Matt held out a hand, but she ignored it, instead wrapping her long, slender arms around him. He felt her breasts press against his chest, and wondered if they were real; they felt a tad too firm. He made a mental note to ask Jason about that later. “Matt Shank,” he said into her topknot. “Nice to meet you.”
He glanced over at Jason, who shrugged apologetically. Lilac pressed against him for a few seconds longer than was necessary before pulling away.
“Oh, wait. You’re Matt Shank. I know you, Jay talked about you. The Food Network guy?”
“Fresh Network,” Matt and Jason said in unison.
“Huh?” Lilac said, looking back and forth between them. “What’s that?”
“There’s two different networks,” Matt said. “The Food Network’s the big one. The Fresh Network is . . .” He paused, searching for the right words, feeling stupid.
“The other one,” Jason finished.
“Oh.” Lilac seemed mildly confused, and Matt couldn’t help wonder if that was a common thing for her. “Well, at least you’re on TV. You could be the next Naked Chef.”
“Sam would love that, I’m sure,” Jason said with a chuckle.
“Oh.” Lilac’s face changed, her warm expression cooling. “You’re that Matt. You’re Sam’s boyfriend. I met her the other day, right, Jay? She’s . . . nice.” The last word rolled off her tongue dubiously.
“Is that right?” Matt said, and just like that, he felt his whole body stiffen again. “What, did you guys all go for drinks and forget to invite me?” He kept his tone light.
“No, we didn’t go anywhere,” Lilac said, giving Jason a look. “She came by to hang out with Jay as I was leaving.”
Jason suddenly looked uncomfortable. Matt forced himself to smile. “Well, that’s typical with those two. They’ve been friends a long time. Better get used to it. They’re like brother and sister.”
Lilac’s smile was frosty. “Not like any brother and sister I know, but if you say so.”
“Hey now,” Jason said, stepping in. “We’ve all been friends for a long time. Since grade school for me and Sam, and college for me and my boy here.”
“Sounds a little incestuous.” Lilac’s pout was equal parts childish and sexy. “I feel left out.”
“So do I,” Matt muttered.
“Anyway, I’ll be on my way.” Slipping into her shoes, Lilac reached up and pulled out the elastic band holding her topknot in place. Long blond hair tumbled over her shoulders in waves and she tousled it lightly. Damn if she didn’t look like a Victoria’s Secret model. Matt knew he was staring, but there didn’t seem to be any way not to, and it didn’t seem to bother her a bit. In fact, she seemed to expect it. “I’ll see you boys later?”
“I’ll call you tomorrow.” Jason leaned over and pecked her on the lips. In heels, she was almost his height so he didn’t have to bend down. “Have fun tonight at the yoga thing.”
Lilac wiggled her fingers at Matt before walking out the door. He didn’t know if she always walked like that, but it was hard not to notice her perfect ass cheeks under the clingy fabric of the dress. Once she was gone, Jason breathed a sigh that sounded a lot like relief.
“That’s Lilac?” Matt said, turning to his friend. “You never said anything about her looking like that. She’s the yoga instructor?”
“Why do you diminish it?” Jason reached into his fridge and pulled out a beer for himself. “She’s not just a teacher, she actually owns a bunch of studios. I know she doesn’t seem like it, but she’s actually pretty smart. When she’s not being completely jealous and annoying and smothering the shit out of me, that is.”
“If she looks like that, who gives a shit if she smothers you? You poor, rich, ex-football player. If it’s too much for you, she can smother me instead. Be happy to take one for the team.”
Jason smiled and shook his head. “Don’t be deceived. It gets old after a while.”
“I feel your pain and suffering. Jackass.”
The two sipped their beers in silence for a moment.
“So what brings you by?” Jason finally said. “Oh hey, I guess I can turn on my phone now. Hooray.”
There was no way Matt could admit that he’d come by to try to catch Jason alone with Sam. Because—and this was no way a knock on his girlfriend—what would Jason want with good old Sam, when he clearly had his hands full with Lilac? Who looked like that? Not that Sam wasn’t pretty, because she was a beautiful girl in her own right, but let’s be real here. Sam wasn’t five foot ten with legs from here to China.
