"Can't I convince you to have some more fun?"
Sorry," I said and handed over her dress. "I wish we could."
She sighed as she pulled on her clothes and walked over to the window.
"I've always wanted to fuck in a sleazy motel," she said. "One more thing to tick off my list."
She looked around the place and grimaced.
"What are you doing in here anyway?"
"I'm supposed to be working," I said and pointed to the laptop in the corner.
She strutted over to it and put her hand on the mouse.
"Don't!" I called out and her hand hovered above the desk.
"Why? Are you hiding secret confidential information?" she smirked.
"Maybe," I replied. "I mean, no but... I can't have you touching my stuff."
She huffed and reached for her purse.
"Fine whatever. Just as long as you've not been filming me with your secret spyware or whatever you guys use."
"I thought a girl like you would be at home on camera," I said.
She scowled and folded her arms again.
"Right, I'm outta here," she said and kissed me hard. "Do I get to see you again sometime?"
"Definitely!"
Before she could move away, I grabbed her one last time and held her tight.
"Come back soon."
"Just try and keep me away."
I walked her to the door and watched her step out into the night.
"I'll be thinking about you tonight," she said and blew me one last kiss before reaching out her hand to flag down a passing cab. As it pulled up, I caught sight of some movement out the front of the Waters House across the road.
It almost seemed too obvious to be in a room right in front of it but the chief had insisted I was as close as possible. Not that my heart was really in the job. I was too busy thinking about the beautiful Charlene I'd just said goodbye to. Or was she called Shirley?
With her already drifting from my mind, I closed the door and walked over to the window to stare out through the safety of the blinds.
Rory was holding the hand of a little girl and hurrying across the road. I did a double take and recoiled back into the shadows.
"Fuck," I said as I rubbed the bridge of my nose. "The rumors were true."
Chapter Eleven
Rory
"Because the cops aren't doing it," I continued. "You're doing jack shit! I swear to God, you're the last people on Earth who knew about that place," I pointed over at the house, jabbing into the air wishing it was that old bitch's face.
Everyone had heard the stories. They were so widespread they had almost become an urban legend but no, the police didn't want to know. Said it was all made up. Except that only added fuel to the fire. Even bigger, more complicated stories started to circulate, ones that put the police at the center of a cover up. Still, Berger never wanted to know.
Every time we'd see each other I'd be telling him to do something, ask questions, stay on the lookout, anything! But he always said the same thing.
"There's no evidence. Nothing to go on. It's just idle gossip. Don't worry about it."
Except he had no choice but to worry about it now. It looked as though the weight of the world was on his shoulders like he'd aged ten years in the last ten minutes.
"Clusterfuck," was all he said as he pressed his forehead against the window and watched as the raindrops fell down in front of his face. "Absolute clusterfuck."
Exhausted, I stepped into the bathroom and ran the tap. Sinking my hands into the frigid water, I let it run over the pulse point of my wrists and slowly began to calm down. Still, when I looked up at the mirror, I saw a face that wasn't quite my own. There were extra lines around my eyes, another dark spot just below my cheek. I needed to feel like myself again and there was only one person who could help me. I so badly needed to speak to Suzanne.
A cursory glance at my watch told me she would have been out of surgery hours ago but having been caught up in the drama of the day, I'd not had the chance to call her let alone visit her. Anyway, it's not like she was a stranger to hospitals. She loved the places and the way she was fussed over like a queen. She was probably propped up with a shot of wheatgrass juice and some trashy reality television keeping her company.
God, I really needed to hear her voice right then. Sure, she was a pain in the ass and she made me work every day just to pay for her but she always knew what to say, always knew the right way to touch me after a bad day.
Tapping her number on my phone, I waited to hear her voice, growing increasingly impatient with each passing ring.
"Come on Suzy. Pick up."
I imagined her worn out after one to many Vicodin and decided to head up to the hospital. Stepping out the bathroom, I was surprised to see a uniformed policeman standing in the doorway.
"Rory Atkins?"
I didn't respond. I didn't understand why he'd be speaking to me while Berger wasn't.
"Atkins?" he repeated.
His face was solemn with a solid wrinkle pressed into his forehead.
"I've got some bad news for you," he said. "Usually it would be the doctor who told you but seeing as it's today..."
He trailed off and looked at the phone in my hand.
"It's your wife," he said.
"Suzanne? I was just about calling her but-"
"She's dead," he interjected.
For a second, I thought some tremendous disaster had forced itself on the motel. I was sure I felt the ground shake, was positive the walls were moving but I was just collapsing. I slid down the wall and looked up at the two men.
"You don't mean it," I said. "You can't. It's a joke, right? You don't mean it!"
They exchanged a concerned look and Berger reached out a hand to help me up but I refused to take it.
"She died on the operating table," said the policeman. "It was quick if that helps. She wasn't in any pain.”
No, that didn't help at all. She was gone, wasn't that the worst pain of all.
