Avery hung up the phone and looked at her askance. “What’s wrong, Hol?”
She only flushed deeper still. It got hotter.
“Oh, well, now you have to tell me. That’s your, this-has-something-to-do-with-sex blush.” She took Holly’s shoulders and guided her to a chair by the kitchen table. Poking her head in the pantry, she reappeared with the homemade cinnamon buns Alison had dropped off.
“This calls for fat and sugar.” She dished out a bun for Holly and one for herself and dug in with gusto. Her mouth full, she said, “Spill, kiddo.”
Holly coated an index finger with icing and licked it off. She took a deep breath, whining. “I think I want mine heated.”
Avery narrowed her eyes, picked up Holly’s cold bun and put it in the microwave for a few seconds. They waited in silence. At the ding, Avery took the bun out of the microwave and placed it in front of Holly.
She said, “This had better be good.”
There wasn’t a thing in Holly’s life that Avery didn’t know, so if she could tell anyone about her dream it was Avery. Still, the details were very personal and she glossed over a few of the more embarrassing bits. Her friend would understand. She was very good at drawing her own conclusions.
When Holly was finished, Avery looked at her with excitement. Delighted, she threw her head back and laughed. “This is great! You have to see him again!”
Holly scoffed, “Yeah, in my dreams…literally.”
Avery wasn’t deterred. “If he can do that to you in your dreams, imagine what he can do in real life.”
“Don’t you think it’s a little scary? I mean, we’re talkin’ intense.”
“No less intense than meeting him in person. Don’t try to deny it. He lit you on fire. You tried to hide it, and I let you think you’d succeeded, but I know you too well. You were shooting flames kiddo. It’s a good thing. You could use a little sexual intensity. I gotta meet this guy.”
Holly shook her head and smiled despite herself. Avery was irresistible when like this. “I don’t know how you’re going to meet him. I’m not sure I’ll ever see him again.”
“Oh, you will. Trust me, you will.” Avery sounded absolutely certain.
Feeling the need for a life preserver, Holly changed the subject. “What did Janice say?”
“She’s already on it. She’s going to call my cell as soon as she gets any info.”
“Didn’t she think it was weird you called to ask that?” Holly asked,
Avery rolled her hazel eyes. “Are you kidding? She said she’s been on the phone all morning. Everyone’s called.”
Holly took a huge bite of her cinnamon bun. “Small towns.”
Once she’d finished the calorie-laden breakfast, Holly excused herself to shower and change. Mounting the stairs, she could hear Avery on the phone talking to her husband, Stephen.
In the bedroom, Holly slipped on her terry cloth robe and searched for her slippers. She found them on the other side of the bed. Picking up the sheet of paper that rested on the fluffy white things, she sunk to the bed in shock.
Finding her voice, she hollered for her friend.
“Avery! Get up here!”
She could hear the kitchen stool crash to the floor as Avery took off at a run. The woman was truly amazing. She must have taken the stairs three at a time. Holly glanced down at her friend’s long muscular legs and amended her estimate. With those legs, Avery could take the stairs four at a time.
Without saying a word, Holly passed the drawing to her barely breathless friend who sank to the bed beside her. “Oh my God. Is that him?”
Holly nodded. Some time during the night, she had drawn the upper half of a naked, Stryker Cain. The savage likeness was uncanny.
Avery said, “Wow. He’s certainly hot…I’ll bet he’s inspired more than one sex dream…but, Holly, what’s with all the blood? It is blood, isn’t it?”
She nodded slowly, staring at the drawing in Avery’s hand. It was an almost perfect image of the man she’d met in the grocery store except for two things. He wore no shirt and blood dripped from the mouth of the man in her sketch. It slid down his chin, pooled in the hollow of his collarbone and stained his chest. Again, Holly was grateful there hadn’t been color pencils handy.
“You did this in your sleep?”
“I must have.”
“So I guess you really can claim you’re such a natural artist you can do it in your sleep.”