And there was something to be said about legs from here to China.
Goddammit, Matt really needed to get his shit together. Some days it felt like he was losing his mind.
“I just wanted to see how you were doing,” he finally said. “I wasn’t able to get a hold of you today. Your phone didn’t ring.”
“Aw, you missed me.” Jason was scrolling through his phone, which was pinging with all the texts and emails that had accumulated over the day. “Yeah, sorry, man. Lilac and her rules. We’re going to have talk about this later, she and I, because I’m not sure I like this particular rule. I missed three business calls, one of which I really needed to take. Shit. Oh, and it looks like Sam’s sent a bunch of texts . . .” Jason’s voice trailed off, his eyes widening. He put the phone up to his ear.
“What is it?” Matt said.
Jason held up a finger while he listened.
Matt pulled out his phone, beginning to seethe again. Nope, there was still nothing from Sam. So his girlfriend had called Jason at some point today but not Matt, her actual boyfriend? And they weren’t sleeping together? Right.
“She called me as she was heading to the police station,” Jason said, putting his phone down. “Apparently they called her in to give a witness statement.”
“For what?” Matt’s mind flew to PJ Wu, but it couldn’t possibly be about PJ. He wasn’t even sure Sam knew what had happened to PJ.
“They wanted to ask her about that lady who came into town, the one who knew her mother,” Jason said. “They found her body the other day. She was murdered.”
“What lady?” Matt had no idea what Jason was talking about.
“From the forum, that serial killers website.”
“What website? I have no fucking idea what you’re talking about.”
“She didn’t tell you about it?” Jason looked just as confused as Matt felt. “About meeting Bonnie?”
“Who’s Bonnie?” Matt could hear himself getting loud but he couldn’t help it. He had no idea what Jason was referring to, which was bad enough, but what he hated more was that his friend knew things about Sam that he didn’t know. It wasn’t right, and it was making him angry. Gritting his teeth, he said, “Obviously she didn’t say anything to me about any of this, Jase, or I would know what the fuck you’re talking about. So could you please just explain before my brain explodes?”
Jason rubbed his temple, something his friend did when he was stressed. “Sam met a woman online who claimed to know the identity of the Butcher.”
“The Butcher? As in the Beacon Hill Butcher?” That was the last thing Matt had expected to hear, and his blood pressure immediately rose. “She’s still on that?”
Jason gave him a dirty look. “It’s personal to her, and you know that. She’s not going to give up until she proves the Butcher really killed her mother. You know how obsessed she is. She’s writing a book about it, for Christ’s sake.”
Matt swallowed, willing himself to stay calm even though his head was spinning. Does she know? So help me God, does she fucking know?
“Anyway,” Jason continued, “this woman, Bonnie, said she wanted to come to Seattle to talk to Sam. That she had information for her about the Butcher that nobody else had.”
“And Sam agreed?” Matt was struggling to process all of it. “Why in the hell would she agree to meet a perfect stranger? From some serial killers website, no less?”
“Because th
e woman sent her a picture of her mother.” Jason sighed heavily. “It was the freakiest thing, man. Apparently Bonnie and Sarah were close friends back in the eighties. She had no idea Sam was Sarah’s daughter. When Sam saw the picture, she knew she had to meet the woman. Don’t worry, though, she didn’t go alone. I went with her. Didn’t want her to get ice-picked.” He made a stabbing motion with his hand, accompanied by a squawking sound.
Matt didn’t laugh. He couldn’t; he felt like he’d just been hit with a sledgehammer. Putting his beer down on the kitchen counter, he forced himself to speak in a normal tone of voice. “And this all happened when?”
“The past couple of weeks.” Jason said this casually, but his facial expression was tense. “You’ve been busy, man.”
Somehow those four words sounded worse to Matt than anything else his friend had just said. It was hard not to take it as criticism. “Yeah, well, I would have gone with her had I known. She didn’t tell me any of it.”
