Rachel looked up lazily – keeping a leisurely pace. No jumping to attention for pastry puffs filled with cream.
“Yes, Jake.”
“What the hell is this all about?”
His tone was louder and more arrogant than it needed to be. Rachel felt her muscles twitching – getting ready to spring. She took a deep breath touching the spots on her neck that had been punctured. She had to contain herself. Peter had given specific instructions to her and she would follow them – to the letter.
“I’m sorry, but I’m not quite understanding you,” Rachel answered in calm restraint.
“This! Everything!” Jake screamed as he picked up random papers on her desk and flung them up in the air. Rachel still didn’t react in any other way other than to serenely straighten them back into the piles they were abducted from. She pretended not to see the cords in Jake’s neck that were popping, or those blue, blue veins carrying rich red blood to his beating heart. It was so tempting – so very tempting.
“I don’t know what you mean. The candlesticks are here, the arrangements with the vendors are complete, and the exhibits are finished.”
“Rach, stop being obtuse! You know damn well what I mean!”
Rachel shook her head in disbelief. Had he really had the temerity to truncate her name to Rach? He was so good at using familiarities to keep people in their place. She hated nicknames, and hated he couldn’t summon the energy to speak her entire name, and yet could to fuel his little rampage of disparaging nitpicking.
“Your coming in late is what I’m talking about! And your covering up that window!” he exclaimed pointing to the transom she’d covered with a towel ever since …
“And keeping the lights off, goddamn it! How can you see like this, anyway?”
He squinted, trying to imitate what he imagined Rachel was doing to see. He didn’t know that her vision was now even better at night than his feeble imagination could dream. Liken it to that of an eagle – to the power of 10.
“Finished?” Rachel asked more annoyed than anything else. She had to keep her temper though. He couldn’t suspect a thing.
“Hell, no! There are the naps! People have told me that they see you sleeping in here – when you do manage to show up that is. I looked for you myself this morning. I wanted to know about the exhibit arrangements and couldn’t find Rach. Now why is that?”
She couldn’t resist. He was just such a cocksucker. Rachel placed her elbow on her desk and rested her chin prettily in her porcelain hand.
“What can I say? You found me out – I admit that I’m a nocturnal creature that craves darkness.”
Jake stood over her with both hands on his hip – feet apart. He was tall and used his height as yet another tool for intimidation, but Rachel knew he was just a fool. A babbling idiot that wasn’t worth the air he was breathing. He had no idea of the war he was involved in.
“So you’re saying that you’re a bat or something?” Jake snapped.
Rachel arched an eyebrow and merely sighed – derisively. He was trying to be cute. Sarcastic. Well, he’d better try it on someone that cared. She crossed her legs beneath her desk feeling her crotch touch the material of her chair. She liked not wearing panties. She felt freer without them. More sinful. She returned to her paperwork.
“We are not finished!” he said grabbing the papers out of her hand.
She glared at him, but knew they had company. She knew who was watching and was glad they were. The extra pair of eyes would assure that she keep her cool and not do anything to ruin the plan.
Jake took hold of her wrists. She tried not to laugh. Did he really think he was overpowering her? It would make him getting his due all the sweeter.
“You know there’s more! I have two police detectives in my office that want to talk to you! Now why is that, Rach? You’re trying to destroy everything I’ve done to build up this museum’s reputation? We have the most prestigious collection this museum has ever been privileged to exhibit ready to open in a few days, but you just can’t let that be, can you? No, you manage to become a prime suspect in a murder investigation and bring us to the brink of derailing what this could do for us! What the hell are you thinking, Ms. Abbott”
Rachel’s eyes traveled to the folded newspaper she kept on the corner of her desk. It was the edition published the day Sara Puhlman’s bloodless, dismembered body was discovered. The article left out a lot of the brutal details, but it was accurate as far as it went. Jake saw the paper and ran over to it. He lifted it up, overreacting to the story on the front page.
“Oh, Christ! Are you crazy? What the hell are you keeping this for?”
“A memento,” was the answer Rachel gave herself. For Jake, she had another more innocent explanation handy.
“The doctor that I’ve known for many years and that was responsible for saving my cat was killed – viciously. I had feelings for her – deep feelings. And yet, you find it offensive that I would want to know what happened? That I didn’t just read the story and toss the paper in the wastepaper basket? Are you telling me that’s what you would have done, Mr. Monroe? All I can say is that you and I are very different. Very different indeed.”
Rachel made sure she spoke in the manner of various professionals she’d encountered. The ones that regarded themselves as some kind of authority, all the while looking at the people they deigned to help as pathetic, abnormal degenerates.
She saw Jake’s face react to her little speech. It looked tense – even more tense than it usually did. She didn’t know why anyone found him handsome, but they did. Everyone was trying to get in Jake’s pants – everyone but Rachel. She wouldn’t touch him with a ten foot pole.
