MAD AS BELL

by Jeremy Waldron

  Susan said, “Shall we plan to do breakfast as well?”

  She watched Daniels’s eyes fill with desire when she realized the implication she’d mistakenly made. Was it a mistake? She wasn’t sure—didn’t want to think too hard. She just knew she didn’t want tonight to end.

  Slowly, Daniels tipped forward, lowered his head, and went in for the kiss Susan thought he might try to take. Their lips touched and fireworks exploded behind Susan’s eyelids. She kissed him back in an electrifying haze. When he pulled away, he left her feeling breathless and dizzy.

  The drive back to Susan’s place was mostly quiet, but Daniels remained the gentlemen all the way to her front door. Susan released his hand and unlocked the door with her heart hammering. She turned to Daniels and asked, “Would you like to come inside?”

  Daniels paused for a moment of thought, then said with a smile, “I’d love to.”

  Susan nudged the door open, flicked on the overhead light, and entered her condo. She shed her shawl and heard the door click shut behind her when suddenly her body was swallowed inside Daniels’s big arms. Pushing her up against the wall, his lips were on her neck as he hiked up her dress and pulled her underwear down.

  Stunned by what was happening, Susan’s mind and body went black. Was he really doing this? She heard him unzip his pants and she snapped out of her thoughts.

  “Stop,” she said firmly. “What are you doing?”

  Daniels pushed more of his weight against her, wedging her between the wall and himself. He worked himself closer, between her legs.

  “Owen. Stop!”

  Susan flattened one hand against the wall and raised the opposite arm, sending a sharp elbow to Daniels’s gut. He grunted, and Susan took that moment to twist out of his grasp. She hurried into the living room where she took refuge on the opposite side of her couch. She openly stared, wondering what she’d done to make him think that was okay. Nothing. She hadn’t done anything.

  Daniels fixed his belt and breathed hard. “I—huh…I’m sorry.” He swiped a hand over his head. “I don’t know what got into me.”

  Susan folded her arms, tucked her trembling hands into each of her arm pits, and said, “You need to leave now.”

  A disbelieving look flashed over Daniels’s eyes before he turned to the door and reached for the handle. Before leaving, he said, “Call me when you’re ready to commit. I have everything you need waiting for you when you’re ready.”

  Chapter Sixty

  I arrived to Archie’s location to find an empty street. I applied the brakes and slowed to a stop. The night was hot, the sky black. It was a little after nine p.m. and an uncomfortable, eerie feeling fell over me.

  This was the place where Jessica Hinojos was abducted. A dark street corner brought together by a crumbling sidewalk near a 7-Eleven. It was easy to imagine how it happened, but I still didn’t understand why.

  A street lamp buzzed overhead and I killed the engine. I checked my phone. Nothing from Archie. I glanced to the convenience store, but he wasn’t there either. His absence bothered me more than I wanted to admit, but this was how Archie worked. What could possibly go wrong?

  I swung my door open and stepped out. Pushing my bangs out of my eyes, I looked up and down the sleepy street. The air was calm and dry and, though it was a stark difference from where I had just come from, it wasn’t the least bit relieving.

  What was he trying to prove? Why had I fallen for his trap? Did he want me to feel like a fool? If so, he’d succeeded.

  Pulling my hood up over my head, I moved up the street thinking about Jessica. Denver University wasn’t far from here, and neither was South High. Who was this person taking these girls? Didn’t they know that playing in the same playground would eventually get them caught?

  A dog barked and charged the chain-link fence, getting me to jump back. I stared, frozen stiff, into its eyes when the front door to its owner’s house opened. The owner met my gaze—stopped and stared. I ducked my head and kept trudging forward.

  Soon, I approached the back of the convenience store, edged the side, and came to stop at the corner beneath the security camera I assumed caught Jessica being taken. This wasn’t where I was supposed to be—certainly not where Dawson would have assigned me if given the choice—but here I was, standing at the heart of the story. It happened here, not at Jessica’s mother’s house where I assumed the media circus to now be.