“You’ve been busy,” Jason said again. “And let’s be real here, you don’t like hearing about this stuff, anyway. You think it’s stupid.”
“And you don’t?” Matt’s jaw clenched. “She thinks a dead serial killer murdered her mother. It’s bad enough you indulge her, but the Chief does, too.”
“Because it’s important to her.” Jason looked at him. “That’s what friends do. They care about the things their friends care about.”
Matt returned the stare. “You’ve been getting pretty close to her lately.”
“I’ve always been close to her.” Jason, who’d been leaning against the granite breakfast bar, straightened up to his full height of six three. Reflexively, Matt straightened up, too, putting him an inch above Jason. “She’s a good friend.”
“How good?”
“Don’t start. That shit’s getting old, and you know it.”
“You’ve always had a thing for her.”
“I’ve always cared about her, yes,” Jason said evenly, his jaw working. The phone on the kitchen counter rang—not Jason’s cell, it was his home phone line, but he ignored it. “And I always will care about her. I did before you came along, and I will long after you’re gone.”
“The fuck that’s supposed to mean?”
“Don’t pretend like you’ve been a good boyfriend, Matt. You’ve been a shit to her, and your relationship’s going nowhere.” Jason’s ears were turning pink, and his words were coming faster. “First with the whole house thing, not wanting her to live with you even though you have four fucking bedrooms and you knew all she wanted was to make a home with you. Then with this reality show thing. She thinks you fucked the producer. Did you?”
“I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.” Matt’s mind reeled as he tried to absorb everything Jason was saying, while at the same time figure out what to say back that wouldn’t get him nailed. “She thinks I fucked Bernard? Bernard’s gay.”
“The other one. The Halle Berry look-alike. And don’t be a dick, you know what I meant.” Jason’s stare was unwavering. “She saw you two, okay? At the Pink Door. She showed up a few minutes late, feeling bad because she knew you’d invited her to the dinner and she turned you down. Well, she ended up going, and she saw the two of you.”
“There was nothing to see.”
“That’s not what she said. She said Halle Berry was all over you, and you were loving every second of it. You call that being a good boyfriend? Should I go on?”
“Fuck you,” Matt said, and he could feel the anger and hate rising up inside him. Jason Sullivan better not push him, or God help him, he’d smash the beer bottle he was holding right into his friend’s face. “Get off your sanctimonious high horse, asshole. Like you’re ever a good boyfriend to any of the women you’ve been with?”
“None of those women are Sam, and we’re not talking about me.”
“So now we get to the truth.” Matt crossed his arms over his chest and moved forward an inch. “Why don’t you just admit that you want her, Jase? You’ve always wanted her, and you’ve been right here in the middle of our relationship like a fucking fungus that won’t go away, whispering in her ear about how lousy I am for her, and how I’ll never give her what she wants. Why did you even introduce me to her if you’ve wanted her for yourself all along?”
“I’ve never said any of those things to her, buddy, but they’re true, and you and I both know it. And trust me when I say that I wish I’d never introduced you.” Jason’s home phone rang again. This time he glanced at it, but made no move to answer it.
“Right,” Matt said. “So tell me, have you fucked her? Is that the reason I haven’t been able to get a hold of either of you all week?”
“And you say I’m the sanctimonious son of a bitch?” Jason stepped forward, fists clenched. “Where do you get off, man? This whole sense of entitlement thing is getting really old. You think the whole world revolves around you? You think you can just be with her when you need her, and then blow her off when you decide you’re too busy?”
“So you’d be better for her, then?” Matt said with a sneer, well aware of Jason’s hands. He couldn’t help but hope that his friend would hit him. Hell, it might feel good to take the punch . . . and then rally back with a big one of his own. Unlike PJ Wu, Jason Sullivan would actually put up a fight, and Matt was ready for it. “You think you can make her happier than I can?”
“Anybody could.” Jason’s voice was low and menacing. “That’s what you don’t get, my friend. Anybody could.”
