by Vakey, Jenn
Ben turned around and wrapped his arms around her. The playful grin on his face made her weak in the knees. “We wouldn’t want you to catch a cold, though. Stormy nights tend to come with a bit of a chill.”
“I don’t think that would have really been a problem,” she replied. “They say the best way to survive when you’re out in the wilderness is to use body heat. I trust that you would have kept me warm.”
She reached up and ran her fingers through the back of his soft hair, pulling him down to her. As their lips met, the roaring of the rain sounded out around them again.
Chapter Ten
Ben’s warm arms were still wrapped around her when the light struck her face the next morning. She let out a sigh and gently rubbing her cheek against his arm.
He let out a soft snort and buried his face in her hair.
“Are you awake?” she whispered. He didn’t respond. She softly kissed his arm before carefully getting up.
The clouds were completely gone when she stepped outside, leaving only the bright blue sky above. She took in a deep breath as the rays from the sun struck her face. She always loved the way it smelled right after it rained.
“Come back to bed,” Ben’s groggy voice called out. “It’s not morning yet.”
Rilynne walked back in the cave and dropped down on her knees by his side. “It’s definitely morning,” she said.
He shook his, eyes still closed.
She just grinned as she reached out and brushed the hair out of his face. As she did, he grabbed her and pulled her back down next to him. “Definitely not morning,” he said, wrapping his arms back around her.
She could feel his heart thumping against her back as slid his arm around her waist and pulled her back against him. “We have to get up,” she said softly, only half as determined as she had been moments before. The warmth of his body against hers made her sigh. A deep, satisfied sigh.
He slid his hand down her arm and laced his fingers with hers. “Just five more minutes,” he said, nuzzling her head. “I was just having the best dream. I’m not ready to give it up yet.”
She lie there in his arms, his hot breath on the back of her neck, and couldn’t think of anywhere she would rather be. She felt safe, truly safe, for the first time in days.
After several minutes, he let out a soft moan and kissed the back of her neck.
“So what were you dreaming about?” she asked, pulling his arms in even tighter around her.
She could feel him grin as he let out a little sigh. She waited for him to answer but he didn’t. After several long seconds, she rolled on her back and looked up at him. “Not going to tell me?” she asked.
He seemed to think about it for a moment before shaking his head.
Rilynne rolled her eyes and pushed herself up. Despite having slept in sleeping bags on a cave floor, she had actually slept fairly well. To her surprise, she had one of her rare dreamless night.
Ben reached up and ran his fingers across her back. “We should see if we can get a hold of Matthews,” he said, the tired still lingering in his voice. “He can run the names on your list and see if anything turns up. He might also have some new information about the case, and know what it is that prompted them to issue an arrest warrant.”
“Mhmm,” she mumbled, paying more attention to the feel of his fingers on her back than what he was actually saying. It wasn’t until he pulled his hand back and stood up that she really absorbed what he had said. “We can’t call him,” she stated, watching Ben pull his jeans back on before standing to get dressed herself. “We’ll have to watch him and see if we can corner him when he’s alone. The last thing I want is for him to get caught helping us out.”
“Are you sure there isn’t any chance he would turn us in?” he asked, pulling a shirt over his head. Rilynne chuckled as she reached out to remove the price tag from it.
“If he wanted to see me arrested, he wouldn’t have called to warn us,” she stated. “He took a big risk in doing it. We can trust him, I know we can.”
Ben dragged his fingers through his hair before pulling a package of toothbrushes out of his bag. “I didn’t know if you remembered to grab them, so I bought a two pack,” he said, tossing her a new pink toothbrush.
“No, I didn’t remember,” she said, grateful he had thought about it. “I was so panicked, I’m lucky I made it out with my shoes. I think I left mine on the dresser after I finished using it yesterday morning instead of it actually putting it into my bag. Yours might actually be in there.”
“You didn’t doubt for a second that I was coming with you, did you?” he asked.
Rilynne grinned and finished brushing her teeth.
“We should take everything with us,” Rilynne said, rolling her sleeping bag up a few minutes later. “Just in case something happens and we can’t come back.”
Ben nodded as he stuffed everything he could into his pack. Rilynne had the feeling he was trying to keep her from having to carry much. She turned away so he wouldn’t see her grin as she pulled the pack onto her back.
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” he asked. He reached for her hand and led her through the trees. “I’m pretty sure the most dangerous place for you right now is the station.”
“It’s not like we’re going in,” she said. The branches were still wet as the passed through them, leaving her with a bit of a chill. “It’s really the only way I can think of to get information, though.”
Ben sighed but didn’t say anything. Instead, he pulled his hand up and massaged his chin with his knuckles.
“If you would be more comfortable, we could just wait outside of his house,” she offered.
He shook his head and looked over his shoulder toward her. “No, you’re right. The station is the best place to find him. Knowing him, he probably won’t stop working until this whole crazy mess is settled. We could be sitting in front of his place for days before he finally showed up.”
