Riker

by Mandy Bee

  He had just moved to town and no one really knew him. Every night he put on a show at the bar, flipping bottles and dancing like he was in Vegas, not a small town in Maine. I always felt awkward around him. It was like something inside me told me to be cautious around him.

  It was well after midnight and I was dead on my feet. I had just wiped down the last table and was about to go turn in my apron when I heard someone come up behind me. I let out a small squeal when Bradley gripped my shoulder and spun me around.

  “Didn’t mean to scare you Darcy.” Bradley laughed.

  “It’s ok,” I lied. “Did you need something?” I asked as I stepped around him and headed for the kitchen.

  “I wanted to see if you’d like to go get a drink with me?” He asked as he followed me into the kitchen.

  I quickly took off my apron, threw it in the dirty clothes bin, and grabbed my purse from my locker. “I can’t tonight, sorry.” I tell him as nicely as possible. My whole body was on alert and I didn’t know why. I watched as his face went from happy go lucky to pissed off in just seconds.

  “What? You think you’re too good for me, or something?” He snarls at me.

  “N...no.” I stutter. “It’s not that. I just can’t tonight.” I glance around to see who is still here and almost sigh in relief when I see Chris the line cook washing dishes. At least we aren’t alone.

  “Why not?” Bradley asks, well more like demands to know. I try to think of a reason as fast as possible, but I wasn’t fast enough. “I knew it. You do think you’re too good for someone like me. A snobby little prick tease, that’s what you are Darcy.”

  I jumped back when he tried to grab my arm. Luckily Chris stepped in right then and pushed Bradley away from me. They had a few words, but I didn’t pay attention to what either one of them way saying. My heart was pounding in my ears and I was on the edge of having a panic attack.

  Chris finally pushed Bradley out of the kitchen then came over to check on me.

  “You ok Darcy?” Chris asked softly.

  “Yeah, yeah I’m ok.” I lied. I wasn’t ok. I was scared shitless.

  “Stay here for a few minutes. I’m gonna go make sure he left, then I’ll walk you to your car.” Chris pats arm before walking out of the kitchen.

  Chris comes back a few minutes later and tells me it’s all clear. He walked me to my car and made sure I was locked inside before he returned to the restaurant. I drove back home in a daze. I thought I was home free. I was wrong. I hadn’t realized that I was being followed. I wasn’t paying attention to anyone else on the road.

  As I parked my car outside of my parent’s house, I tried to shake off the creepy feeling still eating away at me.

  I never made it inside the house that night. As soon as I got out of my car someone grabbed me from behind and covered my face with a rag. Within seconds I was out. I have no memory of what happened after that. The next thing I knew I was waking up in the hospital two days later. I had been raped, beaten, and left for dead.

  “Darcy?” I jumped when I felt someone shaking my shoulder and sighed when I saw it was only my mom.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “You had that look on your face again.” She said quietly. It’s not the first time in the last two hours she’s told me that. Maybe because it’s not the first time I’ve let myself think about that awful night, or about him.

  “I’m sorry.” I whisper.

  I’m still at my office. Hell, everyone is at my office right now. When I realized that the notes had been from Bradley, I freaked out. Well, first I vomited, then I freaked out. I called my sister and told her to rush back here. When she got here and found out what was going on she called in everyone else. All the girls came back, along with my parents and my cousin Steve. Riker stayed too but I haven’t had time to talk to him alone yet.

  Mom called the police the second she got here, and I’ve been interviewed twice already. Once by the first officer, then again by the lead detective.

  “Don’t go back there right now.” Mom says. “I know you’ll probably have to answer some more questions, if this goes anything like it did last time, but don’t go back there unless you have too, and right now you don’t have too.” I nod, but I can’t promise anything.

  “Miss West?” I turn around when I hear my name being called. Detective Hank Roy motions for me to come into the back office. Him and two other officers have been in there reviewing security video from the days I found the notes. My landlord sent the videos to my email when I called and told him what was going on. Well, I didn’t tell him the whole story. I just told him that I may have a stalker who left some notes on my door and the police needed the videos as soon as possible. He said it would be quicker to email them to me than to burn hard copies and send them to the station.

  “Did you find something?” I ask Detective Roy as I walk over to him.

  “Maybe.” He says. “We need you to look at one of the videos.” We walk into the back office, he flips my laptop around and hits play.

  The video was from the night Missy kidnapped me and Riker brought me back here. The video shows me walking into the office and a few minutes later Riker banging on the door. A few minutes after that I’m rushing out the door. Riker doesn’t follow me until a minute later. The officer controlling the video clicks the mouse a few times and the screen shows Heather leaving the office. I look down at the time stamp and it was about an hour after I had left. I remember her saying she was waiting for her mom to get off work that night. After Heather gets into the elevator the screen goes black. What the hell?

  “What happened?” I ask, still looking at the screen.

  “We don’t know.” Detective Roy answers.

  The black out didn’t last long. Something, or someone, must have covered the lens of the camera. When the video comes back on you can see a light coming from my office, one that wasn’t on when Heather had left. I keep my eyes glued to the screen, but nothing is happening.

