Intense Love

by Natalie Ann

When he turned, he saw her standing there watching him. “I’m sorry I got you out of bed for this.”

  “Don’t worry about it.”

  “I never used to be this irrational before. I don’t know what has gotten into me.”

  “In less than a week you’ve had your tires slashed, a dead snake delivered to your office, and a rock thrown through your window. You can be irrational all you want.”

  “I guess when you put it that way it makes me a feel a little bit better. Not much though.”

  “Go back to bed. Try to get some sleep.”

  “I’ll never sleep now,” she said shaking her head. “Too much adrenaline at the moment.”

  “Sure you will. Because I’ll be here and you’ll know you’ll be safe.”

  “Here where?” she asked, her eyes replacing the fear with arousal, his blood rushing to his jeans now.

  “The couch downstairs should be good.”

  She shook her head rapidly. “You’ll be uncomfortable.”

  “No less than sleeping in my car. Speaking of which, why open the garage door?” He had to get his mind off of the way she was looking at him.

  “I opened it on my phone. It’s remote in case I forget to shut it one day. I can watch my house on an app, adjust the furnace and such too. And I didn’t want anyone to see you in my driveway and know I had to call you.”

  He shook his head. She was so afraid of letting others see a weakness in her. Except him. She let him see it and he wondered what it could mean. Or was it she just didn’t want anyone to think she was lowering herself by having him spend the night, regardless of the change in her. They were pretending, but it’d be done in a few weeks. No use making himself too comfortable. He wasn’t going to be her little toy.

  “Go back to bed,” he said, kissing her on the forehead and trying to look anywhere but at the long legs peeking out of her T-shirt or the fact that he was fully aware she didn’t have a bra on. “I’ll be downstairs. Turn the TV on for a distraction if you need it.”

  He turned and got the hell out of there before he did something stupid like kissing more than her forehead, when she looked at him longingly.

  Plans and Goals Change

  By Sunday morning Cam had calmed down. She had indeed fallen asleep without even turning the TV on. Just knowing Ian was in the house was enough. That is, after she talked herself out of walking down the steps and seeing if there was something else they could occupy their time with.

  When she’d finally woken at nine, Ian was still asleep on her couch, the TV on, but volume down. She picked up the remote and turned it off, then made her way into the kitchen and got breakfast started, figuring it was the least she could do.

  If she didn’t get out of the room fast, she was thinking she was going to crawl right on top of him there and make use of the body she’d been dreaming about once she finally did doze off.

  He’d left shortly after their meal was picked up and then checked in with her again before bed that night.

  Now it was Monday morning and she was on the way to the DA’s office to report what she planned on giving as her testimony based on her notes at this point. She was well-rested thanks to a glass of wine before bed last night. She’d told Ian he could stay home, that she didn’t need him there when he’d called her last night to check in.

  “Dr. Mason,” Phillip Rossi, the DA, said, reaching his hand out to hers. “Thanks for coming down today.”

  Phillip was going to be running for city judge next spring. She’d heard the whispering and she knew this trial would most likely seal the deal. Getting this conviction on a family as powerful as the Arrows was going to win him a lot of votes.

  The same with Cheryl Timmings, the prosecutor who just walked in the door. She’d be running for DA if that slot opened. One hand washed the other in this office.

  “Not a problem. I just want to get this moving.”

  “It seems like you’ve been having some trouble lately,” Cheryl said. “I just came from the chief’s office. He said he wants to see you after this meeting if you can stop over there next.”

  She figured that would be coming. “Not much I can do about it. It’s just a scare tactic on someone’s part.”

  They both nodded at her. Phillip said, “We’ll get to the bottom of it. Your testimony is important to this case and they know that. Both families know that.”

  “I’m not sure it’s the Buckleys,” Cam said. “The rock through my window, maybe. But it doesn’t follow with the other two. They don’t follow the same trend. The same motive.”