Rilynne grinned and nodded. He was probably right.
When they finally neared the borrowed vehicle, Ben made her stay hidden in the woods while he loaded everything in. He didn’t let her step out until the SUV was started and ready to move.
She sank down low in her seat as they drove past the station an hour later. It wouldn’t have taken nearly as long had Ben not insisted on making several, unnecessary turns. She had him drive all the way down the street and park as far from the building as they could while still being able to see the entrance.
While Ben kept a watchful eye on the building and anyone coming out of it, Rilynne watched the people moving past her window. They seemed to have no worries in the world. She envied them. Just days ago, her biggest concern had been how to talk her way out of having a birthday party. As she sat in the car watching the happy people around them, she would have given anything to be there with everyone she cared about.
“Maybe we should try back later,” Ben said. She turned to the clock. They had been sitting there for close to two hours. “People might start to become suspicious if we sit here much longer.”
She was close to agreeing with him when he reached out and grabbed her wrist. Rilynne looked quickly up at him to find him staring off ahead, a contented look on his face. She followed her gaze and saw Matthews walked out of the building. He stopped when he reached his car-just a few feet away-and looked up and down the street several times. When he finally seemed satisfied, he climbed into the car and pulled on to the street.
Rilynne waited to make sure no one was tailing him before telling Ben to follow. He was driving almost like he was lost. He made over twenty turns, even crossing over his own path twice, before finally coming to a stop just outside a trail entrance on the other side of town. He had just stepped out of the car when they pulled in two spots away.
“I hope you didn’t have trouble keeping up,” he said when Rilynne opened her door.
She grinned, shocked by his lack of surprise to see them. “How did you know we were following you
?” she asked curiously.
He looked at her as if saying it was a ridiculous question. “I knew you wouldn’t have really left town,” he said confidently. “I also knew you would be smart enough to get rid of your phones. It would be too much of a risk to call me with a burner because, as I’m sure you would agree, chances are high they will be monitoring the calls coming in on my phone. Your fish are taken care of, by the way,” he said to Ben.
“That still doesn’t explain how you knew we were following you,” she said.
He seemed to find her statement amusing. “Truth be told, I didn’t,” he said. “I’ve made a similar drive every time I left my house or the station since we tried to serve the warrant on your vacant house. After the fifth turn, I figured it was you. I’m afraid I don’t have anything good to tell you, though.”
“What did they find?” Ben asked. “What led up to the warrant being issued?”
“The only prints on the wallet were the victim’s and yours,” he said sullenly. She let out a shocked gasp, but he didn’t give her time to process it before continuing. “A witness also showed up stating she saw you leaving the victim’s apartment around eleven. I have a copy of the entire case files for you.”
Her legs gave out underneath her, and had Ben not been standing just behind her, she would have surely fallen. She couldn’t believe what he was telling her. She thought back to the scene, but was sure she didn’t have any contact with the wallet. She couldn’t even begin to understand how her prints could have gotten on it.
“The witness surely can’t be taken seriously,” Ben said before she could even entertain the thought. He reached out and took the files from Matthews, flipping through them before tossing them through the open car door, onto his seat. “Rilynne’s face was all over the news naming her as a person of interest. Crazies always come out of the woodwork on big cases like this. She saw her face on the news and picked a time right in the middle of the window of death. She just wants her fifteen minutes of fame.”
To Rilynne’s surprise, there wasn’t even the slightest note of hesitation or doubt in his voice.
“I’m looking into it myself,” Matthews stated. “We will get this figured out. In the mean time, is there anything I can do for you?”
Rilynne quickly nodded. “We’ve made a list of everyone I could think of who could possibly have anything against me,” she said. She turned to Ben as he pulled the list out of his pocket. “We don’t have a way of looking into anyone.”
“I’ll take care of it,” he said quickly, pulling the pages from in between Ben’s fingers. “Is there anything you need?”
“You’ve done more than enough,” she stated firmly. “You need to keep your nose clean. If this should go south, I don’t want you to go down with me. You and Katy are having a baby, and you need to put that above anything else. The district attorney won’t think twice to drag your name through the mud if she even thought you were helping us. I can’t let that happen.”
He looked like he wanted to argue, but she reached out and hugged him before he had a chance.
“If anything important comes up, I’ll leave it in the cave the two of you searched during the Pirate Killer case,” he said as he pulled away from her. She considered telling him they had been using that exact cave to hide out in, but decided against it. “Just promise me you will be careful, both of you,” he added.
Rilynne nodded and stepped back toward Ben as Matthews climbed back into his car.
“You just had to say it, didn’t you?” she asked as she watched Matthews drive away. Ben gave her a quizzical look. “You go and say something about a witness turning up, and look what happened.”
“Yeah,” he said, pulling her door open for her. “That is a little strange. It was all just coincidental timing, though. It was that stupid news story. I would love to get my hands on whoever’s leaking information to the press. I’m sure LaShad could arrange a boxing match.” An impish grin appeared on his face. “After we get this all cleared up, that’s the next thing we’re looking into. Even more than wanting to pummel him for what he has done to you, we need to seal that leak for the good of the department.”
