A Serial Affair

by Natalie Dunbar

  She didn’t want to think of what it may have cost him. Her gaze fell to his shirt. The bottom was soaked with blood. Pure grit and determination had pulled him through it. She caught her breath. “You need an ambulance.”

  “It’s coming,” he assured her. “And I already called the boss and filled him in. He’s the one who put the call in to the locals and your boss, too. Here, put our killer in the front seat. I’ve already taken the key out and there’s nothing she can use to get free.”

  “W-what about you?” she asked, already muscling the woman closer.

  “Don’t worry about me.” Reed slid along the side of the car and left the driver’s door open.

  Marina shoved the heavy, handcuffed woman onto the seat. The end of her shirt rolled up to reveal something that looked like an old-fashioned corset. It was a corset. None of the women she knew bothered with girdles, let alone corsets.

  She gave the woman’s curly brown hair another glance and shut the door with an abrupt realization.

  The insight that had been flashing in the back of her mind was mind numbingly clear. Shaking her head she glanced in at the figure on the front seat once more, wondering why she hadn’t realized it earlier. Maybe female diva impersonator RuPaul’s secrets weren’t so secret after all. The woman on the seat wasn’t any woman. It was Harrison Hicks in drag.

  “Did you find Harrison?” Reed asked, easing down the side of the vehicle to sit on the ground.

  Stunned, she didn’t know how to explain the night’s events. Was Harrison their serial killer or had he simply decided to join in by murdering John? The biggest question was, why? Still puzzling over her realization, she told Reed about Harrison.

  Reed burst out laughing. “You’re kidding.”

  “See for yourself,” she challenged, easing down to the ground beside him.

  “I can’t get up right now,” he said in a voice that was much too calm.

  “Where’s the nearest hospital? I’m going to drive you there,” she declared, desperate to save his life.

  Reed caught her hand. “I’ve already called for an ambulance and backup. They should be here any minute. We can’t risk getting lost on the way to the hospital.”

  “Reed.” She grabbed his arm, fear clutching her insides.

  “I know, don’t die on you.”

  “Promise me?” she asked, fighting the sting of tears in her eyes once more.

  “Yeah. You’d better take this.” He pulled the gun from his holster and offered it.

  She took it. “Where is that damned ambulance?”

  Reed just stared at her. His eyes looked feverish.

  Tears slid down her cheeks.

  “Stop crying and talk to me,” he said roughly.

  Gathering him close in her arms, she rubbed her face against his. “You shouldn’t waste your strength talking.”

  “What else is there to do?” he challenged. “Unless you want to jump my bones.”

  “You’re crazy!” Marina pressed her lips to his seeking mouth, savoring his taste, deepening the kiss and filling it with her passion. She knew that he was trying to distract her and it was working.

  He kissed her with an urgency that almost made her forget he was a wounded man. Almost.

  His lips stopped moving. Despite the warm night his skin felt shockingly cool against hers. She heard the faint sound of an approaching siren. Please God, let it be the ambulance for Reed.

  Pushing back from their embrace, she glanced down at him. “Reed, I hear the ambulance.”

  His eyes were closed, his body limp. With her fingers she checked for his pulse. She found it, faint but steady. Reed was unconscious.

  Marina fixed her gaze on the main road just visible beyond the line of trees surrounding the parking lot and prayed.

  CHAPTER 18

  The two ambulances arrived with a couple of cars full of police officers. Marina flashed her badge and answered questions while the EMTs worked on Reed and John Stuart. Some of the officers remembered seeing her and Reed on the news doing the task force press conference.

  As the police loaded Harrison into the back of one of their cruisers, she noticed that Harrison seemed almost catatonic. He hadn’t made a sound since she’d fought him on the trail.

  “We’ll have a psych doctor take a look at him,” one of the officers assured her.

  Unable to keep her distance, Marina excused herself to watch the emergency crew take care of Reed. Fear gripped her, tightening around her body and draining her strength.

  The equipment and monitors in the back of the ambulance beeped and chirped noisily, emphasizing the seriousness of what was happening with Reed. Studying the screens and monitors she knew that as long as they continued working without sounding an alarm, Reed was still alive.

  Marina hesitated, torn between going to the hospital with Reed and staying to take care of task force business with the police. If Reed was dying there was no decision to be made. She would be going with him to the hospital, no matter what. She climbed into the back of the ambulance.

  “Is he going to make it?” she asked the emergency tech bending over him.

  “His condition is serious,” the woman replied as she inserted an IV line and adjusted the flow. “But his vital signs have stabilized. Unless there are other complications, he should be able to recover. Of course it’s just my opinion. I’m not a doctor,” the tech added. She’d already removed his shirt and attached sensors to his chest. Pointing to Reed’s wound on his lower torso, the tech remarked, “Bullet wound?”

  “Yes,” Marina confirmed. “It was a .38.”

