A car pulled up beside me and a window rolled down. A doughy faced man leered at me, his eyes roaming up and down my body.
“Hey, baby,” he said, “why don’t you come here, I’ve got something I think you’ll like.”
My lip curled in disgust, but I brushed my long hair behind my back seductively. I walked toward him, letting my hips sway. “Do you?” I asked softly, “Well I think I’ve got something you’ll like even more.”
The expression on his slack-jawed face was hungry, greedy as I walked toward him.
“You gonna show me?” he asked.
His eyes were on my chest. I pulled back my arm and punched him in the face. He grunted and his hands flew up to shield himself. I saw that he had a wedding ring too.
“You bitch!” he yelled.
I was actually surprised that a soft man like that wasn’t crying. He held one hand over his eye and was already cranking the wheel with the other hand, pulling away as fast as he could.
“Have fun explaining the bruise to your wife!” I called after him as he drove away.
People on the street were staring at me and I scurried to the next block over. I had to be more controlled. I’m sure he wasn’t the last asshole I would encounter and I couldn’t risk word getting out that a crazy brunette was assaulting johns.
I walked for a couple more hours. I warded off a few more advances but didn’t encounter any blue cars with hanging license plates. Around three, the bar had closed and traffic on the street diminished. I decided to call it a night. I was cold and my feet and back were aching. I snuck back into the house just as quietly as I left. I hid my stuff, changed, and washed the heavy makeup from my face. By the time I was actually ready for bed, I could hardly keep my eyes open. I was asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.
When I woke up the next morning, strong sunlight was streaming in my window. I blinked my eyes. I could tell by the brightness of my room that it was late. I fumbled for my phone that was charging on the nightstand and saw that it was after eleven. I groaned. I’d missed seeing Kate and Norah and I’d lost nearly half the day. Sitting up, I felt the remnants of sleep heavy in my head – was I still tired? I forced myself to get up anyway.
In the kitchen, I made myself a cup of coffee. The hot sweetness cut through my grogginess and I began to think. Of course, in the back of my mind I had hoped that I might immediately stumble into the path of the killer, but realistically I was going to have to spend a lot of time on the street. Unless I could find more information. My mind leapt to thoughts of Brandon. I wondered how his night had gone and whether he had learned anything useful about the killer.
I grabbed my phone and searched for any new articles. I found a couple small stories claiming that a possible eighth victim had been discovered. No name, no location, no help. I wasn’t sure whether to be glad or disappointed. If it was another dead end, then I didn’t have to worry about the police being closer to finding him than I was, but without more solid leads I was back to relying on time and luck. I groaned.
Deciding to call Brandon, I punched in his number and he picked up right away.
“Hey, you,” he said.
“Hey!” I said brightly. “I’ve been thinking about you all morning, I just didn’t want to call too early if you had a really late night.” It was a lie, but it was the most natural way I could think of to maybe get him talking.
“Thanks,” he said glumly. “It was a long night, and I’m in for another one.”
“Why?” I asked. “What happened?”
“We have reason to believe he’s going to strike again, soon. Maybe even tonight. We’re going to have plainclothes officers combing the streets – Cafferty and I too.”
“Oh. How do you know? That he’s going to attack again I mean.”
“I can’t tell you that, Emily.”
He sounded tired.
“I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to press...”
“No, I know,” he said, “I’m sorry for being short. It’s just that the crime scene was really awful, and now we have this new lead. Only it’s not a lead… we don’t know exactly where to look and we don’t have any idea who we’re looking for. It’s a needle in a haystack! But we have to try, we have to do something. I can’t just sit back and let him mutilate another girl.”
“I’m sorry,” I whispered. I hated that this was weighing on him like this; it made me feel more determined than ever. At least I had an idea of the car I was looking for. And I had that feeling; that deep down, solid sense that I was on the right path. The building I had been to yesterday had called to me, my blood had chilled when I looked at it. It had been like stepping into a shadow. I was right about it. I was going to find him.
Chapter 13
That night, I donned the same outfit and makeup as the night before, and snuck out at around the same time. It was a colder night than it had been. I could see my breath, but I wasn’t able to cover up. None of the other girls here were covering up, and they weren’t showing any signs of being uncomfortable either. Whether that was their determination to make some money, fear of their pimps, or just that their battered bodies weren’t as sensitive to it anymore – I didn’t know.
After several sleepless nights, I’d been beginning to feel a toll on my mind. Yesterday night had dragged on as my body had tired of roaming the streets in my heels, but tonight, I felt reinvigorated. I breathed deeply, the cold air filling my lungs and keeping me alert. I watched the men that lingered in the streets, the cars that passed by; aware that some of them may be cops tonight. I had to be careful. I walked block to block, slowly canvasing the area that surrounded the place I had chosen as my kill site; the same place that the killer may also have selected. I was going to meet him tonight; I was going to end up in that building one way or another. I could feel it.