“Anybody could what?” A female voice came from the doorway, and both men turned to see Sam watching them. Her dark eyes were as wide as saucers as she took in the two of them, both big guys, standing with their fists clenched, squaring off against each other. “What the hell is wrong with you two? Are you seriously fighting right now? I could hear you guys before the elevator doors even opened.”
“What are you doing here?” Matt and Jason said, again in unison.
“Ronnie let me up.” Sam stared at Matt, then at Jason, and then her eyes focused on Matt again. “He tried calling up, nobody answered, but he knows me so he let me in.”
“Oh, that’s perfect,” Matt said with a bitter laugh, looking at Jason. “Just perfect. He lets her up, but I have your side door code and I get the Spanish Inquisition?” He turned to Sam. “No doubt you’re here all the time.”
“What the hell has gotten into you?” Sam was looking at him with an expression he’d never seen before. It was a mix of disgust and wonderment. “Who are you?”
“I’m your boyfriend, or so I thought—”
“You know what, I don’t care.” Sam held up both hands, her tone clipped. “I don’t give a shit what you two are fighting about, because I’ve had a crazy day, okay? A crazy, awful, horrible day. I finally get confirmation that my mother was murdered by the Butcher, but instead of it making me feel better, instead of it making me feel vindicated because it means I’m not crazy, it makes me feel worse, because now I know that my mother was killed by the Butcher. Isn’t that awesome? Go figure.” Her voice had gotten louder.
“What?” Jason said, his mouth dropping open. “Are you sure?”
Sam turned to him. “I can’t talk about the details, but yes. They’re taking another look at the Butcher’s cases. Bobby told me himself today.” She stared at Matt. “Imagine the poor sucker who has to tell the Chief he got the wrong guy? I’d love to be a fly on the wall for that conversation.”
The oven chimed, causing them all to jump.
“Pizza’s ready,” Jason said.
30
Edward hadn’t felt this good in years.
No. Scratch that. He hadn’t felt this good in two decades.
His intention wasn’t to kill Gloria, but, much like urination and sex, killing could be hard to stop once you started. At least in his experience.
His groin twitched at the memory, and he smiled. Gloria had been a hot little thing, firmer than he’d expected underneath her clot
hing. Muscle tone could have been a little better, perhaps, but what else could you expect from a woman in her seventies? Her tits had been the biggest surprise. Good size, good shape, and firm. She’d giggled when he’d complimented her, admitting to having breast implants put in when she was in her sixties, “more as a way to lift them than to make them bigger.” Hey now, he’d said, no need to explain. They’d looked good and he’d stayed hard, so there was nothing to complain about.
Until she started getting on his nerves. Women never changed.
They were lying side by side on the bed, watching the smoke from Edward’s cherry-flavored cigar circle above them. There was a strict no-smoking policy at the Village, but he knew Gloria wouldn’t say anything. All Edward wanted was to be still for a while and enjoy the afterglow of having pleasured a female for the first time in over ten years without the help of pharmaceuticals. Was that too much to ask? Apparently it was.
“I like you, Edward,” Gloria had said, rolling over on her side to look at him. Her mascara was smudged around her eyes and there was not a trace of coral lipstick left on her mouth. Her ash-blond hair was mussed. She wasn’t unattractive. “Do you like me?”
“I like you fine.” He patted her bare knee with his hand.
“Maybe this weekend we could go out to dinner. Somewhere nice. You still drive, don’t you?”
He nodded and took another drag on his cigar.
“My daughter is having a birthday party in two weeks. She lives down in Tukwila close to the airport. You should come, she’d love to meet you.”
“We’ll see.”
“It’s been a long time since I’ve been with a man.” She looked up at him through her eyelashes. “I’m very choosy.”
He grunted. “That’s not what I heard.”
Propping herself up on her elbow, Gloria stared at him. “What did you hear?”
Edward grinned. “Just that you’re not that choosy.” He patted her knee again. “Don’t get your panties in a bunch. I’m not judging. I don’t care.”
The Butcher Page 22
