The Dance

by James Goodman

  Chapter Forty-Five

  “This place is a dump,” Kyle said, wiping a finger through an inch of dust on a mantle.

  “Oh, now surely you can appreciate the fact that Dr. Pearlman hasn’t exactly had an abundance of time to keep the place clean of late,” Nina chided gently.

  “Heh, I guess he has been a little busy lately. You don’t think he will tell them anything do you?”

  “What are you talking about?” She stared at him with pursed brows.

  “Dr. Pearlman,” he said with a shrug. “Surely, they’ve gone into the house by now.”

  “But, lover… he’s dead.”

  “Yeah, but he has been with us for a long time. I’ve told him things. I’ve talked to him about pretty much everything that happened since I moved into that house.”

  Nina looked at him, dumbfounded.

  “He knows where I found the others,” he continued, oblivious to her look of shock. “Hell, I even let him go on one of the road trips with me. Bastard refused to take his turn behind the wheel, though.”

  “Kyle, listen to me,” she began, but hesitated when she looked into his eyes. “I am sure your secrets are safe with Dr. Pearlman.”

  “Oh, right,” Kyle said, nodding vigorously. “That whole doctor-patient privilege thing. I forgot about that.”

  “Aren’t you worried about everyone else in the house talking?” Nina wasn’t sure how he made the distinction.

  “Nah, they pretty much keep to themselves and not one of them would speak unless spoken to by me.”

  “I see,” she said, but she really didn’t.

  “That Detective is one smart cookie. He’s on the verge of pissing me off… royally.”

  “Yes, I’m not sure if he wouldn’t be close to catching up with us even without the help of Eramael.”

  “I wish there was some way we could just make him go away,” Kyle said with a grunt of disgust.

  “We’ve already discussed this. You’re not ready to tangle with Eramael yet.”

  Kyle rolled his eyes at the mention of Eramael. “I’m not talking about him. I mean Detective Tom Wiley, the wannabe hero of Tulsa. There has to be something we can do about him.”

  “I’m sure we will think of something.” A wicked smile spread across her face. “I think I know how to get your Detective Wiley out of our lives.”

  “But you said we don’t Dance with cops,” Kyle protested.

  “And we don’t, but then… that wasn’t what I was referring to. It’s obvious he has too much time on his hands. If he had something else to occupy his mind, it might give us some breathing room.”

  “So what’s the plan, Stan?” Kyle laughed.

  “Grab your bag,” she said with a wave of her hand. “I think it’s time to play.”

  “I’m all over it.” He snickered like a schoolboy as he snatched up his duffle.

  He let her pull him close. His arms engulfed her, gripping her tightly. He closed his eyes and waited for the familiar sensation of weightlessness. The wait was short. When he opened his eyes, he was staring at a rather worn leather recliner. The walls in the room were bare and boxes were stacked in the corner. Words like knick knacks and pictures were scribbled on the sides of the boxes with a black marker.

  “Are they moving in or moving out?”

  “They were moving away, but I am sure you can convince them to stay.”

  Kyle spotted a doll lying on the couch and picked it up.

  “Is there a child here, too? I don’t like to make children Dance. It’s just not… the same.”

  “No, there are actually two of them, but they are spending the night at their father’s apartment with the babysitter. Their father hasn’t made it home from work yet.” Nina winked.

  “Their father doesn’t live with them?”

  “Not yet—” She giggled maliciously. “Come on, lover. I want to introduce you to our guests of honor for the evening.”

  Kyle crept up the stairs, holding his breath every time a board creaked beneath his feet. Once they reached the second floor, she walked purposefully to the door at the end of the hall and opened it.

  “Allow me to introduce you to Dan Smith and Sherry Wiley,” she whispered.

  “No way,” he said, peering into the room. “Nina, you are an evil genius.”

  “After tonight, your detective will be busy discovering the joys of being a single parent. He won’t have time to bother with the likes of us.”

  “Have you ever been a parent?”

  “Not a parent, per se, but I’ve been around enough to know that a child needs a lot of attention.”

  “And if one needs a lot, I imagine two would be a real handful.”

  “Especially if they have just been through a traumatic experience.”

  “Hell, we will be doing him such a favor, he might just stop pursuing me out of pure gratitude.” Kyle chuckled at the thought of it.

  “I don’t see a radio in here. Can you see if you can rustle one up so we can put your disc in?” Kyle whispered as he walked around the bedroom.

  “We won’t have need of one tonight,” Nina informed him with a wiggle of her eyebrows. “I know how much you miss the way we used to do things. I thought we might string these two up for old time’s sake. What do you think?”

  “I think I love you,” Kyle replied sincerely. “I will still need music to do this job right though.”

  “Why don’t you grab your bag and go introduce yourself properly? I’ll go see if I can’t find us some music.”

  “I thought you would never ask,” he said as he walked towards the sleeping couple.

  Kyle stood at the edge of the bed, staring at the still forms beneath the covers.

  “Wow, you’re a big boy, aren’t you? I’d prefer to meet your wife first, but I had better start with you.” He quickly sized up Dan. “I hope I brought enough fishing line.”

