Carolina Rain

by Rick Murcer

  “You okay, man?” said Chloe, worry lacing her voice.

  “Yeah, what she said,” said Sophie.

  “I’m fine.”

  “Your chest is bleeding, though,” said Chloe.

  Looking down, Manny noticed the small red bloom directly above the incision.

  “Okay. Maybe not that fine. But I think I’ll live.”

  “You’d better,” said Chloe softly. She put her hands on the sides of his face and kissed him, then again, the second one lingering longer. He had almost forgotten how soft her lips were. Not to mention the fire that seemed to accompany them. His fire. Even in his current state of disrepair, he felt the joy of his desire soar for her.

  “Okay, you two. Break it up or take it back to the room,” said Sophie, grinning. “Some of us have work to do.”

  “That’s a great idea except the doctors said no fooling around until he heals, so . . .”

  “That’s way too much info,” said Sophie, scrunching her nose.

  By then, Josh, Alex, and Dean had arrived with two other agents, three doctors, and four security guards. The agents and guards surrounded the attacker, and Chloe stood back while the medical team quickly inspected Manny. Chloe then stepped toward the security people. “How in hell did this happen? Are you damn idiots around here? I want to know how you let a psycho like this almost kill my husband. Anyone?”

  Looking back to his left, Manny saw Chloe standing face to face with the security supervisor, her face red with anger, hands clenched. The woman who’d just given him the best kiss of his life was now ready to take on the world and maybe take out a couple of guards in the process.

  “I don’t . . . don’t know Ma’am,” stammered the supervisor, fear in her eyes.

  “You don’t know, do ya? Maybe an ass-kicking will get ya straightened out,” answered Chloe, now almost nose to nose with the bewildered supervisor.

  Alex and Dean rushed in and each grabbed one of Chloe’s arms and pulled her away from the woman. She resisted at first, gave in, then stood up straight, pushing them both away.

  “I love ya both but if you touch me like that again, you’ll be needing a bed in this place yourselves, got it? These fools need to be held accountable and I’ll be doing just that.”

  “We were just . . .” started Alex.

  Chloe cocked her head giving, Alex a hard-warning look. His long-time friend stepped back and said nothing. Manny thought that great wisdom on Alex’s part.

  She then walked over to where Manny lay, and stood with arms folded, looking at him like a protective mother. Slowly the anger left her, and her face softened, Chloe’s gaze never leaving him. He was pretty sure he didn’t ever want her angry at him like that, but who could blame her? That was the second instance in two months he could have been taken out. It felt good to be the subject of that kind of protection, just the same.

  Josh touched Chloe on the arm. She glance at him, nodded but didn’t move from where she stood. He bent down to Manny, eyebrows raised. “Damn, Williams. Look what you did. We can’t leave you alone for a few hours without you pissing someone off.”

  “I noticed that,” he muttered. “Especially my wife.”

  “Yep, I’d stay on the good side of that temper. At least she didn’t kill anyone.”

  A moment later, a shriek caused everyone’s head to turn to the source. Sophie stood over the fallen security guard, blood dripping from the once-embedded star which Sophie now held in her own hands.

  Looking around the room, Sophie raised her hands. “What? I ain’t letting this heifer keep my star. These things are expensive, especially the colored ones.”

  “We would have gotten it back to you,” said one of the doctors.

  “Yeah, well I like to do things on my own. And I’m sure it only hurt like hell for a second or two.”

  Sophie bent over the supposed guard who was now on one of the gurneys. “Isn’t that right, bitch?”

  Josh stepped forward, grabbed Sophie’s arm, pulling her back. He then whispered something into her ear. She hesitated, rolled her eyes, nodded, and stepped away.

  Manny had noticed that since the three of them had officially joined the BAU, Josh and Sophie had shared a few of those one-sided conversations. He’d resisted the temptation to ask about them, so far, but decided he'd check it out at the proper time. Besides, whatever teaching was going on seemed to be working.

