by Melinda Colt
With a deep breath, she took another step forward.
“Hello, Aideen.”
She felt a wave of satisfaction as Aideen whirled around startled, then took a step back. In a corner of her mind, Chelsea marveled that she wasn’t afraid when Aideen pointed the gun at her. She didn’t look at it, she just looked at Aideen’s face.
All at once, it was as if time stood still, and they were back in high school. She studied Aideen, just as the other woman studied her. Time had been kind to her old classmate. She hadn’t changed much, other than her dyed hair, rain-darkened and plastered against her head. There were only a few lines on her face, sadly none of them laughter lines. Usually loneliness and bitterness left traces on one’s face, but Aideen could pass for a girl instead of a woman. She was still slim, no visible curves under her black clothes. But beyond the smooth skin, her face betrayed her. It was a mask of rage, and her eyes sparked with hate and madness.
“Well, well, Miss Big-shot shrink finally figured it out,” Aideen said, revealing her teeth in a rictus of a smile.
Her voice sounded the same as Chelsea remembered, uneven and high-pitched like her mother’s. It was the voice of a teenager during puberty, oscillating between ups and downs related to hormonal changes. Chelsea wondered what processes had gone on in Aideen’s mind to keep her from moving on from that stage in life.
Her heart constricted as she looked down into Alice’s terrified face. Blood was running from her temple, tears streamed down her cheeks, and she seemed to have difficulty breathing. She looked imploringly at Chelsea, her eyes wide and terrified.
“Let her go,” Chelsea told Aideen, hitching her chin toward Alice. “This is between you and me now. You don’t need her anymore.”
Aideen gave a short laugh. “Let her go? Not a chance. I have big plans for her.”
“At least take the duct tape off her mouth. Her nose is stuffy with tears, she can’t breathe!”
Chelsea strained not to kneel beside the wounded young woman and tear off the duct tape herself, but she knew if she made a single move both she and Alice would be dead.
Aideen glanced down at Alice, then shrugged. “She’s fine. It won’t matter anyway. I’m not stupid, Doctor Campbell. Do ye think I’d free her mouth so she can scream her head off and ruin our little party?”
Chelsea clenched her teeth, afraid to insist any longer. Anything could trigger Aideen and push her to the edge. Hell, they were all on the edge. She gave Alice a ‘hang-in-there’ look, then focused all of her attention on Aideen.
“People don’t bring guns to parties—at least none I’ve been to,” she said, keeping her tone calm.
“Really? Didn’t your boyfriend have his gun at that Halloween party you went to last week?”
“You were there?”
Aideen chuckled. “I’m always there. I know everything about you, Chelsea. And about him. I made it a point to kill that bitch right there, so you and he would find her. The first body was a coincidence, but after I realized where things were going between you, I thought I’d have some fun.” She giggled. “He’s just as fucked up in the head as you are. A burned out cop who’s still grieving his parents and couldn’t deal with tough cases anymore. He’s a criminal, you know,” she said tauntingly. “You were supposed to wonder if he was the killer, after getting those emails about his past.”
“I never thought that. Why did you do this, Aideen? Why did you kill those poor women? Why do you want to destroy me?”
“Because you stopped being my friend!”
Her shout reverberated around the tombstones. Tears tracked down her cheeks along with raindrops, making her look like an anime character. Her face was contorted as though she was in unbearable pain.
Everything seemed surreal—the situation, the setting, Aideen… Chelsea did her best not to stare at the barrel of the gun, or acknowledge the trigger-happy grip Aideen had on it.
“Because of you everyone hated me,” Aideen said, her voice lowering. “High school was fun until you dumped me like trash.”
“You betrayed me,” Chelsea reminded her, and then quickly sidetracked as the killer’s eyes narrowed. “Maybe I shouldn’t have stopped talking to you, but I was only a kid, Aideen. I didn’t know right from wrong; to me everything was either black or white back then. Hell, you should’ve tried to talk to me, to tell me how you felt—”
“To what end? It wouldn’t have made a difference. You always thought you were better than me.”
“That’s not true.”
