My Twin Flame

by C C Simeon

  Warren stood still, his eyes darting around at the desks of the detectives around him. Hayden narrowed her eyes at him. “Are you afraid of a dead person, Mr. Medical Examiner?”

  Warren shook his head. “To be honest, living people are scarier than the dead. And the Butcher is very much alive. What if it is him?”

  “Then we have more clues to follow,” Hayden said as she walked back to Warren.

  “And if it isn’t?”

  “Then we’re back at square one, but with the knowledge that he hasn’t killed anyone else yet.”

  “Emphasis on yet,” he said with a sigh.

  Hayden rolled her eyes. “Come on, man up. It’s just a human being. How dangerous can he be?”

  One look at Warren told Hayden that he knew exactly what she was thinking. She didn’t believe her own fantasy. This was the most dangerous being that Hayden had to deal with. He had the ability to disappear into the shadows, and no one saw anything. He murdered people and left no clues. This was a person that everyone passed on the streets and didn’t look twice at, a normal person with a twisted head.

  That was always the worst combination. Those were the people you never expected.

  “What are we waiting for, then?” Warren asked, motioning for Hayden to lead the way. She narrowed her eyes at him. Now he was hurrying her along when he was the one who was afraid of seeing the body in the first place?

  Hayden turned around and led Warren to her car. “Should you even be driving?”

  “Should you even be talking right now?”

  “Fair enough.”

  They got into the car and Hayden put the location into the GPS, waiting for it to find the fastest route. The two of them sat in silence until the navigation system finally announced their next turn was.

  Hayden’s stomach turned. She didn’t know what she was expecting to find, but she hoped it gave her a clue. Even the smallest one would be better than what she had now.

  Chapter 22: The Corpse

  “What the hell?” Warren swore as he looked out at the scene in front of them, horrified by the mangled corpse.

  It wasn’t a public setting like the others were; this time, it was in a warehouse downtown. It looked as if it was where the torture had taken place, where the victim had begged for his life and lost it anyway. Hayden assumed that it was a man by the bone structure, but it was hard to say. The face was completely mutilated and there was nothing but blood surrounding the remaining features. Hayden had to fight the urge to throw up. She has never seen anything like this. What sort of sicko did something like this? What kind of maniac could do this to a person? This was beyond anything the butcher had done in the past, and yet it still had his signature.

  The corpse was displayed upside down, on the ground, belly facing the floor. His neck was broken, which explained the odd angle. By the looks of it, every other bone in the body was broken, as well. The corpse’s legs from the knees down faced upward, flat against the concrete floor. His legs created a perfect V. His arms were displayed similarly, but elbow down facing downward instead of up. Each of his limbs was in a perfect V, and the rest was just mangled. What had once been a person now looked like roadkill.

  Warren stepped forward, handing Hayden a pair of latex gloves before putting on his own pair. He knelt by the corpse, cringing when he lifted the shirt slightly. Hayden knew what he was looking for—stab wounds. The stab wounds that would have tied him to the other victims. Hayden knelt down next to him, the gloves uncomfortable. She wasn’t used to getting this close. Warren looked at her to see if she saw what he was seeing. She nodded.

  Multiple stab wounds were all over his back, sides, and seemed to stretch around to his stomach.

  “Just like the rest,” Hayden mumbled, shaking her head. She didn’t know if she was glad there was a new victim to give her more clues, or sorry that there was a new victim period. She settled on a bit of both. “But what made this one so different? Why is this one so mutilated?”

  Warren moved over to the victim’s hands and pointed. “See his nails?”

  “Yeah?”

  “They’re all broken and bloody. He fought back,” Warren said simply. Amelia frowned.

  “Surely the others did as well,” Hayden said. What made this fight different?

  “Hayden, have you seen the size of this guy? He’s over six feet tall. See there where the skin is missing? Those are muscles. Big muscles. That’s probably why the body wasn’t moved, either. This guy is an absolute unit. Or was, for that matter. A lot of good that did him.” Warren shook his head.