  I followed the camera lens to where my car was parked. It was a perfect angle, squeezed between two large oak trees.

  Archie brought me here because we thought alike. He wanted me to see this. Walk the grounds, smell the air, put myself in Jessica’s shoes. I wasn’t sure what I thought about all this—if I liked it—but he did it for a reason, and now I needed to know what that reason was.

  Catch me if you can, I heard his words echo between my ears when a tall, well-built man exited the 7-Eleven. He stopped as soon as he saw me, and we both stared.

  “You shouldn’t be out here alone,” he said.

  I looked to the only other vehicle around and assumed it was his. There was no one inside the cab. “Neither should you,” I said back.

  He tipped his head back and I watched as a grin threatened to pull his lips upward. Did I say something funny?

  “That may be,” he said. “These streets aren’t safe anymore.”

  “I’ve heard.”

  “But you didn’t see it?”

  The way he said it made me believe he had. “Did you?”

  He was slow to answer. “No.”

  “Consider yourself lucky.”

  “I always do.” He nodded and said, “You be safe now.”

  I wished the stranger a goodnight and watched him get into the shining red pickup truck I’d assumed was his. The engine rumbled to a fast start and he backed up and turned right onto the street without using his blinker.

  Once again, I was standing alone, tormented by my thoughts. I crossed the parking lot and got behind the wheel of my own car. Through the windshield, I glanced back to the security camera. Jessica was lucky to have it capture anything at all. Just one foot in either direction and we might not have seen her go missing.

  I cast my gaze to my lap and watched the video footage of Jessica’s abduction on my smartphone for a second time. My gut wrenched again.

  How could this have happened? Who were these men? Did this confirm there were two suspects behind this reign of terror they were inflicting upon our city, as I suspected there might be? My thoughts drifted back to Heidi and how she led us all to believe a teacher was behind these attacks. It had me thinking.

  Once the video of Jessica’s abduction ended, I scrolled through my list of contacts and called Allison. She picked up after the second ring, sounding sad.

  Allison said, “I don’t know how you do it.”

  “You’ve seen the news.”

  “I can’t stop. No matter how horrific it is, I keep watching, praying that it’s not real, and that someone will find her.”

  I inhaled a deep breath, watched a Toyota Prius park in front of the convenience store, and waited for Allison to surprise me by saying something about Heidi’s comment making it to the evening news. But she never did. I assumed it had gotten lost sometime between reporting about Megan’s murder and the abduction of Jessica. Was that done on purpose? To throw us all for a loop? It certainly felt that way.

  I asked, “How well do you know Nicholas Bennett?”

  “Why are you asking? Did you see him there? He was supposed to be there.”

  I asked her to elaborate and Allison shared how Bennett headed to Megan’s crime scene as soon as they learned the body found may have been a student of South High.

  “I haven’t heard from him since,” she said, “and I can’t imagine he would still be there.”

  Thinking back, I couldn’t recall seeing Bennett anywhere. I would have recognized his face if he was there. “No,” I said. “And I was one of the last to leave.”

&
nbsp; “Oh, jeez.” Allison gasped. “Sam, I’m worried about him. These are his girls going missing. Can you imagine? Just when I think I’m starting to like a man, he’s closing himself off to me.”

  “Jessica—was she a student of his?”

  Allison was quiet for a long pause. “I don’t know.”

  I felt my expression pinch and debated whether or not to say it. But I had to. “Allison, I don’t know how to tell you this, but there is talk that a teacher might be behind these attacks.”

  “No. No, Sam. You’re wrong. It’s impossible. Nicholas loves those kids. He would never hurt them.”

  Chapter Sixty-One

  To him, she was real.

  The image of her was lifelike. So crystal clear that he could feel the shine of her black-as-night hair fall between his fingers like water. And her electric smile. Boy, did he love looking at it. It was so innocent and bright; it could light the darkest of rooms with a single flash. And though she was trapped inside the blemish-free pixelated image of his computer, he could practically smell the sweet fragrance of her scent. He thanked her for that. For, without it, he might not have had reason to believe that they were even a possibility.

