by Cate Mckoy
“Yes. I can’t leave her like this.”
As he got closer, he spoke to her in a clear direct tone. “Chastity?”
No response.
“Chastity? It’s Rick Racuanelli. Do you remember me? We met in your house last night.”
Still nothing. He kneeled in front of her. He slowly waved his hand in front of her face, hailing her attention. Her eyes fluttered before her gaze became sharp and aimed directly at him.
Rick smiled gently. “Chastity, do you remember me, Rick Racuanelli?”
Her voice came out low and sounded as young as she looked. “You’re the intense lieutenant with the pretty eyes that smells really good. You made the mean detective go away.”
Rick quirked a brow in surprise. He had never been called intense and pretty-eyed all in one sentence before. Women often complimented him on his eyes, but it was usually while he was fucking them or just finished.
Danica laughed. “She’s got you pegged.”
When Rick threw a frown in her direction, Danica hid her smile. “I’m gonna go wait in the outer office for Dr. Salandar.”
Rick turned back and was startled for a second at the sharpness of Chastity’s gaze which hooked his. He smiled again. “What do you say we get you cleaned up and out of here?”
Suddenly, she gripped his hand. Her grip was tight, almost desperate. “Okay, I will go with you.”
Rick stood, helping her to rise. He let go of her hand, she held tight. He watched her more closely. Her eyes never left his and her breathing had a deliberate quality about it.
“Chastity, you can let go now.” Rick gently indicated their joined hands. Not that he was complaining. It seemed, as though she wasn’t aware of still holding his hand.
“No, she can’t. She’s focusing and doing breathing exercises.” She looked around the office. “Holy hell! What happened in here?”
Rick turned and noted a pretty, Indian woman in a white lab coat. “Dr. Salandar, I presume?”
“Yes. You are?”
“Lieutenant Rick Racuanelli of the Kingston Falls PD Stalker Division.”
“Stalker Division? Oh, no, don’t tell me she’s called you people in for one of her delusions?”
“Why can’t she let go?” Rick was curious about her tight grip and unwavering gaze.
“She’s coping. It’s her way of dealing with and controlling her panic attacks and anxiety. What happened? What brought on her panic attack?”
“She had to fire someone, the woman slit her own throat in Chastity’s office. Chastity tried to save the woman but was unsuccessful. The morgue’s got her.”
“Oh, no! No wonder she’s experiencing delusions and paranoia. Work stress can cause her symptoms.”
Rick frowned. “What symptoms? She was perfectly lucid until this incident.”
“For the past several weeks she has displayed paranoid behavior and delusional traits. Some of her actions can be chalked up to her lack of sleep, not all. She thinks someone is after her.”
“Well, I don’t know about all that, however, it does appear she has someone stalking her moves and leaving notes?”
“Sorry Lieutenant, I think she left those notes herself because her parents weren’t taking her seriously.” Salandar words rang with her belief in them.
Rick suddenly got second thoughts about Forbes’ actions regarding this case. If he had had all these people in Chastity’s life telling him it was all in her head, he probably would have assigned this a non-stalker case too. Although, to put paid to the whole thing he would have at least followed her for a day.
“I want to see Chastity. Chastity! Who the hell are you anyway?”
Rick looked over towards the door where Danes was holding the arm of a young black woman in blue scrubs. Her hair was shaved close to her head. She had tribal tattoos circling both wrists and forearms. She had light hazel colored eyes.
“Erica, she’s fine. She had a little scare. Calm down.” Dr. Salandar assured.
“Fuck!” Erica exclaimed, looking at all the blood. “What happened?”
Rick looked to Chastity to see if she would answer the woman. Her eyes were still concentrated on him. Her hand still clasping his. Seeing her in such a vulnerable state caused a protective wave to overcome him. His hand tightened on hers and he pulled her closer to him. She followed easily, tucking comfortably against his side. He started walking towards the door. Chastity followed.
