by Lisa Ladew
West’s heart ached for her. He couldn’t imagine the strain she was under. He swore again to himself that he would keep her safe, no matter what. He already knew that this killer wasn’t just trying to scare them. If the man got them in a compromising position again, there would be no second chance, no way to save themselves. West vowed to himself to strike back just as hard, if he got the opportunity. Maybe he could end this, once and for all. His thoughts turned to Katerina’s gun, and he wondered where in the apartment it might be. Maybe one of them should carry it from now on.
A shriek from the one bedroom interrupted his musing. He raced down the hallway, muscles tensing for a fight. But when he got to the bedroom, he found her alone, sitting up in the middle of the bed, her eyes blank and staring.
He grasped her upper arms and spoke softly to her. “Katerina, it’s a bad dream, wake up.”
She flinched and tried to pull away from him. Gently, he pulled her closer. “Katerina, wake up, baby.” He balked at the endearment; it had just slipped out.
Katerina’s eyes fluttered and this time she really saw him. She collapsed into him, breathing hard and trembling. He stroked her hair until he felt her body relax.
“Don’t leave me,” Katerina whispered. “Please? Stay with me?”
“I’ll stay, I’ll be right here,” West murmured, lowering her back onto her pillow. He kicked off his shoes and scooted close to her, folding her body into his. He could feel her warmth and softness even through his pants and shirt. She reached behind her and found his arm, pulling it over her body, twining her fingers in his. Her hair tickled his face and he smelled the clean, vanilla scent of it.
His body responded to the feel of her in his arms immediately, and he cursed it, pulling back slightly so she wouldn’t feel him growing hard against her back. She wriggled backwards until their bodies touched seamlessly again. West held his breath, waiting for her to pull away, or perhaps jump off the bed in disgust. After a few moments though, he realized she was asleep again.
He berated himself, cursing the male anatomy that would respond sexually even in the middle of a burning building. But the feel of warm, soft woman in his arms distracted him quickly. He lay behind her, listening to her long, even breaths and smelling her hair, and silently said a little prayer of thanks that he could be here for her. That she hadn’t rejected him. His mind turned to thoughts of Stephanie - of the last time he had held her. He said goodbye to her one more time and let her go. He would always love her and miss her, but he knew now that her memory was finally at rest in his heart.
***
West slept only lightly. Katerina lay limp and trusting in his arms, finally sleeping well and deeply. His thoughts, and the desire to be awake to protect her, wouldn’t let him sleep. They were supposed to work tomorrow but he didn’t know if they should go. He also didn’t know if he would be able to talk her out of it. His mind spun webs of possibilities of ways that the killer could get her at work. The idea that played front and center in his mind was a fake 911 call, calling them to an abandoned building somewhere. They walk inside and both get shot immediately, like the man had tried to shoot them as they left the forest today. He knew this was unlikely. The killer would have to have knowledge of how ambulance calls were dispatched and know what area of the city Katerina and West were assigned to. Even though it was unlikely, he still couldn’t shake the feeling that it was possible.
Even in West’s dreams, he found himself imagining the scenario over and over again. After one particularly bloody dream, he woke up swiftly, his heart beating wildly. He looked at the clock. 3:14 a.m. Both of his arms were asleep. As quietly as he could he pulled his bottom arm out from underneath Katerina and massaged it, rolling onto his back. A dull noise sounded from the living room and West realized quickly that he had been woken up by a noise just like it a moment ago. He held his breath and listened hard. Inky darkness filled the room; he couldn’t see anything past the end of the bed.
He was just about to swing his legs out of the bed and walk down the hallway to investigate, when he heard a soft footstep a few feet away. West’s heart leapt in his chest. There was someone in the room! Every muscle tensed and tried to push him out of the bed, but he forced himself to lie still and let his eyes fall most of the way closed. The only advantage he had was if the intruder thought he was asleep.
Under his lashes, West saw a dark shape approach the bed. His heart slammed against his chest and he wondered if the speed and strength of his heartbeat in his neck was visible to the person coming towards him.
The intruder took another step so he was only a foot away from West. Something cold and hard pressed against West’s temple.
Now! West reacted, launching himself at the man. His hands flew to the gun and he wrenched it upwards as hard and as fast as he could. The intruder swore and West struck out with his knee, trying to connect with anything soft and yielding. The intruder swore again and grunted. West finally succeeded in ripping the gun out of his hands but it flew through the air and clattered to the floor. Go for the gun? Or fight?
The intruder dropped to the floor, his hand scrabbling for the gun. West moved to dive on top of him, but he stepped on something hard. The gun! He kicked it under the bed, then thrust a knee into the intruder’s back, his hands scrabbling to find anything to twist and rip and punch. “Katerina!” he yelled. “He’s here! Get the gun!”
At these words, the intruder lurched out from underneath West and ran for the door. West followed, his stocking feet slapping on the wooden floor. Mere seconds ago he had been sleeping, but now he was racing down the hallway, intent on capturing this man. Hot blood pounded in his face. Capture? Certainly. Disable? Absolutely. Kill with his bare hands? If he had to. West wasn’t a street fighter, but he’d wrestled in high school, taken several self-defense classes since becoming a paramedic, and even a few karate classes with Blaise. He felt angry enough to kill this person who had broken into Katerina’s home. Violated her sanctuary. Killed three women. Put a gun to his own head.