  “I told the chief you should be there within an hour. You can let him know your thoughts on it,” Cheryl said. “For now, what’s your take on the trial? Premeditated, right? He was completely aware of what he was doing at all times. We’re getting close to the end of the trial and want all our ducks in a row before you interview David next.”

  “From a legal standpoint and a clinical one, he’s ticked all the boxes on premeditation. David knew Amanda was alone in her room. He’d called her prior. They’d been fighting. He admitted that. Her roommate admitted it. She didn’t want to see him and told him so. At least the roommate has testified to that. He went in using the key he had. He had gloves on. He used chloroform to drug her then he didn’t even strangle her with his hands. He used a rope he brought with him. Then he looked around the room calmly for anything that was out of place. He was fully aware of what he was doing that night. It was all caught on camera for everyone to see.”

  “This should be locked up tight. But the defense is going to say that he has a history of depression and that their fight and the allegations of cheating set him off. They are bringing in their own experts and they’d love nothing more than to discredit you.”

  “He has a history of threatening to harm himself. He’s never taken action. Ever. Every doctor he’s seen by his parents’ insistence has concluded he possessed no harm to himself. That he never even had anger issues when he said he was feeling depressed. When he was mad, he’d be destructive and lash out at others. But depression isn’t cutting it. That’s what his diagnosis is. Manic depressive. He showed no remorse after he strangled Amanda. He shows no signs of being a suicide risk should he be sent to jail. That’s what his parents are hoping for, that I’d say he belongs institutionalized. He doesn’t. He belongs in a cell.”

  Cam stopped talking. She’d seen the video more times than she cared to admit. Read the notes over and over again. It was going to be branded in her mind.

  “He didn’t even smile,” she said. “There was nothing evil in his eyes. Nothing at all. He had a job. He did it. He looked around to make sure he wasn’t caught, even picking up the wrapper that had fallen out of his jacket when he pulled the rope out. He knew exactly what he was doing and I’ll be testifying to that. I doubt my meeting with David in two days will change that opinion, but you’ll be the first to know.”

  She left shortly after and made her way to the police station, dropping her bag and phone into the detector to get in. Once she was cleared, she picked it all up and was escorted to the chief’s office.

  “Cam,” Chief Hillside said. “Come on in. Have a seat.”

  He never called her Dr. Mason. Probably felt he didn’t need to. He knew her father, knew her grandfather, and he felt that was enough to let her title drop behind closed doors. “Chief, how have you been?”

  “I’ve told you before to call me Ron in my office.”

  She couldn’t though. “Chief is fine,” she said smiling. He laughed at her. He always did.

  “Sorry for the trouble you’re going through lately. We’ve got the Arrows in one room and the Buckleys will be here shortly. I wanted you to watch while they were questioned and give me your opinion.”

  “I thought they were questioned this weekend already?”

  “We decided to wait until Monday. We contacted them over the weekend and told them we had some information pertinent to the trial if they could come in.”

  T
he phone buzzed on his desk, so he reached for it. “Yes. We’ll be right over.” He set the phone down. “The Arrows are ready now. Their attorney just arrived. You can leave your belongings here if you’d like.”

  She followed him down a hall and into a room she’d been in far too many times for a thirty-two-year-old that just wanted to help people. She often wondered how she ended up going to court as much as she had. She never expected this when she set out for her career hoping to help kids.

  But like everything in life, plans and goals change when they don’t work out.

  Looking through the mirror, she watched the motions of Simon and Priscilla Arrow. As always, Simon was sitting tall, staring straight ahead, giving off the energy of power. He had money and he wanted everyone to know that money gave him that power to buy him what he needed. And if the money didn’t do it, then he found another way...by any means possible.

  Priscilla, as always, was sitting next to her husband, her hands on the table, fingers threaded together, her large diamond winking at everyone in the room.

