by Kenya Wright
I carved a large cross on my chest with an imaginary knife. “Then she did a holy cross, crucifying him as Xavier would say. He’s religious, when it comes to death.”
Then I did a show of stabbing my groin. “And finally, she cut his dick off over and over.”
The Russian swallowed.
Yeah. You’re not grinning anymore, are you?
“After we found that out, Xavier gave her a heart locket for her birthday and said some bullshit about him always wanting to be with her.”
“The locket tracked her?” he asked.
“Exactly. When she went on the move for her Tinder meets, one of us went to check it out.”
“How many times does she meet with people?”
“Every other week. It’s always a different person. But what we realized is that she didn’t kill them all.” I gestured to the pictures. “Just these eight.”
“Men who had backgrounds of rape.” He leaned his head to the side. “Do you think they tried to rape her?”
“I don’t know. Xavier made us promise to keep it from her. He doesn’t think her mind can handle it. She’s smart, maybe a genius in some ways, but still fragile in other ways. He wants to keep her safe.”
The Russian nodded. “So, you three watched her, and when she killed someone, you cleaned it up?”
“Yes.” I sighed. “The night Rumi died, Darryl was supposed to be watching her. He had Xavier’s tracker. The next thing I know, he’s waking me up in the middle of the night and saying that she killed Rumi.”
“Rumi was on Tinder?”
“No.” I walked out of the room, pulled the disk out of my pocket, and went to my laptop.
The Russian stuck his hands into his pockets and stalked over to me. His eyebrows furrowed, but other than that, he gave me no impression of what he was thinking.
It took a few minutes to turn on the computer and upload the footage. I’d seen it tonight and it had explained everything.
“When I showed up to Rumi’s that night, Darryl kept making sure that I was going to destroy the footage. He didn’t press the matter, but it was clear he didn’t want me to look at the recording.” I pushed the button to start the video. “I knew something was wrong and saved it. I just didn’t know why he was so anxious about it, until I saw it today. He’d sounded off, when we talked on the phone.”
“You’ve talked to him?”
“Yes. He said the Russians freed him.”
Kazimir smiled and said to himself, “They’re definitely working together.”
“Who?” I asked.
“My stepbrother and Darryl.”
And then puzzle pieces began to form in my head, giving me the whole picture. “Now, everything is making more sense.”
The footage began to play.
We watched.
On my laptop, the image of Rumi’s office appeared on the screen. A door opened. Darryl walked in, holding a very drunk Emily. She stumbled along with him, giggling and playing an imaginary flute or something with her hand.
“What did Darryl give her?” the Russian asked.
“Something more than liquor, for sure,” I said.
Darryl left Emily on the leather loveseat next to the office’s window. They talked about something, but we couldn’t hear the conversation. There were no voices with the recording. Eventually, Emily fell asleep, smiling and leaning her head on her brother’s shoulder.
After a few minutes, he pulled out a knife, rose from the couch, laid her down, and placed the knife in her hand.
I gripped my desk hard, hating Darryl. “I don’t know, if I can watch this for a second time.”
“We’ll have to show this to Emily.” The Russian clenched his jaw. “No more secrets from her. She should know what she’s capable of, and what she’s done, or it won’t ever stop.”
“Good.” I gave him a sad smile. “You can be the one to tell her.”
“I will.”
On the laptop, Darryl walked away from a sleeping Emily as she gripped a knife and turned the light off.
“I have other camera footage, but it just shows him leaving the condo. The security guard was knocked out from whatever Darryl gave him.”
“Who killed the guard?”
“I did.” I shrugged. “Sorry about that, by the way.”
He waved it away. “You did it to protect her. If not, then she wouldn’t have been around to protect me.”
We returned to the screen.
I pressed a button to fast forward. “She’d been in the office, sleeping for a good two hours.” I stopped the fast forwarding. “Rumi shows up right here.” I paused and turned to the Russian. “Rumi was expecting a hooker in his office.”
“She’s missing now. Do you know about that?”
“Maybe.”
He didn’t ask further, and I didn’t offer any new information.
I pressed play.
Rumi walked in and pressed the light. It didn’t come on.
“Darryl must’ve turned off the electricity in that room with a breaker,” I said.
Rumi knew someone was on the couch. Moonlight bathed that area as Emily snuggled on her side. Rumi peeled away his pants and rubbed himself as he waddled over to her.
“No. I can’t watch this again.” I walked off. “Basically, Rumi tries to have sex with Emily while she’s sleeping.”
“And she slices him.” The Russian watched. “Side-swipe to the neck. The holy cross on his chest.”
And then the Russian flinched for a second as he saw her signature move. “And then she cuts off his penis.”
The Russian pressed the button to stop the footage. “She passed out after that?”
“Yes. Covered in blood. And when I got there and saw it all. . .I did something I shouldn’t have.”
“What?”
“I called Kennedy to help us. Darryl just had to carry Emily through the tunnel under Rumi’s building. Kennedy would meet him in her office. She cleaned Emily up and got her ready for the showing the next night, leaving her in her office to sleep.” I held out my hands. “Kennedy didn’t know anything about it being Rumi or what Emily had done. We just told her that some shit had gone down and she didn’t need to know anything more.”