  He took a deep breath and jumped onto the bed, pinning Dan between his knees. He leaned over, pressed his lips to Dan’s ear.

  “Hi there,” he whispered while he struggled to hold the big man still beneath him.

  Sherry awoke with a scream, sending a shiver through Kyle’s entire body.

  “Darling, that’s like music to my ears.” He smiled down at her. “If you could just show me a little patience, I will be with you shortly.”

  She tried to jump out of the bed, but Kyle caught her by the hair and yanked her back.

  “Why don’t you just rest for a while longer?” Kyle’s voice was calm as he rammed her head against the wall until her body went limp.

  Dan managed to pull his face away from the mattress.

  “Get off me!” he shouted.

  “Now Dan, just give me a sec and we will begin. I’m waiting for my music.”

  “If you’re waiting on me, you’re backing up.” Nina stepped through the doorway. “I found a CD player, but I could only find one CD. I guess the others are all packed.”

  “Who is it?”

  “The Jaded Monks, have you ever heard of them?”

  “Hell yeah! Devil May Care is a kick ass song. Spin that puppy up.”

  Nina looked at him queerly, but pressed play without a response. As the music flowed from the speakers, the light of realization put a smile on her face.

  On a darkened night, I hear your call

  With ropes and knives and blood and bone

  We free our minds of all we’ve known

  She looks at me with eyes enthralled

  When my teeth bite down I can feel the warmth

  Of your blood in waves that ebb and flow

  Your on your knees, your prayers are slow

  You beg and plead to my rock and roll

  “Yes, this is quite a fitting song indeed,” Nina said, giving her approval. “What a waste of a good opportunity to make ourselves stronger, but we want to leave no doubt in Detective Wiley’s mind how painful their deaths were, and how easy it was to get to those who are close to him.”

&nbs
p; Chapter Forty-Six

  “What the hell is wrong with you?” Captain Duke shouted. “I gave you a direct order, buster.”

  “I know, Cap but we saw movement in the front window and thought—”

  “Ah, see I already find this hard to believe. There is no way you were thinking at all when you came in here. In all my years of service, this is by far the worst case of self-sabotage I have ever seen perpetrated by a detective.”

  “Captain, it was me who suggested that we enter the domicile.”

  “Detective Perez, don’t even think about trying to take the heat for this. You are new to our little family. Detective Wiley knows better than to pull this kind of shit.”

  “Captain, if you will just let me finish, you’ll understand why we came in here.”

  “Will I?” he sneered.

  “We figured he had spotted us and was destroying evidence.”

  “Oh, I guess that makes it alright then. It’s perfectly acceptable to ruin our last best hope for catching this creep because you figured he was destroying evidence.”

  “With all due respect, I don’t think it’s our last chance, Captain. As soon as we run this address, we will have his last name, social… hell, we will know as much as we possibly can about this guy.”

  “Is that right? So what, you thought I was just sitting around with my thumb up my ass after Perez called in? This house belongs to George and Tammy Parker. They moved here with their two children a couple of years ago, but we have know idea how long they’ve been dead.”

  “Why didn’t anyone report them missing?”

  “That is just one of many questions I want answered,” he said in a softer tone. “There are nearly thirty victims in this house. That’s more than the total number of unsolved missing persons we have on record for the last year.”

  “Well, I can throw one more mystery your way.” Tom scratched his temple. “We found Brian Pearlman in the basement and by the looks of him, there is no way those blood samples we have came from him.”

  “What?” Captain Duke couldn’t believe his ears.

  “This guy’s been dead for a long time.”

  “So, how the hell did his blood get to be at either one of those crime scenes?” He said with furrowed brows. “You know what? None of this changes the fact that you fucked up and let The Puppeteer slip through your fingers for a second time.”

  “Hey! We didn’t fuck anything up.” Tom bristled.

  “Oh yeah? Okay, then where’s our guy?”

  “We didn’t find him here, but—”

  “You’re damn right, you didn’t,” he barked. “And do you know where he’s going to go next?”

  “Now, how the hell would I know that?”

  “That’s my point exactly,” Captain Duke barked.

  “Give me a break here, Cap.”

  “You know what? I’ve had enough of your loose cannon bullshit. This stops here and now. What have I told you about flying by the seat of your pants?”

  “Captain, I am doing the best I can. This has been hands down the strangest case I’ve ever worked.”

  “You’re not thinking straight, Tom. Your decisions for the past few months have been for shit.”

  “Are you kidding me? I’ve come so close to this guy that I’ve actually swapped sweat with him.”

  “And yet he still got away.”

  “Why are you riding my ass so hard, Cap? I am gonna get this guy. I am going to bring him down,” he snarled while poking himself in the chest.

  “Riding your ass? The way you’ve been handling yourself, you’re lucky I don’t fire your ass.”

  “Are we done here? I’ve got a job to do.” Tom seethed, struggling to control his anger under the threats.

  Captain Duke stared at him with wide eyes. “Did you forget who the hell you’re talking to?”

