by Ker Dukey
It’s starting to get dark when I pull my car over and grab my purse and the laptop, and I shiver when I climb out. The street I live on is a pretty quiet place and I feel safe enough, but there’s something in the air tonight that has the hairs at the back of my neck standing to attention. I search my surroundings waiting for the shadows to morph and creep towards me, but then I shake it off and rummage in my purse for my keys and open the door.
Just as I turn to shut it, I come face to face with Cole. I squeal, dropping my keys and my purse. “Freaking hell, Cole!”
He chuckles and bends to pick up my things. “Sorry, didn’t mean to make you jump.”
“I could have killed you!”
“What with, that screech?” he cocks an eyebrow at me.
He has a point. I wasn’t prepared, when usually I’m always prepared.
I frown at him when he pushes past me and drops my purse onto the small side table in the hallway and then passes me my keys back. “Lock up.”
The way he stares at me with his no nonsense expression makes me sigh and follow his order. “I always lock up.”
“Good.” His eyes are everywhere and I know he’s checking out the security around my home but his concern for me makes me warm inside.
I walk into the kitchen and quickly stuff Summer’s laptop into the cupboard as I take two mugs out and fill the kettle.
“Drink?” I shout to Cole.
“Coffee, black and two sugars,” he says from right behind me, making me jump again.
“You’re really jumpy, Win. Why is that?”
“Maybe because you are practically humping my back every time I’m unaware?”
“Trust me, if I was humping your back you’d be very aware of it.”
I have to swallow the water flooding my mouth at the thought of it. Is he flirting? No.
His lips hold a small smirk and I glare at him but when he reaches over me, crowding my entire body with the strength of his own I lose all thought. I hold my breath when his lips are within licking distance. What’s he doing? My eyes drop to his lips as my body heats and I’m about to lean into him when he reaches into the cupboard behind me and pulls out the laptop. I tense. My eyes shoot to his and he quirks an eyebrow at me. “I take it this is Summer’s?”
“No.”
I make a grab for it but he tuts and holds it out of reach. I’m five foot two, and he must be at least six foot, so even on my tiptoes I’m unable to take it from him. “Cole, seriously, I’m not in the mood!”
He snorts. “Me neither, Winnie. Care to tell me why you have Summer’s laptop and the police don’t?”
When I ignore him and answer with a glare, he shakes his head slowly as if disappointed in me. “And I wonder why you took it to Jarod Bennet, a known hacker.”
My mouth falls open. “Have you been following me?” When he doesn’t answer me, I narrow my eyes on him. “What are you doing here anyway, it’s a two-hour drive, Cole?”
His previous carefree attitude has morphed into a serious expression and his eyes narrow back at me. He takes a step towards me and I gulp, looking up at him when my back hits the countertop. “Damn right I’ve been following you. I know you Win, you’re stubborn and reckless.”
“Fuck you!” I slam my hands on his chest, my fingers appreciating the hard ridges beneath them as I try in vain to push him away. He’s strong, his body holding firm the more I push. “You don’t know me. It’s been seven years since you knew me. You knew a version of me, a messed up version.”
He nods faintly and sighs. I can feel the edge of the counter digging into my back the harder Cole pins me under him and I like the bite of pain it brings. If he knew what would he think? My heart is going crazy and the scent of him is tickling my senses. My mouth is dry and my lungs are playing games with me, refusing to take enough air and causing me to pant. His lips still hold a smirk, but this time it’s a knowing smirk, as if he can read each of my scrambling thoughts.
“Seven years or not, I know you’re still the same girl inside. I remember, Win. I remember the deep-set urge in you, you killed to protect Summer. Fuck, you wanted to kill your own mother. You hunted for her. I know you.”
His statement brings back memories that hurt and I physically flinch. “I’d kill again, I won’t deny that to you, Cole, but I’m not a little girl anymore. I want to be what you are. I’m not going to ruin all that by being reckless, but I have to know if our mother has contacted her, Cole. I have to…”
I’ll kill her if she’s behind this.
His fingers lift and he grabs my jaw but there’s a gentleness to him that makes me blink back tears as his thumb slowly slides across my bottom lip. “That’s all well and good but you need to let us do our job. Let me find her so you don’t have to deal with her if she has nothing to do with this.”
I shake my head. “I can’t, Cole. Please.” He was always open with his feelings and emotions as our relationship when I was young had slid into friendship mode. But there’s something different between us now and even though I can’t put my finger on what, the intensity in his vivid amber eyes makes my throat constrict and my voice comes out a whispered squeak. “She’s my baby sister. I have to be the one.”
His teeth clench and he drops his hand but my body is still trapped beneath him. His face moves to the kitchen window over the top of my head and although it’s dark out he stares ahead like he can see the garden in the brightness of the sun. “And what if it’s Angel?” he asks quietly, referring to the serial killer that’s filled the news channels lately, the same one Jarod referred to earlier. “And not your mother?”
My stomach twists and I squeeze my eyes closed. It’s a thought I refuse to give power to. It can’t be, life wouldn’t be that cruel. Would it?
I let the fear feed me. “Then I will deal with him too.”