“But someone figured Kennedy knew. Probably my stepbrother.”
“Yes. Darryl wouldn’t have killed Kennedy, but he wouldn’t have stopped anyone else from doing it either.”
“My brother was the one to commission Emily to paint the lions. Did Kennedy have anything to do with it?”
“Yes. She didn’t get involved in the crime side too much. Kennedy loved the art business angle. She handled the whole commission.”
“Then, it was definitely my brother.” The Russian sighed and walked off. “You’ll need to pack.”
“Me?” I touched my chest. “Why?”
“We’re going to Russia, but first we’ll stop in Prague.”
I held my hands out. “Say what now?”
“Pack for the cold, Maxwell. I’m sure it’s snowing—”
“Listen—”
“No.” The Russian appeared calm, but there was an edge in his voice. “I don’t listen, and I’m usually not nice, but today I will be. You’re invited to come along. Call it an adventure. Emily will be with me, and I have a feeling you’ll want to be with her too. Perhaps, you can invite your Uncle. After what I’ve heard, he might need a vacation.”
A vacation to Prague and Russia?
I raised my hands in the air. “Look. Emily wouldn’t go to Russia. She’s never even left New York.”
“She’s going.” Rage blazed in his eyes. “Pack.”
The Russian left me there with my hands up and an expression of shock on my face.
Chapter 19
Kazimir
Back at Emily’s place, I caught Luka up on everything.
The big man had stuffed himself with several cartons of chicken fried rice. Grease smeared his chin. The dead bodies remained on the floor.
&nb
sp; “Clean this up.” I scowled. “Did you leave any food for Emily?”
“Yes. It’s in the fridge.”
I pulled out my phone, turned it on, and dialed a number.
My sister Valentina’s voice came on. “Kazimir? Is that you?”
“Yes.”
“They said you were dead!” Valentina screamed.
“I’m not.”
“But—”
“Come pick me up, please.” I turned the speaker option off and held the phone to my ear. “Tell no one, dear sister.”
“Where are you?” she asked.
“Harlem.”
Her voice shrieked. “New York?”
“Yes.”
“Well. . .good.”
“Bring our cousins.”
“It will be that type of emergency?”
“Perhaps. Everyone believes I’m dead. Let’s let the murderer have a few days to enjoy himself.”
An edge cut through her voice. “And who is the murderer?”
“Our sweet stepbrother.”
She cursed under her breath. “I told you not to go by yourself with him.”
“That’s why I wanted to go. I needed to see.”
“And you saw?”
“Yes. Now, I need to hop on a plane without anyone noticing. Yours will do. No one will think oddly of you coming to New York to see what really happened.”
She chuckled on the other line. “You’re correct. In fact, I’m already here. I arrived an hour ago from Toronto. Our cousins are with me.”
“And where is little Natalya?”
“Safe.” Worry laced her words. “But, we have more to discuss than your niece. Sasha is expecting me at dinner this evening. Do I go?”
“Yes. Keep your men with you. Be careful and get my painting. It’s in the bedroom where my belongings are.”
“What painting?”
“A lion trapped in a net with a mouse chewing away at the rope.”
“Why? What’s in the painting?”
“It’s priceless. Do it for me.”
She let out an exasperated breath. “What are we going to do, Kazimir?”
“That is for another day. Spend the night here. Talk to our lovely stepbrother. Don’t tell him anything. I’ll give you the address. Come later. I want to leave in the morning.”
“And where will I tell the pilot to go?”
“Prague.”
She made an aggravated noise. “But, I love New York. Can’t we kill Sasha here? We’ve finally got the proof that he’s a spineless traitor.”
“No. We kill him back home. It’ll be less of a National Incident. And when you come, bring me some clothes. You know what I like.” I tried to finish the call, but she yelled at me for not calling her immediately. I listened for several minutes. She was my sister, after all.
How could I explain that I’d been a part of a little mystery involving a woman that had absolutely caught my attention? Emily was a woman of many faces and lives. Just when I thought I knew her, she pulled a layer off and showed me something else.
“There will be friends coming with me,” I said.
“Who?”
“Just make sure you’re nice.”
“Hmmm. Must be a woman.”
“I will see you later.”
I hung up, not willing to tell her more about Emily.
Luka stared at me as I placed my phone in my pants.
“What?” I asked my longtime friend.
“Emily is coming with us?” Luka asked.
“Yes.”
He stuffed his mouth with more rice and said nothing else.
In Emily’s bedroom, I watched her sleep for a few minutes.
Life hasn’t been fair to you, mysh. Don’t worry. I’ll change that.
I undressed and showered in her bathroom. I hadn’t cleaned up since fucking her on the desk. I still wore her scent like cologne and didn’t really want to wash it away.
That’s okay. I’ll have her perfume on me again.
I finished, toweled, and didn’t even wonder what I would wear. My sister was a mischievous creature. She’d be here earlier than I’d asked with more clothes and other things that I needed.