Rachel read Jake’s expression. He didn’t like what went down. Didn’t like not being in control and being talked down to. Jake jumped to the side and snatched a wooden chair. He dragged it to the window and stood on it. He surprised Rachel by making a grab for the towel. She wasn’t worried. She knew Jake wasn’t tall enough to reach it. And he certainly wasn’t the athlete Rachel now was. No amount of bouncing up and down was sufficient for him to seize the prize. Let him try floating up to it. It had worked for Rachel. Just let him try to levitate.
Rachel watched him wobble and fall to the side. He clutched at the wall to steady himself and prevent himself from crashing to the floor. He was panting and obviously winded. His shirttail had come loose and there was sweat on his brow, but he stubbornly refused to climb down from the chair.
Rachel knew she had an appointment upstairs that she needed to keep, but she felt the need to straighten things out with Jake. She could risk it now.
She stood slowly and walked the few steps to reach Jake. Jake was ready for her and stepped down to the ground. He rubbed his hands that were smarting from scraping against the wall. He turned and faced her. He was surprised that she was eye level with him. It was impossible. He was 6’2”. He had more than a few inches of height in his favor, but there she was – right in front of his face. She must be wearing heels. That was it. She was wearing heels. It had to be that. It made sense – heels would complete her new, trying-hard-to-be sexy look.
He took a step forward to try to intimidate her and force her back, but she merely thrust her face closer to his. They were nose-to-nose.
“Jake, don’t push me. You hear?” Rachel whispered menacingly as she poked him in the chest with her right forefinger.
Jake could see she meant it. It momentarily threw him. He wasn’t used to being taken down a peg – and certainly not by someone the likes of Rachel. She frightened him in a way few others had ever been able to do. He stood cowed as she spun around and walked away.
“Rachel! Rachel!” called the man who had been standing in the shadows and watching. She halted, allowing him to grab her arm.
“I heard what he said to you. He’s such a jerk. You could have a concussion or worse! You shouldn’t be coming in at all and he’s complaining because you’re a few minutes late?”
; Rachel assessed the soft, kind eyes of Rex. He really was taking an almost paternal role in her life now. Protecting her. Shielding her from gossip about her changed appearance. Covering for her when she snuck a few winks during the day. He’d even done some work for her – work that was her sole responsibility to finish. She patted him on his cheek.
“It’s alright, Rex. I’m fine really,” she replied, softly taking his hand from her arm. “If you’ll excuse me, there are persistent detectives that are waiting for me.”
“Yeah, I heard. That bastard Jake didn’t want them walking through the museum and attracting attention. Told them to wait in his office and he’d get you. Hell, it was just to harass you and now you have to be harassed even more. It’s not fair, Rachel. You don’t deserve this kind of treatment. I mean, they can’t possibly think you had anything to do with that … that …. woman’s death. She was torn apart with somebody’s bare hands! It didn’t say that in the papers, but I’ve got friends who work in the coroner’s office and saw the autopsy.”
“Really? It pains me to hear that about Dr. Puhlman. She was such a … pleasant person. And Rex, people have all sorts of weird ideas. You can’t control what people think.”
With that, Rachel walked away. Rex watched her for a bit. He loved the way she moved her hips side-to-side. She was better than those toys you give executives who have everything. The motorized ones that had panels of glass containing water. The water was in constant motion – softly being shunted from side-to-side in a close approximation of the ocean’s tide. She moved even more hypnotically than that.
Rex broke away from staring at her and rushed up to Jake who was tucking in his shirt.
“What the fuck did you have to talk to her like that for?”
“Hey, who the hell do you think you’re talking to?”
“A fucking loser by the looks of things.”
“I oughta fire you for that!”
“Then go ahead! I’m waiting! I’d love to see you replace me with someone! I do the work of 12 people around here and don’t get nearly the salary to compensate that effort, but if you think you can replace me, do it!”
Rachel heard the angry conversation she was leaving behind. She really would have to repay Rex for his kindness. Yes, she’d have a nice treat for him – something called immortality.
CHAPTER 16
“Ah, Ms. Abbott. Have a seat right here, please.”
Rachel squinted as she entered Jake’s office. She used her hand to block out the sun’s rays from overpowering her eyes until she reached the curtains. She grabbed the cords and looked at the two detectives who casually stood at attention – waiting for Rachel to settle.
“Do you mind?”
Rachel asked more to feign politeness than from a deep-seated concern about their welfare. There was only the slight nod of their heads to indicate their indifference as to whether the curtains were open or closed. They only cared about Rachel sitting down and answering questions. They tried to cover up their annoyance at having their time wasted by looking everywhere other than at Rachel drawing the curtains closed. They were encumbered by procedure and effective interrogation techniques and did nothing to give away the immediacy they felt about their follow-up interview with Rachel.
