“Yes,” he said, shaking his head. “That’s who she’s talking to. That poor fucking kid. The details of the molestation were horrific enough but to add to it, the child had kept a diary of what her father had done to her from age ten to age twelve. It was detailed and heartbreaking and Charlie had to read and re-read every word of it in order to prepare the case for prosecution.” Jake nodded in understanding.
“She has a good heart,” Jake said, absent-mindedly, and then caught the captain’s stare.
“Yes, Agent, she does. A heart of gold, a sharp mind, and the eyes of an angel. She’s one of the most impressive police officers I have ever had the privilege of working with. I don’t want to see her hurt. She’s fragile. If you haven’t picked up on that yet, you need to understand that. She’s fragile.”
“Are we still talking about the case?” Jake asked, flatly. The heat was starting to build in him as the captain confessed his admiration for Charlie. “She’s tougher than you think Captain,” Jake said defiantly, angry with Charlie’s captain for not giving her enough credit and becoming increasingly uncomfortable with the conversation. Jake shifted in his chair. He felt like he was about to hear an unsolicited confession.
“Oh, and you know her so much better than I do, Agent Adams?”
Jake didn’t know what to expect next but he certainly didn’t expect the captain to tear up and it threw him. “It’s my fault. I should have been there for her. I don’t want this to end a brilliant career so I have been covering for her, hoping it would pass.”
“Captain, with all due respect what the fuck are you talking about here? Being with me is not going to ruin her career. She’s single. I’m single and I’m in love with her.”
The captain looked up from his desk where he had been focusing his misty eyes and leaned forward. “I suspected that,” he said cryptically. “Charlie is very dear to me. That is why I’m telling you this story. You need to know.”
Jake sat back in his chair and waited for the punch.
The captain found his resolve. He cleared his eyes, sat up straight, and continued. “In the months following the case, Mary Jane was put into foster care while her father was incarcerated. The mother overdosed and died.” Jake nodded.
“Okay.”
“It gets worse,” the captain said gravely.
“Worse? How? Charlie told me about the case Captain. She said the father got sixty-five years and that Mary Jane didn’t have to testify. She said that she made Virginia court history by using the girl’s diary to convict the son-of-a-bitch.”
The captain nodded. “It was unprecedented, but she didn’t do it to spare Mary Jane from testifying. The kid couldn’t testify.”
“What do you mean?”
“Mary Jane committed suicide a month before the trial.”
“What? I don’t understand. What?”
“Mary Jane Klasky killed herself a month before the trial. She was thirteen years old.”
“I don’t . . . then who is Charlie . . . I don’t . . .” Jake stammered.
“How did she die Captain? How did Mary Jane die?” Jake asked, already suspecting the answer.
“She threw herself in front of a freight train.”
Chapter 30
He’s Got a Knife
“Love Walked In” by Thunder pounded through the room, shaking the walls but not his resolve. It was still metal. Maybe it was the current wave of death coming to an end that was making him go soft. Had this happened before? He couldn’t remember. There would be more. This he knew. It was inevitable. He had to savor this last meal like a prisoner on death row. The thought made him shudder but he quickly shut it down. He was too smart to ever be caught. The security that now surrounded his entrée, however, would make this execution the most difficult of all, however deserving. Then there would be nothing. The thought made him sad. It had taken years to cultivate this specially selected list of earned endings. He had never carried out a mission that included multiple winners, but it seemed the thing to do here. Or maybe he was getting greedy. There were so many others out there waiting for him and he would not disappoint them by getting himself caught. What would become of the boy if he were caught? He was in no shape to fend for himself and he couldn’t count on brainless state workers to provide for his special needs. The thought of the child being on his own momentarily paralyzed him with fear. Perhaps a break was in order. The boy seemed happy here. In fact, he had never seen him so happy and that meant a great deal to him. Though he knew himself to be narcissistic and self-serving, he did in fact love the child.
“Alright, Clint, let’s put it on the table,” Charlie demanded. “I’m tired of fucking around.”