  Ace rubbed his hands together with enough friction to start a fire.

  But it was what lay beneath her high cheekbones and heart-shaped face that really got his attention: Her long, slender neck—the one physical feature that constantly brought him to his knees. Hers was marvelous and as he focused in on her throat that gave her voice, he could feel the arteries pump blood to her brain in the tips of his fingers, feel the rigid cartilage of her trachea that fed her lungs—gave her life—a life they both cherished more than anything else.

  Ace’s gaze traveled up Naomi’s face and lingered in her brown eyes for a beat. He placed himself next to her, sizing his tall frame against her short stature. A warm buzz formed in the tips of his fingers and moved up his arm in waves.

  The TV flickered on the wall behind him. He could see the news playing on mute in the reflection of the mirror pinned to the wall just next to his computer monitor. He read the headline script scrolling at the bottom of the screen and reached for the clicker hidden beneath the Prom Queen Killer book opened on his desk. Turning up the volume, he listened.

  Amber Alert…Jessica Hinojos…the FBI is working with local authorities to capture whoever is behind these attacks. There are no suspects at this time.

  Ace’s lips curled at the corners and he hit the mute button. Nothing was more satisfying than watching the cops run around like headless chickens, not knowing how to stop a madman like himself. They were clueless he was behind the attacks, and he appreciated the way the media snagged onto an idea and turned it into something else entirely.

  He swept his gaze off the mirror and clicked on the second tab he had opened on his internet browser. Having to re-enter his password, he opened the website and searched for Eva Martin.

  Once on her page, he browsed her gallery of images. Then he flicked back to Naomi’s.

  Yes, he had a type, he laughed. Didn’t every man with a pulse?

  Ace knew Eva was vulnerable. He also knew her kidnapping story was being purposely suppressed by the cops and the few reporters who knew about her. Ace liked that they thought they could hide her secret, and even considered messaging Eva to tell her that he knew what she was hiding. But was it too soon to request a date? The lure to go after the one who got away was intense, but the risk too high still.

  A thumping on the floor below gave him pause.

  Ace eased back in his chair, shallowed his breathing, and waited to hear it again.

  The soft glow of the computer monitor lit up the white walls that surrounded him. The noise vanished and the house went back to silence. It was just as he liked. No games. No fuss. Only rules to live and die by.

  When he closed his eyes, he saw Megan take her last breath before he was forced to set her spirit free. She broke his rule and paid the price. It was a necessary evil, something that had to be done. If he hadn’t, the others would begin to rise.

  Ace had watched Megan’s crime scene unfold from afar. As he did, it was as if he had an out-of-body experience. The news vans, the helicopters circling overhead. The police and the FBI. The fear in everyone’s eyes. Thanks to him, he made tonight’s entertainment possible.

  His eyes sprang open with sudden realization.

  He’d reached a new level in his career, one he didn’t set out to achieve and was still trying to grasp himself. He’d been at this for over ten years—just like the Prom Queen Killer—but he was having the most fun now. He had to be careful if he didn’t want to be caught—if he wanted these games to continue. Which he did.

  Slowly, he stood, turned toward the master bath, and began shedding each item of clothing. First his t-shirt came off, then his jeans, and he finished with his underwear and socks, leaving a trail of clothes in his wake.

  Ace slipped into the bathtub, felt the cold water engulf him and take his breath away. Sinking deeper, he held his breath underwater until stars flashed behind his eyes. Then he emerged, reached for the razor, and shaved his sculpted body bare before stepping out and walking to the mirror above the sink. There, he opened the contact lens case and placed each of the color lenses in his eyes before hiding his face behind a clear Halloween mask.

  Staring into his unrecognizable eyes, he said, “You’re the genius that will never get caught. The man who hides in plain sight.”

  Chapter Sixty-Two

  The piercing scream was loud enough to shatter windows.