  Hayden got up when she saw the muscle, tasting bile in the back of her throat. She cringed at the sudden movement, her ribs giving a jolt of pain, but she managed to hide it. No one seemed to notice, and if they did, they didn’t say anything. Wise moves.

  Now that she had taken a step back to look at the corpse, she saw what Warren was saying. The artistic pose he was in made it hard to tell the size of him, but now that she’d seen it, she couldn’t un-see it. He still wore one trainer. His other foot didn’t have skin on the sole. He had probably been leaving the gym. At first, it had been hard to see the ripped lines of his shoulders, but now she saw just how massive this guy was.

  “A normal person wouldn’t have been able to do this. He must be at least this guy’s size,” Hayden said.

  Warren shrugged. “That, or this guy has major anger issues. I think that’s the better bet. Some of these wounds aren’t as deep as they would have been if someone with this kind of muscle mass attacked someone. Your best bet is to look into anger management groups.”

  “Yes, because a guy in anger management is going to do this.” Hayden rolled her eyes.

  “Have you heard the nonsense they talk over there? I would kill someone, too, if I had to listen to all of that in one sitting.” Hayden laughed and Warren went back to examining the body.

  He frowned, then frowned more. Hayden didn’t think it was possible. “What the hell?”

  “What?” Hayden said as she knelt down again.

  “There.” Warren pointed toward a bone in the man’s shoulder.

  “You’re showing me a wound where the knife hit bone?”

  Warren clicked his tongue. “Look closer, smartass. He didn't hit his bone by accident. The gash is too long. This was intentional.”

  “We’ve already established that the guy is a maniac, Warren.”

  Warren sighed and pulled a small flashlight from his back pocket. “Spread the skin.”

  “What?”

  “With your index fingers, spread the skin. I want to see the bone.”

  If Hayden could have turned green with sickness, she would have. She held her breath, as if that was going to stop the nausea from coming. The skin was soft, and she felt the blood soak her gloves. It was the most horrifying thing she had ever done in her entire life. Warren leaned forward, shining that flashlight inside the wound. Despite herself, Hayden leaned over, as well.

  “There’s supposed to be much more blood here, Hayden. Much, much more. The bone is clean.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “That means that the blood has been cleaned away. Oh, my God. Hayden, look at this.”

  Hayden frowned, leaning in more to see what he was seeing. She gulped. There were numbers carved into his bones—numbers that wouldn’t have made sense for anyone other than Hayden.

  0605

  The fifth of June… The day Hunter had gotten into the car crash with his brother.

  The day his brother, Hilton, had died.

  Chapter 23: It’s a Date

  Hunter sat at his desk, his mind in a million places all at once, torn in two.

  The project he and Amelia were working on was on his desk for a final review, but he was too distracted to think about that. He was way too distracted by the asshole he was being. That was what he was, wasn’t it? An asshole. He was a complete piece of garbage that didn’t deserve Amelia or Hayden. Especially not Hayden, who was willing to qu
it her job to have what they’d had the last week. How could he have cheated on her? How could he have slept with another woman? The answer was simple…

  The other woman was Amelia.

  Hayden and Hunter had been friends forever, even before the accident. She had always been around, and the three of them had loved spending time together—Hayden, Hunter, and Hilton. Hunter was always jealous of Hilton, who was more involved with her, who got all of her attention. It made him furious, but at least she was still around. They could still hang out together. That was enough for him. When Hilton died, Hunter and Hayden were all each other had left. After the accident, Hayden was all his, in some weird, twisted way. And he was happy to finally have her, even if he was her second choice.

  But now he understood why they weren’t together when Hilton was still alive. Hayden wasn’t meant to be with Hunter… She was meant to be with Hilton, and he was the consolation prize. It all made sense now. Hunter was always meant for Amelia. That was the connection between the two of them. Why he had never noticed it before was beyond him. Maybe because they’d never had the opportunity to connect. But now that they were connected, now that they had something going, Hunter couldn’t get Amelia off his mind and it was driving him insane. It was making him so, so angry. He didn’t want to be the cheating husband. He didn’t want to be the kind of man who cheated on his wife.

