciate her wandering thoughts.

  She was about to lie and make up something, but she remembered Lydia’s suggestion that she be honest and willingly reply to his questions, so she decided there was no harm in being forthright about this. “I was thinking about two men back in my hometown.”

  “Are you actively seeking their attention?” he asked, making another small change to her posture to get her spine exactly straight as she knelt with her rear end on the backs of her feet and her hands palm up on her thighs. Surprisingly, the more adjustments he made to her posture, the more comfortable this position became.

  “No,” she quickly promised. “I seem to get it without seeking it.”

  “Would you rather be left alone?” he asked, moving her fingers to a more open position.

  “I don’t want to be alone, but I don’t know why I seem to be the center of so much attention recently, either,” she confessed, finding him surprisingly easy to talk to.

  “You are an attractive woman with a respectable job. It makes sense men would seek you out,” he reminded her as though he were commenting on the weather.

  Ellie shook her head no until a hand on her jaw stopped the movement. “Sorry, Master.”

  A loud sigh behind her stopped her apology. “I cannot tell you how much I dislike that title. Please call me Luka.”

  “Okay,” Ellie replied, much more comfortable being on a first name basis than having to remember to be so formal and subservient-sounding with everything she said.

  “You prefer knowing my name,” he observed, lifting her chin slightly.

  “I think I prefer anything over calling you Master,” she admitted with a smile.

  That admission made him laugh. He was being personable, and she was beginning to like the guy, which was not why she was here.

  “Then I am glad we got that out of the way,” he pressed on. “Your shoulders were too high, and now they have relaxed.”

  For the next fifteen minutes, Luka continued to make minute alterations to her position and ask her seemingly innocent questions. Finally satisfied with her posture, he said, “Now close your eyes and take a deep breath.”

  Ellie nodded, trying to project a woman who was relaxed and interested, but inside, her mind was analyzing everything Luka had said or done so far.

  “Your mind does not shut down easily, does it?”

  As tempting as it was to try to convince him she was in the moment, she decided if he’d picked up on her deception, then the fact that she could no longer feel her feet would be for nothing, so she told him, “No, I can’t remember a time outside of when I’m sleeping when I wasn’t thinking about at least one thing—sometimes several at once.”

  “Perfect,” Luka surprised her by answering—she’d figured he would be irritated at her lack of attention and the inability to clear her mind. “You are the kind of student, I most appreciate.”

  “What kind is that?” Ellie asked, wondering if she should be offended.

  “You think you cannot do this, you do not yet see much point in it, yet you are curious, honest, and do not seem to hold back,” he answered. “It is a refreshing challenge compared to most of the seekers who come through my doors. Over the next two days, you can learn to clear your mind, relax, and work your muscles in ways you did not know were possible.”

  “Should I be worried?” Ellie asked, hoping he’d understand her attempt to cover her nervousness with humor.

  “I will not ask more of you than you can give.”

  When he had her stand up, she was thrilled to finally get out of the kneeling position she’d been stuck in. The fact that it made her dizzy quickly took away the excitement.

  Luka steadied her and waited until she was stable. “That goes away in time. The reduced circulation for an extended period means the fast change in blood flow can make you light-headed. Your body learns to adjust, and you get used to the sensation when you stop meditating.”

  “Is that what we were doing?” Ellie asked, not remembering him guiding her through any kind of meditation.

  Luka smiled at her question as though her curiosity pleased him in some way. “No, that was just an exercise to see if you could handle the physical requirements of being still that long.”

  “How’d I do?” Ellie wondered, always interested in getting good grades in school.

  “Physically, you are capable, but we have much to do to center your mind.”

  Moving to a different part of the room, where the mats were built into the floor, he turned on a heater and encouraged her to take off her tank top so she was in front of him in just her fitted stretch pants and a sports bra. It wasn’t that much less clothing, and she wasn’t ashamed of her body, but it seemed like an odd request.

  “It will be warm, and as we work, you will be more comfortable without the shirt to absorb your sweat,” he explained, giving her a way to protect the electronics in her top. “You are in reasonably good condition, so you may believe it is too easy at first, but I assure you that by the time we are done you will feel more taxed than spending hours in the gym.”

  Somehow, Ellie believed that was true, so she just nodded instead of challenging him to do his worst the way she’d first been tempted to. Hopefully, the mic in the tank top would still pick up anything he said from its spot on the floor. At least this kept her from having to figure out how to keep it dry while she was working out.

  After turning on some soft music, he stood in front of her and said, “Do as I do. Be a mirror of every move I make.”

  An hour later, Ellie thought her arms were going to fall off. He’d been spot-on about her thinking this was easy when they started, but somehow, that had changed when it seemed the movements he made were more finely tuned instead of sweeping changes and her attention to detail had to kick in. She was solely focused on emulating whatever his body did, and at some point, her mind had clicked off and she was thinking of nothing but trying to keep her positions as still as Luka did.