Ignoring the other women in the room, Rick spoke to Danes. “Get this office cleaned up and ready for tomorrow. I am taking her home. You and Murdock rest up. I will take the night and overnight shifts. I will see you both in the morning at her place.”
Danes nodded. “Okay, ladies, time to leave.”
The one Dr. Salandar addressed as Erica stepped in front of Rick and Chastity. “What happened?”
Erica raised a hand to touch Chastity. “Don’t touch her.” Dr. Salandar directed.
It was unnecessary. Chastity shrank away from the woman’s hand and cuddled even closer to Rick. Rick blocked the woman’s hand.
Erica sneered at the doctor. “I wasn’t going to hurt her. I am her best friend. What are you even doing here?”
Dr. Salandar walked within a foot of Erica. “It’s none of your business what I am doing here. Aren’t you assigned to the ORs today? Why are you here? And, correction, I am Chastity’s best friend.”
“You stuck up bitch you don’t know anything about our friendship. Get outta my face or get knocked outta my face.”
Rick tilted his head towards the combative women, communicating silently with Danes. He then gently led Chastity around them and out of the office, out of the hospital to his car. She could get cleaned up at home.
Chastity was silent during the walk to his car. He opened the passenger door for her, and she sat down. However, she refused to let go of his hand. Rick knelt in the open doorway. He softly touched her cheek. Her gaze softened. “Sweetheart, you have to let go of my hand so I can drive you home.”
She watched him with eyes that were direct but lacked a lucidity that he associated with someone under the influence. He moved in close, watching her pupils. “Chastity, did you take something, a drug?”
She shook her head and spoke softly enough that Rick had to turn his ear towards her mouth. “One of the doctors gave me an injection.”
Rick sighed in relief. That explained why she was docile and delayed in her responses. His relief was short lived. He frowned at Chastity’s recollection. Danes had said she hadn’t let anyone near her. Was Chastity confused or delusional about a doctor giving her an injection? He pulled his hand from her suddenly slackened grip and hurried around to the driver’s door.
Pulling onto the main road, he glanced in his rearview mirror. He spotted Murdock’s car a couple of car lengths back. Good, Rick thought. Murdock would follow him to her house and then return in the morning.
***
Rick was showing Murdock to the door after they searched, cleared and secured the house when Chastity’s scream split the air. They both responded by drawing their weapons and rushing to her bedroom where they had left her to shower. Chastity was naked, her freshly showered body smelling of soap and roses. She stood screaming, staring at her dresser.
Rick rushed to her, taking her in his arms to calm her. He also wanted to hide her body from Murdock. “Chastity! What is it?”
“Fuck!” Murdock swore, putting his fist against his nose and mouth. He backed away from the open dresser drawer. “Shit, man, I am no doctor, but I’d say that’s a heart. A human one?”
Rick snatched the robe at the foot of her bed, staying in front of her, he helped her put it on. He holstered his gun and went to inspect the drawer. It was open. On the floor directly in front of it was a pair of silk panties. She must have dropped them when she saw what else was in the drawer. It was a drawer assigned her underthings. A rainbow of colors filled the drawer; thongs, bras, panties. Among the pastel colors a much darker red, almost-brown splas
hed most of her intimates. Lying in the center was a human heart. Rick had seen enough of them in autopsies he attended. It was definitely a human heart. But what drew his attention more, was the pink paper stained with blood that simply read ‘MINE’ in all caps with the number thirteen. It was the first of February. Thirteen more days until Valentine’s Day.
***
It was the wee hours of the morning. The lab techs had been and gone. Murdock filed paperwork. Danes checked in with forensics. It had been a blood and sperm mix in the letters written on Chastity’s closet door. That was a preliminary test. A more comprehensive breakdown will come in a couple days. The coroner had the heart and the lab techs had the blood-stained undergarments.
Rick had the same crime scene cleaners that had cleaned Chastity’s closet return to clean her drawer. Even so, Chastity had refused to sleep in her room. He took one more walkthrough of the house and went to one of the guest’s bedrooms. He quietly opened the door. The room was dark. The curtains at the window were closed. No street lights or the security lights, he knew Chastity had, shown through. It surprised him that it was her only nod to security. With the dim light from the hallway, he was able to make out the shape of Chastity’s still form on the bed. He silently entered the room. He sat on a chair near the window, watching and protecting her.