  But what would have been more unfair? To pretend to be madly in love with a person you haven’t felt a spark with in years, or to tell them the truth and let them hate you? Both were bad. Both were horrible, and he couldn’t even begin to think how he was going to handle it.

  One thing was for certain, though. He didn’t want Amelia to slip through his fingers. She was his fix. When he was at home with Hayden, he often found himself thinking about Amelia, only to look to his side and find Hayden there, instead. Instead of ginger locks, he found blonde, and instead of Amelia’s curves, he found Hayden’s strong, toned body. Hunter never thought of himself as a Chad who only went for looks, but when he had to put Hayden and Amelia side by side, there was no comparing the two. Amelia ticked every single box for him and Hayden… well. Hayden was the mother of his child, but Amelia was his soul mate.

  There was a knock on his door and when he looked up, he saw Amelia standing there, giving him a sideways smile. “You called for me?”

  “Close the door behind you,” he said, waving her in. “These walls are paper-thin. Who knows who might be lurking around the corner, waiting for new gossip?”

  Amelia giggled. “I know, right? The things Fran has told the rest of the office about what goes on in this office.” Amelia fanned herself. “It’s crazy!”

  Hunter narrowed his eyes at her, trying to figure out if she was lying. No, Amelia would never throw someone else under that bus like that. It was completely unlike her. So he decided to play along. “Fran hears what I want her to hear. Maybe I want news to get out about what goes on in this office. Maybe I was hoping to get you in here.”

  Amelia laughed. “There are better ways to get a girl into your office. You know, like a phone call?”

  Hunter shrugged. “Those are overrated. I prefer to be unique.”

  “Then you have succeeded.” Amelia nodded in approval.

  Grinning, Hunter said, “Are you free tonight? There’s a fair on the other side of the city that only comes once a year. I figured it could be a nice first date.”

  Amelia’s eyebrows shot up. “A date? As in romance?”

  I’ve seen you naked, Amelia,” Hunter pointed out with a laugh. “Yes, as in romance. You can’t sleep with me and not expect a date. I won’t take no for an answer. I am your boss. I can order you to do these things.”

  “Fine,” Amelia said with a great sigh. “I’ll cancel washing my hair. You’ll just have to deal with the smell. Birds are probably looking to lay eggs in it, though, so be warned.”

  Hunter looked at her wild, red curls. She reminded him of a Disney character in one of the movies Levi loved watching. It was wild and untamed. It really did seem as if birds might want to nest in it.

  Hunter shrugged. “That’s fine. At least we’ll have eggs for breakfast.”

  Amelia gasped but fought back a smile. “That is horrible and I hope that you are ashamed of yourself.”

  “Do you need to go home after work to check on your dogs?”

  She shook her head. “No, it’s okay. The neighbor lets the boys into her yard when I’m out for the night and I do the same for her dogs. I’ll just call to let her know.”

  “It’s a good thing it's casual Friday,” Hunter commented, looking at her skinny jeans and oversized sweater.

  “I didn’t think you got the memo,” Amelia retorted as she pointed at Hunter’s navy blue suit.

  “Hey,” Hunter laughed. “I’m not wearing a tie. That’s the most casual you’ll ever see me at work. Now, leave, woman. You’re keeping me from doing my job.”

  “Like I said,” she replied, throwing her hands up in defense, “a phone call would have worked perfectly fine, too.”

  “But then I wouldn’t get to see you.”

  Amelia blushed, then left his office. As soon as she was gone, he pulled out his phone to text Hayden.

  Meeting in the morning in the Hamptons. Will have to leave in a bit to sleep over there tonight. Don’t want to drive so early. You know how I get when I have to wake up too early.

  Hunter paused his typing, then added,

  Love you.

  He was going to hell for this.

  Chapter 24: Fair Enough

  The fair was everything Amelia had hoped for.