  “Let’s hope the damage to his intestines is minimal. We’re taking him to Mt. Zion Hospital. It’s about half an hour away.”

  Swallowing hard, Marina took one last look at Reed. He hadn’t moved in several minutes.

  “Miss, we’re about to take off. We’ve got to get him to the hospital as soon as possible,” the tech said impatiently.

  Marina pressed a kiss to Reed’s cool lips and backed away. “I’ll come as soon as I’m done here.” She climbed out of the vehicle.

  “Mt. Zion,” the tech reminded Marina as she shut the door. Siren blaring, the ambulance raced for the hospital.

  The second ambulance crew had already taken off with John.

  Marina’s thoughts and emotions were with Reed as she watched the ambulance tear out of the lot and speed down the highway. She felt as though a big invisible fist was squeezing the life out of her. With a tight lease on herself, she led one of the officers up the path to retrieve Harrison’s gun. Using a bright flashlight, they found it. Carefully lifting it with a pencil, they placed it in a plastic bag. In the area, they also found several spent shell casings.

  Back at Harrison’s cabin they waited for the forensics team. Marina used the time to make the difficult call to Trudy, to tell her that her son had been hurt and to give directions to the hospital. Once the forensics team arrived, Marina briefed them on what had happened so they would know what to look for. Then she left for the hospital.

  The trip to the hospital in Reed’s unmarked car was harrowing for Marina. She’d wiped the seat and steering wheel, but Reed’s blood was everywhere. Worse yet was the image imprinted on her brain, of him on the stretcher. Was it too late to fulfill all the hopes and dreams she had for herself and Reed?

  At the hospital Marina checked in at the desk. Reed was already in surgery. Bloodwork had been done on John Stuart and they were waiting for the results. Marina ended up in a waiting room full of surgery patient family members.

  Fingers tight on the arms of her upholstered chair, she stared at the calming blue walls and prayed. The mood in the room was grim. Doctors came through with news at irregular intervals, garnering cries of relief and joy from some family members and tears of pain and sorrow from others. She watched the entryway each time a doctor appeared, fearing what was to come. She was making herself sick.

  Marina checked on John Stuart and was informed that his bloodwork sh
owed traces of Rohypnol. Otherwise he was fine and would be released in the morning.

  She called Javier to tell him that she was still in Collins and that Reed had been hurt. He offered to come down to sit in the hospital with her.

  “Oh, Dad, I don’t want you to go to that much trouble. You know Collins is at least a five-hour drive from Chicago and I’ll probably start back sometime tomorrow.”

  Javier sighed dramatically. “Do you think I can’t hear how worried and terrified you are? I want to comfort you, to help you through this. Mija, you sound stronger going after a serial killer than you do waiting for Reed to get out of surgery.”

  “Maybe so, but he’ll be out of surgery before you get here. The emergency techs said he should make it unless he had complications.”

  “Then why do you sound so upset, hmm?”

  Marina sucked in a calming breath and said, “The truth is that I’m afraid to let myself believe it. I don’t want to be disappointed because I—I love him, Dad. I can’t stop worrying until it is over.”

  “So you love him, huh?”

  “Yes, I do.”

  “Gonna marry him?”

  “If he asks, yes.”

  “He will, mija, he will. Will you at least call me when he comes out of surgery, no matter what?”

  Marina promised. Then she hung up the phone and returned to the waiting room.

  Little by little the waiting room emptied as the night wore on. A tall, slim doctor in blue scrubs entered the room and glanced around. His gaze met Marina’s. “Ms. Santos?”

  “Yes.” Nodding, she stood.

  “The bullet damaged Mr. Crawford’s colon before exiting. We’ve been able to repair most of the damage but Mr. Crawford was weak from loss of blood. He’s in recovery now and doing as well as can be expected. The next few hours will determine where he goes from here. We expect him to make a full recovery. They’ll let you see him in about twenty minutes or so.”

  Grateful for the news, Marina thanked the doctor and left the waiting room. She called Javier with the information. Several minutes later she stood by Reed’s bed in the recovery unit and held his hand. He didn’t move, but his warmth reassured her. She’d had the scariest night of her life. Determined not to leave until she spoke to Reed, she stayed with him the allowed ten minutes every hour.

  Her third time in, he stirred when she took his hand. His eyes opened slowly. It took two tries before his voice came out. “Told you I wasn’t ready to check out.”

  Marina could only smile and grip his hand harder.

  “Did you call Ma?”

  “Yes, she should be here any minute. Ron is driving her down since there weren’t any flights here this time of night.”

  “I really didn’t want to worry her,” Reed muttered.

  “I had to call her. Ron, too. This was too serious for me to take chances on how things were going to turn out,” she countered, thinking about the fear she’d lived through.

  Reed’s gaze locked with hers. “I wasn’t so sure of the outcome, either,” he admitted. “My only comfort was the fact that I told you how I felt before things really got bad.”

