Fatal Hunt

by Kristy Walker

  Bill smiled as he noticed her pregnancy for the first time. She had been wearing a coat both times he had seen her.

  She was throwing a stick for Thor to “fetch”. She and Thor had totally different ideas of what that word meant. Thor clearly thought that “fetch” meant that he would chase the stick and then drop it several feet from Kacey and then clumsily fall down and start chewing.

  If it wasn’t so adorable, Kacey would be annoyed. When he was chewing and his little eyes tipped up to look at him it made her heart sing! How could she ever be mad at her little demon dog.

  She walked over to Bill and reached out her hand to shake his.

  “Do you have my estimate?” She asked as she reached for the papers he was handing her.

  “Yes, ma’am.” He reached down to pet Thor and laughed as the puppy tried to nip at him. “It’s ok, puppy. Your stick is safe.”

  “Let’s go into the house.” Kacey suggested, laughing as she scooped up the dog. “Coffee?”

  “Yes, please. That would be nice.”

  They were sitting at the kitchen table and Bill got out the estimate that he had worked up for Kacey’s home. They were sipping coffee and Kacey was reading the proposal, glancing up occasionally to ask a question. As he watched her, he thought that he hadn’t seen anyone as pretty or as sweet as her in a long time.

  As she finished the last page, Bill had the thought that he would maybe ask her out as soon as their business was concluded and she wasn’t a client anymore.

  “Looks good to me, Bill. And your price is very fair. When can you start?”

  “If early next week works for you, I could start Monday. I have most of what you need and the rest would be in Monday or Tuesday. Just a couple of things that were missing from a recent shipment."

  “Would I need to be here for it? I’ll be working.”

  “It’s not necessary. My policy is that we don’t ever have your key, but if you tell me when you need to leave in the morning, my crew will be there before you leave, or soon after. That way we aren’t in your way.”

  “Sounds good. I’ll call you and let you know before I leave, but Monday is perfect.”

  They shook hands again, and Bill Front got back in his muscle car and carefully drove away.

  Kacey looked in on a sleeping Thor and went into the kitchen to clean up the coffee and piddled the rest of her day off doing things that you usually do to catch up after a busy work week.

  That evening Kacey and Thor sat on the couch watching mindless television while Kacey knitted on some more baby socks.

  “Maybe a hat next time, huh?” She asked Thor.

  Thor’s snoring made great company.

  Chapter 50

  Someone across town was having a very bad day.

  “How could I be so stupid?!” He shouted as he threw the chair across the room. He must’ve left his list at that slut Jacqueline Bishop’s house. He knows he had it in his jacket pocket. He thought he had zipped it, but it was opened and empty.

  Then to top off his day, the officer was still alive! How could he have left her breathing? He thought for sure that she was dead. He was watching the house, as he liked to do, to watch the idiot police chase their tails. The highlight was when they loaded the bagged body in the morticians van. But not this time … no … he had to botch it up. He couldn’t believe it when an ambulance pulled up and they wheeled her onto it in a gurney and watched Detective “Perfect” climbing in behind her.

  He followed the ambulance at a discreet distance so he could see which hospital they took her to. He parked his truck and casually walked in as if he belonged there. From everything he could see Officer Bishop was definitely alive. They weren’t sure if she would make it, though. He could only hope. She saw his face and it wouldn’t take a whole lot of police work for her to figure out who he was and why he was killing.

  He decided the best thing to do right now was just to put a pause on his mission, he couldn’t afford any more mishaps. He needed to regroup and reassess and decide what to do next.

  Chapter 51

  Mike and Kacey stood towards the back of Alice’s memorial service. The family had elected to have the service outside instead of in the chapel because it was an uncharacteristically beautiful day for this late in the year. The grass was just starting to green up and you could feel the sunshine warming up the earth.

  Several people had some very moving things to say about Alice and Kacey had to take her sunglasses off for a second to wipe a tear. It was a beautiful service and as she began to put her sunglasses back on, her eyes caught a glint of something in the distance.

  “Hey, Mike.” She said as she elbowed him. “Look to the left … 2:00. Do you see that?”

  “I do.” He used his ear piece to speak to the officers who were milling around in plainclothes. “They are checking it out.”

  Kacey put her sunglasses on and continued to peruse the crowd. Directly across from her was Bill Front.

  “Hmmm … wonder what he’s doing here?” she said nodding her head towards the man.

  “Maybe because he installed the cameras and we interviewed him or maybe he’s just nosey.”

  “Maybe …” she said thoughtfully. “He’s coming to install my security system Monday, I’ll ask him myself.”

