Sophie had no idea what the man driving her car was talking about but instinct told her not to say anything. Her shoulder ached furiously and she was slightly dizzy. The car crashed around corners, slinging her in turns against the door and against his body. Revulsion filled her every time she came in contact with him.
“You met that damn Jenna and she introduced you to the others. It was a nice little group of women who liked women, no boys allowed. I bet you told them all how I couldn’t perform with those other women when you made me swap for the night. I hated those damn parties, my keys in a bowl and you standing there looking like you wanted to jump every man in the house. Any man but me. I was your husband!”
His fist smashed out, slamming into her jaw. Dark spots danced in front of her eyes and she retched.
Susan had told her a story once, about a guy that had dragged her into an alley and tried to rape her. She had bitten him, bitten his hand until he bled. Desperate she did the same thing Susan did. She choked when his oily flesh touched her lips but she bit down anyway.
He screamed in pain and she grabbed the door handle, intending to go out of it. He snatched her back, ripping hair from her scalp. He slammed her head into the door, knocking her unconscious.
***
“We have to get there fast, “Kane said as he shrugged into Kevlar. An entire team was already dispatched, cops from Queens were on their way to the house but he had a sinking feeling they would be too late. The helicopter was waiting, it belonged to the news channel—the station had agreed to loan it since it was far closer than anything they could have gotten to.
“We’re going to bring her back.” John said softly, “Relax.”
“I am relaxed.” Kane shot back but his jaw was so tightly clenched the word came out strangled and nearly muffled.
“One mistake and she’s dead. Put your emotions aside Kane. Think it all through.”
Kane knew that John was giving him the best advice there was and he forced himself to slow his breathing, to concentrate as they climbed aboard the unwieldy chopper and began to rise into the sky.
***
Sophie woke up to darkness. Her head ached and her jaw felt swollen and numb. She touched fingers to her forehead, they came away sticky and she knew that what she felt was blood.
Lights snapped on and she looked up. Screams of horror ripped from her mouth. The heads all stared at the door, at the man standing next to it. He wore a long and ridiculously frilly apron over his suit, and held a long machete in his right hand.
Pity overtook horror and fear. The faces of the women in the cold shelves of the refrigerator had been posed behind the glass door so that the maniac who had killed them could see them, so that they would have to see him.
One of the heads was noticeably more frozen, ice crystals hung from the nostrils and black hair held shards of glass and beads of condensation. Sophie knew that had to be the Morgan he had been speaking to on the hellish drive to wherever he had taken her.
Worse, one face she recognized, it was the woman she had seen Kane talking to the day before on the corner. How could he have done it? Icy tendrils of fear slid down her spine as he came closer, his eyes focused on the faces of the women he had murdered but the machete held tightly in his fist.
“It all changed.” He said. “All I ever wanted was to have a family; to raise a couple of kids but you, you were never happy. You hated the neighborhood; you wanted to live in the city so we moved. You were bored being a cop’s wife so you took classes, and all they taught you was that you were cut out for more than a life as a cop’s wife. You were never happy, no matter what I did, no matter what I gave you.”
Sophie flinched. Forrester’s voice began as a self-pitying whine and grew into a rage filled shout. Glass rained down on her face and she shut her eyes, her hands going automatically to her face. Breaths of white vapor escaped the glass-fronted freezer from the gaping hole his fist left in one door. Sophie could not even think, she was certain she was about to die.
The door caved in and she screamed as cops swarmed in, Kane in the lead.
“Let her go Forrester.”
Forrester laughed; a singularly ugly sound that bounced off of the white painted walls. “I don’t want to.”
“You used to be a good cop…you know you don’t have to do this.” Kane said in a calm tone, trying his best to figure out a way around the crazed man and to Sophie. He refused to let his eyes go to her, he had seen her battered face very clearly when he had come through the door and he couldn’t afford the emotions that would be sure to come up if he saw it again. He could not afford to get pissed off; if he did it would likely cost her life.
“Spare me the spiel,” Forrester said, “We both know there’s nowhere to go from here. They aren’t going to hand me my retirement and just let me slip away to Arizona or wherever it is us worn out old dinosaurs go these days. It was Arizona, that was where we, Morgan and I, were going to settle down after I retired. Scottsdale, it’s a nice place. Fuck the snow, fuck the city.” He laughed then, a jagged little spike of sound that held hysteria and insanity.
“You can let her go.”
“She cheated on me with those bitches. Well, not those ones. I don’t remember why I killed them. Isn’t that a hoot? I don’t remember at all, maybe they just showed up in their dancing shows at the wrong ball.” He hummed and shuffled in place for a moment in a grotesque parody of dancing with a partner.
