by M J Hutto
He walks back in and nods to my sandwich. I’m tearing through it ravenously.
“Slow down, tiger. It’s gonna hurt like hell when all that gas gets trapped in there from eating too fast. Glad you finally had some.”
“Rude!”
He laughs, head thrown back and mouth open. It is a very nice sound.
“All right, I think maybe I have a plan. I have to find that house before he has time to clean it out. He’s been with your family since we found you, so I don’t think he’s had an opportunity to clean it out. Was he wearing gloves or something over his clothes?”
I shrug. “I don’t know. Like I said, I was having a really hard time seeing. I don’t think so, but I can’t tell you for sure.”
He frowns and paces around the room. My eyes follow him and Thibbs lands on my upraised knee.
“But what if the house isn’t his? Does he have property out there? Near where I was found? And don’t I need to try to get Karmine away from him?”
He waves that off. “I sent a text asking her to keep an eye on your mother tonight. I said you wanted her to. That you were worried about her.”
“Okay, good. Now what?”
He looks at his watch and then the crumbs from my chicken salad sandwich. “How about some real food. I think there’s a burger place on the corner. I’m going to grab my laptop and some food. I’ll get you whatever you want.”
As much as I want a greasy burger and salty fries, I’m not sure how much my stomach can tolerate. I don’t think my ribs can handle throwing up right now.
I lick my lips. “Maybe some fries and an apple pie?”
His sharp features soften when he smiles but his eyes remain piercing in their intensity. “You got it. I’ll tell Nurse Kelli to ask before anyone comes in. I think visitation is over now, but I don’t what him sneaking in.”
He pats my hand, but I grab onto his, squeezing. “Thank you, Achlys. You don’t know how much this means to me. That you believe me and for you to be here.”
His lips lift on one side in a genuine smile, “I’ll be back, and we’ll figure out how to get this guy, okay. We’re going to get him, Kable.”
My eyes follow him out, I see Kelli’s eyes follow him too. We share a grin and I tell her I don’t want any more visitors tonight.
“Not even Detective Hottie?”
I laugh and hold on to my ribs. She gives me another pillow. “Use that when you cough, sneeze, laugh or anything else that hurts. Remember to take your deep breaths; go ahead and do it now while I’m in here to watch. Try to take it easy. No craziness with the detective, okay?”
“Thank you so much. You have all been so nice, I really appreciate it. And I meant no OTHER visitors. The detective is fine.”
She chuckles. “Yes, ma’am he is. You decide you don’t want him anymore you let me know. I’ve got a soft spot for tall, dark and broody.”
She walks out, closing the door softly. The room is quiet and still. Thibbs is snoring softly on my pillow. I haven’t seen Jaylin since earlier. I’m afraid to go back to sleep. What if I wake up to his face? Or if I don’t wake up at all. I don’t want to dream about that place either.
I’ve never had much success with blocking bad dreams. Haven’t found a good potion or amulet to deal with it. There are too many things we deal with subconsciously to try to muck around with it. That isn’t to say I’ve never tried, just that I haven’t figured it out. My last attempt to avoid dreams could definitely be called a failure since I ended up hospitalized.
I close my eyes and lean my head back on the pillow. How does a person deal with all I’ve been though and stay even remotely sane? I can’t wrap my head around any of it, can’t understand how one person does any of those things to another.
Is there an easier way to connect Victor to this? Is he connected to Jim? He has to be, right? There has to be a connection. I’d bet my life Victor shot Jim. But how could we prove it? Would he be stupid enough to use a gun registered to himself? Maybe not stupid, maybe arrogant.
I think he might just be that arrogant. If we can connect the gun that killed Jim to him then it’ll be a lot easier to believe the rest. If we can link him to both the gun and that house then maybe we can get him.
My head is resting on the pillow, and I close my eyes. They are so tired. I’m so tired. My legs are twitching and jumping. They won’t stop until I sleep. I move the right leg around and gently move the foot of the left to stretch it a little. It’s starting to itch almost as much as it hurts.