Holly raised an eyebrow at her. “That was lame.”
Avery shrugged. “Yeah, sorry. It’s the stress.”
“I can’t recall ever sketching in my sleep before. At least I’ve never found a drawing on my pillow in the morning, but I’ve awakened from a dream and grabbed a pencil to draw what I’d seen.” She shook her head and touched a hand to her temple where a headache pounded. She nodded at the paper. “What the hell is this? He’s covered in blood. His mouth is full of it.”
“Let’s not overreact here. It’s just a drawing.”
“But you and I both know my automatic drawings depict the future. They’re never just drawings.”
Avery sighed. “Yes, I know all about them, but have you ever had a dream like the one you had last night?”
Holly laughed without humor. “Trust me, I would have told you if I did.”
Avery smiled back at her gently. “Glad to hear it. Well, then, we’re in new territory here. You don’t know how you respond to such an erotic and realistic dream. You’ve only had one. This could be your libido talking and not the future.”
She wanted to believe what her friend was telling her, but Holly felt skeptical.
Avery hammered home her point. “You said that in your dream last night you felt like you’d been turned into liquid.” She gave Holly a hopeful look. “Well, maybe that’s what you drew. Maybe that’s not blood at all. It’s you!”
“So Stryker Cain is going to drink me?” Holly couldn’t help but see the humor in her friend’s suggestion.
“Yeah, well, some men can consume a woman.” She offered up a pathetic look.
Holly laughed. “Man, are you off your game. That was lame too. Did you finish your cinnamon bun?”
Avery shook her head, feigning shame. “No. You interrupted me.”
“Oh, okay. That explains it. Your sugar must be low,” Holly said with a smile. She sobered for a second and pointed to the sketch, forcing the conversation back on topic. “I think we have to go on the assumption that this is blood. I’m not willing to ignore a portent just because it casts doubts on a man I find attractive. A man I don’t even know.”
Avery nodded her reluctant agreement. “Okay, but you have to still keep an open mind. He might be completely harmless.”
Holly rolled her eyes and waved the drawing in her optimistic friend’s face. “Yeah, wish me luck with that.”
Avery took the sketch from her hands and looked down at it. “You’re going to need it. What a waste, if he’s the villain in all this.”
“Avery, he’s drinking blood!”
“I can see that, but it doesn’t necessarily mean real blood. Maybe the O positive symbolizes how he’s going to make you feel? That’s what happened in the dream right? He made you feel liquid.”
Holly reluctantly agreed.
Avery said, “Just promise me you won’t sabotage this attraction you feel. Don’t smother it before it gets a chance to breathe.” She narrowed her eyes. “You do that, you know.”
Holly shrugged. “So you’ve told me.”
“Well, it’s about time you listened. Don’t jump to conclusions about him. I’m not prepared to plunk a black hat on his head just yet.” She made shooing motions with her hand. “Go on, take your shower. While you’re doing that, I’m going to eat my cinnamon bun and look up this Stryker Cain.”
* * * *
Holly sighed with relief when the warm water hit her chilled toes. Standing under the shower head, she closed her eyes and let the warmth soothe her. The water did its job f
or a moment until Holly remembered the liquid feeling she’d experienced in her dream. It had melted her very bones. Her heart started to pound as she recalled the dream and the man. The water sliding down her body felt like a caress, his caress. It felt so sensuous, so wonderful, she wanted to purr. Holly tilted her head back, closed her eyes and indulged herself for just a second. A second turned into minutes. She had no idea how long she stood there. Finally dragging herself out of her sensual daydream, she opened her eyes and started. Vision clouded, she wiped the water from her eyes with impatient fingers. Her sight restored, Holly gasped with astonishment. There he was. Stryker Cain and his glorious body stood not six inches away, the shower’s mist swirling around him.
Chapter 5
“I’m not sure we should be doing this,” said Holly, as she stopped her car close to Irene O’Neill’s property.
“Me neither, but what other option do we have?” Avery said.
