MasterMind_An Anna Monroe and Never Far crossover

by A. A. Dark

  “I can’t. I’m so tired. I hurt everywhere.”

  Pulling to the shoulder, I let my head rest on the steering wheel as I tried to think.

  “Boston needs you Lucy. He loves you so much. Think of him. Get on the road and run. I can find you. I can get you back to him.”

  “Back? Back? ...No. Wait. B…ack. He…he killed my mother. My brother. He k-killed them,” she sobbed. “I n-never want to see him again. I shouldn’t have even c-called. Why did I call? What…I…you. You kill too. Dr. Patron said so.”

  The high pitch of her tone had my eyes shooting open. My mouth parted, but words wouldn’t follow. She was clearly in shock, but…she knew my secret. She knew.

  “Lucy, calm down. No one killed anyone. Dr. Patron was lying to you.”

  “No. I heard him. He was trying to help you. He d-doesn’t lie. He doesn’t lie. You lie. You all lie! God. I…can’t. I…”

  “Lucy. Lucy?”

  I pulled the phone back, yelling as the call ended. Hitting the number, I pulled back on the highway as it went to voicemail. I barely made it a quarter of a mile before a road appeared. I had no idea what I was doing, but I knew I had to do something. If I had to search every single road between here and the next town, I would.

  Ring.

  Ring.

  Leave a quick message after the tone. Beep!

  Ring.

  Ring.

  Ring.

  Over and over, I called. The fields were bare on each side of me, and I scanned the vicinity as I hit redial.

  Ring.

  Ring.

  Ring.

  Ring.

  Time passed. One road led to another. Deeper, I went into nowhere. Each minute that ticked by had my anxiety growing. Not just for me and Boston, but for Lucy. Did he find her? Was she worse off than I assumed?

  Ring.

  Ring.

  Ring.

  “Gibson and Clairmont. I want to go home. I w-want to leave.”

  “Lucy! Thank God. I’m coming. Just hold on. Let me pull this up.” I put her on speaker, bringing up the GPS on my phone.

  Fourteen minutes.

  “Lucy, I need you to go back to the trees. It’s going to take me about ten minutes to get to you.” I increased my speed, blasting down the road. Houses were non-existent. Did she even have a place to hide?

  “Are you safe?”

  “Not really. I…called 9-1-1.”

  My heart sank, but I tried to remain calm. “What did you tell them? Are they sending help?”

  Silence.

  “Lucy?”

  “I didn’t say anything. I couldn’t. I’m…Boston…I don’t know what I’m doing! I want to leave this place. I want to leave!”

  The volume had me jumping as it filled the interior. “Shhh. Don’t yell. Shhh. You have to keep quiet. You have to hide. Tell me about Dr. Patron. What happened? Is he dead?”

  Laughing. Mad laughter. It overpowered the crying, tightening my skin into goosebumps. Another similarity of where I had been. Mad. Mad. Yes, I had been exactly where she was. Lucy was lost right now, and not just in location. Her mind wasn’t thinking right. After whatever she’d been through, clarity might not return for quite some time.

  “I hope he’s dead. I stabbed him in the face. I cut his wrist. I…don’t know. What if he’s not? What if he finds me? I don’t want to go back!”

  “Shhh. You’re not going back. I’ll be there before you know it. Then we’ll call the police. You’ll be safe. Boston can even meet us at the hospital.”

  “No-no-no. I told you, I c-can’t see him. I don’t want to see him.”

  “Dr. Patron lied to you, Lucy. Listen to me when I tell you that. He lied. Boston loves you. He’s been devastated since you’ve been taken.”

  “No,” she said, her voice cracking. “What Dr. Patron said is true. I…he doesn’t lie. He…no. Doesn’t…lie. Doesn’t…” A sniffle. A gasp for breath. “Jeff…my brother, he tried to tell me the truth. I didn’t listen.”

  “You’re confused right now. Listen to me, Boston told me about your past. The doctor was just playing on your emotions. He wanted you to believe Boston was the bad guy. He’s not. It’s irrelevant,” I pushed. “None of that matters right now. The only thing that’s important is your safety.” I turned left, accelerating even more. “When this is all over, you can work through this, but I’m telling you, Boston did not do anything wrong. Nothing that the doctor told you is true.”