It was just before one in the morning when I saw a car round the corner and a glint of blue caught my eye. It was hardly the first blue car. My hopes had risen with each one, but so far I’d seen no sign of the telltale license plate. The car slowed to check out some of the girls as they walked out toward the curb to flaunt their bodies, but none of them seemed to interest the driver and he kept on coming. He was nearly to me when another tall brunette walked out of an alley. I heard his voice as he called out to her, but I couldn’t make out what they were saying.
The car was definitely blue, and beyond that, the girl appeared to be the perfect target for the killer. The orange glow of a nearby streetlight caught in her dark hair, giving it a rich golden sheen. If the man had only driven another few seconds in my direction, I was sure I would have caught his attention. I casually started walking down the street, keeping close to the buildings and mostly in the shadows. My heart was racing as I passed his rear bumper and turned to see whether it was damaged. My heart sank. The plate sat perfectly in its frame and there was a giant bumper sticker right above it. Harmony would have seen that for sure. Not my guy.
The girl gave me a funny look as she climbed into the passenger seat of the car, probably wondering if I was trying to encroach on her territory, but I ignored her. I found a pile of crates as they drove off and decided to sit for a while to rest. No one else came by for over thirty minutes. The streets had quieted as the bars neared closing time and I was beginning to doubt myself. The feeling I’d had compelling me to come here tonight had been so strong – had it been wrong? I wondered whether I should start making my way back to where I would call a ride when I saw a car approaching in the distance. It was driving slowly, most likely the driver was looking at the girls who had tired and retreated into the shadows like I had. I strained my eyes and as it passed under a light, I could see that it was also blue. My pulse and breath rushed as I stood up and moved so that I was standing directly under the nearest light.
He was almost too my now. None of the other girls must have been what he was looking for. I turned my head away from the car, as if I were looking at something further down the street, and I brushed my hand through
slowly through the length of my long hair, knowing that it was catching the light. I heard the car slow to a stop next to me, and I turned back to it with a serpentine smile.
“Hi there,” he said. “I haven’t seen you out here before.”
“Maybe you weren’t looking hard enough,” I replied as coolly as I could.
He shook his head as he replied, “No. I’d remember you.”
He was giving off a dangerous vibe. The air around him seemed to crackle like a live wire, but I knew I could be imagining the sensation because I so desperately wanted it to be him. I needed to see the plate to know for sure.
“You wanna go for a ride?” he asked, patting the passenger seat next to him.
“That sounds like fun,” I answered, fully intending to just walk away if it wasn’t the right car.
I walked around the back of the car and almost gasped when I saw the plate. It was hanging by a single bolt and sat at an obvious angle, just like Harmony had described. It was him!
I couldn’t let on that anything had changed as I continued around the car. I was sure he was watching my every movement, like an animal preparing to attack. I shifted my purse to my side as I walked, making sure it was open and that I had quick access to my tools. I looked through the window to make sure I could see his hands and climbed in. It was a risk, but I had surprise on my side. I knew what he was going to try and do. He had no idea what was coming.
His eyes wormed up my body, from my chest to my exposed legs and back again. I felt certain he was undressing me in his mind and it made my skin crawl. Both his hands were on the steering wheel, but I could see one of them tremble from time to time. It was possible that he was drugged out, but as I looked at his eyes, I doubted that was the case. They were steady, driven. He looked hungry, not high. I recalled the tremble in my own hands after abstaining from my passion for so long. Perhaps this was a withdrawal of that nature.
When he was done imagining all the terrible things he thought he was going to do to me, he put the car back in drive, and we were off. I wondered where he would take me. I had been right about the area he would hunt in tonight – would I be right about the kill site too? He drove slowly down the now familiar streets of the sordid neighborhood, making the couple turns that led us right to the abandoned warehouse. I smiled to myself, so elated that I’d been right that I didn’t even consider the danger. He eased the car into the empty drive and pulled straight up toward the chain link fence. It looked like he was going to drive straight into it, but at the last second he stopped.
“I used to work here,” he said, opening his door, “I know a place we can go for some privacy.”
He got out of the car and didn’t grab anything, so he must have had his weapons on him already. Getting out of the car, especially knowing that he had a gun, was risky. He could draw on me before I was close enough to try dealing with it, but if I pulled my knife on him now, I wasn’t sure that I could control him as we navigated through the fence. I would just have to get out, and hope that is plan was not to attack me until we were out of sight from the street.
I shrugged at him as I clutched my bag and stepped out of the car. “Whatever you say.”
He smiled, probably at his own guile, thinking that I would come to regret those words. He led me over to a weak spot in the fence and lifted it up so I could scoot under.
This was perfect! He was a big man, much bigger than me; he would have to stoop and squeeze himself through the opening behind me, giving me the perfect opportunity to grab my weapon.
I ducked underneath the fence, stealthily sliding my right hand into my bag and closing my fingers around the smooth plastic of the taser. He couldn’t see the wicked grin on my face as I stood.