  “It stays like this until almost seven the next morning.” One of the officers says. “I’m going to move ahead.” He moves the video until the time stamp reads 6:54am.

  The light in my office turns off but no one comes out. Three minutes later the screen goes black again. I look over at Detective Roy and ask. “How did he do that?”

  “We first thought he had covered the lens of the camera.” He tells me. Yeah, I thought the same thing. “But we now think he may have used a signal blocker of some type.”

  “But why did he stay in here all that time? All that he left was a note with a phone number on it.” I’m so confused right now.

  “Are you going to sweep for bugs?” I hear Riker ask and turn to see him standing behind me. I was so focused on the video I didn’t hear him come in. I know Missy had told him a little bit about what had happened, but she didn’t tell him everything. She made Bradley sound more like a jealous stalker than a rapist.

  “We have a crew on the way now.” Detective Roy tells Riker.

  “Wait, bugs? Like microphones and cameras? Has he been watching and listening to me all this time?” I fell the panic attack starting so I close my eyes and take a few slow deep breaths.

  His warmth surrounded me, and I didn’t have the energy to push him away. Riker had pulled me into his arms and was gently rocking me back and forth.

  “We’re not sure yet, but it is possible.” Detective Roy says.

  “What can we do?” My mom asks. She had followed me into the office when Detective Roy has asked me to come back here. “Do we need to get her out of here?”

  I shutter at the thought that my office may no longer be safe. Riker holds me tighter when he felt me shutter.

  “It’s ok, I won’t let him hurt you.” He whispers to me.

  The tears I had been holding back break through and I start falling apart. The sobs hit, and I don’t even try to hide them. I feel myself being lifted into the air and walked out of the office. When I felt the warm breeze from outside I lifte
d my head to see where he was taking me.

  “Open the door.” Riker tells me gently when we reached his truck. I reached out, open the door, and let him put me into his truck.

  “Where are we going?” I ask through the tears.

  “Somewhere safe.” Is all he tells me before he pulls out of the parking lot.

  I have no energy to fight with him. So, I let him drive as I cry. I cried myself to sleep as Riker drove us to who knows where. To be honest I don’t care where he is taking me.

  Chapter Six

  “Darcy,” I hear Riker say softly but I’m still half asleep. “Want me to carry you inside?” He asks as he reached down to lift me up into his arm. Guess he’s going to carry me no matter what. Why did he even bother asking me?

  Resting my head against his chest I open my eyes and see trees, lots and lots of tree.

  “Where are we?” I mumble.

  “My family’s hunting cabin. It’s only about an hour outside of town. I called my brother right after you fell asleep and had him come stock it for us. We passed him as we were coming up the mountain. I hope you don’t mind but I also called your mom from your phone. It had rung a few times, so I pulled off and got it out of your pocket. I told her where I was taking you and she agreed that getting away for a few days would be good for you.”

  Riker lowers me to my feet when we reach the front door of his cabin. The porch is huge. Two wooden swings hang on either side, and four rocking chairs sit in between them. This is not a normal hunting cabin. Riker unlocks the door and waves for me to go ahead of him.

  Stepping inside I couldn’t stop my jaw from hitting the floor. It’s absolutely gorgeous. High vaulted ceilings, a massive open floor plan, a beautiful fireplace sits in front of black leather sofa with matching chairs on either side of it. There was even a bear skin rug hanging on the wall.

  “This is a hunting cabin?” I ask Riker as I slowly start walking around.

  “Well, it was just a small one-bedroom cabin that had just a woodstove, a small room that could only hold a table and about four chairs, and a small bathroom that was on the back porch. But in the last couple of years my brothers and I have been rebuilding it. Most of it is done, we just have the back part to finish. Paul wants to put in a hot tub, while Greg wants to add on to the mud room, so we can skin and clean our kills here instead of taking them back to town.”

  Walking into a beautiful chef’s kitchen I run my hand along the butcher block counter tops. “I’m sorry to tell you but this is no longer a hunting cabin. This is a resort style cabin.” I softly giggle.

  “We all wanted a place, that even if we didn’t want to hunt or fish, we could come to relax. One of the added bonuses was about two years ago the county added two new cell towers not five miles from here. So, we don’t have to worry about losing cell service. Thanks to Greg being able to set up a hotspot for us, we also have wifi.”

  Riker walks around opening some of the windows to let the warm summer breeze in. Then he walks into the kitchen, open the fridge door and starts pulling food out. Steaks, eggs, bacon, and a pitcher of lemonade.

  “I’m not really hungry.” I tell him as I take a set at the island bar.

  “You need to eat.” He states as he grabs a pan from one of the lower cabins and sets it on the stove. “Paul went way beyond just stocking the place for us. We have enough food here to last us at least a week, if not two. He also brought us one of his famous chocolate cakes.”

  “Why would he need to stock so much food? How long do you plan on keeping me here?” I want to smack myself for not thinking about this sooner. I was so lost in the shear fear of having to deal with Bradley again that I totally forgot to ask Riker about anything to do with him bring me up here.