“Yes it is!” Aideen couldn’t control her voice anymore. “That day changed my life, you fucking bitch! I had to move to another high school because no one would talk to me anymore. You ruined my life, my self-confidence, took away my friends, while you moved on and became a fucking star, an award-winning psychologist. Did they know that your mom was crazy? The people who gave you that award? Did they know you’re a fraud and always tried to hide the fact that she killed herself?”
“That’s not true,” Chelsea said through gritted teeth. “I didn’t try to hide it, but I sure as hell didn’t advertise it. You took care of that when we were in high school, remember? Remember all the lies you used to say about me? And now you’re trying to say I’ve ruined your life?”
“You did! You always treated me like your shadow. No one saw me because of you. You were always the pretty one, and all the boys were interested in you, never in me. You always blocked me from everyone else’s view. You made me invisible to everyone else. Now I’m going to make you invisible, just like I did with the other shallow, self-centered bitches. How did their beauty serve them? They’re rotting in the ground, just like you will be soon.”
She raised the gun and pointed it straight at Chelsea’s chest.
Chelsea was still stunned by the twisted way Aideen had reasoned everything in her mind. Now she was out of time. She could have gone for her gun, but she’d be dead before she could fumble it from her waistband. If she turned and ran, Aideen would shoot her in the back. There was no escape. This was it. She couldn’t reach her weapon. Unless…
“You’re a coward, Aideen.”
Even Chelsea was surprised at how cold and calm her voice sounded.
So was Aideen. “What?”
“You heard me. You think shooting me will give you back your self-confidence? Aye, that’s brave. Keep your distance and use a gun built by someone else to destroy your enemy. Fucking heroic.” She scoffed, then leaned forward, her tone a taunting whisper. “You’ll never be rid of me unless you take me down fairly. If you have a trace of bollocks under that silly coat, put that gun away and face me with a bit of courage. Or are ye still the same chickenshit you were in school? You were afraid of me then, and you’re still afraid of me now, cladhaire.”
Jackpot! She’d bluffed, she’d gambled, but she had nothing to lose. Chelsea saw the moment her words struck home, and her jaw tightened in triumph. In her own way, Aideen had a huge ego, and it wasn’t going to let her turn away from the challenge Chelsea had issued.
The battle gleam in her eyes matched Chelsea’s as she tossed the gun aside. In her peripheral vision Chelsea saw the gun was fairly close to Alice, and she prayed the girl was resourceful enough to find a way to get to it. Until then, she focused on this fight, tossing aside her own jacket and gun. Ever since she’d learned Aideen was the killer and her stalker, Chelsea had been itching for this moment. She respected Aideen now for giving her the pleasure of kicking her ass.
She took a step forward, her foot slushing in the sticky mud. She sensed Aideen was about to take a step back, but her opponent caught herself in time and stood her ground. Chelsea was glad her enemy wasn’t going to make this easy.
“What’s wrong, bitch? Afraid to get any closer?” Chelsea taunted.
With an ear-piercing scream, Aideen charged her, her hands like claws directed straight at Chelsea’s eyes.
“You fucking cunt! I’ll kill you!”
Chelsea dodged, raising her forearms t
o defend herself. She was surprised by how much strength there was behind the other woman’s madness, and in a masochistic way, she thrilled in it. Unlike Aideen, she didn’t fight like a girl. Hands clenched, she swung her fist toward Aideen’s head, catching her over the cheekbone. Aideen howled in pain, and fell back against the trunk of a tree, holding her face. Chelsea’s hand was throbbing, but she wasn’t done.
She launched herself at Aideen. Her enemy was recovering and kicked her hard in the stomach. Chelsea hadn’t anticipated the blow. If she wasn’t fighting for her life and Alice’s, she might have crumpled to the wet ground and vomited. But she couldn’t afford to do that. She half-collapsed, half threw herself at Aideen, pommeling her with her fists. She struck randomly, blinded by rain, by rage, probably by blood from the scratches Aideen had inflicted on her face. There was an animalistic pleasure in feeling her enemy’s bones crack under her knuckles, hearing her whimpers, sensing her opponent weaken with every blow.