“What’s the point, Sarge? You’re just going to defend him, but I’m telling you something is wrong here. I feel it in my gut. You know that part of me you used to trust,” he added sarcastically.
After talking to Mary Jane, Charlie had decided to leave the station and head back to Clint’s apartment. She wasn’t at her desk when Jake bolted out of the captain’s office and ran to her office looking for her, horrified by the information the captain had shared with him and desperate to protect her. Jake rang her cell phone but heard the barking dog that she had made his ringtone coming from her desk where she had left her cell. Frantic, he headed for her apartment.
“Clint, I can’t believe the lengths you are willing to go to discredit Jake. This is insane. What do you have against him? Now I am not asking you, I am ordering you to tell me what you saw last night.”
Clint rolled his eyes, unimpressed with her order but intimidated by green and gold flecks that lit up her eyes. She was on the edge. “I told you, I don’t know for sure that it was him. There was no Fed Mobile in the parking lot but I do know that he did leave your apartment last night and he didn’t go to his hotel.”
“Why do you think it was him at Deborg’s?”
“Instinct, timing, build, take your pick, Sarge.”
“Did you call in the homicide, Clint?”
“What? Fuck no!” Clint said with a surprise Charlie felt was genuine. “Somebody called it in? Holy shit. Jesus, I didn’t even know he was dead until I saw the uniforms rolling in this morning. Listen, once I got in the building I lost the guy I was tracking and I couldn’t remember which floor Deborg lived on so I gave up. All of the sudden the whole premise seemed crazy so I walked back to my car, drove down the street, realized I was too lit to be driving, and pulled over and fell asleep. That’s it. That’s what happened.”
“That’s the first sensible thing you’ve said in the last 24 hours, dumbass,” Charlie snapped. “You’re damn right it was crazy. You are going to have to give a statement to Crammy, but how about you just report facts and not all your wild ass speculation?”
“Okay, I can do that. But what am I going to say I was doing on that side of town?”
“Tell the truth,” she said, narrowing her eyes. “You were drunk.”
Clint nodded. “How many days am I suspended for, Sarge? We have work to do before Crammy fucks this case up nine ways to Sunday.”
“I know,” Charlie sighed, exasperated. “I was going to make it one week, but I haven’t turned in the paperwork yet so let’s make it one day instead. So, get your ass back to work because I’m certain that the captain will be ordering a 24/7 surveillance on number six. Fucking freak. Jesus, I hate that we have to protect that horror of a human being.”
Clint put his hand on Charlie’s hand. He knew that number six had screwed with her more than any of the others besides Mary Jane, and he didn’t need his beloved sergeant talking to anymore dead victims. He held his hand on hers, and she didn’t try to pull away. “Make sure I’m on the stakeout roster, Charlie. I want in on this.”
She nodded. “Okay, Night Rider. I’m sure it won’t start until at least tomorrow night. There isn’t enough time to put a schedule together
before then.”
“Maybe you and I could team up this time?” Clint asked hopefully.
“We’ll see. It’s the captain’s call, Clint. Any luck on AJ’s IP address?” Charlie asked, changing the subject.
“Not yet, it’s a ghost signal, bouncing from Landon to Timbuktu and back. My guy at VBPD has tracked it to five different states but he said he still doesn’t have the actual origin.” Not the information Charlie had been hoping for.
Charlie was distracted as she drove back to the station. Did Clint’s information mean AJ wasn’t overseas, or did that just confirm that he was in fact in a high security assignment and that’s why he possessed the ability to bury his IP address?
As Charlie pulled back into the station she saw Jake sitting in his SUV in the parking lot so she took the parking space next to him. He looked upset. She hadn’t left things very well with him this morning and she was grateful they were at the station where his icy stare was the most she had to fear. Jake jumped out of his SUV and was at her door in a hot second and pulling on the door handle. She opened the door and he grabbed her hand and pulled her from the seat wrapping his arms around her. “Jake. What’s wrong?! You can’t do this here. Tell me what’s wrong?”