  David had been her baby. She’d coddled him and when he lashed out, when he didn’t get his way, he’d do anything for attention. Rather than deal with that, Priscilla sent him to specialist after specialist hoping for a magic pill to make David better.

  There was nothing that was going to make David better. From everything she’d seen and read, he was a self-absorbed child that wanted what he wanted when he wanted it. Nothing would stand in his way. Not even a girlfriend who said she was done. His so-called friends had said he was overheard saying if he couldn’t have her, no one could.

  “What is this visit about?” the Arrows’ attorney questioned. “You said you had information for the trial. What could it be that would require my clients to be present?”

  Captain Gary Taylor was in there with them and answered, “There have been some incidents concerning Dr. Mason.”

  “What incidents are those?” the attorney asked.

  “Last week alone, her tires were slashed, a dead animal delivered to her office, and her home vandalized.”

  Priscilla gasped, but Simon laughed. “And you think we’re pedestrian enough to do something like that. That petty?”

  “Simon,” their attorney said, holding his hand up. “Don’t speak. Where are these allegations coming from? What could the Arrows possibly gain from doing any of these juvenile things you’re accusing them of?”

  Gary laughed. “Scare tactics. Hoping she won’t testify, leaving the prosecution little time to find another expert. Or maybe you think you can get her to change her testimony.”

  “This is ridiculous,” Simon said. “If I wanted to scare her, I could find a lot more effective ways than something a teenager could think up.”

  “That’s enough,” their attorney stated, standing up. “Unless you’ve got proof, which you and I know you don’t, then we’re done here.”

  The room was cleared and the chief turned to her. “Well. What do you think?”

  “I think he could do this. I think he could do it and make it look like it was someone else, but I’m not sure he did.”

  “Why?”

  “Just my gut and that’s all I’ve got right now.” The sad part was she wasn’t sure how much she could trust her gut right now either.

  Ten minutes later the Buckleys were brought in. Noel and Jackie Buckley were just middle-class blue collar workers. Their daughter Amanda had unfortunately caught the eye of David Arrow. David’s parents never approved of Amanda, but then again, they never approved of anyone David brought home because he had a history of purposely picking girls his parents wouldn’t approve of.

  The Buckleys had liked David. Said that they thought he was such a nice guy in the beginning, but then their daughter started to change. Started to act like she’d never done before. Skip class, drink, focus on all the wrong things. They blamed David and his influence on her.

  They were thrilled when Amanda told them she was going to break things off with David. They never expected this to happen.

  “Do you have anything to help lock him away?” Noel asked, looking eager. More eager than she expected.

  “Please,” Jackie jumped in and asked Gary. “We just want this over with. We just want to move on. Anything you can tell us?”

  “Why are we here?” their attorney asked.

  Gary said the same thing to them as he had to the Arrows. Different reactions. Noel said, “All the more reason to get this trial over. No one needs this to drag on. No one else needs to be hurt.”

  Jackie’s eyes filled up. “She must be so scared. Isn’t there anything you can do to protect her?”

  Neither of them thought they were being questioned and were honestly shocked when Gary asked them point blank if they did it. Cam knew right away they didn’t. They couldn’t have. They were grieving, but they had hope it was going to go the way everyone was telling them. They had faith and when people have faith, they don’t resort to cheating. They don’t resort to scare tactics or crimes.

  The Buckleys had left too and Cam didn’t know if the police were any closer to finding out who was doing this or not, but she was already drained and it wasn’t even ten o’clock yet.

  She was walking down the hall, getting ready to leave when Simon and Priscilla Arrow walked out of a room. She’d thought they’d left, but their attorney was with them.

  Simon was staring at her, then purposely knocked his shoulder into her when he walked by, jarring her purse and having it fall off her shoulder then tip over. Some of her contents fell to the floor, rolling around.

  She bent down to get them, Priscilla doing the same. “No, thanks. You’ve done enough,” she said, dismissing them, picking everything up and hurrying along. She didn’t miss the look of hatred in Priscilla’s eyes.