  She hadn’t been to one since she was in the home and Aunt Helena had tasked Amelia with looking after the younger kids. Now that she thought about it, it was unfair of Helena to have expected Amelia to do all of the children’s stuff with the younger kids. She had never been to a fair before she was 15, and she had to look after the kids?

  Still, her memory of that night was magical. Aunt Helena didn’t have much money so they couldn’t go on all the rides, but Amelia remembered saving all of the change she got for when Aunt Helena sent them for ice cream, deciding to keep the money for the fair. It was worth it. In the end, she had something like $40, and had treated herself to the biggest cloud of cotton candy she could afford. She was sick the next day, but it was totally worth it. With the remainder of the money, she’d spent the hour Aunt Helena gave her to do her own thing on rides. She could only afford to go on two, but it was better than nothing.

  Hunter didn’t seem as enthusiastic as Amelia did, but she was fine with that. As long as she got to drown in the smells, lights, and laughter, she didn’t really care what everyone else was doing.

  Hunter snaked his hand into hers as they walked, and it took Amelia a moment to realize what was actually happening. She looked up at him, but he didn’t seem to notice. Amelia’s stomach turned as if it was practicing gymnastics for the Olympics. Her chest ached when she looked at him, and she knew that he was the one.

  She pushed away the dread that wanted to worm its way into her mind. The dread of Hilton and his diabolical plans. He was going to rip it away from her, she knew it, and for the first time since she’d agreed to help him, she wanted to fight him for this. Hilton wasn’t the sort of person you fought back against, but this… this was worth it. Hunter was worth Hilton’s wrath. Destiny had given her this man. She’d manifested him. She was not going to let a stupid plot of vengeance get in the way of whatever it was that they had. Amelia shook her head, chasing all of the negativity away. Tonight was their first date, and nothing was going to ruin it.

  “I’ve only ever been to the fair as a child,” Amelia said absentmindedly. She watched a fortune teller give a reading but was skeptical about the woman pushing the money she received into her bra. Her turban was all shades of orange and purples, and it made her look like a real gypsy. Amelia wondered if anything she’d told her current clients was true. And yet, when Amelia saw the smiles o
n their faces as they turned to face each other, she knew that it didn’t really matter as long as whatever she said made them happy.

  “Only once,” she continued as she pulled her gaze away from the gypsy. She was in awe of all of the booths and shops. There were more variations of food than she could ever imagine. At one booth, they sold pizza cones. She had to stop in her tracks to watch the cone being made. It looked delicious, and her mouth watered. Later, she’d get one later, after she’s been on a few rides. She didn’t want to risk throwing up with a full stomach.

  “My parents used to bring my brother and me here all the time. They didn’t like the one closest to them, so they brought us to this one instead.” Hunter turned to Amelia and shrugged. “This fair had more rides than the one near our house. It kept us busy for longer while my parents could do whatever they wanted. To be honest, if I had kids even nearly as energetic as the two of us were, I would have left them at the fair the first night we came.”

  Amelia giggled. “I’m sure you weren’t that bad.”

  “We once filled every single drain in the house with my mother’s tampons. Of course, we didn’t know what it was, we were only six.” Hunter looked at Amelia’s horrified expression and took it as an invitation to go on with his story. “We were bored, and my mom took one of our favorite toys. It was a Power Ranger that lit up and made too much noise. We used to play with it at night when we were supposed to be sleeping so my mother took it away until we learned how to behave.

  “One day, when it was only us and the babysitter, we snuck into my parents’ room to look for the damned thing. We didn’t find anything there, so we decided to look in the bathroom. It was my job to look in the medicine cabinet and my brother would look under the sink. When it was apparent that the toy was not in the medicine cabinet, I turned to my brother, who now had a tampon sticking out from every orifice. One in each nostril, his ears, even had two in his mouth to imitate tusks.

  “I don’t know what led us to force them down the drains. I think we realized that we couldn’t put it back in its packaging and our mom would find out that we went snooping. We were going to be in big trouble, so we decided that shoving it in the drains was a good idea to hide it. Little did we know that it would clog the drains and we spent a month inside the house, grounded.