Ripped in Red

by Cynthia Hickey

  ~

  Imbecile! She was going to ruin everything.

  Draco leaned back in his leather chair. What to do about Mary? She was going to ruin everything.

  He needed to give her a job to do. One that would get her captured, or better yet, killed. If that didn’t work, he’d have to dispose of her himself. Poor Mary. He saw the look of longing in her eyes. She was so desperate for love she’d take even a disfigured man such as himself. Perhaps there really was someone for everyone in this world. If only she weren’t so…annoying, and a little more attractive. He would never desire a pretty person again. Not after having discovered the ugliness inside them. Still, he wanted someone that he could stomach looking at over the table at mealtime. Perhaps, he was a bit of a hypocrite.

  Pushing to his feet, he crossed the small amount of space in the cramped apartment and stared out the window at the mini-mart across the street. He could have rented a much nicer place, but a dump like this one would be the last place the authorities would suspect. Living in the seedy side of town had its benefits and after putting a bullet between the eyes of a young gang member without batting an eye, the locals left him alone.

  Draco needed a distraction. He shoved his arms into the sleeves of his leather jacket and headed outside. Even he could buy companionship with the right amount of money. He had ten tons of stress bottled up inside of him and desperately needed a release.

  He scoured the streets looking for a woman with a bit of class. So many of them were skanky or shied away when they saw him coming. Unfortunately, the shooting of the gang member had made so many of the women afraid of him.

  Keeping the good side of his face to them, he approached a group where a young woman of about eighteen smiled shyly up at him. He didn’t recognize her. While sweet, she wasn’t beautiful in the typical sense and wore tight jeans and a shirt that didn’t show every one of her assets. Just the type of girl to wile away a few hours.

  “Are you eighteen, and can you stomach this for a hundred dollars?” He showed her his scar.

  Her eyes widened. “As long as you don’t do that to me, I can.”

  “I like your style, young lady.” He crooked his arm. “Two hours company is all I desire. Do you prefer red or white wine?”

  “Pink champagne.” She batted her lashes.

  He laughed. “Then pink champagne it shall be.” He bowed to the other prostitutes. “She’ll be back in a little while, safe and sound.”

  After stopping at a liquor store on the corner and keeping his face turned from security cameras, he purchased the best pink champagne the store carried and escorted his little friend back to his apartment.

  “Have a seat, darling. There’s a change of clothes on the table. What is your name?”

  “What do you want my name to be?”

  “Maureen.” He grinned. “You wouldn’t happen to have red hair under that black wig, would you?”

  She giggled and yanked off the wig. Strawberry blond curls tumbled to her shoulders.

  It might not be the same shade as the woman he’d once idolized, nor was Little Maureen anywhere close in the beauty department, but if Draco turned off the lights, he could pretend they were anyone in the world.

  He filled a bowl with ice, shoved the bottle of champagne inside and then lit a candle. “Let’s get this party started.”

  “Can you kiss with your lips all twisted like that?” Little Maureen twisted a curl around her finger. “What happened to you?”

  “An evil woman took a knife to me.” He sat next to her on the sofa. “If you don’t want to suffer the same fate she did, you’ll stop asking questions.” His blood boiled, and he fisted his hands to keep from striking her.

  21

  “I’m calling to keep you up-to-date on the case,” Ingram said on the phone the next morning. “We’ve had another…incident.”

  “What happened?” Cassidy waved Colin over.

  “The body of a young prostitute was discovered this morning.”

  “Why do you think her death is related?”

  “Written in the dirt next to her body were the words ‘pretty is as pretty does’. I know it isn’t exactly the same as the others, but the word pretty—”

  “We’ll be right there.” Cassidy grabbed her holstered gun from a peg high on the wall out of the reach of children.

  “No, we’ll do the investigating. You’re in hiding and protective service.”