"I'm sorry but I think I'm about to be sick."
Dashing into the bathroom, I had just about enough time to lock the door before I threw up everything in my stomach, water and bile tumbling out my mouth as the tears blinded me.
Chapter Twelve
Etta
"We really shouldn't be here," I said. "We should be back out there helping that poor girl."
"Bear with me," he replied and pressed his thumb into the fingerprint scanner.
I'd only ever seen something like it on television and was a little shocked when he walked me down to the basement of his house and presented me with a steel door complete with a sophisticated security system.
"Now, I have to tell you something. I've never shown anyone the inside of my laboratory before. Well, no one that got out alive anyway."
I thought he was joking until the door glided open. In the center of the room stood an upright glass chamber with wires snaking out the sides like tentacles. Inside, there were shackles visible through the glass. I had no idea what I was looking at but I knew it was insidious.
Screaming, I reeled back and dashed for the stairs.
"Wait, Etta! Come back!"
"Get away from me!"
He tackled me and held me in his bulky arms. I screamed and twisted, worming my way out of his clutch until we were both exhausted and fell down onto the bottom step.
"What kind of place is this?" I gasped. "What kind of a person are you?"
He sat on my chest and held my hands tight.
"It's not what it looks like."
"That's the second time you've said that tonight."
He let my hands go but remained on top of me, his crotch so close to my face I could have reached out and bitten his zipper if I wanted to.
"Things are going on and they're almost impossible to explain, but I can show you if you'll let me."
Slowly, he crawled off me and gave me a moment to breathe.
"I just want to know what's going
on."
"I'll tell you everything if you promise you won't scream again."
I can't promise shit, I thought as I followed after him.
Back inside the lab, the first thing I noticed was the cold. It penetrated my bones and made my teeth chatter, it made me feel as though we were far away from the world upstairs where we left soft jazz playing in the kitchen along with our empty espresso cups.
"What is this place?"
He thrust out a hand to show off the great expanse of the room.
"It's where I do my research," he said. "Some of it more pleasant than the rest but just as equally important."
"Research... I keep hearing that word. This... this doesn't look like science to me."
I walked over to the chamber and eyed the restraints. If I wasn't mistaken, there was a speck of blood along the steel hinges or was it just rust. I prayed it was.
"This looks like sadism."
My heart sank and I threw my hands up in the air.
"Shit, I knew you were too good to be true! I knew it!"
"Please, Etta, listen."
He came at me with his arms outstretched but I didn't want them near me. I couldn't imagine the things they'd done, the atrocities they'd committed.
"No... You stay the hell away from me. I don't wanna end up in here like..."
Then it dawned on me.
How could I have been so stupid? Obviously, he was behind the deaths of the girls. Who else could get close to them? Who else could evade capture for so long?
"You... You killed them!"
I staggered backward and lost my footing in a daze, falling against the glass chamber. It smelled like Sulphur and something worse, fear and death. With my back pressed up against it, I had nowhere else to move and could only watch terrified as he crouched down in front of me and took my hand in in his.
"I had to do it," he said. "They were evil."
Evil... it was a word I'd heard so many times, a Biblical one that screamed from the front of tabloids. It was a word you'd associate with the worst of humanity. Was Lincoln evil?
"Nobody has to kill anyone," I said.
"Don't they? You saw what Jet was doing earlier? Don't you think the others weren't part of the same crowd? They were all part of Phaedra's little group, evil motherfuckers who had to die... but not before I researched them."
I couldn't bear to hear the word again and clasped my hands over my ears.
"Please, don't say that."
"But it's true. Do you really think I wanted that girl's underwear for fun? For some sort of twisted, perverted pleasure? Fuck no! I needed them for the DNA for my bank."
I lowered my hands and begun to listen.
"Bank?"
"Come, I'll show you."
I was still scared to take his hand but held it anyway, shaking as he walked me over to the metal crate in the corner. Pressing his thumb against the scanner in the top right hand corner, it glided open to reveal a neatly assorted pile of plastic bags. From each one of them came the bright, lacey thrill of lingerie in all shapes and sizes.
"How many are here?" I cried.
"Twenty three," he replied, obviously being more than familiar with the number. "There should have been twenty four if you hadn't..."
He glanced away.
"Not to worry. You weren't to know."
He wrapped an arm around me to bring me closer and I found myself leaning into him, craving his warmth despite my fear.
"What are you doing with all the DNA samples?" I asked. "Aren't there better ways to get them? Spit? Cigarette ends?"
He gave me a wry smile and kissed my cheek.
"You seem to know what you're talking about. Maybe you should be standing here instead of me."
I shuddered at the thought.
"But no. As crude as it sounds there is no purer form of DNA than a, how do I put it nicely, secretion. A pure secretion."
My stomach lurched. I was sure I was about to be sick.
"But why? What are you doing!"