  When he spoke, it was such an unexpected thing that Ellie jumped slightly. “Close your eyes. You are in the meditation position, so let your muscles relax.”

  Guiding her into a state of relaxation, he told her how to release the tension in specific parts of her body, and between the detailed descriptions and the timbre of his voice, she was focused on nothing else.

  When he stopped speaking, the music was the only sound in the room, other than Ellie’s breathing. In and out, the sound of the air filling her nose was soon all she heard. She was no longer thinking about how her body was positioned—in fact, she wasn’t thinking of anything. Just the in and out of air, the slow rhythm of her breathing.

  “Very slowly, open your eyes,” Luka whispered, breaking the silence gently.

  Ellie blinked a few times, surprised that the sun, which had been bright in the windows when they began, was now dim and hidden behind the tall trees.

  “You have done well,” Luka praised, keeping his voice soft and low. “Once you began to focus on the individual details of the movements, your mind was able to still. You were meditating for half an hour before I brought you back. This was your first session, and I did not want the power of it to overwhelm you.”

  She wondered what he meant about the power of meditation. She was relaxed—there was no way to argue that. Her muscles felt like she’d run for miles and then worked out with weights. And there was no denying that she was definitely glad he’d had her take off her shirt when they started, because she was soaked. In short, she was a mess, and she hadn’t felt this good in a long time. Once her mind came to that conclusi
on, a hint of a smile came over her face.

  “There...” Luka pointed toward her with his index finger bent instead of sticking his fingertip in her direction. “That look is why I will work with you. You still doubt, but you are beginning to understand. I will not allow another instructor to work with you.”

  Remembering her orders to understand how students and instructors were matched she asked, “How do you decide when to work with someone yourself versus when to assign them to a different teacher?”

  “I feel it here,” he answered, placing his palm over his abs. That wasn’t the kind of answer she could type a report on for the Bureau.

  Luka stood up in one graceful movement and held out his hands. “Use my arms to steady yourself, and do not take a step until your legs feel they can support you.”

  She stood slowly, glad for his support, and waited for the brief feeling of vertigo to pass before nodding that she was okay and releasing his arms.

  The workout had energized him instead of draining his energy as it had Ellie, he moved to turn off the heat and the music before going to a small drawer she hadn’t noticed and pulling it open to produce some paper. “You will have a light dinner in the main hall, and then go to your room. I will have Lydia give you a deep-tissue massage. You will need it after the work this afternoon so that your muscles do not tighten. When she leaves, fill the tub with warm, not hot, water and a soaking packet from the basket in your bathroom and stay in the water until it cools.”

  Ellie nodded through all his directions so that she felt more like a bobble-head than an FBI agent on assignment.

  Luka got her attention once more by handing her a sheet that had all of what he’d said written down. “Follow these exactly.”

  “No problem,” Ellie finally managed to respond, not remembering any part of the directions that seemed that difficult.

  Luka stepped back, placed his palms together in the center of his chest and gave a slight bow in her direction. “You have done well today. Rest now, for tomorrow we will work much harder. You still have much to learn. ”

  While Ellie walked back to her room to shower and change for dinner, she couldn’t help but wonder if the guy that had just spent all that time with her could be a serial killer. There were always people interviewed on the news after some murderer had been captured, claiming they were full of charisma and the nicest person. Luke didn’t seem capable of murder and nothing in her objected to the attention he had given her all afternoon. Given the amount of physical contact they’d shared, Ellie believed she would have felt something if he were capable of strangling the life from someone. Deciding there was nothing more she could figure out now, she had to continue moving forward, keeping her eyes and ears open for anything unusual that could point her in the right direction. For now, she still had a massage and long soak in the tub to look forward to.

  This seemed like the perfect opportunity to take a page from Phillips’s book and live life to the fullest, because she didn’t know what tomorrow might hold. What she had in front of her right now was definitely something she could enjoy.

  Chapter Fifteen

  “Lydia,” Ellie moaned, “is there any way I can convince you to come back east with me when I leave on Sunday?”

  Lydia laughed. “You are tight. I’m guessing massage and relaxation aren’t a normal part of your life.”

  “Not even on a good day,” she had to admit. “But the exhaustion I felt during dinner from the session with Luka was totally worth it for this.”

  When Ellie used Luka’s name, she noticed Lydia’s hands tightened slightly before resuming the steady pressure that had been present for most of the massage.

  “Did he tell you to use his name?” Her voice was soft, but the tension in her tone that hadn’t been there before put Ellie on guard.

  “He did,” she confessed, hoping that using it in front of someone who referred to him as Master didn’t seem like she was being disrespectful.

  “Does that mean he is going to work with you again tomorrow, or did he suggest someone else to help you on your path?” Lydia’s thumbs were still moving in small circles, but she was working the exact same spot, making Ellie wonder what was going on in the older woman’s head.