At the end of the hallway the intruder turned right quickly, and was out the front door before West could get there. He heard Katerina yelling from behind him but he didn’t stop. He ripped the door open and launched himself through it, looking right then left. There! The man was sprinting down the stairs closest to Katerina’s door. He moved fast for such a large man. He was tall, as tall as West himself, but had a bit of a gut. He wore a hoodie and gloves, so West couldn’t even see his skin color. West chased him down the stairs, ignoring the pain from the rough concrete steps on his stockinged feet.
The man reached the bottom of the steps and disappeared. West pushed himself faster, craning his head, trying to see where the man had gone. West jumped the last three steps and turned towards the building. He caught a glimpse of movement between the two apartment buildings. West ran that way but forced himself to stop before he got to the corridor. It was pitch dark in there and West couldn’t see a thing. The man could be waiting for him with a knife or another weapon. West didn’t even have shoes on. He was livid and pumped for a fight, but he wasn’t stupid.
West stared into the darkness, willing his eyes to see anything. Above him, he heard Katerina yelling, something about a man in her bedroom. She must have called 911. Good. A flash of movement at the far side of the corridor caught his eye. The man had just run out. West dashed into the corridor, then out the other end. A large, open lawn butted up against this side of the building. A glance told him it was empty. West looked right, then left, but saw no one. He thought the man had gone right, so he ran that way, past the end of the second apartment building, all the way into the parking lot. He still saw no one. He walked between the cars, his head swiveling right and left, looking for anyone crouched between two cars or hiding in a back seat.
West paced the rows, his sense of frustration deepening. He walked farther into the parking lot and finally abandoned it altogether, running aimlessly down the sidewalk in his socks. Finally, with a roar of
frustration, he gave up the search and turned back towards Katerina’s apartment.
Just as he reached the bottom of the stairs, two police cars swerved into the parking lot, officers spilling out of them and running towards him. One had his gun drawn. West put his hands up and Katerina pounded down the stairs, her hands open in front of her.
“He’s with me! He’s not the one!”
As the cop closest to him relaxed slightly, West pointed in the direction he had come from. “I chased him that way, but I didn’t see where he went.”
“How long ago and what did he look like?” the closest officer asked.
“Just a few minutes ago, and he was tall, my height, wearing a gray hoodie and black gloves.”
“You folks go back into your apartment, we will see what we can find,” the officer said.
West and Katerina retreated slowly into the apartment. They watched from the doorway as the officers spread out and began the search.
West felt Katerina draw close to him. He looked down at her to gauge her emotional reaction. She looked stricken, but not falling apart. Her fingers crept around his waist. “You saved my life,” she whispered.
West couldn’t think of anything to say to that, and he didn’t want to agree with her, didn’t want her to think about how near of a thing it had really been, so he stayed silent. He pulled her close to him and allowed her presence to calm him.
More cop cars pulled into the parking lot. West wished Blaise were here, but he knew Blaise was home sleeping. He wondered how early was too early to wake him up.
“The gun. What did you do with the gun?” He asked Katerina.
“My gun?”
“No, the guy, he had a gun. I kicked it under the bed.”
Katerina grimaced. “It must still be there.”
They retreated to the bedroom and, kneeling on the floor, West pulled the gun out with a hanger. He placed it gently on the nightstand.
“He was going to shoot us.” Katerina said, her face white and drawn.
Again, West couldn’t think of a satisfactory reply, so he stayed silent.
A knock on the door startled both of them. “Police,” a man’s voice called.
“Let me check it,” West said and walked to the door. After looking out the peephole, he opened the door wide and invited the officer in.
The officer pulled his notebook out of his pocket. “They are still looking, but so far we haven’t found any sign of your intruder,” the officer said. West looked at his chest and saw his name was Bruegger.
“Thank you officer Bruegger, his gun is in the back bedroom. I knocked it out of his hand and he left it here.”
The officers face showed interest at this statement. “Take me to it, and then I’ll need to hear exactly what happened. You two were extremely lucky tonight.”
Chapter 22
Katerina listened to West and the officer talk. She was glad West was here for several reasons. She was glad that he was here to do most of the talking for her – he seemed to have endless energy, while she felt more tired with every police officer she had to talk to. But most of all, she had no doubt in her mind that she would not have survived the attack if West had not been with her, in her bed. Her tired mind wanted to remember the delicious sensation of him climbing into bed with her when she asked him to, but something else was nagging at her.
She interrupted the officer. “How did he get in my apartment?”
The officer looked at her intently. “Your door was locked?”
“Yes, of course.”
Officer Bruegger walked to her front door and examined the locks. “I don’t see any signs of damage here, so either he picked the locks, or he bumped them.”
“Bumped them?”
“It’s a technique to get into most locks using a generic key, called a bump key. Then you hit it with a hammer or screwdriver, and the lock opens right up.”
Katerina shivered. Was it really that easy?
“I heard a noise,” West said. “That’s what woke me up.”