  “You can’t do this.” She flopped onto the sofa. “This is more my case than anyone’s. I need to be there when this guy is caught. Bill Carson is armed. If anyone comes snooping around—”

  “I gave you a direct order.”

  “Then call my supervisor.” She lunged to her feet and paced. “I’ll do this with or without your permission.” She waved a hand as Colin opened his mouth to speak. “You know as well as I do that Blake Russell does these things to draw me out. So, let me be there. We won’t catch him otherwise. You know it.”

  Bill Carson grabbed the phone from her hand. “Sir, I would appreciate her leaving this cabin. If this maniac wants her, then having her close to my family puts us in danger.” He handed the phone back to Cassidy. “You’re welcome.” He marched into the kitchen.

  “Sir?”

  “The man has a point.” Ingram sighed. “As much as I hate to say this, go ahead and investigate this lead with MacKenzie. I’ll send Smith to watch over the Carsons.” He gave her the location of the body and hung up.

  Cassidy grinned and fist pumped the air. She might be walking into a trap, but it was better than sitting there wondering what was going on.

  She glanced at Rosie who sat looking up at her with intense eyes. The Carson’s little boy laughed and threw his arms around the dog’s neck. “Stay, Rosie. Guard.” It would leave an empty spot in her heart not having her faithful companion with her, but the child could use the protection more.

  “Are you sure?” Colin glanced from her to Rosie.

  “I’m sure.” She heaved a sigh and glanced at the Carson family. “If I don’t return for her, take good care of her. She’s the best protector you’ll ever need.” She knelt down and hugged her furry friend. “Be good. I’ll be back by dark.” God willing.

  Rosie whined, confused, as Cassidy strolled out the front door.

  Without looking back, she climbed into the jeep, grateful for the chance to search for The Dragon rather than wait for him to come to her as she hid in a cabin in the woods.

  “You’re either the bravest woman I’ve ever met,” Colin said, “or the dumbest. That dog is the best warning you can have that someone is coming.”

  “Which is why I left her behind. If something happened to the children because of my presence, I’d never forgive myself.” She stared at him. “You should understand about not forgiving yourself. You can’t get over something that was an accident. My staying here is not the same thing.”

  “Low blow.” He started the ignition and turned the jeep around in the small yard.

  “You didn’t have a nightmare last night.”

  “I took a pill, and I’m still feeling the effects. They leave me grouchy, so don’t start in on me.”

  “All righty then.” She fought a smile and glanced out the window. Perhaps the always grinning Colin wasn’t so perfect after all. How long would his bad mood last? She glanced at her watch.

  ~

  Colin parked next to the yellow crime scene tape in the city’s poorest, and most crime ridden, area. Several gang members and prostitutes stood on the civilian side of the tape and craned their necks to get a look.

  “Pardon me.” He lifted the tape to let Cassidy through.

  Lying on the gravel strewn alley next to a dumpster was the body of a young girl. She didn’t look more than fifteen or sixteen. If she was older, she was lying. His heart sank at the loss of such a young life. Red hair fanned out from a face that was more cute than pretty. A short leather skirt barely covered what should be hidden.

  He knelt ne
xt to her and looked up into the tear-filled eyes of a much older girl. “What’s her name?”

  “All we know her by is Angel.”

  “Who was her last trick? Did you know the man?”

  She shook her head. “He wasn’t a regular.” She shuddered. “He was a monster. Handsome on one side, scarred on the other, like Two-Face, the character from the Batman movies. She was wearing jeans when she went with him.”

  That cinched the fact that Blake Russell was most likely the murderer. Colin pushed to his feet, noticing a young African American man standing off to one side. The man motioned his head, calling Colin closer.

  “Do you have information for me?” Colin stepped over the tape.

  “That man was here before. A couple of days ago. Me and some of my homies tried to harass him. He pulled out a gun and shot one of us right between the eyes. He’s cold. Didn’t even flinch when he pulled the trigger, then just walked away.”

  “Did you see him with the girl?”