  Words didn’t need to be spoken at times to get one’s point across. She’d yet to hear Priscilla say a word.

  She walked past the squad room and looked out into the sea of metal desks, caught sight of dark hair and eyes shifting up and staring at hers. A smile spread across Ian’s face, hers matching.

  Just that glance alone was enough to calm her from this morning’s activities.

  As much as she wanted to go talk to him, she couldn’t. She had an appointment to get to. But for appearance’s sake, she winked and lifted her hand. There. She was doing her part.

  Taking Bets

  “So it is true,” Mick said, drawing Ian’s eyes away from Cam’s. He’d been plugging away, typing up his report when he felt a stare on him. He hadn’t expected it to be Cam’s and wanted to get up and go talk to her, but held back. She played along just as well, it seemed.

  “Mick,” he said, standing up and bringing his partner in for a hug. “What are you doing here? How are you feeling?”

  “I’m feeling good. I needed to get out of the house before the wife took a knife out and stabbed me again. Said I’ve been getting on her nerves.”

  Ian laughed, glad that Mick seemed to be getting stronger each day. “What is she going to do when you retire next year and you’re around even more?”

  “Who knows? Now I know I better have some kind of a plan. Maybe this was a good thing, letting me know we might have to do some traveling or something.”

  “You’ll figure it out,” Ian said.

  “So back to Dr. Mason. I see you did more than manage to talk her into signing your release.”

  Ian grinned. He had to play along. Seemed Cam knew what she was doing all too well. Best that he didn’t jump up like a lovesick fool trying to get everyone to believe he was still winning her over.

  He’d never been a lovesick fool in his life and he sure the hell wasn’t going to turn into one during this assignment.

  “You only wish you had the charm that I’ve got.”

  “I had it years ago,” Mick boasted. “No need to have it now when I’ve got Penny at home.”

  “Just sharpening those knives,” Ian said.

  Mick snorted,
then sat at his desk. “Fill me in. What’s going on with the case?”

  Ian had been dreading telling Mick what had been discovered. That Zippy’s body was found in an alley Saturday morning. “No word on Fast. He’s gone in the wind right now.”

  “I heard about Zippy, Ian,” Mick said, his eyes troubled.

  “That’s why you’re here? Who told you?”

  “I get a lot of visitors. Someone thought you would have told me.”

  “Things have been a little crazy lately.”

  Mick nodded his head. “The trouble at your girlfriend’s house?”

  Since the alarms went off and police were dispatched, he couldn’t play that off. The same with the tires. Only a few knew about the snake. “We’re looking into it. As for Fast, I asked around last week. Nothing. If anyone knows, they aren’t saying, not that I figured they would.”

  “They would have spoken to Zippy about it. Do you think he was silenced?”

  “OD. Been dead a few days when they found him. Nothing looked like foul play. Nothing they could find.”

  “Any word on the girl?”

  “You mean the one that was trying to gut you like a deer?” Ian said. “Nothing.”

  He’d walked around showing her picture to everyone on the street. Trying to get a name. Anything he could find out. She still had a toe tag in the morgue. At some point the body would be cremated if no one claimed it. He hadn’t been able to ask when that would be. Hadn’t wanted to think about it.

  “You did the right thing, Ian. I wouldn’t be sitting here today if you didn’t.”

  “I know. I’m not second-guessing myself in the least. She was too high to know what she was doing fully. She probably thought she was losing her supplier. Didn’t matter if she wasn’t aware. She was stabbing you over and over.”

  “Do they know who hit you in the head? Any signs there?”

  He’d been dreading this too. “I’m sorry, Mick. It’s looking like Zippy betrayed us.”

  “What? No way. He wouldn’t. He’s been my informant for years.”

  “Giving him cash, food, and clothing, a hotel room now and again wasn’t enough. Someone else gave him more. We’re thinking it might have been Fast.”