***
Rick knew the minute Chastity started to dream more vividly. Her head started to toss and turn more frequently, her legs moved, her hand came up off the bed. Her breaths became audible. He rose and turned on the beside lamp. He could see that there was a fine sheen of sweat on her forehead. He sat on the bed, gently pulling the comforter off her now highly agitated body.
Suddenly, she jackknifed in to a sitting position, still not awake. Her voice was low but gained volume. “N-no, no, no. H-help, Help! Help me!”
Rick gently cupped her shoulders and shook her. “Chastity, Chastity!”
The dream’s grip held her, causing her to thrash about and swing her arms. Rick ducked a flailing arm and shook her harder. “Chastity! Come on, sweetheart, wake up!”
Chastity’s eyes sprang open. She looked about, disoriented. Her eyes found Rick’s. She threw herself against his chest, her arms going around him. “Oh, Rick.”
Rick’s arms encircled her small shuddering frame. The relief and vulnerability he heard in those two words caused his heart to pick up its beat. Never had he ever felt such a strong urge of protectiveness. Well, not in a long time a small voice inside his head reminded him. He wanted to help Chastity. And, help her he would.
He knew her actions were subconscious, but her slow caressing along his back was driving him crazy. It felt so damn good. It also had him thinking along other lines. He had a beautiful woman clinging to him, caressing his body, in her bed. Security and protection were not usually on his mind in a situation like this. Well, a different kind of protection was usually on his mind. The annoying voice sounded again inside his head. Ignoring the voice, he held her close, returning a gentle caress to her back. After several minutes of soothing her, he pulled back enough so that he could look in her face.
He couldn’t believe how incredibly young she looked completely devoid of makeup. She obviously didn’t wear makeup because she needed to. Her beautiful brown skin was unblemished. Her eyes were exquisite. Brown was too ordinary of description. The warm brown, with a sweet, innocence shining through assisted in her youthful appearance.
“What was your dream about?”
She whispered in fear. “Him.”
“Him? Him who?”
Her brow furrowed and her voice became louder. “Him, the stalker. The him doing this to me. Him, the reason you’re here.”
“Do you know who it is? Or do you have an idea of who might want to do this to you?”
“No!”
“Okay, calm down. You said him with such conviction, I thought you were referring to someone specific.”
“I am specifically referring to the stalker.”
“This couldn’t be someone you turned down or an old boyfriend?”
“No, I haven’t had cause to turn anyone down and I don’t have an old boyfriend.”
Rick smirked in disbelief as his eyes roamed to the lush curves that categorically denied her juvenile appearance. “Come on, Chastity, you’re telling me someone who looks like you, doesn’t have an ex-boyfriend? And, guys aren’t constantly hounding you for a date? Well, I don’t believe it.”
Chastity’s ire rose. She pushed out of his loose hold and got out of the bed. She faced him. “What do you mean, someone who looks like me? I have no reason to lie. I don’t have a boyfriend current or old. I don’t know who this man is that’s stalking me.”
“Chastity, I am talking about your college boyfriends, your high school boyfriends, your childhood crush. Any male in your past that would have an obsession. Any guy that has shown you undue attention in the past year or so.”
“There isn’t anyone. I am telling you the truth.”
Annoyed, he stood too. Some of the victims tended to lie if they thought some information would put them in a bad light. Right now, Rick didn’t care if Chastity had men pouring in and out of her bed like milk in glass. He needed the truth from her to help capture this person. He needed a list to start checking off names. She was leaving him with no list at all or an endless one depending on how one looked at the situation. If she couldn’t name a single person, that leaves everyone as a suspect.
“I don’t care about your past. I need to get a handle on things. I need something to track this guy, anything.”
