“Zac, I don’t know what you’re saying. This isn’t making any sense.”
“It turns out that Matt Beabe not only has a long history of violence, but he was also living in the area where Melissa lived.”
“That’s just a coincidence,” I stammered. “I’m not trying to defend him, but Matt is just a stalker. Right?” I couldn’t let myself believe he was anything else.
“He killed your cat. Isn’t that what you said?”
I looked up at Zac as we walked to his car. He drove a plain black Nissan that was utterly forgettable and totally invisible.
“Yes,” I whispered. Suddenly I felt light-headed. I stopped and the entire street tilted like those old episodes of Batman with Adam West. I reached out to Zac, who quickly slipped his arm around me.
I fought away the urge to faint. Focusing on Zac’s worried face brought me back, and I took a few deep breaths. I will admit it felt good to sit down in the passenger seat and let him drive.
“Maybe I’m wrong, Katy.” He tried to sound comforting. “I might be barking up the wrong tree. But I have to check it out. And I can’t do that if I’m worried about you. So, Nate has a house just outside West Linn. You’ll be safer there than at my apartment. He obviously knows we were together.”
My gut flipped. I hadn’t even thought of that. The sight of my apartment was enough to make my brain shut down. But it was true. In Matt’s head, I was his. I “cheated” on him. So he must have heard me in Zac’s apartment. What was he doing while he listened outside Zac’s door? He was that close to us. There was nothing but a couple of locks and a fake wooden door between him and me and I was naked. The urge to vomit was slowly creeping up on me.
“I think I’m going to be sick.” I flubbed the words and held my gut. Zac quickly handed me a plastic bag that I wretched into. There was nothing in my stomach. Nothing but coffee and bile, and all of it burned my throat.
“It’s okay, Katy. Settle down.” He pulled a bottle of water from underneath his seat. I took it and downed three big gulps.
“You must have been a Boy Scout. You sure are prepared,” I grumbled.
“I’ve been on a couple stakeouts. You learn to keep certain things in your car when you have to sit for several hours at a time.”
“Would you tell me about that?” I sank back into the seat after Zac threw the plastic bag away for me. “Tell me about one of your stakeouts. Anything to get my mind off what’s happening.”
Zac smiled and kissed my forehead. Before he could say once upon a time, we were cruising down the interstate in a direction I didn’t know to a place I’d never been.
While I listened to his stories, I looked around the inside of the car. It had a radio in it that was continually buzzing and snapping. Voices came through it, and every once in a while Zac turned it up to listen. Then he’d lower the volume again and continue talking. I think he liked having someone different to brag to. His life was like a movie, and now here he was rescuing a true damsel in distress. I hated saying that even to myself. But it was true. I didn’t know how to fight or defend myself. Hell, if Matt showed up right now, I’d probably freeze in my tracks and that would be it for me. Lights out.
It was so stupid how the movies made it look like women could fight harder and tougher than men. Plus, they all seemed to enjoy it. I hated killing a spider because the odds were so overwhelmingly in my favor. But spiders freaked me out. I didn’t squash one and grin and come away with some snappy quip like I’d conquered my fear and was now Xena, Warrior Princess. I hopped around shaking my hands and screaming at a level so high only dogs could hear it. That was just from killing a spider. To hurt another person, even one I had grown to hate—I just couldn’t do it.
“You could if you had to,” my gut said. “If it came down to him or you, you could.”
Isn’t that what everyone says? It makes them feel better to think if it came right down to it, then yes, they’d be the hero, the survivor, the victor. But what if Matt Beabe was telling himself the same thing? Then what? Just because I was the good guy didn’t mean I’d win.
The cold reality sent shivers through my body. My head began to pound with a stress headache. I wanted was to go to sleep. But the thought of closing my eyes terrified me as much as keeping them open and seeing Matt standing there in front of me.
Zac’s phone snapped me out of my daydream.