  The medical staff helped him to a sitting position. He felt better than he thought he would, for whatever reason. He wouldn’t analyze it too closely just yet. But they say love cures a plethora of ills. He glanced at Chloe, still watching his every move. Her jade eyes sparkled and the pit of his stomach jumped. He was pretty sure now that the jumping in his gut might never stop, particularly after seeing her protection mode.

  He turned back to the woman who’d attacked him. “Help me up. I want to talk to her,” he said, looking at one of the doctors.

  “I don’t think that’s a great idea.”

  “Maybe not, but I want to, so get me over there.”

  The doctor looked at Josh and shrugged.

  “If that’s what he wants, and he’s not going to bleed to death. It’ll be easier than hearing him complain,” Josh said.

  The doctor grumbled and motioned to the orderlies.

  A minute later, Manny stood above the strapped-down woman who would have killed him if she’d known that the first chamber of a revolver was always empty in a security setting like the hospital. The empty first chamber helped to avoid accidents and the guards followed the rule religiously. Clearly, this woman wasn’t a guard. So, who was she and where had she come from?

  “What did I do to you?”

  No answer.

  “You said I deserved to die for what I’ve done. Tell me what that was . . . please.”

  Still no answer.

  Leaning back against the orderly on his right, he felt the weakness wash over him in waves.

  “That’s enough. Get him back to the room,” said Josh.

  “No. Not yet,” said Manny.

  Manny looked down at his would-be assassin. She now held his stare in defiance.

  “What did I do to you?”

  The woman's dark eyes were now burning a hole in his head. He had her attention, but she still didn’t answer him.

  “Listen. You’re going to go away for a long while. Maybe by explaining yourself, I can help make it easier for you."

  She nodded, slowly. “I’ll tell you,” she whispered, motioning with her eyes for him to come closer.

  He bent nearer to the woman; her breath was sweet, like glazed almonds. It took a moment for him to recognize the odor.

  “Rot in hell, Williams, rot in hell,” she then cackled.

  “Dammit,” he yelled. “Cyanide!”

  He reached for her mouth, but was pulled away by an orderly as her eyes rolled back into her head, body convulsing. A thin line of foam appeared at the corners of her lips, the convulsions stopped, and her eyes stared at the next world.

  Despite the medical staff’s efforts, it was over as quickly as it had begun.

  Shaking his head, Manny shifted to the gurney, helped by Chloe and Josh. As he was rolled back to his room, the image of the guard’s sneer flashing across her face came and went.

  You deserve to die for what you did.

  What the hell did that mean?

  CHAPTER-14

  Walking methodically around the foot of the king-sized bed, Lily stopped and adjusted the garter holding the black fishnets in place. There was no hurry. She had time. She always had time. That’s what impeccable planning and forethought offered. It gave her the opportunity to enjoy what preparation made possible. Never in her previous life had she considered the word "enjoy" to be part of her days. But here it was—joy—and in full, fantastic, living color. She closed her eyes and let out a breath. That tiny, but intense, twinge of whatever it was roiling around in her stomach and loins made her smile grow. There had never been anything like it
for her. Ever.

  She sat on the side of the bed, subconsciously rubbed the gloved hand, and crossed her legs. “What do you think, darlin? Do you want to do that again? I’m up for it.”

  Glancing down at the large man’s groin, she laughed out loud. “By the looks of things, I’d say no. But don’t worry; you did make it better than anything I’ve experienced, at least up to now, so you should be proud of yourself. I mean, it’s incredible that your very last act was so selfless.”

  Lily ran her finger down her second lover’s forehead, past open black eyes—staring at hell, no doubt—then to his nose, his mouth, and then circled his lips unconsciously. It had been two weeks since she and Lance had come together on the floor of his mansion and she didn’t know how she had lasted this long. There were a couple of nights she had actually gotten dressed in her see what I’ve got clothes and headed for the door. Once, she even got into the car, but if she’d learned anything from her previous life, it was that carelessness could destroy a plan faster than J.R.’s regulars could pinch her ass. She’d needed to do it again, to watch it happen, to record it, but to go back to the same place she’d met Lance wasn’t smart. She had to find another way and she had done just that. J.R.’s greasy spoon provided far more than a few dollars, which she hardly needed. Instead, her place of employment had provided a rich source of prey. Good hunting grounds were hard to find.