  The service wrapped up and Mike and Kacey went to Alice’s family to offer their condolences, after hanging around the fringes until everyone was gone, the two detectives walked back to Mike’s car.

  “Lunch?” Mike asked.

  “Definitely. How’s Jack?” Kacey asked, knowing that Mike had just come from the hospital.

  “Same. I’ve been texting back and forth with Cindy and she’s been keeping me updated. They think they will be able to take some tubes out today which puts her closer to being out of the coma.” He thought for a moment. “Kace, it kills me to see her in that hospital bed. She looks so fragile.”

  “I know, Mike. I’m so sorry for the whole thing.”

  Mike pulled in to The Corner Cafe and as they settled in to enjoy their lunch, Kacey’s phone rang.

  She pulled it out of her dress pocket and looked at the number.

  “Detective Yates.”

  After a few minutes of “Uh-huh” and “OK, thanks and good work.” She ended the call.

  She put the phone back in her pocket as she told Mike what the officers had found.

  “That glint we saw … it was a remote camera. They bagged it and took it to be analyzed.”

  “So someone was watching.” Mike said. “Our killer?”

  “That’s what I’m thinking.”

  After they had eaten and were walking to the car, Mike’s phone vibrated with an incoming call. He stopped in his tracks as he saw that Cindy was the caller.

  “Hello … how is she?” He listened as Cindy responded. “I’ll be right there.”

  He hung up the phone and tossed it into the car.

  “She’s waking up … let’s go.”

  Kacey jumped into the car and Mike barely waited until she shut the door before he floored it.

  When they got to the hospital, Kacey didn’t even bother trying to keep up.

  “GO!” Kacey insisted.

  Mike didn’t even hesitate. He took off at a jog. By the time Kacey reached the ICU, Mike was in the hall and Cindy was hugging him and crying. Kacey stopped, not sure if they were celebrating, or mourning. When Cindy looked up and smiled at her, Kacey felt overwhelming relief.

  “It looks good, you two. They took the tubes out earlier than they thought they would and she came out of the coma really quickly. They think she’ll make it. She’s asking for you, Mike. I cleared it with the nurses and you are free to go back.”

  Mike squeezed her shoulder and went back.

  Kacey and Cindy sat down and Cindy excitedly told Kacey all about Jack’s progress.

  “Mike?” Jack’s voice was very raspy and weak.

  “I’m here, sweetheart.” Mike said as he took her hand in his. “You
have no idea how good it is to see you.”

  “What happened?” She started coughing.

  Mike took an ice chip and put it on her tongue and waited.

  “Better?”

  Jack nodded her head.

  “My throat feels really raw. They said something about a breathing tube. Well?”

  “I’m not sure, Jack. When I came to get you to go out, the door was already opened, so I went inside and found you on the floor. You were stabbed in the stomach. I called the ambulance and they did surgery right away.”

  He fed her more ice chips.

  “I don’t remember any of that. I remember getting ready and now I’m here. I’m sorry.”

  “What? Why are you sorry? You just have to rest and get better. Whether or not you remember anything doesn’t matter. All that matters is that you heal up and get back on your feet. Everything else is just white noise.”

  Behind Mike, someone cleared her throat.

  “I’m sorry, sir, but my patient needs to rest now.”

  Mike acknowledged that he heard her with a nod and turned to whisper into Jack’s hear.

  “I love you so much.”

  Jack smiled and fell asleep.

  Captain Wells, and Detective Boaz were sitting in the waiting room with Cindy and Kacey.

  “Did she say anything?” Detective Boaz asked.

  “The last thing she remembers is getting ready for our night out and then waking up here. Nothing else.”

  “Alright … we will talk to her doctor and see what’s up with that.” Captain Wells said. “You two stay as long as you want, but in the morning I want to see you both in my office for an update on this dating site stuff, ok?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Captain Wells turned to Detective Boaz.

  “Let’s get a couple of officers on her door, in case our handyman comes back to finish his work.” He said so that only the detectives could hear. “You stay here until one comes.”

  The Captain left as the detective situated himself and put out the call for a guard.

  “We need to get back to work, too … you need anything, Cindy?”

  “Thanks, Mike … I’m leaving too. Nothing more to do here until she wakes up again, and that won’t be for a while. The nurses have my phone number.”

  He nodded. “If you hear anything, call me.”

  “Of course.”

  “Let’s go, Kacey.”

  ‘I’ll never get to finish what I started while she’s in the hospital.’ He thought. He took the bouquet of flowers that he was going to take to Jack’s room as a way to get close to her. When he saw her guarded door, he turned and set them on the empty nurse’s station counter and walked out.