“Chelsea, stop! You’ll kill her!”
She heard Evan’s voice coming from far away, but she ignored it. So what if she killed her? Images of Shannon, Jenny, and Alice swam through her head. Aideen deserved to die. No punishment the law could provide would be enough.
When strong hands grabbed her from behind, she fought to kick her way back to her enemy, to finish her off, to destroy the monster forever. But Evan’s voice was soft in her ear, dragging her back to him, back to sanity.
“Stop it, baby. It’s over. Stop. Just lean on me.”
Her lungs felt about to explode as she took breath after ragged breath. Her nose was probably broken because she couldn’t use it to breathe anymore. She just took big gulps of cold air, fighting to clear her head. Evan still held her tightly, her back nestled against his large, solid chest.
She watched as two Gardaí cuffed Aideen and dragged her up. She didn’t resist. On the contrary, she seemed glad they were taking her away. As she stared at Chelsea through bloodshot eyes, blood trickled down her face, washed out by the rain that fell incessantly. Her eyes were dull now, all traces of hatred and madness gone. A misguided little girl who’d lost her way. If she hadn’t seen her handy work, if she hadn’t seen the bodies of the two women and spoken to their families, Chelsea would have felt sorry for Aideen. But she knew that behind that innocent exterior lurked a monster. And it would have struck again if Chelsea hadn’t stopped it.
It wasn’t Chelsea’s fault, like Aideen had justified it in her mind. It was her parents’ fault for not acknowledging their daughter’s problems and getting her help. It was society’s fault for not putting up a red flag when they observed abnormal behavior. Social media bore the guilt as well, as did the dating website that didn’t screen its users well enough. The list could go on, but Chelsea was too tired to think about it. The adrenaline was wearing off, and her body felt like a well-used piñata. She saw Alice sitting by, assisted by a Garda who’d untied her and wrapped her in a blanket. Police lights flashed somewhere in the distance, unable to get closer through the labyrinth of graves and trees.
Chelsea squeezed Evan’s hand, then looked up at him, not wanting to imagine how she looked.
“Is Alice okay?” she asked.
“She’ll be fine, she’s just scared. You saved her life.”
“Yeah.” Chelsea shoved he wet hair away from her face. “How did you find me?”
“I went home to look for you and read the email O’Bannion sent you. Why the hell didn’t you call me?”
Chelsea swallowed, sensing the taste of blood in her mouth. She’d bitten her tongue. As she moved it gently over her teeth, she was grateful none was missing or loose. Aideen had fought like a wildcat.
“I couldn’t call you, I was afraid she was monitoring my phone.”
“And you couldn’t find a way to let me know? What were you thinking, coming here alone?” Evan’s lips pressed together, and he clung to his self-control by a thread.
Chelsea shook her head. “I only had an hour. I made it with seconds to spare. There was nothing else I could do, Evan.” She looked up at him. “But I’m glad I came. I needed to confront her. I needed to beat the shit out of her.”
She was surprised by the passion in her words.
Evan couldn’t help a weak laugh. “And you did. I’m impressed. For a small woman, you pack a lot of crazy. If the situation wasn’t so drastic, it would have been sort of a turn-on.”
Chelsea started to laugh, but stopped, wincing in pain when her split lip parted. “Kinky American.”
She lifted her face to his and allowed him to gently kiss her bloody lips. Then she drew away and asked him to wait for her a moment.
She was covered in mud from head to toe. Each step she took was a sticky, dragging battle, but she reached her mother’s grave and sank to her knees beside it. Tears flowed as she touched the gray, wet tombstone. She wondered what her mum would have thought of her. Would she have been proud? Disappointed? Chelsea had saved a life tonight—two if she counted her own. Not long ago, she hadn’t put that big a price on her own life, but now, looking over at Evan, she knew she valued it a lot more.
She traced the words on the headstone with the tips of her fingers, unmindful of her broken nails and bruised knuckles.
“I’m sorry, mum, but I’m not ready to join ye yet.”