  Still holding his hand, she leaned forward and pressed her lips to his. “I don’t want to go through anything like this again.”

  “Me, either, but each day is a gift, so we’ve got to live life to the fullest,” he said. “When I get out of here I’m not holding back on anything.”

  They exchanged meaningful glances. Marina let herself hope that this time they’d be together for good.

  While Reed slept and was finally moved to a room, Marina sat in the waiting room with Trudy and Reed’s brother Ron till the wee hours of the morning.

  Morning came after a long night, but Marina decided to remain at the hospital long enough to assist the local police in getting John Stuart’s statement. It was too good an opportunity to miss.

  Sitting up in bed, looking like he was on the wrong end of a drinking binge, John Stuart was glad to be alive. He drained the small pitcher of water by his bed and signaled that he was ready.

  “What were you doing at the cabin?” Lieutenant Calvin asked John.

  “Harrison offered me a few days to get away from the city since the serial killer had been caught. I took him up on it and we drove down in his car. We had drinks before dinner. Then I started feeling sort of strange. That’s when Harrison disappeared into the bedroom and a blond woman came out. It took me a while to realize it was him. I didn’t know what to think. I mean, I never knew he was a cross-dresser. Then he started talking crazy, in a woman’s voice. It was almost as if he really thought he was a woman, you know?”

  “What do you mean, ‘talking crazy’?” Marina asked.

  “I don’t remember exactly what he said. He just gave me a lot of garbage about me not getting away with a crime. He acted like I’d done something to him, like I’d raped him or something. I’m not gay and I’ve never experimented that way, either.”

  Pencil poised, she leaned forward. “Then what happened?”

  “He took a knife off the table and started playing with it and waving it in my face. I was feeling pretty sick about then. That’s when Lieutenant Crawford showed up.”

  “Why didn’t you try to escape?”

  “I couldn’t move. I think Harrison put something in my drink.”

  “Rohypnol,” Marina said helpfully. “It’s a date rape drug.”

  Glancing down at his sheets for a moment, John turned a little red.

  Marina figured it was because this time he’d had a chance to be on the other side of the drug. Hopefully it was enough to keep him from ever using it again.

  The lieutenant continued with his questions. “Was there anyone else at the cabin?”

  “No.” John kept his eyes lowered.

  “Did Harrison threaten to kill you?”

  “Yes. He was going to use the knife.”

  The lieutenant held up a photo. “Is this the knife?”

  Lifting his eyes to take it in, John blinked, shrinking in on himself. “Yes, that’s it. Where’s Harrison? He didn’t get away, did he?”

  “Are you afraid he’ll come after you again?”

  “Hell, yeah.” John swallowed hard. “If Crawford hadn’t shown up…”

  “We’ve got Harrison in custody,” Lt. Calvin assured him. “Has he threatened anyone else?”

  “Not that I know of. I wouldn’t have gone to his cabin if he had. He was always a pretty quiet guy. The last guy you’d think of being violent. I remember back when Aubrey was attacked. Harrison was the one who found Aubrey. He was crying and stuttering when he got Aubrey to the hospital. Then he just went into some kind of state and it was a long time before he came out of it.”

  Marina had seen the file pictures of Aubrey after the brutal beating. Anyone would have been upset, she reasoned, but Harrison could have been unbalanced then. It might help to explain the current situation. She jotted down her thoughts, anxious that she might be grasping at straws.

  The pressure was on. If she couldn’t prove that Harrison was the serial avenger then he would be charged with attempting to murder Reed and threatening John and holding him against his will. Those charges wouldn’t be enough to answer for the deaths so far.

  When the interview with John was done, she discussed and compared notes with the lieutenant. They’d both planned to check into Harrison’s medical records from his time in college to the present. The lieutenant told her that Harrison had been seen by a doctor and was still in some sort of state. They hadn’t been able to get anything out him.

  She thought about Harrison, the accusations made about his part in the campus assaults, his cross-dressing to commit a crime, and what he’d done to John Stuart. Somehow they were all connected. Rubbing her forehead with her fingertips, she realized that at the moment it was too much for her frazzled brain to figure out. She was long overdue for sleep.

  Reluctantly checking into a local hotel, Marina slept ten hours straight. Afterwar
d she returned to the hospital to see Reed. He looked much better. His color was good and although he nodded off a couple of times, he was coherent and healing. The way he refused to let go of her hand made her feel good.

  Marina satisfied herself with being close to him and enjoying the way his eyes lit up when he looked at her.

  Trudy simply gave them an indulgent smile. She and Ron had checked in a local hotel and slept for a few hours too. Trudy was hanging on like a trooper, but fatigue was setting in once more. Marina offered to drop her at the hotel before making the drive back to Chicago. Trudy accepted, but insisted on Reed and Marina spending some time alone first.