He crawled through after me. His eyes were down for a moment, and as he stood I whipped the taser out of my bag and thrust it toward his neck.
His hand was on mine faster than I thought possible. I hadn’t been overconfident as I sometimes had in the past. I was careful. I did this right. How had he seen that coming?
“You bitch!” he screamed at me. “I knew there was something off about you. What do you want?”
“I know who you are!” I spat at him.
His eyes widened at my words, and his grip tightened on my wrist. I bit my bottom lip to hold in a cry, he was strong – stronger than he looked. He jerked my arm painfully to the side to distract me as he fumbled for something at his waist. I knew he was going for the gun. I’d given myself away and he was probably going to shoot me right here and go found an easier target. This was bad.
I had to fight.
I grabbed my knife with my free hand. This time I was faster. Before he’d even seen me move, I lashed out and sliced the arm that was holding me. He cried out, more in surprise than pain, but he let go. While his mind was struggling to catch up I took a step into him, pressing the blade to his throat and screamed, “STOP!”
He froze, his injured arm in the air, his other arm still stretched behind him. “I know you’re reaching for a gun,” I said calmly, “lift that hand in the air.”
He made a sudden movement, as if he were winding up to pounce.
I drove the point of the knife harder into his neck. “Do it slowly! Don’t you dare try anything. You’re not the only killer here,” I smirked, “so don’t think I’m afraid to rip your throat out.”
He raised his hand, as calmly as if he were stretching. I watched his face warily. My arm ached from where he had grabbed me and I could already see marks from where each finger had dug in. I had to be careful. He was very, very strong and I sensed that his strength was more than just physical. Just as I’d suspected, he wasn’t the pathetic, unconfident drifter the news had made him out to be. Prostitutes might be his victim of choice, but not because they were easy targets. This man looked at me with defiance, even with the blade to his throat. He didn’t want to die, but he wasn’t afraid of me. Not like most men I’d taken this way. The majority of them would be begging by now. No matter, I’d get him there eventually.
I reached over to his hip where he’d been trying to get the gun free. It was practically out of the holster and I slid it out easily, never taking my main focus away from his hands in case he tried something. I immediately pointed the gun at him and removed the knife.
“Hand me your keys and phone,” I ordered. He lowered his hands slowly, grabbed the items from his pocket and tossed them at me. It was a smart play, but I didn’t bite. I’d used tricks like that before too, and it was shocking how often someone would let their guard down to catch something, even in the face of danger. They landed with a clatter on the ground at my feet. I bent to retrieve them and tossed them in my purse, keeping my eyes and the gun trained on him the whole time.
The cold steel of the gun was heavy and completely foreign in my hands. I looked at him smugly as I held him in the weapon’s sight, but the truth is that I’d never shot before and I had no idea if I could hit him, even from this distance. I’d wanted to go shooting before, and even convinced Kate to come and try it with me, but without photo ID, I’d never been allowed. I thought that maybe before the night was done I would use this man as target practice; I wouldn’t aim for anywhere lethal, of course, that would be too good for him. But I could get used to pulling the trigger and the feeling of the recoil as I listened to him scream, and maybe I would even keep the gun when I was done.
“You know,” I said, “I think we are going to need some privacy. Walk to that building.” I gestured to one of the outbuildings I had seen earlier. I had noticed at the time that its door hung slightly askew and thought it looked like we might be able to get in.
“No,” came his shocking reply.
“What do you mean, no?” I asked. “I have your gun. Move – NOW!”
“You aren’t going to shoot me,” he said with a smile.
“Like hell I won’t!”
“Oh, I’m sure you are more than capable of taking a life,” he said, as casually as if we were having a con
versation over dinner, “I just know that you’re not going to kill me like that for not going where you tell me to.”
“Would you bet your life on that?” I growled, shoving the gun towards him as though it made it more frightening.
“I know you won’t shoot me because I saw your face when you cut me, I saw the look in your eye when you said we needed privacy.”
I narrowed my eyes at him.
Now he was smirking.
“We’re the same,” he said with a grin that made my skin crawl again. “You want me in that room for the same reason I was going to take you there. You can’t kill me because you haven’t gotten what you came for yet. I don’t kill mine until they’ve given me what I want either.”
His words repulsed me. He didn’t know me. He was just buying time. He was trying to play me. I was nothing like him!
“You can deny it all you want, but I know you. I don’t know exactly what it is you’re after, but it’s nothing as simple as just killing me. What? Do you think I’m a monster? Are you here to punish me?”
“You don’t know anything about me!” I shouted back. “Now move!”
My biggest concern was losing control, and despite being the one with the gun, I felt like I was already on the verge. He was getting in my head, and I knew I couldn’t let him, but his words were terrifyingly accurate.
“I know you more than you think. How you feel when you can’t get what you want and it eats at you… taking over every thought until you’re even dreaming about it…”
Evil Unbound- Death's Mistress Returns Page 20