  “So, you’re not a k-killer?”

  “No. Of course not.”

  “How do I know? I thought. I thought. Dr. Patron…he was our friend.”

  I sighed, looking down at Braden’s call beeping in.

  “He fooled you all, but he’s going to pay for that, Lucy. He’s sick. He needs help.”

  “He…raped me. He did t-things. Sick. Things. He—” The deep sound that echoed through my car left me nauseous. Tears blinded me, and my throat nearly closed through the need to break at her pain. Again, Braden called.

  “Shhh. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I promise he’s going to p—”

  “Lights! Oh God, he’s coming. Anna! Anna, no! Don’t let him take me. Don’t let him take me!”

  Wind was already rushing in the phone. I pushed my car faster, glancing at the GPS.

  “Run! Run, Lucy! Lucy?” Silence registered, indicating our call had ended, and I dropped the phone. I may have been eight minutes away, but it was a straight shot. If Dr. Patron found her, he’d have to get past me to escape. That wasn’t going to happen.

  Chapter 28

  M

  Sexual gratification or arousal reliant upon the death of a human being—lust murder—branching to the paraphilic term: erotophonophilia, in which I planned to embrace.

  Sex should have been the last thing on my mind. I should have been enraged at Lucy’s maiming of my face. I should have been considering the consequences of my appearance, and her escaping with my cellphone. There were a million things that should have overpowered my sins. There wasn’t. Truth was, all I could focus on was feeling her pulse die against my hands and cock.

  Maybe I had lost too much blood. Maybe it was causing me to not think straight. Hell, perhaps the power I had in life was creating a God complex. All I knew was, in my moment of spotting her in my headlights, I was having the time of my life. Nothing mattered. My mind wasn’t racing. I wasn’t afraid she had called Boston or the cops. Nothing resided within except the torture I planned to put her through the moment I got her back to the farmhouse. I wasn’t even upset that I couldn’t extract my own methods to put her out of her pathetic misery.

  Pushing the accelerator, I watched her weave on the road—left, right. She had no idea where to go. There was only one plausible path, and that put her in the open field. When she bolted through the ditch, I knew I had her. It didn’t take me but a moment to reach the intersecting road. I shot across it, slamming on the brakes. I was out and racing for her before she could make it thirty feet. Screams poured through the air. Dirt was loose, but it didn’t come close to stopping me from gaining on her.

  “No! No!”

  Lucy cut to the left, but my monster was so in tune, she stepped right into my grasp. We spun, nearly falling as she kicked her legs out.

  “Did you say no? Did you forget there are consequences for that?”

  “Let go of me. Let! Go!”

  I obeyed, turning her with such speed, she couldn’t react to my gloved fist connecting against her mouth and nose. Lucy buckled, flying into the rows of dirt as her entire body locked. Step by step, I took my time as I glared down.

  “What were we talking about before? Yes, you being trash. Dirty, filthy, trash. This is kismet, little one. I don’t think I’ve seen you so much at home, lying there in the dirt. And as much as I’d love to fuck you through the ground, I do believe you’ll be six feet under soon enough.”

  Lucy’s leg twitched, and I reached down, lifting and throwing her over my shoulder as I headed back to the c
ar. She didn’t wake when I put her in, or when I finally threw her on the bed and strapped her, spread eagle. Blood and soil were clumped and smeared across her face. Where the dirtiness usually got to me…it had a greater significance tonight. It was who she was. It was her end, and it was perfect.

  Grabbing the cane from the floor, I traced the end over her stained breasts, circling each one while I imagined Boston taking his precious time to please her. Anger ignited, and I held it, letting it build. Letting the Master I was supposed to be loose. The spark was like a match giving life to an inferno. Heat exploded, synchronizing with the rearing back of my hand. The cane split the air, and I brought it down with all my might. Whack! Whack! Whack! The impact was of the divine. It spoke truths only my vicious act could express. And I loved it. I loved watching her skin redden and blood rush to the surface in an array of mass shades. I lived to see sections from the impact peel open while others didn’t. But what got to me the most was the devastatingly raw horror as Lucy’s eyes shot open in agonizing confusion.