Jake was still reeling from the captain’s confession that Charlie was routinely talking to a dead Mary Jane Klasky. Jesus. “Get in the car Charlie,” he said opening the passenger door to the SUV and shoving her into the seat.
“Jake stop this! Tell me what is happening?” she demanded.
“Please, Charlie. Please trust me and come with me now,” he pleaded. The look in his eyes told her to stop fighting. This wasn’t arrogant, overbearing, scary Jake. This was rattled Jake and he needed her, now. Jake drove like a man possessed through the streets of Landon toward Charlie’s apartment, neither of them saying a word as he crushed her hand with his. Once inside the apartment he led her to the bedroom where he sat her down on the bed and embraced her like he hadn’t seen her for years. Then his eyes started to mist and made no effort to hide it. She didn’t know what was happening, but she knew that he loved her and somehow it was hurting him.
She held him for what seemed like an hour before he finally spoke. “I love you Charlotte. I’ve never felt like this about anyone and it’s overwhelming me. I’m sorry, I just feel like I’m losing control and I can’t, I can’t function like this. I know there is a lot to be done on this case. I’m sure the captain is wondering where you are but I had to hold you and I couldn’t do that at the station. I . . . I need to protect you.” He couldn’t tell her the truth, that he was afraid for her sanity and afraid for his own. He had made the connection. He knew now why they were together and knew that they would never be able to part again.
“I’m where I need to be, Jake,” she said. “I love you too and I’m right here. I will always be right here. Forever.” She meant every word she was saying. This was real. At last . . . this was real. Forever wasn’t a question. It was a statement of fact. She didn’t understand it, but she believed it. She kissed him slowly, tasting his salty lips and taking his tongue deep. He quickly took control of the kiss and laid her on her back, his hands grabbing her breast in big handfuls and squeezing them forcefully, causing her to whimper in his mouth, igniting him. Jake pulled back from the kiss and stared into her eyes that had already begun to turn gold in the afternoon sun. She caught the flash in his right eye and was immediately both aroused and frightened. Kneeling beside her on the bed he pulled his clothes off, leaving his tie draped around his neck. Charlie rolled out of her suit jacket and started unbuttoning her shirt but Jake stopped her.
“Pray,” he said in a voice she remembered from the hotel.
“What?” she whispered, so quietly she mostly just mouthed the words.
“Pray,” he said again, producing a knife from his back pocket and exposing the blade with one touch.
“Jake,” she whispered, her voice starting to tremble.
“Pray,” he ordered again.
Charlie put her hands together in prayer and Jake put the knife between his teeth and pulled the tie from around his neck and used it to secure her wrists together before tying them to the headboard. Charlie was both breathless and terrified. It didn’t occur to her for one second to resist, but that was the insane power Jake Adams had over her. Keeping the knife between his teeth, he slid her pants down and pulled off her shoes and socks, and left her red laced panties and sleeveless blouse in place. Charlie could feel the juices flowing between her legs as Jake took the knife into his hand and slid the tip of the knife across her covered breast, his stare locked with hers. One by one he sliced the buttons of her shirt off exposing her stomach and red push-up bra. Charlie closed her eyes in effort to embrace the ecstasy and shut out the terror building inside her.
He sliced the bra away from her skin, exposing her breasts, her hard nipples and releasing an audible growl from her captor. Next was her panties; two cuts. “Lie still,” he commanded. She tensed and held her breath every time she felt the blade touch her skin, until she felt her panties fall away and heard the blade of the knife click closed. His mouth devoured her nipples and she came instantly from the sheer intensity of the scene he had created. The harder she came, the harder he bit down into her flesh. He mounted and thrust into her simultaneously and she thought he would rip her in two. He pounded away at her without mercy until her body, racked with orgasms, gave up and she lay limp like a rag dog while he continued to punish her. He finally collapsed on top of her, taking a nipple into his mouth and rolling them both on their sides while he gently sucked, his throbbing cock still unexpended on her aching thigh. He was disappointed that this level of intensity did not allow him to climax and he feared she was disappointed as well.