  As soon as Erin heard it, her eyes popped wide open. Awake in a snap, her heart pounded like drums in her ears. She turned her head and looked to her door. Dark shadows danced across the walls, scurried across her floors, but no one was there. The house was quiet and she thought the scream came from her dream.

  Lifting her head off the pillow, Erin pushed herself upright and looked to the window. Soft light from the neighbor’s house poured in between the curtains. Closing her eyes, she shook off what she thought she heard and pulled the bedsheets up over her breasts.

  The ceiling fan clacked overhead and the tiny breeze it created sent a powerful chill down her spine. The hairs on her arm stood on end and she ironed them down with her hand as she thought what, other than a scream, she could have possibly heard. Her thoughts then drifted to Eva.

  A minute passed without hearing another noise and she convinced herself it was nothing when suddenly she heard Eva yell at the tops of her lungs, “Help! He’s here. He’s inside the house!”

  Erin tossed the covers and ran across the hall as fast as she could. Pushing Eva’s bedroom door open with both hands, it slammed against the wall with a loud thud. Erin flicked on the overhead light. A bright flash caused her to squint, and she braced herself for the worst.

  With her hands balled into tiny fists, her muscles flexed, Erin bounced her gaze around the room until her eyes finally landed on Eva.

  Eva rocked back and forth on the floor, hugging her knees to her chest. She kept mumbling something Erin couldn’t make out through the tears she cried.

  “Honey, look at me,” Erin said, placing a hand on Eva’s kneecap.

  Erin wasn’t convinced Eva knew she was there. Eva’s eyes were closed when Erin squeezed her knee. Eva froze, stopped rocking, and tensed. She opened her swollen watery eyes, tipped her head back onto her shoulders, and asked Erin, “Did you see him? He was here.”

  Erin asked, “Who was here? Was someone inside your room?”

  Eva’s eyes bulged, her nostrils flared. New pellets of sweat glittered her brow and matted down her black bangs. Eva said, “Someone was outside my window.”

  “You saw someone, or you heard someone?”

  Eva blinked and a thick tear fell from her eye as she shook her head like she didn’t know.

  Erin stared into her fearful eyes for a beat before moving to the single closed window on the opposite side of the bed. She approached with caution, sharin
g quick glances with Eva as she moved. Eva didn’t move, only held her breath as if frightened Erin was about to encounter the same terror that sent Eva to the floor.

  Once at the window, Erin lifted a finger and was about to peek behind the curtain when Eva sprung forward and said, “Careful. It’s not just me he’s after.”

  Erin’s eyebrows knitted and she wondered what had happened to the confident and fearless girl she spent the previous day with.

  “He’ll hurt us both,” Eva muttered again.

  Erin pulled back the curtain and peeked through the glass. She saw nothing but her own reflection. Now Erin was certain the girl had experienced a nightmare. She checked that the window was locked and sealed shut despite the sweltering heat of August. It was.

  Erin said, “I don’t see anything.”

  “He was there.” Eva’s lips parted as she swept her gaze to the window. “I swear. I heard someone trying to break in. He knows I’m here.”

  Erin stared at a broken, scared girl and chose her words carefully. “The window is locked, Eva. There is no one outside.”

  Eva stood and pushed past Erin. Pulling back the curtain, she looked out the window herself. She released the curtain and it swung back into place. “He knows I’m here and is coming for me.”

  They locked eyes and Erin said, “Only Samantha knows you’re here.”

  Eva wiped her face dry. “You keep saying that, but you don’t know.”

  Erin knew Eva was right. She didn’t know for sure. Erin asked, “Would it make you feel better if I stepped outside and took a look around?”

  Eva inhaled a sharp breath and nodded her head once.

  “Okay. Stay here until I get back.”

  Erin grabbed a t-shirt from her room and slipped it over her head before pushing her feet into a pair of sandals at the front door. She stepped outside and looked up and down the block, but saw no one. It was the middle of the night. Most people were sleeping. She was certain Eva had had a nightmare, maybe from sleeping in an unfamiliar bed. At least, that was what she hoped.