“Smith here,” he answered. I could hear another male voice come through, but I couldn’t make out what he was saying.
“Yeah. Okay.”
Was it about me? Was it about Matt? Did something happen?
“That sounds good, Nate. I’ll meet you back at my place in about an hour. Are the uniforms there now?” He nodded. “We know for sure there are some bodily fluids. I’d dust for fingerprints primarily on the door and the broken dishes.”
The police were going to my apartment. They were going to see everything. They were going to see my things all cut up and the foul thing he left in my underpants. They’d see I was sleeping on the floor and that most of my clothes had not been hung up and there was barely any food in the kitchen. I was no better off than a bag lady.
“Thanks, Nate. I’ll call when I’m on my way.”
Before I could ask what was happening, Zac rolled down his window, pulled a red light from beneath his seat, and slapped it on the roof. Then he flipped a button and a siren cut through the air, making every driver in front of us pull over as we zoomed past.
“There was DNA at Melissa’s crime scene. There was never a match up until now.”
“You’re kidding me. Matt’s DNA matches her killer’s?”
“I don’t know yet. Nate is almost at your apartment. He’s calling in a few favors with the guys in forensics to do what they can to get the samples tested right away.”
“You’ll have to tell Nate thank you for me.”
“What are you talking about?” Zac smiled. I wondered how he could smile under these gross, heavy circumstances. But his smile made me smile a little. “You can tell him yourself. What do you think? I’m not going to show off my girlfriend to my best bud and watch him turn green with envy?”
“I don’t think I’m all that special. In fact,” I sighed, “I feel like a big burden.”
“Are you kidding? Do you know how hard it is for me to find a woman who understands what kind of people I have to deal with? You are the only one.”
“I don’t get it.” He wasn’t making any sense.
“Let’s face it. My job is an ugly job. Most of the time I see the absolute worst in humanity, right?”
“Right.”
“But now I’m with a woman who has faced that same horror. Only she doesn’t have a badge or a weapon or training. Yet, here she is standing at my side. Ready to help. Ready to fight.”
“I’m not, Zac.” I started to blubber all over. “I’m not a fighter. I can’t defend myself. My boss offered me her gun, and I couldn’t even take it. That little .22 bullet could have meant the difference between life and death, and I chickened out.” I wiped my nose with the hem of my T-shirt. Actually, it was Zac’s Bears T-shirt. “I’m not the player you want on your team.”
Zac chuckled. I didn’t know what was so funny.
“No, Katy. You don’t understand. I do the heavy lifting. Then, when we have this SOB in custody, you’ll step in and tell your story and the guy will be locked up for a good long while, whether he is responsible for Melissa or not. You’ll get the chance to look him in the face. You. A regular woman without a police uniform. It will be you that finally stops him.”
“I think you’re trying to make me feel better.”
“Is it working? The truth usually does.”
“A little.” I blushed. Zac took my hand and brought it to his lips. I took a deep breath and looked out the window. I was going to be safe at Nathan’s place. If Zac said I was, I trusted him.
Chapter Eighteen
Zac
“Nathan’s house is a lot n
icer than my apartment. It was a rehab that he did himself. That’s one of his hobbies. He’s got the old-fashioned doorknobs and locks with skeleton keys and the original stained glass windows in the attic,” I said as I pulled into the driveway. Nate’s house was pretty cool. He had nice flowers growing in a pot by the front door. There was a set of wind chimes hanging from the gutter. “Everyone knows him around here, too. Who doesn’t like to have a cop living on their block, right?”
Katy looked around suspiciously. But when she didn’t see any cars driving by or strangers walking down the street, I saw her exhale and hurriedly grab her things and head toward the door.
The spare key was right where it always was, buried in a pill bottle underneath a bunny in a police uniform in one of his planters. There was a gnome in a police uniform, a bulldog in a police uniform, and a frog in a police uniform also scattered around the front porch. An American flag waved proudly from the porch.