  “Yes, he said I was beginning to understand and he wouldn’t allow someone else to work with me.”

  “Did he mention anyone else joining you?” Lydia continued to ask for details, all the while leaving her hands in the same place.

  “No, just the two of us,” Ellie told her.

  With that, Lydia’s hands disappeared altogether, which left Ellie relieved, rather than disappointed, as the constant attention at the back of her shoulder blades was beginning to feel uncomfortable instead of therapeutic.

  “I’ll plan on coming back tomorrow night to see how your day went with the Master,” Lydia announced. “In the meantime, you need to take a soak in the tub. Do you have any questions?”

  “No,” Ellie assured her. “Luka wrote everything down.”

  “I’m sorry...?” Lydia seemed thrown by that last sentence.

  “I assumed he did that for everyone,” Ellie commented, not thinking anything of it until she saw the strange reaction from the woman with her. “It’s over there.” She hoped by showing her it was just a literal list of instructions that Lydia would lighten up and write it off as Ellie being less inclined to follow directions unless they were detailed and clear.

  “This has his phone number on it,” Lydia said, pointing to the bottom of the paper.

  Ellie nodded. “I figured he did that in case I had any questions.”

  Lydia shrugged and then looked up to smile. “Why don’t we try that manicure we discussed when you first checked in?”

  Eager to get her out of the room, Ellie declined. “I don’t like it when my nails are painted. I’m much more a natural kind of girl.”

  “Then I believe there is nothing more I can offer you now. Good day, Ellie,” Lydia blurted out before doing a slight bow with her head and then turning to walk out of the room.

  “Good day? What does that mean?” Ellie said. Hopefully, if she had another good day with Luka, Lydia would be a little more accepting of it before her next massage.

  With that thought, she pulled out the phone she’d carefully hidden away between the mattress and the bed frame and called Agent Peters. The carefree way he answered quickly faded to all business as soon as he realized it was Ellie. “Is everything okay?”

  “Yes, but I need you to do some digging on someone here,” she answered, realizing how strange it was to have the roles between the reversed.

  “A suspect?” he asked.

  “I don’t know.” Ellie was always uncomfortable dealing with such uncertainty. “Something about her is definitely off, but I can’t put my finger on what it is.”

  “Then start by telling me what you can, and I’ll see what I can learn from here,” he suggested, giving her hope that he would help.

  After having reviewed Lydia’s odd behavior and given him a physical description and first name, Agent Peters agreed to figure out who she was and if it made sense to add her to the list of suspects. Keeping the call brief to prevent it from being detected, she promised to call around the same time the following night.

  Ellie took a long soak and went over everything she’d observed so far, which, to her disappointment, wasn’t much. The center was obviously well run; there were more than enough clients in the cafeteria to prove the customers were supporting such a well-appointed retreat. She’d talked to a few of the clients and discovered many of them were repeat customers, who felt what they received here was worth every penny. Luka was nothing like Ellie had expected, and while she didn’t have enough to mark him off the list of suspects, it was hard to picture him murdering four women. Since Luka was committed to working with her personally, Ellie wasn’t sure how she would get access to the other instructors to see if any of them behaved suspiciously. Lydia had brought up something in the back of her
mind, but until she heard back from Agent Peters, there wasn’t much she could do other than keep her eyes open and hope the truth would somehow come out.

  Realizing she’d been inactive for about as long as she could stand, Ellie pulled herself from the rapidly cooling tub and dressed in pajamas. She pulled her cell phone out of its hiding place once more and typed the prescribed text she’d promised to send to Phil so he would know she was okay. With that done, she hid the phone and climbed into bed. It had been a long day, so there was no guilt for calling it such an early night.

  ***

  “You must stop that,” Luka advised, sounding irritated, but the smile on his face diffused it.

  “What?” Ellie asked at a loss. As far as she could tell, she was copying exactly what he was doing.

  Luka broke the position he’d been in and stood up, waiting for Ellie to follow before speaking. “We have been working long enough now that you should be developing your own feel. You have the positions, but you need to link them in your own way.”

  “I thought I was,” Ellie defended.

  He covered his mouth with his fist and narrowed his eyes for a moment. Finally, he smiled and said, “It is like brewing a good cup of coffee.”

  Ellie wasn’t sure what to feel first—surprise that he’d use the caffeine-laced beverage for an analogy or anger that he’d picked the one thing she couldn’t exactly relate to since she’d never been able to it. “I don’t know what you mean.”

  Her comment seemed to amuse him, “There are two ways to ruin coffee. Either one randomly adds the water and grounds so the ratio is off, or one is too precise and exact and that comes through in the taste.”

  “Up until this point, I’ve thought everything you said makes sense, but you’re losing me on this one,” Ellie warned. “How can precision be a bad thing?”