With a whoosh the curtains expanded in a single smooth stroke, cloaking the office in a cozy shadow. It was at least something Rachel could work with. She veered around Jake’s desk trying not to appear too confident. Ordinary people were nervous when being questioned by the police. She had to remember that.
She sat demurely in the seat that Detective Perrone had indicated. She gave her skirt a polite tug – not that it still didn’t allow an alarming expanse of silky, white thigh to show.
“You remember us, Ms. Abbott?”
“Vaguely,” she lied.
She remembered them in detail. Lead Detective Anthony Perrone and his partner, Detective John Reiser. She had met with them the day after Sara’s murder. They had conducted a fact-finding cross-examination. They hadn’t called it that, but it sure felt that way to Rachel. She tried to see it through their eyes and not put too much importance on the severe battery of questioning. After all, she was the last person to see Sara Puhlman alive. Of course they would want to talk to her. She laughed when she realized that being the last one to see her alive meant she was the first to see her dead.
“Something funny, Ms. Abbott?” Perrone queried. He had that confused look on his face, but it was all a ploy. He did that to get people to explain things. When they explained, they’d talk – usually too much.
“Why no,” Rachel said putting her hand over her heart as if settling herself. “It’s just I’m so nervous. Please excuse me.”
She saw Perrone’s face fade into his former expression. She congratulated herself on striking just the right note. Now if she did something curious, it would be because she was uncomfortable and not because she was enjoying every minute of this encounter.
“Well, then let me refresh your memory. I’m Detective Perrone and this is Detective Reiser. We interviewed you ...”
“… the day after Dr. Puhlman was murdered. Yes, I do remember that part. I just was focusing on things other than remembering your names. Poor Dr. Puhlman. It’s just so tragic.”
“Yes, it is. It’s why we’re here. We’re doing a follow-up ... to see if you remembered anything that you might have heard … or saw that night. Any detail … maybe something you considered unimportant and didn’t tell us the first time? It often happens with witnesses. They think of something after the initial interview.”
Rachel rubbed at her temple and kept her eyes down. Perrone really did need to buy a new pair of shoes. It looked like the leather on the ones he had on were almost worn through.
“No, nothing. I don’t know if it’s because of the accident I had or …”
“Oh, yeah, you hit your head or something. That right?” Perrone asked knowing full well what had happened. He had written it down and transcribed it into his official report. He and his partner Reiser had also interviewed her co-workers to see if the story was true. She had two eyewitnesses that corroborated the incident. The statement from the one named Inwood, he would have dismissed. It seemed to Perrone that Inwood had more than a passing interest in Rachel Abbott. He got the feeling that Inwood would have said just about anything Rachel wanted him to, but Jake, Jake was a different story. There seemed no love lost between the two. There was no way Jake Monroe would have lied for her.
Perrone waited a minute before continuing.
“That why you closed that curtain?”
“Yes, I’m afraid the light hurts my eyes. You see, I passed out and must have hit my head. I don’t know all that happened, but …”
“Yes, we have your version of how things happened,” interrupted Perrone in a clipped tone that Rachel didn’t find amusing. He was another smug, sanctimonious human that had better watch who he fucked with. Otherwise, he just may end up like poor Dr. Puhlman – or worse. Rachel hadn’t extended Puhlman’s death out as long as she could have. It was her kind-hearted nature that had interfered. Rachel felt another titter escape from lips that were turned-up in a wry smile.
She quickly changed her expression and again apologized.
“I am so sorry. I don’t know what’s gotten into me. I’m so embarrassed.”
She looked into Perrone’s dark brown eyes. He wasn’t having any of what Rachel was shoveling out. He might be too wise for his own good. She panned the room and found Reiser’s lighter brown, more sympathetic eyes. He’d be cute if he’d grow his hair out of that military clip he was sporting. She’d have to work through him. His sympathy meant that he was susceptible to her suggestive thoughts.
This is a bad idea. She doesn’t know anything. She’s not strong enough to have done this. And there’s no evidence. Not a shred.
A second later, she heard Detective Reiser’s voice.
“Tony, can I have a word with you?”
Perrone ref
lected his astonishment at being interrupted by his partner. It rarely happened. They had worked together for many years and loved working in tandem. The shock turned to annoyance as he got up from Jake’s desk. He had been sitting on the corner of it so he could better bear down on Rachel.
Perrone met Reiser in the corner. They kept their voices muffled and soft, but Rachel could hear every word.
“This had better be good, buddy.”
“Tony, this is ridiculous.”
“Wait minute! You interrupted a freakin’ interrogation to tell me this?”
You know damn well she’s not capable of ripping someone apart. Look at her!”
Adduné (The Vampire's Game) Page 19