I kept the towel wrapped around my waist as I lay down next to Emily and gazed up at the ceiling.
Darryl told Sasha that his sister killed men. I’m sure of it. Darryl couldn’t kill Rumi himself, but he knew his sister would in the right situation.
I added Emily’s brother to my list of future dead people. Granted, we were all future dead people, but Darryl and Sasha’s time would come earlier than they’d expected.
Emily killed Rumi. After carrying her back to her gallery, Darryl returned to the apartment to be a witness. Maxwell cleaned everything up, confused me with new cuts on the corpse and the sick stuff with the intestines. Later, I arrived to torture Darryl.
“We don’t need to kill this guy,” Sasha had said when we were heading to Rumi’s building. “Keep him alive.”
Sasha had turned away while I tortured Darryl. I’d figured it was the blood, but it was because they were friends.
Sasha had lit his cigarette, inhaled, and blew out a circle. “Maybe, we should ask him questions. Instead of choke him.”
And then Darryl pointed me to Emily. It all worked out perfectly for them. Once I entered the gallery and spotted the paintings of lions, I was intrigued. Sasha had used my own spiritual logic on me.
In the limo, he’d chuckled. “Carl Jung is dead, and you will be too, if you don’t stop with your meaningful coincidences.”
“There’s no such thing as a coincidence, my friend. It’s all connected.” I’d tapped the side of my head. “That’s what keeps us ahead of everyone else. I keep my eyes open.”
“You keep your eyes open? That’s why?” Sasha had laughed. “Maybe we’re also ahead of everyone else, because you don’t mind peeling the skin off men one strip at a time, when they betray you.”
“Loyalty keeps us strong.”
“I agree, so leave your dead man and his meaningful coincidences alone, as well as this mouse.”
But in the end, I held on closer to the mouse, and Emily was what saved me.
Meaningful coincidences do matter, Sasha. Even if you triggered the first few with your commission of lion paintings.
Once I saw Emily, she’d trapped my attention. I hadn’t known it at the time, but she’d cornered my interests. My cock knew we were going to fuck her before my mind did.
Sasha probably laughed as I went on and on about the lions and her paintings.
I had smiled. “Mysh. That’s what I will call her. My little mouse.”
Sasha had laughed. “I think you’re just looking for an excuse to fuck her.”
“I don’t need to create one. She’s beautiful and smart. That’s enough.”
“Well, she’s not for fucking. . .”
He’d said that, knowing that I would continue to pursue her. It was written all over the universe, whether he’d commissioned the paintings or not.
We were supposed to meet.
And the proof was in the magic that arose when we united together. Not even a bomb could destroy us. What Sasha hadn’t bet on was how resourceful and smart Emily was.
So, what did Darryl and Sasha think would happen?
Either Emily would kill me, as she murdered most men, and then my people would kill her. Or we both would die in the bomb the next day. Either way, the problem would be solved.
Darryl wouldn’t have to spend some nights cleaning up his sister’s serial killer mess. He probably figured that she deserved to die, that she was a monster.
She’s no monster. She’s just been fighting by herself too long. I’ll stop the fighting, and then let’s see if she’ll have to kill anyone again.
On the bed, Emily groaned as she rolled over to me. She opened her eyes and widened them.
I made no movement, finally understanding that Emily was not the type of woman you woke from sleep.
&nb
sp; I’m glad she doesn’t have a knife around.
She scanned the space, glancing from side to side, and then let her gaze fall on my damp, bare chest and then my towel. “What. . .”
She sat up and gripped a knife in her hand, letting it rest in her lap.
I edged back. “Where the hell did you get that knife? You didn’t have one.”
She parted her lips and dropped it on the center of the bed. “There are a bunch of knives taped to the head board. I always grab one when I wake up. It’s the first thing I do, before opening my eyes.”
We’ll have to change that.
“What do you remember?” I asked.
She blinked and then rubbed her eyes. “I. . .no. . .that can’t be right. Max said I killed Rumi.”
“You did.” I couldn’t sugarcoat this anymore. My sister would be here soon, and we’d have to head away from this state. Sadly, this part of my plan needed to be rushed.
“I. . .killed him?” she asked.
“Yes. Maxwell has the footage. I watched it in his apartment.”
She got up from the bed. “Wait a minute. How long have I been out?””
“Almost two hours.”
“Fuck.” She hugged herself. “That long?”
“You’ve done this before.”
“But, not for that long.” She put her back to me.
“Yes, Emily, you’ve done this before.”
She turned to me. “What?”
“I have to rush this. You deserve time to understand this.” I walked over to her and gently grabbed her hands. “Maxwell cleaned up Rumi after you killed him. Your brother brought you to Rumi’s office to do it.”
Her bottom lip quivered. “Darryl knew I would kill him?”
“Yes, because Maxwell and he have cleaned up your other messes.”
She closed her eyes and whispered to herself. “So, then those aren’t just nightmares.”
“You have dreams of killing people?”
“Sometimes.”
I pulled her into me.
She trembled against my chest. “What else?”
I had to tell her even though I didn’t want to. “You’re the Tinder Killer.”