  “They went into that liquor store for a bottle. I don’t know where they went after that. Me and the homies been trying to find him to exact payback, but he’s like a ghost.”

  “He calls himself The Dragon. Stay away from him.”

  “Dude.” The man held up his hands. “We got to pay him back. Just call us the dragon slayers. We’ll send you his head.”

  “Then you’ll most likely die.” Colin almost threatened to lock the guy up in order to save his life. He glanced at the man’s ‘homies’. He couldn’t lock them all up. He shook his head and headed for the liquor store while Cassidy spoke with the crime scene techs.

  A bell jingled over the door when he entered. He glanced up and noted a security camera. “That thing work?”

  “Yes, sir. We keep it running on a loop. It doesn’t pay to not be vigilant in this neighborhood.”

  “Do you have the footage from last night?”

  “Yep.” He motioned Colin to come around the counter. “You can see it all on that monitor.”

  Colin backed up the video feed until he came to the approximate time Blake had entered the store. The man kept the scarred side of his face away from the camera and grinned, or grimaced, at the young girl at his side. Was it possible he’d slipped up and not noticed the camera?

  “How did he seem to you?” He asked the clerk.

  “Happy. The girl was giggling. They seemed to be having a good time.”

  “She didn’t seem afraid of him?”

  “Nope.”

  Hmm. Colin glanced at the video again. What had changed? Had she said something to set Blake off? In the video her hair was dark, but outside her hair was red. Was that the trigger? He ejected the tape and slipped it into a paper bag. “Thank you for your cooperation.”

  “Any time. Angel was well liked around here.”

  Colin headed back out and joined Cassidy. “Any word on her real identity?”

  “We’re checking her against missing teens. It will probably take a while. Poor thing.” She scanned the area. “Doesn’t make sense that Blake would go for one so young.”

  “Look around. She was the prettiest one here. He probably thought she’d give him the least resistance. The weird thing is, the store clerk said they were laughing while making their purchase. Angel hadn’t seemed frightened of him at all.”

  “She said or did something that got her killed. I guess we start knocking on doors. Not the safest thing in this neighborhood.”

  “The gang members are out for revenge. I’m sure they’ll help.” If they didn’t kill him before alerting the authorities to his location. In moments like that one, Colin didn’t care if they found the man alive or dead.

  “I need some coffee.”

  “There’s a gas station on the corner. They’ll have some. Then we can plan our next step. Did you find any clues around the body?”

  “Not a thing, just like all the others.” She glanced at her watch. “Are you still grouchy?”

  “No. Why?”

  “Your bad mood lasted two hours.”

  “Seriously? You timed it?”

  She shrugged and laughed. “It’s out of character for you.”

  She was something else. He grinned and put his arm around her shoulders.

  The gang members parted like the Red Sea as the two of them strolled down the sidewalk. A couple of them gave Cassidy appreciative glances, but no one said anything. Their silence gave Colin the creeps. The authorities needed to find The Dragon before the dragon slayers did.

  ~

  Draco removed every trace of Little Maureen from the shoddy apartment. He cleaned the surfaces with bleach, vacuumed the sofa, and tossed the bedding into a pile to be laundered. Her jeans he tossed out the window after dousing them with bleach. They’d find them and link them to the girl, but he didn’t care. He’d be long gone by then.

  Not that he didn’t expect Cassidy and the Scotsman to not figure out he’d killed her, but because it was what he did when he had a victim at his house. Although he hadn’t planned on killing the girl, he wanted no traces of her anywhere around.

  Once he was certain he’d taken care of anything relating to her, or him, he gathered his things and closed the door. Time to find a new place to live.

  He scooted out the back door of the building and headed for his rented Lincoln. Popping the trunk, he tossed his suitcase in the back.

  “Hey, Dragon.”

  He whirled, coming face-to-face with five gang members. “Walk away.”

  “The cops are looking for you. We told them we’d bring them your head.”