The officer nodded. “Bumping a lock is noisy.”
“We’re done here,” the officer said. “I’ll have Detective Gagne get in touch with you as soon as possible.”
A voice from behind him said, “Gagne sent me. I’m here.”
The officer stepped back and Katerina saw Blaise behind him. His uniform looked rumpled and he had large black bags under his eyes.
“Blaise,” West said. “Good to see you, man, but you are looking tired.”
“I’ve been up all night. We’ve had a new development and Detective Gagne wanted me to talk to you before I finally headed home. I see you had some excitement over here.”
Officer Bruegger said his goodbyes and disappeared down the stairs. Katerina invited Blaise into the apartment.
Blaise sat down on the couch and his weariness was apparent. He started talking immediately. “We linked two more bodies to this killer. They are a bit different than the first two bodies but we think they are connected.”
Katerina sank into a chair across from Blaise. Two more bodies? What a nightmare.
“They’re different?” West asked.
Blaise pulled his notebook from his pocket and rifled through it until he found the page he wanted. “Yes, first difference, these bodies were found in Westwood Harbor, both in abandoned buildings. Second, neither of the women were raped. But there are two reasons we think they are connected. A paralytic was used - a different paralytic than the one found in the bodies in Tetam County, but it’s very similar. It’s called neosaxitoxin and it comes from shellfish, just like the other one. And second, the bodies were washed, just like the other ones.”
“When were they found?” Katerina said.
“One was found five weeks ago, and the other one was found three weeks ago. It looks like both of the bodies sat for at least a week first.”
“So you guys already knew about the paralytic?”
“Not exactly. The cases were cold. We don’t even know who the women are. Our medical examiner said that he got the idea to look for the paralytic in them when the medical examiner in Tetam County sent over samples of what they had found.”
“Don’t they look for that kind of stuff anyway?” Katerina asked.
“They run a toxicology screen, but I don’t know if a paralytic would normally show up. I’ve been trying to ask the medical examiner that myself, but I always get his assistant, and his assistant hasn’t been very helpful. Detective Gagne says he’s going to track down the medical examiner today.”
Blaise closed his notebook. “Look, I know that doesn’t help you guys at all, I just thought you would want to know. I guess the real reason I came over here was because I heard about your intruder. And to tell you that I don’t think you should go to work today.” He looked pointedly at West. “It just seems that this guy is getting desperate, and he’s already dangerous. Desperate and dangerous is a bad combination. He might do anything.”
“I think you’re right,” West said, looking down.
As much as Katerina didn’t want to admit it, they probably were right. Maybe she should just stay holed up at home until this guy was caught.
“I’ll stay here Blaise, if you can tell me how to keep my lock from being bumped again.”
A ghost of a smile crossed Blaise’s face. “Sure, if you’re going to be home, you can guarantee nobody will get in your door by using a portable door lock or a security bar. Go to a hardware store and ask for one of those. I recommend a portable door lock.”
I’ll get both, Katerina thought.
Blaise stood up to go, but West had one more question to ask. “Blaise, do you think there would be any way for us to look at those bodies?”
Katerina’s gaze snapped to West.
“Sure, I could set that up, but why?”
West looked at Katerina, and stayed silent.
Katerina dropped her head to her hands. “He thinks I should touch them.”
Blaise didn’t say
anything for a few moments. He seemed to be considering and then rejecting several comments. Finally he spoke. “Do you think you could find anything out if you did that? Like the killer’s name?”
Katerina barked a harsh laugh. “Wouldn’t that be great? I could just hand him to you on a silver platter. His name is Robert Smith and he lives at 123 Fourth St. Go arrest him.”
Blaise blinked, not sure what to say to that.
“Sorry,” Katerina said. “I have no idea if I could get anything off of them. But I guess I have to try, don’t I?”
“No Katerina,” West said. “You don’t have to try. But if you want to, I’ll be there with you.”
Katerina hesitated only a second. She couldn’t take anymore of this. “I want to do it.”
Blaise glanced at the clock on the wall. 8:12 a.m. “Okay, hang on a second,” he said. He took his phone out of his pocket and walked outside.
“I wouldn’t have suggested it if I didn’t think we were running out of options,” West said.
Katerina nodded wearily. She knew that. It was a good idea. She had to try it. She just wasn’t looking forward to it.
Blaise came back in the room. “The assistant medical examiner says he will meet you at the old morgue in an hour.”
“The one on Fern Street?” West asked. “Why there?”
Blaise shrugged. “That’s where the bodies go when they have too many. I guess they’ve been busy.”
West nodded and looked to Katerina. “Is an hour okay?”
Katerina nodded, fear filling her chest. She didn’t want to do this, but she didn’t feel like she had a choice.
“Want me to go with you?” Blaise asked.
West shook his head. “You go home and get some sleep. We’ll be fine.”
Blaise looked relieved. “Okay, I’ll check in with you as soon as I get a few hours.”
West shook his hand and Katerina thanked him. West showed him out and then returned to Katerina.
“Let’s get some breakfast, and then we can head over.”
Katerina went to the kitchen and started some eggs for both of them, trying not to think about what she was about to do.