  “That’s it!” Whack! “Wake up.” Whack! “Feel.” Whack! “Your.” Whack! “Death.” Whack! “I want to watch the life leave your eyes. I want to watch you suffer through each hit. Through each fraction of anguish I put you through.”

  Gulps of air were followed with the rolling of her eyes.

  “A!—Ann!—”

  “No.” Whack! “You’re not checking out until I’m finished.”

  Still, her eyes rolled as her fight for survival brought out broken screams. My fingers fumbled with my belt, and I crawled on the mattress, positioning myself. The lacerations and bruising skin drove me forward. Sweeping my fingers over her pooling cuts, I collected the blood, using it to lubricate my cock. The all-too-consuming frenzy I longed for took me over. It was a sudden impatience I couldn’t begin to analyze. I thrust hard, tearing my way through her channel. Her desperate cry drew out my moan, and I locked on her throat as I withdrew and slammed back in.

  “Wake up, you fucking cunt. Wake up. Wake. Up!”

  Harder, I pounded, blocking her air even more as I increased my speed. Lucy jolted, pulling against the restraints as her mouth flew open. Like a fish out of water, she searched for oxygen.

  “There she is.” I flexed, allowing her the smallest amount of air, only to cut it off completely. Her body sprung to life in a merge of flailing arms and legs that couldn’t reach me. I had her. Awake. Responsive.

  “Pl…Pl—”

  The pronunciations came out like a pop while she tried to repeat her plea. Purple ignited and heightened around the bruising on her face, and blood begin to ooze from the laceration on her cheek. The undertow of my need sucked me under while I stared deep into her fearful eyes. I was clenching tighter, harder, as I aimed to crush her windpipe. As much as I knew I could, I held her at that point, not quite killing, but not allowing her an ounce of life either. Her arms were getting weaker, moving in slow motion toward me as her mouth gaped and the blood vessels in her eyes burst.

  It was in her fleeting awareness that a bubble of peace flickered in my chest. I inhaled deeper, bearing my weight against her with crushing forcing. My cock didn’t stop stabbing mercilessly. The top part of her body bounced, only to sink into the bed as I squeezed and pushed down harder. My muscles screamed where she couldn’t. And I let them as I tried to bring my hands nearer into a closing fist. My cock swelled, turning me even angrier. I didn’t want to stop. I wasn’t ready to end this, yet I didn’t have a choice. A moan left my lips as I pulled out, allowing my cum to shoot over her stomach. The gurgling hit its peak, and within those momentous moments, they branded their way into my memory, dying…just like her.

  Deep pants filled the room, and I let go, lifting to my knees. Time blurred, and silence became deafening. I blinked in and out of my fog, finally able to crawl from the bed and fasten my pants. Euphoria came in many forms, and mine was nothing more than a light, prickling daze. I unfastened the restraints, lifting Lucy’s dead body and dumping it in the shower. Water washed away the blood, cum, and dirt, leaving them sliding toward the drain in a kaleidoscope of different colors and textures. As much as I wanted to watch, I headed into the room. One by one, I took off the ends of the sheet, wrapping the blankets and plastic-covering into a ball. From there, I tucked the restraints under the mattress, including removing the one from the canopy to follow. Darkness met me at the back door, and I didn’t have to go but ten feet to throw them in the barrel. The smell of lighter fluid filled the cool night air, and I breathed in deep, dropping a match. A bright orange glow burned, and while repeating Lucy’s death in my mind, my blood heated back with lust. But it didn’t last. A car accelerating in the distance flooded me with awareness.

  I headed inside, leaving the back door cracked. When I got into the bathroom, I grabbed a towel, turned off the water, and lifted Lucy’s dead body. If there was one thing I liked about the farmhouse, it was that I didn’t have to go far to hide my evil deeds. I pushed against the dresser, moving it to the side. A hidden hatch no bigger than two feet across appeared, and I pulled it open, staring down into the black hole below.

  A car door shutting had my head snapping over. With both hands, I grabbed Lucy’s towel-covered body and threw her inside. She hit the hard ground below with a solid thump. The rage built, but with it, something else began to take me over. Guilt? No. Fear? It wasn’t that. It was a primal need to commit my act again. An addiction I knew all too well.