Quickly, I unlocked the front door and scooted Katy inside.
“It smells good in here,” she noticed.
“Sometimes Nate smokes a pipe.” I locked the door behind me. Room by room I checked all the locks on the windows and pulled the blinds and curtains down. When I was finished with that, I checked the back door and the garage.
“You’re leaving?” Katy looked up at me, clutching her bag.
“Just for a little while. You’re safe. This place is locked up like Fort Knox. Nate said to make yourself at home. As soon as I learn something, I’ll call you and let you know.”
“What if I need you?” she muttered.
“I’ll be back in a few hours. I promise to have good news.”
She smiled.
“Did I tell you how good you look in my T-shirt? Even with those sweatpants that cover everything up. That’s something we are going to have a serious talk about.”
She tilted her head to the right.
“You really do wear too many clothes.”
I laughed as Katy did.
“I don’t think you should be thinking about that right now.” She shook her head.
“I’m sorry. I know things are stressful and you’re nervous. But I can’t help that I keep thinking about last night.” I wasn’t lying. As serious as this situation was, I couldn’t help thinking about the way she moved on top of me.
“Zac, you need to stop.” She blushed madly. It was adorable.
“You mean you haven’t thought about it?” I slipped my arms around her.
“Well, not every second but…”
“Why not?”
She laughed again as her cheeks blazed.
“Okay, I have to go. Sadly,” I said. “But I’ll call you in a few hours and let you know what’s happening. In the meantime, relax.”
She didn’t argue with me. When I stepped outside, I looked around again. There was just one of the neighbors outside with a hose, watering some bushes.
“Lock the door behind me,” I ordered, then pulled the heavy door shut. She did as she was told, and I heard the three dead bolts snap into place after the security chain was hooked.
I climbed into my car and pulled out of the driveway quickly.
Nate found out that Matt Beabe had also been in jail for the brutal rape of a twenty-year-old woman. I couldn’t tell Katy this. She was freaked-out enough. But due to the victim’s checkered past, he was given a very light sentence. Three years with probation. He had skipped his last two meetings with his probation officer. The missed schedules coincided with Katy’s move from Portland to West Linn.
Just as I was about to hop on the expressway heading back to the apartment, I saw traffic was jammed up. I radioed dispatch and found out a semi jackknifed at the Roosevelt Road and I-80 junction, causing a backup. I’d be delayed.
“Don’t wait for me, Nate. Tell the guys to do their thing. I’ll be there ASAP.”
“Got it, Zac. How’s your friend?”
“Nervous. Angry. But hot as hell nonetheless.”
“You’re always the gentleman, Zac. I can say that.”
“Nope. You’ve got it wrong this time, Nate. She’s the one. Miss Right.”
“Miss Right Now or the Miss Right?”
“I know. I can’t believe I’m saying it myself, but she is Miss Right. Forsake all others, sickness and health, all that jazz. I’m in.”
“Well, I’ll be damned.”
“You’ll see what I mean when you meet her, Nate. She’s amazing.”
The thought of mentioning Katy was a virgin when we met had crossed my mind, but I didn’t say anything. That was a secret. Like finding a treasure. It was my treasure to keep forever.
“Well, people meet under the strangest of circumstances, don’t they?” Nate added.
“That just means there’s hope for you, brother. Who knows? Maybe on one of those surveillance jobs, you’ll spot your one true love.”
“I’m not going to hold my breath. But thanks for the encouragement. There’s nothing quite like having a friend in love when you have no one.”
“Don’t be hatin’, Nate,” I teased. “Okay, I’ll be there as fast as I can.”
I never made it back to the apartment.
Chapter Nineteen
Katy
Zac left me feeling warm and tingly on the inside. I wished there would have been some way to make him stay, but he was obviously a good cop. I thought of the way he talked about Melissa Tanney like she were still alive and was a friend of his and not just the victim of an unsolved murder.