  Riker walks over to me and turns my bar stool so that we are face to face. “Darcy you needed to get away from all that for a little while.” He reaches in his pocket and pulls out my phone. “Call your mom and tell her we made it here safely. She may have an update from the police by now. They were doing the sweep when I talked to her earlier. She had sent your sister and all your friends home after we left but your cousin Steve stayed with her to help deal with the police. Detective Roy wasn’t too happy about me leaving with you, but he’ll get over it.”

  “You didn’t answer my question. How long are we staying here?” I ask him again as I open my phone only to see I have over twenty text messages and four missed calls.

  “As long as it takes the police to find this creep and lock him up. My brothers can keep bringing us supplies. Keeping you safe and away from this crazy stalker is more important than anything else right now.” He leans down and kisses my forehead before returning to the stove where he starts to cook our dinner.

  I’m at a lost for words right now. He wants me to stay here until Bradley is caught? Is he joking? It took the police three months to catch Bradley the first time. And that was only because the woman he was trying to take had a stun gun that he didn’t know about. She used it on him before he could get the rag over her face. She’s the whole reason he was caught.

  After my rape they ran the DNA found inside me through a date base and found out that there was fourteen other women who had been raped and beaten. Not all of them survived like I did. Only six of us were found alive. Bradley left us all in different places. I was left on the back side of a warehouse. The only reason someone found me was because they had been out on a walk with their dog when the dog smelled the blood.

  I had been missing for two days. There’s no telling where he kept me for those two days. I’m glad I don’t remember what happened to me, but at the same time I wish I remembered something so that the DA would have had more to nail Bradley’s ass.

  When Bradley was arrested and charged with the murder of eight women, the rape and torture of fourteen women, and one charge of assault, we all thought it would be a slam dunk case. To our surprise Bradley’s lawyer was able to get him out on bail by stating that the DNA evidence alone couldn’t convict him. He claimed it could have been consensual sex with all the women and that he was being set up by someone else.

  The DA warned the judge that if Bradley was given bail he would run. I guess the judge thought setting the bail at five million dollars would keep Bradley locked up. Too bad that didn’t happen. Bradley posted bail two days later and no one has heard from him since. Well, not until we all started getting the notes.

  Bradley had said on his voice that one of his angels had gotten his note and tried to call him. That means he left notes for all of us. I wonder if the police have looked into that yet. Have they checked on the other girls?

  I quickly dial my moms number and wait for her to answer.

  “Did you make it to the cabin?” She asks right off.

  “Yes, we’re here now. Have the police check on the other girls? Bradley left notes for all of us, he said so in his voice mail. Did he leave bugs at their places too?” My words are rushed but the more I think about all this the more scared I get.

  “Take a deep breath honey.” Mom says gently. “Yes, the others have been checked on. They did get notes too but didn’t know they were from him. None of them called the number. The police are going to check their homes and work places tonight. All of them have been told to find somewhere else to stay for a couple of days.”

  “When can I come home? I have a business to run mom. I can’t do that from here.” I know I shouldn’t be thinking about work, but my work was my life. I can’t run the company from a hunting cabin.

  “Your company will not fall apart if you take some time off. Your sister and friends can handle everything just fine. Missy also told me about the new hire you just got to handle the computer work. She’s going to help him with the website while you’re gone. Right now, Darcy you don’t have a choice but to stay gone for a few days. Until the police can either find Bradley or someone can kill the bastard.” I can hear not only the worry in my mom’s voice but also the anger. She also right. The girls can run the compan
y for a few days. I just hope it won’t take longer than that to find or kill Bradley.

  “Just keep me updated on what’s going on. I need to know everything, or I’ll drive myself crazy. Also let the girls know I have cell service and to feel free to call me if they need anything.”

  “I’ll keep you update but the police have asked us not to call you from your office. They found four microphones and seven cameras there today. They hope they got them all. but they are going to try to bring in the FBI to help do a better sweep. We should know more tomorrow. Detective Roy said the girls could come back to work tomorrow but not to call, text, or talk about you while in the office.”

  “The FBI?” I gasp. What the hell?

  “The police need help Darcy. This is a big case, an important one. It scared me too at first but right now the more help they can get the better chance they have at finding him. But you need to just go rest right now. I can’t tell you not to worry because I know you will but please try to at least rest.”

  I promise my mom I’ll rest, we say our goodbyes and I hang up. All of this is just too much for one day. I take a deep breath and the wonderful smell from the kitchen causes my stomach to rumble. Guess I am hungry.

  Riker was flipping the steaks as I turned around to watch him. He moved effortlessly around the kitchen. He caught me staring at him and winked at me.

  “It smells good.” I tell him.

  “Nothing big, just some steak and eggs with a side of bacon. How do you like your steak?”

  “Medium rare please. Can I do anything to help?” I ask him. I could tell he started to say no but stopped himself.

  “You could set the table and pour us some lemonade.” He tells me where to get everything and I go about setting the table.

  It didn’t take long for the steaks to get done. As they rested he fried the eggs and bacon. We both dug in as soon as we sat down to eat. I was much hungrier than I thought. Everything was delicious. I helped him wash the dishes, then he leads me over to the couch and cuddled me next to him. I should have fought this but being with Riker right now made me feel safe.