He licked his lips and held me by the shoulders. Looking deep into my eyes, he took a deep breath and said:
"I want to know what makes a pedophile. I want to know if there's a gene or a specific chemical. I want to know everything and I want to stop it spreading."
All the air was sucked from my body. I swallowed down a burning sensation as my throat pulled itself tight.
"So y-you kill them?" I stammered.
He shook slightly before saying, "I kill them. Yes. They need to die so others can live."
A heavy nausea descended on me. I lost my balance and fell against the wall. He held me up by his strong hands and pulled me to his chest.
"This is crazy," I sobbed. "You're a killer. A murderer. I thought you were too perfect, too gorgeous, too rich to be interested in me and I was right. I should have known someone like me would have attracted someone like you."
He took a step back, offended.
"Do you not see the good I'm doing? I'm picking them off one by one making sure they do no more damage while simultaneously reaching for a scientific breakthrough. I'm nearly there. I can feel it!"
"And then what? What happens once you find the magic evil gene or whatever? Are you going to stop the killing and go to the police?"
"Police," he spat. "They're just as guilty as the rest of them. If it's not their direct involvement it's their sheer apathy and willingness to do nothing whatsoever. I don't wanna hear about the cops."
Angry, he strode over to a small, black refrigerator beneath his desk and pulled out a bottle of vodka along with two glasses. Pouring a generous measure into both, he handed me one.
"If I find it, I'll stop it spreading. I'll fund a vaccination. I'll create an antidote. I'll do anything! Just so long as no children have to suffer like I did."
He choked on his vodka, overwhelmed by his pain. Slamming down his empty glass, he held a hand to my cheek, his eyes watering.
"But I can't do it alone. I've been alone for so long and I can't... I need you."
I knew what he was going to ask before I heard the words and I knew what I'd say in response even though every cell in my body was screaming at me, telling me I was insane.
"I need you on my side," he said. "Think of it as God's work. So... Are you with me?"
Don't do it! He's a murderer!
But he's doing it for all the right reasons!
There is never an excuse to kill.
Unless it's to save a child...
"I'm with you," I said and took a long gulp of my vodka.
Bonus Chapters
Jewels In The Night
Jewels For Panties Series
Book Three
(Chapter 1 -3)
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Description
Etta
Now part of Lincoln’s deadly team, I can’t wait to get down to business but then the news comes. Another girl has died but this this time Lincoln didn’t kill her. This time, it appears there are two killers on the loose.
Just when I’m starting to think I’m finally getting away from the house, the place pulls me back like I’m under its spell. And a chance encounter reveals dark and twisted secrets that show just how far Phaedra will go to get what she wants.
Phaedra
They found the little girl and now our cover’s blown apart. It’s time to call on a few favors from the people that matter, the men at the top that know how to keep a secret.
If only people around here knew what I was really like. I’ve heard the rumors. They all think I’m a witch, a crazy old woman who runs the house of unfortunate souls, but they’ll soon discover the truth.
Berger
That son of a bitch doctor has something to do with all the murders and I’m sure as hell going to prove it. But with his money and status he’s almost untouchable!
Not to mention the little girl we saved has started telling her gruesome story that incriminates ev
ery big wig in town. I’ve got to get to the bottom of this. Even if it kills me.
Lincoln
That God damn detective is onto me but he’s all wrong! I’m not the guy he thinks he is. All I want to do is lie in Etta’s arms and spoil her. All I want to do is make love to her, hold her and keep her safe. All I want to do is initiate her into my life, into the world I’ve create deep within my laboratory, but it seems as though fate has other ideas
Chapter One
Jet
"What do you mean she didn't come back?"
Phaedra looked as though she was about to faint. She leaned against the door frame in her threadbare dressing gown and with her gray hair tumbling down around her shoulders, I noticed how truly old she was.
Her fingers were arthritic and swollen as she held them to her face in horror.
"Are you sure?" she asked.
"Positive! I've been waiting for her for hours."
She looked as confused as I was. This hadn't happened before. They always came back. Even if they weren't always conscious they always came back!
"What do we do?" I asked, fidgeting and shifting from foot to foot unable to keep still.
"Where did he take her?"
"Motel across the road," I said. "But I've been over already but she's not there."
"You're sure?"
I nodded.
After a couple hours waiting out in the rain, the panic started to set in and I'd hurried over. I expected to find that he was taking his time with her, had maybe not realized how much fun he'd been having but when I knocked on the door there was nothing but silence and darkness. Peeking in through the window I could just about make out the empty room through the blinds with the white moonlight casting shapes across the rickety furniture. There was no sign of him or the girl.
At first, I'd been too afraid to tell Phaedra. I hoped that he'd come rushing back sooner or later apologizing profusely in that perfect polite manner of his. I didn't know what upset me the most, the fact that he didn't come back to me or the fact that the girl was now missing. Selfishly, I knew I was more heartbroken about losing him.
Jewels and Panties (Book, Three): Sea Of Secrets Page 5