  Chapter 52

  Mike drove them back to the station. He hadn’t said a word the whole drive over and Kacey was not in any hurry to break the silence. He looked downright stormy. His brows were furrowed, mouth turning down at the corners. His dark eyes seemed even darker.

  He parked his car and put his head down on the steering wheel. He lifted his head up and turned anguished eyes to Kacey.

  “I don’t know what I would’ve done if I had lost her.”

  “You would’ve survived. But thankfully, we won’t have to worry about that.”

  “Kacey, I owe you an apology.”

  “Whatever for?”

  “The way you handled losing Dan has been so amazing. I have not been available for you like I should have. I’ve been so busy with what’s going on with me that I haven’t been there for you. This close call has been a terrible thing but it’s given me a new appreciation for what you have gone through.”

  “Oh, Mike. You have been there. You were there for the most difficult time and now I don’t need that. But, trust me … if I needed you, I would’ve let you know.

  “Now … let’s go inside and figure this whole dating site thing out. I’m kind of sick of the whole thing.” Kacey said before things began to get too gushy.

  They walked past Angie, who was on the phone scolding one of her boys for eating all of the leftovers which she had been saving for supper, and into the conference room that Kacey had commandeered for their case.

  “Whoa, Kace .. you’ve been busy.”

  The conference room walls were lined with photos of their victims, the crime scene, and evidence. She had pinned coordinating colors of yarn from each victim to each of the photos that went with them. It looked like some kind of crazy version of a laser security system. But somehow it worked for her.

  “Little bit.”

  She began to explain her system and each connection she found between the victims. Unfortunately, there were only three that she could see.

  “All of our victims met the ‘professor’ online and were killed or, in Joanne’s case, escaped. All of our victims who were murdered had a playing card in their mouths. They had their hair cut as some kind of a souvenir.”

  She walked to the other side of the room and pointed to a section of white board.

  “Just things that need to be noted. Each woman had different color hair and eyes. One woman had a security system, the others did not. Two were successful professionals in their fields. All three had very accessible social media accounts. All of the women have completely different personalities. Thoughts?”

  “Lots of them.” Mike began. “None of them particularly helpful.”

  He walked around the room, reading all of her notes and rubbing his chin.

  “What are we missing?”

  “Well, Mike … I think what we are missing is bait.”

  Mike whipped his body around to face her.

  “What are you suggesting?”

  “I think we need to set up a ‘makeamatch.com’ account for one of our detectives. You know … a female one.”

  He looked at her for a minute.

  “I hate to say it, but you might be right. Tomorrow morning when we talk to Captain Wells, we will broach the subject.”

  “Agreed.” Kacey frowned. “So, I’m a brunette. Should I change my hair color?”

  “Well, the only color he is missing would be red, but maybe it doesn’t matter.”

  “Yeah, I’m pretty sure I would have to get a wig and I’m not sure it wouldn’t be too obvious. I’m not willing to dye this gorgeousness. Pretty sure red isn’t my color.”

  “Well, let’s organize all of your … ahem … arts and crafts here into a somewhat cohesive file to talk to the Captain about tomorrow. Let’s figure out a way to break it to him that his favorite detective is throwing herself out there as ‘bait’.”

  “Awww … his ‘favorite’. About time you acknowledged that.” Kacey said with a grin.

  The two detectives busied themselves organizing their notes for the rest of the afternoon.

  Chapter 53

  At home, that evening, Kacey clipped the leash to Thor’s collar and they went on their nightly walk. This was fast becoming the most favorite part of Kacey’s day, and she thought that Thor felt the same. He had such a jaunty wiggle to his backside the whole time they were walking.

  No one could resist the little guy, and they had to make several stops for his adoring fans to pet him and tell him what a good boy he was.

  They walked past the Denard house and the detective was sitting on his porch in a coat smoking a cigarette. He waved them up as they walked by.

  “Hey, there, neighbors.” He said with a wan smile. “How’s my favorite doggie?”

  Thor did a ridiculously cute job of showing him how well he was doing.

  “How are you holding up, John?” Kacey gently asked, climbing the porch steps to join him.

  He turned tired, red rimmed eyes to her and stubbed his cigarette out.

  “Sometimes good, sometimes bad, Kacey. I miss Marsha more than I would’ve thought possible and I’m so angry that this happened. When I think of how she must’ve felt in those last seconds of her life I want to die.”

  He took a moment to compose himself.

&nb
sp; “But then I start thinking of the great times we had together and it’s a comfort.”