  The men that frequented his establishment were mostly the older, retired type with the etiquette of Attila the Hun. But those good old boys always responded when she joked that their grab-assing would cost them more tip money. It brought laughs, at first, then phone numbers and serious inquiries on her availability for other “services.” It took a few days to sort out the jokers from the players, but she had done it. The list on her computer had grown.

  She absently turned the corkscrew again and closed her eyes at the sound of metal grinding muscle and bone. Her heart rate rose higher. Incredible.

  Cocking her head to the left, she read the name on the tattoo over the blood-smeared breast that now looked like a crude spider web. Virginia. She was sure it was his wife’s name. Poor woman. What would Virginia think when she got back from out of town and found him like this? She wanted to see the look. No, she did want to see the look. She’d have to figure a way, somewhere along this trip, to accomplish that.

  Moving her hand back to the middle of his barreled chest, she rested it on the knob of the buried corkscrew again. There was more blood this time. She hadn’t noticed it until she had finished playing. The blue silk sheet held a large blossom of dark crimson that reminded her of the Rorschach patterns the doctors used to show her.

  “I see . . . a dead pig, doc,” she whispered.

  She laughed and pondered what her shrink would think of that interpretation.

  Sliding off the bed, she picked up her black lace lingerie, putting on the bra first then slipping on the panties. It was getting easier to do. She was getting better, but not just in the physical sense.

  The repairs to her foot and hand after the incident had taken weeks to begin to take effect. She was aware that new technologies available for that kind of thing had advanced beyond comprehension. That, and a determination to heal, went a long way. Her doctors had said as much, not that she needed them to encourage her. For the first time in her life, she had a true purpose and nothing was going to stop her from fulfilling that purpose.

  “Nothing,” she said out loud.

  Moving around to the other side of the bed, she reached over to the scalpel lodged in his left eye. She drew it out slowly; the sucking sound created another grin. Would that ever get old? Reaching into her leopard-skin handbag, she pulled out the small sewing kit and the gold medallion. She’d decided that the coral snake was a mistake. She could actually get bitten and God knew she was playing with enough heavy-duty toxins already. Even though they had little or no effect on her, caution was still a tremendous virtue. One never knew.

  She finished threading his lips together, attached the medallion, then sat back to admire her work. Her quick smile mirrored her approval. It was her finishing touch. But would anyone else get it?

  Lily finished dressing, reached up to remove the blond wig, then was inspired. She took out dark glasses from her bag and moved toward the video camera mounted near the foot of the bed. It was angled to get the best possible view of the last two hours with her lover. Only now the camera’s purpose had evolved, like she had.

  She sat in front of it and crossed her legs. The thigh-high boots made their own special rubbing sound as she did, releasing the faint scent of real leather. She smiled, looking directly into the camera.

  “This man, along with my first, has helped me to discover more of myself, how I love. And, in that, there are no rules, no hang ups. Only fulfillment. My fulfillment. I’m creating love with every intoxicating encounter I initiate. I’ve been reborn and am no longer who I was. Instead, I’ve become totally free from her. There are no limits to the worlds I desire to encounter and I deserve to experience them. I’m a goddess. I am Aphrodite.”

  With a quick flip of the switch, the camera’s light faded.

  Rising from the bed, Lily was totally exhilarated. Maybe the experts were right. When people like her actually hit their stride, the evolution was only the beginning of what was to come. That simple truth caused her to shiver. She really was different. She was totally unencumbered by anything. It was only her and the Way.