Rilynne chuckled as he slid into the car and turned it on. “Make sure I don’t miss that one,” she said. “I enjoy watching you fight when it’s all in good fun. I would love to see you when you have an agenda behind it.” Instinctively, she looked back up to the scar barely visible under his shaggy hair. Like always, it made her think back to his altercation with Officer Ross. That was before they were dating. She could only imagine what he would do to someone now.
“So where are we going now?” she asked. “I don’t know if we should go back to the cave.”
“I agree,” he stated. He seemed to be mulling over something for several moments, his knuckles dragging along his chin, before he put the car in reverse and swung out of the spot. “I know of a place we can go. It’s a vacant house that we should be safe in for a day or two.”
She looked over at him curiously, but the look on his face left her silent. He was struggling with something and she was afraid to ask what it was. If she found out he was doubting her, even just a little, it might just be too much for her to take.
Rilynne stared out the window as they drove through the crowded streets. She was just about to ask how much longer it would take when he turned the car onto a small private driveway. The sights of the city disappeared and were replaced by large, vibrant green trees. After just a few moments, the tree line broke and they pulled toward a house. Not only was it vacant, the house appeared only half built.
“Isn’t there a chance that workers will come out?” she asked as the car rolled to a stop.
“I’ll pull the car around the back and hide it in the trees,” he said. “If anyone comes, we can just sneak out the back. I doubt we will have that problem, though. From what I understand, the owner has stopped construction for the moment.”
“I’m already facing a charge of murder,” she said, staring up at the large house. “Why not add breaking and entering to it.”
Ben laughed as he pulled the car around to the back of the house. After pulling their bags out and dropping them by the back door, he moved the car as deep into the tree line as he could before walking back toward the house.
“Would you like the honors?” he asked, motioning toward the lock.
“I’ll let you handle this one,” she stated as she took a step back. “It’s a beautiful lock. I’d feel bad if I messed it up.”
Not only was it a beautiful lock, it looked expensive.
Ben pulled the lock picking kit out of his back pocket as he approached the aged bronze lock. In a matter of moments, he swung the door open.
To her surprise, the house looked even larger on the inside than it had when they pulled up. Though the room was empty, Rilynne assumed they had just stepped into the kitchen. It was huge, nearly three times the size of the one she had. To the left was what appeared to be a large sitting room. “I always liked stained concrete floors,” she said as she stepped in and looked around. There was something familiar about the house, but she couldn’t put her finger on it.
Ben leaned against the half-wall sitting between the rooms, and watched her walk around. He didn’t appear nearly as curious as she was. “At least the restroom is already finished,” she said, sticking her head in the first of the three doors in the living room. She walked through the arched walkway toward the front door. “This place really is huge. I’m guessing by the low hanging light fixture that this is a dining room,” she added, motioning to the large room to their left.
After peering around the rest of the first floor, Rilynne climbed the stairs to see what the second level held. It wasn’t nearly as put together as the first. Half of the walls were no more than studs, and the room in the back corner didn’t even have a floor. “Looks like we’ll be staying downstairs,” she said, stepping through a wall. She tried to count the rooms, but without finished walls, it was just t
oo difficult. With one last look around, she carefully made her way back down the stairs.
“How’d you even know about this place?” she asked, running her fingers along the wall as she walked back to the living room. “Do you know the owner?”
“In a way,” he said tersely. She shot him a curious gaze but he just looked away. “From what I understand, the owner ran into a bit of personal trouble and had halted completion until everything is squared away.”
“Well, apparently I’m not the only one who’s dealing with personal drama,” she said. She walked to the center of the empty living room and sat down. “Is it wrong of me to hope his troubles last a little longer so we don’t have to go searching for another place to stay?”
Ben rolled his eyes and gently shook his head. “A little bit, yeah.” Rilynne shrugged and offered him a playful grin. “Why don’t you start looking over the files,” he said, tossing them to her. “That way we at least have the possibility of going home before we’re too old to run any longer.”
She pulled her feet up under her and opened the files up on the floor. Matthews really had included everything. In addition to the photographs and reports from Teich’s scene, there were also details about close to two dozen people she had encountered on previous cases that they had yet to be able to rule out.
“Who’s this?” Ben asked, pulling a picture of a woman out. She looked to be in her early forties, with dark, wavy hair. Her eyes, though a bright, beautiful shade of green, seemed to be holding something just behind them. “Jennifer Rose,” he read off the back. “She’s the woman who came forward as a witness.”
Rilynne took the photo and looked at it more closely. “She doesn’t really look crazy,” she said. “Well, except maybe for the eyes.” She had half expected her to resemble one of those people she would see talking to themselves on the street corner. Instead, she looked more like a soccer mom.
“She’s pretty,” Ben said as he glanced again at it.