I need a shower, like yesterday. I smell like sewer water. I call Kelli into the room and she sets me up for a quick shower, complete with a lovely shower chair to make sure I don’t fall. Mother left some things for me, and Kelli graciously brings them in for me since I forgot.
She hangs out in the room while I’m getting clean in case I need help.
“Thanks for staying close. My balance is still kinda off.”
“All my other patients are on breathing machines. They are tucked in tight with their IVs and monitors. They are all stable and chill for a few hours. I got nothing but time, sugar.”
“Thank you again. I don’t know why they have me in the ICU but I’m grateful for all of you.”
She chuckles, “I think the new wing with your name on it probably has something to do with it, but you’ve been great. I expect they’ll move you to one of the suites up on ninth tomorrow. It’s private and I think you’re good to finish up your stay there.”
I can feel my lower lip sticking out. I’d been hoping to go home tomorrow. I scrub my hair for the third time, finally smelling the jasmine and pear of the shampoo instead of sewer water. Ugh, he had held my sewer hand and touched my gross water hair. He must care.
I look for the body wash; I’d forgotten to tell her to grab it so jasmine and pear shampoo it is. I let the conditioner sit while I scrub several times. Once I no longer smell like a swamp rat, I turn off the water and step carefully out of the shower. She is there to help me balance and to get the plastic off the splint.
I’ll buy the whole unit dinner or bring the goodies when I break out. There are new, clean sheets and blankets on the bed, and she helps me back in, props up my foot and closes the door behind her.
I lean back and close my eyes. Thibbs is sitting on the lamp but his time for today is almost done.
“Thank you for saving my life. You and Jaylin and Jekyll saved me.”
“No, cher. You saved yourself. We jus’ brought you home. You da hero of your own story. Don’ let nobody every tell you no different, ya hear? S’good to have friends to help you an’ we for sure are but now you know.”
“What, Thibbs?”
“You know who ya are an’ what you’re made of girl. An’ it ain’t nothin to mess wit!”
A sigh slips out. “Thank you, my friend. I love you.”
31 Fun Fact
“So, we’re clear. Waking someone who’s been kidnapped and assaulted twice in the last week by standing over them staring is a bad plan. I almost hit you.”
He grins and my glimpse of his smile is crooked and wonderful, “You almost tried.”
His smile is infectious, and I’d managed to sleep about twenty minutes with no bad dreams. Life was looking up. The bag with the hot fries in it makes it even better. He places the apple pies, ketchup, and a small vanilla shake on the over bed table.
I can feel stinging in my eyes and nose. I will not cry over French fries!
“Remembered something about a milkshake from earlier. I wasn’t sure what flavor, so I got vanilla. Seemed the safest bed. Figured if you didn’t want it, I’d just drink it.
He’s setting up his laptop on the other side of the over bed table. “Also, I had a thought,” he says as he plugs it in, and I notice how nice his cargo pants fit. It’s all I can do not to reach over and trace the line of skin between the pants and his shirt. Damn, Kable. Get yourself together. Jaylin must be contagious with her libido.
“What thought? I had one
too.”
“I was wondering what his connection is to Jim. I think they might have been partners or at least Jim was his scapegoat. I just can’t figure out why he kidnapped you after Sabine Fairmont escaped. Or after Jim died.”
I shrug. “Sabine still doesn’t remember anything, does she? It would help a lot if she could, but I think he probably kept her pretty well drugged. I’ve been thinking about Jim. I think maybe Victor knew his tendencies and pushed him towards the edge.
“I’d never gotten that feeling from Jim before that first night. I think he pushed him into taking me, put things in place to help find me and then shot Jim. Does either of them have a gun registered to them?”
He’s looking at some police database on his computer screen. I scoot a little further away. I am pretty low on chaos energy at the moment, but my aura could play havoc sometimes, especially with Wi-Fi and electronics. The distance wouldn’t really matter but I feel bad when I fry someone’s electronic device.