As she slowly regained awareness she realized her hands were tied to the bed but she couldn’t fully remember how it happened. She remembered the knife though. Reading her thoughts, he reached up without releasing her nipple from his mouth and untied her hands. She rubbed her wrists and kissed his head while they both drifted in and out of an emotionally exhausted sleep.
It was the most intense sexual encounter she had ever had, read about, or imagined. It went far beyond the boundaries of anything deemed “normal” or “appropriate” and it sent her to a place to which she wanted to return again and again. She was disappointed he hadn’t climaxed and started to understand why other women became frustrated. She vowed not to let this happen to her. There had to be something that would move him to orgasm and she would not stop until she found out what it was and surrendered it to him. She was fearful about what that might be but resolved to do whatever it took. She would do it for him. She would do it for them.
A half an hour later her phone rang, waking them both. Jake reached for the phone first and reared back to throw it across the room when Charlie’s words stopped him. “Baby don’t, it’s going to be the captain,” Jake handed her the phone and groaned “Fuck. Jesus, I feel like I’ve been drugged.”
“Yes, Sir. I’m sorry, Sir, I left my phone at the office. Yes, we’ll . . . I’ll be there soon.” She hung up the phone and winced, “We? I said we. Well that cat wasn’t let out of the bag, it was yanked out.”
Jake chuckled, “Fred Mertz.”
“Oh my God I love you, Jake Adams!” she said, falling back into his arms completely enchanted. He rolled up on his elbow and studied her.
“Did I scare you?” he asked her with genuine concern. She shook her head no and his eyes narrowed.
“Okay, I was a little scared but I can take it,” she said firmly. “I can take whatever you can dish out, Adams. Anything. I have never been this sexual or this satisfied in my life.”
“Jesus Christ, Charlotte Cavanaugh. Where did you come from?” Jake sighed. “I can’t believe that you aren’t running for the nearest exit.”
“I can’t either,” she purred.
“Maybe it’s be
cause you’re as crazy as I am,” he said sadly, pushing the hair out of her eyes.
“Maybe,” she said, her eyes starting to mist. He pulled her into his arms and held her tight until she pulled away, her jaw squared. Uh oh, he thought.
“Can I ask you something Jake? It feels like . . . well, like maybe you are not always . . .” she shook her head and stood up. “This will have to wait, we have to get rolling. Cap wasn’t pissed but he was annoyed that he had to put together the surveillance without my help.” Jake nodded, relieved that she didn’t finish her question.
Back at the station the captain was cranky. He was none too pleased with his favorite detective. “I have most of it covered, but of course nobody wants midnights so since you and Adams were MIA when this schedule was being put together, guess what? You two get the first three midnight shifts, starting tonight.”
“Fair enough Cap,” she smiled. “Sorry about that, it won’t happen again.”
“You’re goddamn right it won’t,” he said, trying to sound stern.
“Can we switch the second night to me and Clint? I only put him on a one-day suspension but I’d like to keep him close.” The captain nodded in understanding. He erased Jake’s name and wrote in Clint’s.
Charlie resisted the urge to skip back to her office, thrilled that she would be teamed up with Jake tonight and even more thrilled that there was a very good chance that she and Jake would be poised to catch the killer. She also knew Clint would be excited to get in on the stakeout. Thinking about Clint always brought her thoughts back to AJ. She wanted so much to tell AJ what was happening, but ever since she connected the dots that night at the bar with Clint, she no longer felt comfortable reaching out to him. She didn’t really believe AJ was the killer but the coincidence was gnawing at her gut.
While Jake met with Cramlin to break down the Deborg homicide, Charlie dove into her inbox but was extremely distracted. She played the scene again in her mind, her stomach in knots while she played his words over and over, “I love you, Charlotte,” then relived the feel of the fabric around her small wrists, the helplessness of being tied to the bed . . . yes, she could handle this. She could so fucking handle this.
The Hooker, the Handyman and What the Parrot Saw Page 23