Trix

by Kate Morris

  Lorena was surprised. This was something Grace had been calling her lately. It was usually ‘Aunt Lo.’ But a few months ago, she’d changed to ‘Mom.’

  “Hey, baby,” Lorena said and hugged her so tightly to her and for so long. She felt suddenly overcome with emotion. She could’ve died in Portland just a day and a half ago, and who would’ve taken care of Grace for her? Bob and his wife? Jack and his family? Her horrible family? No way. She didn’t have a plan. She needed one. The thought was horrifying that her niece would be left completely parentless. Lorena knew what that felt like.

  She broke away finally and kissed her niece on the cheek.

  “I’m glad you’re home!”

  “Me, too, sweetie,” she agreed and stroked Grace’s soft cheek and ran a hand over her silky head of hair.

  She looked over to see Jack and his little sister Keagan standing there waiting patiently for them.

  “Hi, Keagan,” she said. “Thanks for bringing her.”

  “It’s a school night,” Keagan said, twirling the single, thin braid on the side of her head near her temple. “I was shocked. I figured after last weekend’s debauchery of scary movies, late-night junk food, and going out on her first date, you’d be mad at me.”

  Lorena laughed. His sister was a rotten little thing. She had a terribly ornery side that liked to tease relentlessly, which was usually aimed at her big brother.

  “Don’t make me kick your butt,” she threatened with a smile.

  “From the looks of you, I don’t think I need to worry about that,” Keagan said as they left the terminal. “Rough case?”

  “Yeah, you could say that.”

  “Catch a bad-guy?”

  “Oh, yes,” Jack said. “As usual, Lorena caught him.”

  “Not true,” Lorena corrected. “Jack figured it out right away, but we didn’t take him seriously.”

  “Who does, really?” Keagan teased her big brother, who frowned and noogied her dark blonde head.

  “Now, who the hell is this new boyfriend?” Jack asked as he and Keagan walked ahead of them. Lorena smiled as Keagan tried to explain with a lot of nervous laughter. She took her big brother’s opinion very seriously.

  They gave her and Lorena a lift home, and she waved to them a goodbye before heading inside. She and Grace sat at the kitchen island and had a mug of hot tea each.

  She looked at her beautiful niece and said with uncertainty, “You have such pretty eyes, Grace.”

  “Thanks. So do you.”

  “You have your mom’s eyes,” she said with nerves. Lorena quickly looked into her tea mug.

  “Oh…I do?”

  “Yeah, same color, same facial expressions,” Lorena told her and looked up. Gracie’s lovely face was so filled with joy and hope that her eyes threatened to let loose tears.

  “That’s…awesome. Thanks,” she said. Then she smiled and said, “I think I look a lot like you, too, though.”

  “Let’s hope not,” Lorena joked.

  “I hope I do. You’re so pretty,” she said.

  Lorena didn’t know how to take this. “Thank you. So are you, honey.”

  “I love you,” she said. “Mom.”

  Lorena smiled broadly, leaned over and placed her forehead to Grace’s. Then she kissed her soft cheek. She wasn’t going anywhere for a long time. No more travel. She needed to be here for her niece.

  “Love you, too, babe,” she returned. Grace smiled unsurely.

  “Is it…okay… you know…?”

  “Grace, love, you can call me anything you want. I think we’ve both earned it, right?”

  “Right!” Grace said emphatically.

  “Head up and get ready for bed,” Lorena told her and took their mugs to the sink.

  “Can I sleep with you?”

  “Uh…yeah, what the hell. We can do whatever we want.”

  “Yep! We’re strong, independent women!”

  “Oh, boy,” Lorena joked.

  Lorena double checked the house, sent her niece to get in bed, and grabbed a fast shower. It felt good to be in her own home again where it was safe, where she could keep Grace safe, where Dr. Rudolph Martin couldn’t find her.

  Then she crawled into bed with Gracie and cuddled against her niece’s sleeping form. A chill raced through her as she remembered the feeling of Dr. Martin nearly choking her to death. She never wanted to feel that again. Lorena touched the places on her neck where his fingers had squeezed so tightly. She slid her hand under the pillow behind her and made sure the .45 was still there. Then she closed her eyes and succumbed to a dreamless slumber where madmen, even the ones with whom she was related did not haunt her anymore.

  Epilogue

  Gingerbread

  The bitch was back. She’d returned from once again hunting and capturing a serial killer and saving the day. She’d never caught me. She’d discovered my identity, but I was still a free person. And I would remain so.

  I drove my new vehicle, a black Chevy pick-up truck around the streets of Cleveland looking for my next prey and thinking about that bitch Detective Lorena Evans and her ridiculous partner. He, I could kill easily and quickly, take him unaware. His military background would not and could not save him from a person such as myself. My experience was a carefully manipulated study in getting away with murder and perfecting my skills. I wasn’t sure if just killing Jack Foster was enough, though. I wanted her to suffer, to feel the pain of having been separated from the most important person in her life like she had done to me.

  I despised my mother, but my father and sibling were a different story altogether, and Lorena Evans took them from me. I could no longer be around them, and she had to pay for this.

  I wondered if I should kill her niece. It would also be simple. I already knew the girl’s schedule, her friends, her teachers, and extra-curricular activities. Would killing this young girl give me enough satisfaction? I believe it would.

  Leaving New York City and then Cleveland had been good ideas for self-preservation. Returning to the city as a new person was my greatest plan yet for revenge against the bitch, a revenge I would soon have.