She began pacing, agitated. “I can’t make you believe me. My parents don’t believe me. My best friend, who happens to be my therapist doesn’t believe me. None of my friends do. Your cop friends don’t believe me. Why should you be any different?”
He took exception to her saying he was just like everyone else. He was different. He had good cause to be different. Rick saw and felt her frustration. He didn’t like seeing her pain and worry but he needed all the facts. She wasn’t helping her case by not divulging all the information that she could. She continued to pace, mumbling to herself about her not being a liar and why wouldn’t anyone believe her.
“Okay, the reason no one believes what you’re saying is because it’s unbelievable. For someone as attractive as you to have no ex-boyfriends, she’d have to be a virgin. And for no man to ask you out… wait, what did you say?” Rick interrupted himself. He missed what she just said. He must have heard her wrong. “Repeat that, Chastity.”
“I said, I am a virgin.”
Rick stood there stunned. His eyes trailed down her body and back up again. No fucking way. There was no way someone as beautiful as Chastity with a body made for fucking was a virgin. Even though he didn’t believe it, Rick couldn’t stop himself from thinking about taking her sweet body for the first time, being the first man, the only man, to make love to her.
He thought about his beautiful ex, Chelsea Forthworth. She was a beauty and knew it. She had loved using her body to entice him, used her feminine wiles to try to get him to do things he didn’t like. Or if he couldn’t make it to some charity thing she had going on, she’d do a sexy dance and give him head until he was spewing all over her face, breasts and in her hair. He also remembered how pissed she’d turn when after all she did, he still said no to her. It had been their whole relationship. Her trying to manipulate him in to a situation he didn’t want. The sex had been good but not that good, where he’d allowed himself to be led around by the dick. No way, not him.
He studied Chastity. She had stopped pacing and was regarding him with a frown. She looked hurt that he didn’t believe her. It struck him there and then. Whether or not he believed it, she believed it. He could read it in her eyes. Or she was the best damn actress in the world. He wasn’t going to argue with her. He was here to protect her. He opened his arms wide. “Come here.”
Chastity smiled like he was her hero and rushed into his arms. He held her c
lose, loving the feel of her body against his, her hands on his back. “Come on, back in bed. You need to get your rest.”
He pulled the covers back further and fluffed her pillows before handing her into the bed. When she was settled against the pillows, he pulled the blanket up to her chest. In a surreal moment, he leaned down and brushed her lips with his. He had only meant to make it a quick kiss. He found he couldn’t leave it at that. He pressed more firmly, rubbing their lips against each other’s. When she moaned and her arms went around his neck, he was a goner. He licked the seam of her lips and when they opened, he pushed inside for a long tasting of her.
She gasped and moaned again. Rick put his arms underneath her shoulders, bringing her closer. His manhood thickened as her hands played with the hair at his nape. Her tongue swirled with his, making him groan. “Chastity.”
She broke their kiss. Her eyes were so dark with arousal, Rick had to reposition his cock. Standing to his full height, he raised his eyes towards the ceiling, trying to think of something else other than wanting to deflower a virgin.
Chastity had other ideas. She sat up and reached for his belt. Rick’s eyes switched from the ceiling to her hands working on his belt. He had already taken off his gun earlier. She had his belt undone, his pants unzipped in seconds. While still seated on the bed, she positioned herself between his wide spread legs. When she pulled his pants and boxers down at the same time and his cock sprang forth his eyes switch from what she was doing to her eyes. She looked at his cock like she hit the lottery. He knew women loved his size, thickness and length. He knew he had nothing to be embarrassed about. When her small hands grasped his hard dick, Rick couldn’t help himself, he grabbed the back of her head and pushed gently. She looked up at him and keeping their eyes locked, she reached out with the tip of her tongue and licked his dripping cock clean of all the precum.
Rick hissed. “Ssshit, shit, shit!”
Her tongue worked the head of his penis in out of her hot mouth. Rick felt like he was falling as she held just his head inside her closed mouth with a sweet suction while her tongue circled the rim repeatedly. “Fuck, baby.”