  Shutting the hatch, I positioned the dresser to cover it and stalked to the opening of the bedroom. Within seconds, the front door eased open. Anna slipped in, training a gun right on my face.

  “I have to admit, I’m a little surprised to see you here. Did you decide to take me up on that date?”

  “Where’s Lucy?”

  I blinked, not having to pretend confusion. “Lucy? Why would I know that?”

  Anna reached into her pocket, tossing me my phone. “She called me. She told me where she was. You,” she said, dipping the gun more in my direction, “had her. You raped her. Hurt her. She told me everything. I’m not going to ask you again. Where is she?”

  A chuckle left me. “You must be talking about Linda. Not Lucy. This is her house. She’s one of my clients. I’m afraid she’s schizophrenic and off her meds. One of her personalities is that of a victim. Well, that’s putting it lightly. As for Linda, I have no idea where she is. She attacked me, took my phone, and bolted. I was actually just on my way to the hospital. Would you care to join me?”

  “You’re lying. Lucy! Lucy, it’s Anna! Tell me where you are. I’m getting you out of here.”

  I leaned against the doorframe, letting it support my weight. “I told you, she’s not here. You’ve been played.”

  “Bullshit. You have a hole in your face. You’re telling me one of your clients did that? I don’t think so. Besides, how would this Linda know to say she was Lucy? I’m not stupid.”

  “Of course you’re not. She knows because I told her. Linda and I…well, we’re close, if you know what I mean. When she’s medicated, she’s amazing to be around. Not so much when she’s not.”

  “Liar. Lucy!”

  “Anna, really, I have to get to the hospital. She injured me badly. No one is here but me.”

  “No…no…what…is that smell? Smoke? Is that…?”

  Anna’s eyes widened, and her head jerked toward the back door. Without pause, she raced forward. I stared, watching as she swung the barrier open and sprinted toward the barrel. Coughing followed while she got close, peering inside. Time seemed to drag before she came back in.

  “See. Just wood. Linda and I were drinking wine out there earlier. Nobody is stuffed inside if that’s what you were checking for. Would it make you feel better to look around? I can show you the bedroom. You can see the kitchen from here.”

  “You…move over there.”

  The gun motioned for deeper in the living room, and I obeyed, feigning more weakness than I felt. Anna walked sideways, peek
ing in the dimly lit bedroom. She inched in and disappeared. Shuffling sounded, and footsteps paused here and there. When she returned, confusion masked her features.

  “What the hell happened in there?”

  “The end table, you mean? That, well...during Linda’s episode, she attacked me. We stumbled into it. The lamp fell off. Broke. I tried to restrain her so I could calm her down, but she got me good.” Lifting the sleeve of my suit jacket, I exposed the gauze around my wrist. “Cut me clean open. Anna, I understand you’re upset at Linda’s call, but trust me, tomorrow when I find her and get her back on her meds, I’ll introduce the two of you. You’ll see I wasn’t making this up. Now, please, can you drive me to the hospital? I would have called an ambulance, but I only just bandaged myself up a good minute before you arrived.”

  “Why are there no sheets on the bed? If you cut yourself, where’s the blood?”

  I paused, taking my time to rest my good hand on the back of the parlor chair. The same chair I’d had Lucy tied to. I gripped the red velvet, licking my lips as I stroked the soft fabric.

  “Linda stripped them off after we were…finished. They’re in the garage, on the floor, in front of the washing machine. Go look if you don’t believe me. It was after her return inside that she appeared different. And there’s no blood, because I wiped it up after I bandaged myself.”

  “So, you fuck your clients?”

  My eyes narrowed, but not with anger. More, intrigue.

  “We were lovers long before I became her doctor. Does my sex life concern you so much?”

  Anna went to say something when she looked down at her pocket. A buzz filled the space, and I took a step closer.

  “Is that your detective? Did you call and fill him in before you raced in trying to be the hero?”

  “Not another step. I still don’t believe you.”

  “You didn’t. You haven’t told a single soul.” I hesitated in going further, and instead transitioned the discussion to something I knew would make her uncomfortable. “Did you find Davis? Did you kill him?”

  “No.”

  “But you went looking for him, didn’t you?”