“I don’t see any guns registered under Victor’s name. And only a small caliber handgun under Jims name.” He sits back in the chair. I’ve finished my fries and shake. I’m going to leave the pies for later. My belly is happy and full, and I feel a little more human.
I notice him looking over at me while I’m cleaning my trash. “What’s up?”
“I’m trying to decide where to go next,” he says as he lifts a napkin to my face. He wipes my chin and shows me the ketchup, grinning. Now I’m wiping my face, scared I’ve got more food just hanging out. I brush the spot on my chin the whip hit and wince.
“Maybe his family? Doesn’t he have like a brother or something. Raymonds isn’t really an obscure name but if you know his family maybe a rifle belongs to one of them. Or the property.”
He’s nodding and going back to the computer. “I looked into him briefly when I moved here and again when he was pushing for the task force.” He looks at me, making direct eye contact. “Always need to know who you might owe something to.”
I lean back on the pillows. Now that my belly is full, and I don’t stink I’m pretty tired. I think I’ll rest my eyes for a few minutes.
“Thank you for everything,” I say turning my head to look at him in profile. “You really are nice and I’m sorry I thought you were gonna try to kill me.”
He looks over at me, grinning. “Go to sleep, Kable. I won’t let the bad guys get you. Maybe I’ll have something worthwhile when you wake up.”
He’s so pretty. Did I take some more pain meds? Oh yeah, before I got in the shower. Kelli made me take something. I guess it wasn’t just Tylenol. I need to shut up before I tell him I think he looks like Lucifer, and I want to have his babies.
“What?” He’s staring at me. I hope I didn’t say that out loud.
He unbuttons his shirt at the sleeves and rolls them up, then the neck after he removes his tie. My mind is wandering a little and I’m wondering what his house looks like and what the library is like and then what his room looks like.
“You know, your skeleton key saved my life.”
I’m not sure he heard me because he hasn’t answered me. I’m asleep the next instant so I don’t know if he ever did.
***
The room I’m in has walls that are covered in blood, it’s running down them. Are they moving? Maybe, but the walls aren’t covered in blood; they’re bleeding and pulsing in time to my heart.
There’s a door, I run to it. It won’t open. I look around and notice the room is full of little birds. They are so LOUD and angry. The walls are definitely moving, the room is smaller. I don’t see any windows and the door is still locked. The knob is covered in blood now and slippery.
The chirping is even louder and different, higher, and faster. I feel their eyes, see their heads turned to see me. The first bird dives at me and I can feel the razor sharpness of the cut it leaves behind on my arm. The second dives, the third, the fourth and then there are too many coming at me to count.
My arms are over my head, I’m protecting my eyes. I’m bleeding from a hundred tiny wounds and they just keep coming. My heart is racing, and the walls are pulsing faster and getting closer and bleeding more. The floor is covered up to my ankles in hot, red blood. Suddenly to door opens and I’m pulled through.
This room is white and padded and there’s no sound and I’m alone again. I can’t find a door at all. I try to talk but the sound is swallowed before it reaches my ears. I can feel the frown on my face pulling my eyebrows down. My arms are oozing blood, it runs down my back from my neck as well.
I pull off my knee socks and manage to cover the worst of the ones on my arms. I pull the shoes back on and notice water on the floor. It’s seeping in at the corners of the room. I try to plug it up with my hands, but the opening is too big.
I try to yell out but there’s no sound. I pound on the walls but there’s nothing, I trace the walls looking for an opening, there has to be a door, I came in a door, but I can’t even find a seam.
The water is already up to my knees. I’m hyperventilating. I don’t swim all that well. I can tread water for a while but it’s not my thing. I go to the beach and look at the beauty of the ocean but don’t really get in. I don’t go to pools. I do like baths but those are easily escapable, ya know?
While I’ve been freaking out, the water is up to my chest. I think it’s coming faster now. It took a lot longer for it to start filling, I know it did. My heart is racing, and the water is pouring in. It’s up to my chin.