“Him?” The way he whispers the word makes me frown.
“You think it’s a woman?” I ask, astonished. I’d been watching the news and can’t help coming up with my own assumptions about the Angel killer, considering I study serial killers every day in class.
“You do realise that this could get dark. The shit you could find might even turn my stomach, and believe me, I’ve seen a lot through the years.” He has completely ignored my question but I let it go – for now. “I know that you’re studying for the police force, but I’m also aware that you chose the investigative psychology aspect. Being at the forefront is hard, Winnie, it’s not a desk job, and your training hasn’t equipped you for this. Just because you’re studying serial killers doesn’t give you the preparation to go after one.”
“You seem to forget what I have witnessed, Cole. What I’ve done with my own two hands.”
His eyes quickly snap back to me and there’s a pain in his eyes that makes me gulp. He gazes at me for a long time, both of us locked in each other’s memories. I can see the understanding on his face and eventually, and reluctantly, he gives me a small nod.
When I sigh in relief he once again grips my chin and forces my face upwards to his. “Together. Not on your own. But I promise just me and you.”
I wince but nod knowing I’m going to need his expertise and contacts.
“However, if it leads us to Angel then I will have no choice but to call it in.”
Meeting him halfway, I nod. “Okay.”
He smiles softly at my surrender and holds my eyes for a moment longer before he says, “Coffee. You keep an old man waiting, little girl.”
I can’t help but nervously chuckle, my emotions were all over the place and an uneasy energy had set root inside and left me shaky. “Yes, sir.”
He winks and plants himself at the kitchen table, and opens up the laptop. “I’m glad you’re already aware of how this is going to go.”
Shaking my head, I make our drinks and sit myself beside him as he opens Summer’s internet browser and starts to check out her history.
His tone is casual but I can feel his complete attention when he asks
, “So, anyone special in your life, sugar?”
Jake filters into my mind and I question internally whether he is anyone special. But then I shake my head. “No.”
Cole glances at me. “No one?” I shake my head again. “I find that hard to believe, Win.”
I frown but keep my eyes on the laptop and watch expectantly as he brings up various pages. “Why?”
He shrugs as his fingers move over the keys and he sighs in frustration when it reveals Summer cleared her history. That in itself gets both our attention but Cole grabs his keys from his pocket and slides a small USB that is attached by a ring into the side port and carries on typing. “Well look at you,” he continues.
I look down at myself. “Look at me?” I know I’m repeating everything he says but he isn’t making sense.
Suddenly, I can’t move when very slowly his head turns and his eyes leisurely roam over me. There’s a darkness in his gaze that makes me shift in my seat. “You’ve grown into a beautiful woman, Winnie. There’s no way you don’t have a guy. Don’t hide from me.”
He seems irritated and I’m confused by his forwardness but shrug it off. “I didn’t say I was a saint, Cole, just that I have no one special in my life.”
What was Jake to me?
I’m even more confused when his mouth tilts into a smug smile but then a click of the mouse and a chatroom flashes up on the screen.
“Shit!”
The more Cole flicks through the more it becomes obvious this is no normal chatroom. It’s full of girls, young girls, and men who aim to give those young girls the attention they ‘think’ they need.
“Damn,” Cole hisses under his breath.
“She’s not like that, Cole,” I urge. “There must be a mistake. Maybe one of her friends got onto the site, or maybe Summer clicked on it by accident.” I push my mug away and stand to pace off the shock building.
I hate the way Cole looks at me as though I’m being naïve and I turn my face away. My lungs feel as tight as my chest and the gnawing in the pit of my gut has my teeth sinking into my bottom lip.
Summer what’s going on?
“I can’t get further in without taking it to our tech guys,” Cole grumbles as he continues clicking on various things. “It’s not revealing Summer’s history and her personal messenger isn’t giving me anything, so I’m not sure…”
I slump back into my seat and slide the laptop from him then click on ‘Sign Up’.
He hisses through his teeth. “Winter…” The fact that he’s used my given name makes me grimace.
“Trust me, Cole. Please.”
I can feel him simmering beside me as I upload a younger photograph of me that Summer has stored in her picture album. I’m around fifteen but then I looked around thirteen. I’m wearing no makeup and the adoption people had tied my hair into two braids and dressed me in a matching outfit to Summer’s for our new parents coming to collect us. I’m sure they thought our parents had made a mistake and thought they were getting a younger girl.
“Shit, Win.”
“I’m prime meat, Cole. This is the only way.”
“When was that taken?” he asks, leaning forward to stare at it.
“Don’t ask. But this is the only way to get on there.”
“It’s not,” he argues but before he can get his argument across I’m in and already making my first post.
PROFILE NAME: Autumn
AGE: 13
ABOUT ME: I don’t have many friends and I’m a bit of a loner as I find it hard to fit in. I don’t have much family and my parents are always out of town. Someone at school told me about your site and how friendly you all are. I like reading and dance, I take lessons at Monroe West, but I’m not very good. It would make me really happy if I can make friends on here as I like to talk and share interests.
And then Cole and I sit back and stare at the screen after I hit post.