Epilogue
“I’ll always feel it’s not enough,” Chelsea said, thoughtfully tracing the shapes of Evan’s chest as they lay together in his bed.
Evan understood her feelings too well. Aideen’s trial had been a quick one as trials go, and was over within four months. The case had gotten tremendous media attention, which had put pressure on the entire Garda institution. Both Evan and Chelsea had feared a verdict of not guilty due to her mental issues, but The Mental Health Review Board had declared her fit to stand trial. According to their thorough testing, Aideen O’Bannion suffered from psychopathy and antisocial personality disorder, but was deemed aware and criminally responsible for her acts.
There had been plenty of evidence to convict her of the murders of Shannon and Jenny, as well as the kidnapping of Alice, plus several other charges that included stalking Chelsea, violating her privacy, and breaking an impressive number of laws via the internet. Aideen’s confession had been considered valid, and despite her lawyer’s hopes it would get her time in a mental institution, the trick didn’t work. Currently, she was serving a life sentence in a women’s maximum security prison.
Evan stroked Chelsea’s back and drew the duvet up to cover them. He couldn’t get enough of her, and it was hard for him every time she chose to spend the night at her place. More often than not, he’d show up at her door, and they’d end up sleeping together.
“I understand what you mean,” he said. “My superiors at the FBI reprimanded me for saying that several times when dealing with particularly gruesome cases. I also said I’d like the death penalty reinstated in the whole USA.”
“You’re right. Some people deserve it, but there are moral issues here that are at odds with modern law and human rights. For instance, I wouldn’t want to be the one who had to give the lethal injection, or press the button for the electric chair. In the eyes of the law, I’d be a paid executioner doing her job, but I don’t know if my conscience could deal with that. Plenty to think about.”
“Yeah… This probably sounds crazy, but somehow I feel that, in the end, Aideen went down too quickly. Does that make sense?” Evan asked, not convinced at all that he was making any sense.
Chelsea nodded. “It’s because she can’t face the real world. She always hid behind a computer screen, a fake profile picture, a nickname… Even her victims never saw her, she always attacked from behind.”
“That’s what puzzles me. Didn’t she want them to see her, to know what was going to happen?”
“I think she did, but she never took the risk to be overpowered. At heart, Aideen is a coward. It’s how I managed to get through to her in the end. It was a hell of a gamble, the
only thing I had left.”
Chelsea shivered, lost in recollections, and Evan tightened his grip around her. “How about we change the subject? The law put that bitch away for life. It’s about time we did the same.”
He still vividly remembered the night of the women’s confrontation, the agonizing hours when he’d kept trying to reach Chelsea and she hadn’t answered her phone. In the end, he’d driven home and found Kieran alone. Chelsea had been nowhere in sight, but the gun he’d given her had been missing, and his laptop had been open on the table, her email program staring up at him. His gut had tightened with every word Aideen had written in that email she’d sent to lure Chelsea to the cemetery. In that moment, when he’d thought he’d lost her, he’d felt as if the world was collapsing in on him.
He touched her face, enjoying her beautiful smile as she pressed her cheek into his palm. Most of her wounds had healed. Her nose had been broken and she’d had surgery to fix the damage. There was no trace of it now. The only reminder of that fight was a slim, tiny scar at the base of her hairline, where several stitches had closed the gash in her forehead.
He brushed his knuckles over the faint scar. His chest constricted with emotions that had been unfamiliar to him months ago, but which were now all too common.
“I don’t know what I would have done if she’d killed you, Chelsea.”
She sighed, closing her eyes. “I wasn’t crazy about the idea myself. My life wasn’t all that exciting, but…” She opened her lavender eyes, looking deeply into his. “That night before I walked out to face her, I thought I had one damn good reason to live. I wanted to have moments like this, with you, for the rest of my life.”
He swallowed, flutters of joy making his heart beat faster. “Has anything changed? I believe you said being in a relationship with someone for more than three months was a record.”
She smiled widely. “It was. Yet this time nothing’s changed. I think ye might be the real thing, Yank.” She glanced at him from under long, curvy lashes. “What about you? Is this a record for you too?”