“That blonde haired FBI bitch, I killed her just because she was uppity. She thought she had it all figured out too, right up until the minute I killed her.”
Kane said, “Sophie, come here,” in a dead calm voice. He held out one hand, hoping the brief fugue would last long enough for her to get clear. He wanted to kill Forrester. He had seen Janelle’s head in the freezer and the shock of that, coupled with the fact that Sophie was in very real danger from the demented cop was wearing him down. He was holding back, trying to keep the other man alive but it wasn’t going to happen, he could sense that fact in the air.
“Not so fast!” Forrester squealed, grabbing her by her hair and hauling her to her feet. Sophie could see the expression on Kane’s face when she was grabbed and she managed to quiet her own fear for a moment to whisper, “It’s okay. I’m okay.”
Kane felt a surge of pride at her courage, but that didn’t stop him from fearing the worst. He knew he had to do something, and do it soon.
The machete came up and every cop stepped forward but there was nothing they could do, he was too close to her. Kane let his finger rest easily on the trigger of his gun.
“Do you remember when I said trust was what you had to have? That you had to believe that when I told you to do something it was for your own good?”
“Yes.”
Forrester snorted out a laugh and the sharp blade grazed her throat, sending a thin trickle of blood down the creamy white column of that delicate flesh.
“Stand still sweetie. Stand very still no matter what.”
“You won’t shoot!” Forrester yelled, “He’ll hit you! He will hit you and not me!”
“I trust you.” Sophie whispered and Kane took a long breath.
Forrester raised the machete high, Kane fired. Sophie closed her eyes, unable to look. There was a puff of air across her right cheek and then a long and rattling exhale of air from behind her. Forrester slumped against her, knocking her nearly off of her feet. She came close to being impaled but Kane grabbed her, yanking her upright before she could fall on the gleaming steel of the machete that was still clutched in the fallen man’s hands.
“I don’t think I will be losing any more pajamas any time soon,” she said in a bright voice then she collapsed in his arms, sobs wracking her slender frame.
***
Kane went to the hospital with her. John stayed at the house to help clean up the evidence. Janelle’s head had been in the trophy case but her body had been wedged into a small crawlspace under the house. Forrester had lured her in someho
w, the best guess they had was that he had told her he would give her a ride to a site, or he had simply kidnapped her Given Janelle’s high physical condition Kane was willing to bet he had promised her a ride. He knew the other man would have to deal with the loss in his own way and he hoped it would end well. John Hamm had lost several partners over the years, some people did and his was a high-risk job.
Sitting by her bedside he laughed, as Sophie demanded, repeatedly, that the nurse let Sassy into her room. Finally the woman gave up and allowed the little mutt in. Sassy jumped right out of the hands of the cop who bore her in and landed in the bed with a loud woof and happy snort.
Sophie’s wounds weren’t serious and she got to go home the next morning, Kane went with her and stayed with her for the next few days. Eventually life returned to normal.
***
Sophie left her class with a grin on her face. She ran into the shop where Geoff and Kane were both waiting and caroled out, “Guess who got an A on her first test?”
“You did,” both men said in unison.
“I did!” She hugged them both and asked, “Are you on lunch?”
“Nope,” Kane said smugly. “I begged your boss to let you have a day off. I have a surprise for you.”
Sassy wriggled out from under a desk and Sophie asked, “How did she get here?”
“I’m going to babysit her.” Geoff said. “I plan on reading Charlotte’s Web to her.”
Kane hustled her out and into his car. The streets were alive with people and color, autumn had come and the windows of the stores were filled with sweaters and boots and coats. They drove past the congestion that was Midtown and eventually got out of the city. Sophie stared at the tall trees and passing scenery until they pulled into a long driveway that ended in front of a restored white house.
“Welcome to Steepletop,”Kane said as he opened her door.
“This is Edna St. Vincent’s Millay’s house!” Sophie cried as she stepped out into the just chilled air. Leaves drifted from trees in shades of brilliant reds and faded greens. “Why are we here?”
Kane grinned and pulled out a small black box. Inside it was a thin golden collar and a gorgeous ring with a small diamond. “Sophie, I want you to be my submissive for life,” he said, “And my wife.”
“Yes!” Sophie yelled and he laughed, hugging her tightly.
Sophie closed her eyes, happiness exploding inside her. She opened them again and for a moment she thought she saw Susan standing near an old oak tree but when she blinked she vanished. Kane had her kneel and she did, her face lifted to his as he held the collar out and said, “I collar you. I claim you. You are mine.” He placed the collar around her neck and the ring around her finger. She sighed, happily and laid her head on his knee, finally at peace.
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