“This is… Could be a complete dead end,” he warns but for her to even have visited this type of site is the start to a trail of breadcrumbs. I know it.
I open her emails on another tab and sift through the mail, not finding anything of interest, just Amazon notifications for purchased titles and a few homework links from her school. I click on deleted emails and find it empty. I call Jarod gaining a squinty eye from Cole.
“Yeah?”
“Can you recover recently deleted emails?”
“Do you forget who you’re talking to? I can recover anything at the right price but it takes time and I have other jobs.”
“Jarod, I don’t need to tell you how important this is,” I breathe.
“I’m sure we can figure something out.”
I end the call and ignore the glaring eyes burning a hole in the side of my face. I don’t care what he says or thinks.
Cole grabs another slice of pizza and takes a huge bite. “I’m glad Elsa and William did well by you, Win. You and Summer both deserved to be taken care of after everything.”
It makes me feel fragile when he brings up what we’ve been through. I hate that he knows people violated my body. I want him to see something different when he looks at me but I know that’s not fair to him.
I smile and give him a nod as I bite into the slice of gooey cheese and pepperoni heaven. “They amaze me over and over. They had so much patience with us, but after… after my mother I have to admit that both Summer and I struggled with the attention.”
He blinks and sighs as his fingers squeeze my thigh. “So college, how’s it going?”
I nod more eagerly but still when Cole leans forward and his thumb swipes at a string of cheese attached to my chin. His brows furrow as if it takes all his concentration to clean me up. His eyes lift to mine and I gulp down the ball of pizza that seems to have become too big for my throat. Such a simple touch but both of us are more than aware of it. I shiver then blink, pushing aside my overzealous imagination. “I love college. It’s so different from what I expected myself to be doing.”
“Investigative psychology,” Cole murmurs as if he’s sounding out the job title. “So are you placed anywhere?”
I shake my head and take a large gulp of my beer, savoring the bitterness against the sweetness of the pizza sauce in my mouth. “No, I’ve been offered a few internships but I’m still considering the pros and cons of each.” It feels wrong to be talking about my future with Summer out there somewhere.
He nods and fixes his gaze onto the TV which is quietly playing one of the music channels in the background. “How would you feel about coming underneath me?”
My eyes widen at his words and I feel warmth grow in my stomach. I squash my lips together quickly before my mouth gives away my dirty mind but Cole has also caught it. His chuckle frees my own and very quickly we’re both laughing at his choice of words.
“I’d love to come under you, Cole.” I wink, jokingly.
His laugh suddenly stops and his eyes blaze wildly at me. I had meant it as a joke, not a flirt, but the way he’s staring at me makes me shift in my seat. His narrow eyes pierce me with the vivid amber and for a moment I can’t seem to find my next breath.
A ping from the laptop makes us both jump and I cough to clear the restriction in my throat as I place down my pizza and shift the laptop onto my knee.
User: Jenny14:
Hey Autumn,
I’m Jenny. You sound so lonely and I can’t understand why, you look so pretty on your picture. I don’t have many friends either, and school sucks. I would love to be your friend.
Cole looks at me with a pinch in his forehead. “I’m not sure this is a good idea, Win. Let me get my guys on it.”
Before he can stop me, I’m already typing out a reply.
User: Autumn
Hi Jenny.
You also look very pretty. I love your long blond hair. I’m a bit nervous about being in here, after all, my teachers tell me to stay away and I’m not sure if I’m going to get in trouble, not that I tell them I’ve joined on here. I like havi
ng a secret.
User: Jenny14:
Autumn,
Everyone in here is lovely. You have no need to be frightened. We all look after each other.
Almost simultaneously another comment appears under my original post.
User: Amber101
Hello Autumn,
My name’s Amber. Like Jenny says, you don’t need to be frightened. I know what the teachers say but this room is different. We can chat privately if you don’t want to be so open.
Glancing at Cole when he groans quietly, I quickly agree to Amber and wait for a chat box to open.
“Win, fuck! I really don’t like this. They could be any random psycho.”
“Shh. That’s the point. What’s the worst that can happen? It could be a dead-end but if Summer was in here then… Well…”
Amber: You there Autumn?
Autumn: I’m here, Amber. Thank you, this seems a little better. I’m scared that someone would see. I’m not very good at this stuff and I’ve never been in one of these places before.
Amber: It’s fine, I understand. It’s just like an after-school club lol. And we’re all great friends. I can introduce you to some of my friends in here if you want. Nobody bullies and we welcome everyone, no matter who they are or what they look like.
Autumn: I see you have hair like mine, long and dark.
While I’m waiting for Amber to reply I’m already opening a new browser page and searching Amber’s profile picture. My heart seems to stutter when it pops up a Facebook profile picture, of none other than a Celina Grant, a fifteen-year-old girl from the UK. Clicking on Celina’s profile I find that her page is open and her photos are readily available for anyone to look at – including the one Amber is using.
“Fuck me!” Cole breathes out as he dips his head to take a look.
“Maybe it’s the same person but she’s using a different name in here?” I muse as I’m already opening Skype.
Cole stares at me when I open a conversation with Jarod and he instantly messages back.