I walked through Nathan’s house. I wondered who helped him decorate. If he did it himself, he had very good taste. There wasn’t a lot of furniture, but what he did have was unique.
My head was throbbing, so I went to the bathroom for some aspirin. I was sure a police officer would have some extra strength something or other in his medicine cabinet.
No aspirin, but I found a prescription bottle of Vicodin. The dosage was pretty low, so I took one. Within a few minutes, my headache was gone and I felt warm and calm. It wasn’t like I was flying high or anything. I just felt relaxed.
So relaxed I decided to lie down for a while.
All this trouble Zac was going through for me made my heart ache. What was happening between us? We barely knew each other.
But if you want to know about someone, see how they act in a crisis, right? my brain responded logically. If that were true, Zac was a keeper for sure. But you don’t want to think about how he is acting now. You want to think about how he acted last night.
I was caught. My own thoughts betrayed me. It was true. Maybe it was the Vicoden. Maybe it was being in a strange place away from the danger. But that was what I wanted to do. I stretched out on the bed and let all my muscles sink into the mattress.
I closed my eyes and pictured Zac as he was last night. His body was perfect and fit me so tightly, so firmly that it was as if we were made for each other.
It didn’t take long for me to feel uncomfortably hot. Without hesitation, I pulled off my shoes, socks, and sweatpants. My body was tingling as I thought about how Zac nestled between my legs. The memory made me spread my legs on the bed without even realizing I was doing it. I pulled my T-shirt up over my breasts, imagining Zac was watching me. The feeling of the fabric against my tits made me feel deliciously naughty. I slipped my hand beneath my panties and instantly began to grind my hips like I had last night.
I didn’t see anything but Zac. He filled my mind and made my body ache to be conquered again. That was what he did. He conquered me. He took control and made me feel wave after wave of pleasure until I surrendered completely to him.
“Oh, yes,” I panted. I teased my pussy slowly like Zac did with his tongue last night. He buried his face between my legs until I was sure I was going to die from too many orgasms. But just when I thought I couldn’t have another, he’d slowly start on me again, gently kissing my mound. Then he’d delicately lick it, nuzzling between my petals, letting his hot breath lure me out. I spread my legs ev
en farther as I recalled his technique.
Tugging playfully on my nipple with one hand, I began to work my pussy harder with the other. Zac wouldn’t stop no matter how much I begged to catch my breath. I couldn’t stop now. I was under his spell and loving it.
The tension was building inside me. With every grinding movement of my hips, every flick of my clit, I was getting more tightly wound. Finally, I slipped my fingers deep inside and found my bud. The center of all my pleasure. I feverishly massaged it back and forth, rocking my hips and arching my back.
I wanted Zac so badly. I didn’t want to stop this feeling. I knew I was going to pleasure myself all afternoon until he came to get me. Then, I was going to seduce him and make him fuck me here. The thought of that set me off. I popped over and over in wave after wave of pleasure.
I loved the feeling of having my legs splayed for Zac to see what I was doing. But I wouldn’t want him to watch for long. I want him to take me and fill me up with his love, working me without mercy.
Just as I opened my eyes to admire my body, I saw the movement at the window. Nathan’s bedroom windows didn’t have blinds, just a curtain pulled partially closed. Not all the way. There was enough of the window open for me to see his face. It was Matt! He was watching me!
Without thinking, I scrambled off the bed and ran from the room to the hallway. I had never felt a humiliation like this before. It fell on me like a dirty, discarded blanket. He saw what I had been doing and probably thought it was for him. In his sick mind that was the green light for him to do what he wanted to me.
“The phone.” I realized I left my cell phone at home. As quickly and as silently as possible, I ran through Nathan’s house looking for a landline, but he didn’t have one. That was when I heard the glass breaking. I couldn’t tell where it came from.
I was only in a T-shirt and my panties. I couldn’t run outside like this, could I? As quietly as possible, I slowly walked toward the front door. My breath hid in my chest, terrified to come out.
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