  “Look, I know you’re pissed and I know you think all of this is my fault, but we can stand here pointing out my many flaws, or you can let us get back on the trail. So why don’t you just cut me some slack here.”

  “Cut you some—” He stopped mid sentence and took a deep breath. “That’s it. You’re suspended until further notice.”

  “But Captain, do you really think that’s a good idea?” Anna spoke up.

  “Detective Perez, I suggest you stay out of this unless you want to join him.”

  Tom couldn’t believe what was happening. “You can’t be serious, Cap. How is that going to solve anything?”

  “Tom, you need to get your head straight. Maybe a little time off will help you follow procedure.”

  “I was following procedure.”

  “Now, we’re through here,” he said, turning on his heel.

  Tom was in shock as he watched him walk away.

  “Holy shit! I didn’t see that coming,” Anna said once he was out of earshot.

  “It’s probably for the best.” Tom shrugged.

  “How can you say that? We have him on the run. We need to be on the streets, not kicking back at the house.”

  “I have my kids this week and I need to spend all the quality time with them that I can.”

  “How much time do you have before the big move?”

  “They’re heading out Monday morning.”

  “Yeah, you had better enjoy every second of it.”

  Tom’s cell phone rang, causing them both to jump.

  “What now?” Tom sighed as he recognized his ex-wife’s phone number. “Don’t tell me she wants to make sure I’m not making them spend too much time with the sitter.”

  “I guess you won’t have to worry about that for a while,” Anna said through a lopsided smile.

  Tom shook his head at her and he put the phone to his ear.

  “Hello?”

  “Hiya, Tom. How’ve you been?” a strange voice said.

  Tom pulled the phone away from his ear to look at the caller ID again. It was his ex-wife’s number, but not her voice.

  “Who is this?” he asked.

  “Ouch, Tom. That really hurts. After all we’ve been through together you would think my voice would be familiar.”

  “Kyle?” Tom asked, giving his partner a start.

  “Hey! That didn’t take long. You are a one hell of a detective,” he said with mock admiration. “This is a nice house you used to have. Do you think I can have it after you get it cleaned up?”

  “You sick son of a bitch. You better not have laid a finger on her.”

  “It’s a good thing you didn’t say anything about a blade or we would have had a problem,” he replied through a laugh.

  “Oh my God!”

  “There is no God, but then I didn’t call you to get into a religious debate. I’ve done a bit of redecorating for you. If you get a chance you might want to stop by and check it out.”

  “What have you done?”

  “I wouldn’t bring the kiddos along with you though,” Kyle continued without acknowledging him.

  “What have you done?” Tom screamed into the phone, drawing the attention of everyone in the room.

  “I made them Dance, of course,” he replied in a patronizing voice. “You should have seen it, Tom. It was nothing short of breathtaking.”

  Tom stood in stunned silence, trying to absorb the information.

  “I guess you have a pretty heavy responsibility now.”

  “Wh… what?”

  “You’re a dad again. No need to thank me right now.”

  “Thank you? When I get my hands on you—”

  “Hey, Tom… do you know where your children are?”

  Tom fell into silent shock.

  “I do.” Kyle laughed maniacally.

  “My kids have nothing to do with this! This is between you and me.”

  “I know where they are now and I know where they will be. You see how easy it was to get to your wife and that big hunk of a man of hers. Imagine how easy it would be to get to your little ones.”

  “I won’t let you touch my kids, you son of
a bitch!”

  “Then if I were you, I wouldn’t let them out of your sight,” he warned before the line went dead.

  “Tom, what happened?” Anna asked, her face awash in concern.

  “He just upped the stakes,” he replied, looking down at his phone. “You need to go to my ex’s house. He’s struck again.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  “I have to go to my kids. The bastard says he knows where they are,” he said as he walked away.

  Chapter Forty-Seven

  The end is near, changeling. You should have heeded my warnings. Now you will pay the price for your ignorance.

  “Why won’t you just go away?” Kyle snarled. “I’m sick of hearing your lies.”

  Don’t worry about that, you simpleton. You won’t have to worry about me much longer. You won’t have to worry about anybody for that matter. She is going to eat you alive.

  “You just wish she was still eating you.”

  I would love to stay and chat, but the owner of your leash is coming for you. I’ll be seeing you soon.

  “Get out of my head!” Kyle roared, sitting straight up in his bed.

  “Now, is that anyway to greet me, lover?”

  “Sorry,” he said, rubbing his temples. “It was just another bad dream. I wasn’t shouting at you.”

  “It was Eramael again, wasn’t it?” She reached out to hold his hand. “What did he say to you?”

  “That if I didn’t stop helping you, I’m going to die,” he replied carefully.

  “Trust me, if he really thought he could kill you, he would have done so by now. It’s obvious he is getting desperate. He feels your power and it scares him senseless.”

  “That may be, but it doesn’t change the fact that he will ruin our plans at every turn. We have to do something about him and soon.”

  Nina fell into silent contemplation.

  “At least we don’t have to worry about that detective any time soon,” Kyle added with a mischievous grin.