I try to slow down my breathing and my heart. I feel myself relaxing and the rate of water slows with it. But I’m on my toes now. Soon I’ll be treading water and my heart rate is going to increase. I can feel it respond to that thought, and I close my eyes to make myself relax.
Okay, don’t tread, just float. I allow myself to float to the surface and think furiously. How can I get out of this?
Maybe there is something in the ceiling. A vent system for air? Maybe for lights? What am I supposed to do? Breathe, VonSable! I look up at the ceiling; there’s a vent but it’s screwed in. The water is three quarters of the way up the wall. I feel around at my hips, no pockets. Stupid skirt. I feel something at my neck, the skeleton key? Maybe I can use part of it like a screwdriver. I hope the screw isn’t made for Allen wrenches.
I’m almost at the top. I can almost reach the vent grate but its hard to get any leverage. Every time I push on it, I sink in the water. I finally grip the sharp slats with my fingers feeling them bite into my skin. They are REALLY sharp. Why are they so sharp? It hurts like crazy but at least I can get the key to the screw. The water is filling really fast. I take. a last deep breath before the water completely covers my head.
The key is working to turn the screws but its not fast. I get the first one out and start on the second. It goes faster but the third is stuck. I go to the last one, my air is burning in my chest. I let out a little and keep working. The fourth screw comes out and the grate comes down. I stick my head into the opening and take a few deep, gasping breaths. The water seems to have stopped, so at least I’m safe from drowning.
I have a little time to get the last screw off or tear the grate away. My heart rate is slowing down to normal, but my breathing is still too fast. I’m pulling on the grate and suddenly a song about a senorita and loving someone’s touch is playing in my head.
I finally realize it’s a dream. And my detective is waiting to pull me up through the grate. I’ve saved myself but he’s right here to help. And he’s singing too. A haunting song about love and hungers and need.
***
I wake up with Detective Hottie humming along to his earbuds. I can’t tell what it is. I don’t think it’s either of the songs from my dream. I try to peek, but he notices me and pulls the buds out and sets his phone to the side.
“Did you sleep okay? You were whimpering a little, so I held your hand until you stopped.”
Jesus, I’m in deep trouble with this guy. I’m starting to wonder if he’s a r
obot or something. He’s too damn perfect, down to his crooked-ass smile. What were those things in the Sci-fi movies called? Sex bots, boyfriend bots, AI friends, death? You’re being unfair and judgy again, Kable. Stop it.
“I had a few dreams. I came out on top. Thank you for being concerned and holding my hand.”
“You’re welcome. Wanna know what I found?”
“Yes!”
“Okay, first. Jim, also known as Jimmy Eriks, went to school with Victor Raymonds. They graduated high school together and later attended the same college. They both have degrees in law. Jim works, worked for a mediator firm and with guess who.”
“Victor.”
He’s nodding excitedly. “Yep. And...and, they’re both in some private groups on social media. I’ve got one of the departments computer people looking through their web history.”
I’m nodding. “Okay. That’s definitely a start.”
“Not done, Princess.”
“Don’t call me Princess.”
He touches his chest with his hand. “Oh, I’m sorry. No Princess, how about…? Duckie? Sweet Pea? Chica? Mademoiselle? Milady? Señorita? Sugar Pie? Honey Bunch?”
My breath catches when he says señorita, too close to my dream. His grin slips a little, “How about Kable?”
He laughs. “I’ll find one for you. Don’t worry. I can ask Dorian to help.”
“Dear God, no.”
“All right Miss Antsy Pants.” I roll my eyes and he keeps going. “So, we found a couple of rifles he has access to. One was a gift from his great grandfather. It’s from the WWII era and inherited, an M1 Garand. It’s in his grandfather’s name. The other is his uncles. He’s still alive and it’s unlikely he could get it without someone knowing. I’m betting on Grandad’s Garand.”
“Wow, that helps.”
He’s shaking his head. “Still not done.”
“Damn! Is there anything that devil box didn’t tell you?” I ask grinning.