  After packing the camera, Lily left the small ranch house and ventured out into the warm Carolina night just as a gentle rain began to fall. She moved slowly up the block and stopped as she reached her car. Lifting her face to the sky, she embraced the shower. After all, they were one and the same, this Carolina rain. They were unpredictable and free to do what came naturally and without thought. They just were.

  Lights appeared around the corner and a car slowed, then stopped as its driver-side window rolled halfway down.

  “Ya all right there, girl?” asked the handsome young man behind the wheel of the new Camaro.

  “I’m fine. Thank you for asking. Just enjoying the rain.”

  “Okay. I wanted to make sure ya wasn’t locked out of your vehicle or something. You’re too good looking to have anything like that happen to y’all.”

  Lily fought to hide the smile that was having its way. She leaned against the car. “How very thoughtful. They say that chivalry is dead, but I guess not.”

  “My mama taught me right. So does that mean you’ll have a drink with me?” he asked, his grin hopeful.

  Without answering, she put her bag over her shoulder, moved slowly to the passenger-side door of the red sports car, and climbed in. Her smile had to be brilliant . . . and it was. She could practically see her suitor getting hard.

  “I don’t drink. Do you live close by?”

  CHAPTER-15

  Ginny Krantz parked her police SUV and got out, reached for the handle to open the garage, but paused. It had rained a few hours before, and now the moon sparkled overhead like a huge silver dollar framed with a billion stars. Add the resonance of waves lapping to white sandy shores and the scent of spring azaleas two blocks away and . . . well, as always, it almost took her breath away. She’d experienced spring nights a thousand times since she and her husband had moved here from Lansing, Michigan some forty years ago. It was beautiful, yes, but that wasn’t all. This scene, this ambiance, never ceased to stir in her the feeling that there was something more out there, up there, wherever. If God really existed, he had a condo in Kure Beach, North Carolina because there was no more glorious place on the planet.

  She took in the scene a few more minutes, then turned the knob and shuffled into the garage heading to the house through the side door. The smell of stale gas mingled with dead grass was in sharp contrast to the fresh ocean scents she experienced mere steps away. Kind of like life. You could stand in the roses one minute and knee deep in shit the next.

  Shaking her head, she entere
d the house wondering if her old man would ever do what he said he would and clean the damned garage. She was learning that his retirement also meant procrastination but, really, she was okay with it—he’d hurried his whole life.

  Sighing, she put her keys, cell phone, gun, and badge on the teakwood table and reached for the kink in her shoulder. This getting-old thing wasn’t the storybook version she’d always heard about; the one of boundless wisdom, energy, and free time. More like late nights and early mornings of pain shooting from the bottom of her feet to the top of her head, taking turns on a different body part every few hours. Throw in this pain in the ass job, and it just couldn’t get any better, could it?

  Ginny walked into the family room. “Old man? You still up?” she asked quietly.

  The fifty-inch plasma was still on but he wasn’t in his favorite easy chair. He must have gone to bed, leaving the TV on again. They’d just talked about how expensive that was and how he needed to stop doing it. The “talk” had evolved into an argument, as usual these days, and ended when he slammed the door and headed into Wilmington. She crossed her arms and rubbed her hand over her left arm. They would both have to get whatever cob was up their respective cracks removed and exposed so they could solve those dilemmas. Retiring with a pissy spouse wasn’t going to be fun for either of them. But they would get it together; they always had. That’s what made marriage last—working things out.

  The antique grandfather clock her dad had given her read one seventeen a.m. She shook her head, again. This Morgan case was taking far more time than it should and they still had almost nothing to go on in spite of the pressure the Morgan family was exerting on New Hanover County’s finest. That made the captain moody and demanding, which meant long days and nights like this one. Funny thing about crimes in the twisted-murder arena: money didn’t create clues or puke out suspects, no matter how many dollars one had. And, given Lance’s proclivity for whoring around, the suspects who might conceivably want him planted six-feet-under could be in the fifties. There was a picture of the man on Wikipedia beside the term “love them and leave them.”