  “Good luck with that.” Draco re-opened the trunk and pulled out a bag. “I’ll give you one more chance to walk away.”

  “Now, that ain’t going to happen, Dragon.” The leader said his name as if it were a cuss word. “We got to make amends for you killing our friend. Now, it doesn’t seem likely that you can shoot all five of us.”

  Draco pulled a lighter from his pants pocket. “Perhaps not.” He set the paper bag on fire and leaped behind the dumpster.

  The bag exploded.

  Screams filled the air along with the stench of burning flesh.

  He sighed and came out of hiding, stepping over the nearest gang member howling on the ground. “You should have listened to me.” He gave the man a kick, then climbed into the driver’s seat of his car, now showing the effects of the pipe bomb he’d set off. No matter. He’d ditch the car and get another one.

  The gang members wouldn’t die. The bomb hadn’t been powerful enough. But, they would sport a few scars of their own.

  He cranked up the radio. Classical music burst from the speakers as he pulled out of the alley. When would the masses learn not to mess with The Dragon? He glanced at the clock in the dashboard. He had thirty minutes before his meeting with his followers.

  He spotted the detectives strolling down the sidewalk as if they were on an afternoon excursion. They stepped into the gas station store. Draco parked across the street and watched through the window as the Scotsman bought two coffees.

  It would be so easy to pick them off. He thought of the gun in his glove compartment and almost reached for it. No, he had a different end in mind for them. Cassidy needed the opportunity to join him, to share his vision. If not, she would suffer the fate of her mother.

  He would wait.

  22

  An explosion rattled the store window.

  “That came from the alley.” Cassidy turned to the store clerk. “Where’s the back door?”

  The young woman pointed. “Should I call the cops?”

  “We are the cops!” Colin barged down a short hall and out the back door, Cassidy on his heels.

  The five gang members they’d spoken to earlier lay writhing in agony on the ground. The leader clutched a leg missing several layers of skin.

  Cassidy placed a call for an ambulance and squatted next to one young man with a stick poking out of his forehead. “Looks like y’all had a run in with The Dragon, and
he was breathing fire.” She shook her head. “At least everyone here is still breathing. This one barely.” She moved the man’s hand away from his face. “Don’t pull it out. You’ll bleed to death.”

  “I warned you, didn’t I?” Colin helped the leader to a sitting position and used the man’s belt as a tourniquet.

  The young man cursed. “He’s bad news for sure.”

  “So, it was the same guy?”

  “Yep. Came out of that apartment complex behind us.”

  As soon as the ambulance pulled into the alley, Cassidy followed Colin into the apartment complex. A few moments spent with a drowsy manager and they knew which apartment Blake Russell had rented.

  “The man always paid cash,” the woman said, tightening a stained yellow terry cloth robe around her faded nightgown. “Kept to himself and never gave me a lick of trouble. Not like some of my other tenants.”

  She led them up the stairs and into an apartment reeking of bleach. “See? The place is spotless. Just like him.”

  Cassidy cast her an incredulous look. If only the woman knew. “Don’t you do background checks on your tenants?”

  “I done told you he paid cash. That’s all I care about. Y’all let yourselves out.” She turned and shuffled back down the stairs.

  Cassidy stepped into the sparcely furnished room, snapping gloves onto her hands. “He cleaned it in anticipation of us coming.”

  “Probably to remove that poor girl’s DNA.” Colin moved to the window. “He’s got a clear view of the street and the prostitutes from here. My guess is…he’d chosen her, whether to die or for company, I don’t know.”

  “He did a lot more than that.” Cassidy peered under the sleeper sofa and pulled out a slip of paper torn from a receipt. In girlish scrawl was the name Maureen. “Either she shared my mother’s name or that’s what he chose to call her.”

  Blake Russell seemed to be spiralling into decline, especially if he had taken to naming his victims by Cassidy’s mother’s name. She pushed to her feet and headed to the one other room in the place. The bathroom.