While Holly had watched her vision of Stryker Cain fade away in the shower, Janice had called Avery back and told her that the victim’s name was, in fact, Irene O’Neill. The only opportunity they’d get to see the murder scene was if they snuck in after midnight. Janice informed her that they’d have a fifteen minute window of opportunity at that time. Avery didn’t bother to ask how she came upon that kind of information.
Holly still had doubts about dragging her friend in with her. “We don’t have another option, but you do. Stephen sure was mad at you for doing this. Maybe I should have come alone…kept you out of it.”
Even in the darkness Holly could sense Avery’s annoyed expression.
“Stephen is not the boss of me and he knows better than to try to stop me. I’m not about to let you do something like this alone. He’ll just have to wait by the phone and be ready with the bail money in case we get arrested. Now come on, we have to get into the kitchen, see if it fits the drawing.”
Both dressed in well matched, dark clothing, Holly felt a little ridiculous and giggled nervously, half scared half excited. Neither of them had ever dreamt of doing something like this let alone actually doing it.
A typical Muskoka summer night, anonymous creatures communicated in languages Avery and Holly couldn’t understand. Their voices filled the air. Clouds covered the moon and they had to use flashlights to find their way through the brush to Irene’s house.
As they drew closer to the scene of the crime, Holly shuddered at the thought of the animals they might be disturbing. Then she noticed something strange. “Don’t you find it a little quiet?”
Avery stopped and looked back at her friend. “You know you’re right. All of a sudden, it’s gotten pretty quiet. I don’t hear a thing anymore.”
“If this were a horror movie I’d say, ‘It’s quiet…too quiet’.” Holly laughed. “Weird we don’t hear anything now though, eh?”
“Maybe not. We’re making enough noise to frighten all God’s creatures into silence. For them, humans are the most dangerous creation of all.”
“True,” Holly said. She breathed a sigh of relief when they reached the outer rim of Irene’s property. Shocked by what she saw, she froze in her footsteps.
There was police tape surrounding Irene’s rather large garden.
She whispered to Avery, “What happened out here? Why the tape?”
Avery shrugged. “Let’s take a look.” She shone her flashlight over the sectioned off area. It didn’t take long to find the answer. The grass was soaked with blood. Avery panned the light up to illuminate Irene’s beautiful flowers. Some of them were blood splattered too. Deep burgundy drops stained the petals of a perfectly formed fragrant white rose. Holly felt sick.
“It didn’t happen in the kitchen. We warned her and changed the future, but we didn’t change enough.” Her voice sounded desolate.
Avery put a supportive arm around her and squeezed. After a moment, she said, “Let’s check the kitchen anyway. The cellar door has to be this way.” She pointed to the side of the house. They’d thought to bring tools with them in order to take one of the doors off its hinges and get inside the house. Neither of them had imagined that the murder took place outside.
Holly looked down at the cellar doors. There was no lock. They wouldn’t need the screwdrivers. She understood that many people living in the country didn’t lock their doors, but surely it was reckless to leave an access point unlocked. The woman may as well have kept her front door swinging wide open…then again maybe she did. Irene O’Neill wouldn’t be the only one who felt so safe in their community that she didn’t feel the need to live behind locked doors. If she had been killed in her own garden…was there any place safe?
The cellar smelled musty and Holly wrinkled her nose. It was damp and cold inside. She shivered, but couldn’t tell if her body was reacting to the chill in the air or her own nervousness. The cellar wasn’t much more than a crawl space. Avery had to bend at the waist to avoid hitting her head. Holly herself could touch the ceiling if she had the inclination. She didn’t.
Using their flashlights, they found the stairs to the main floor of the house. The door at the top was slightly ajar. Holly’s heart pounded so loudly she wondered why Avery couldn’t hear and comment on it.
“What if we’re not alone?” she whispered.
Avery put a finger to her lips and started to climb the stairs. Holly followed.
The door didn’t make a sound when she pushed it open and they walked into what had been Irene O’Neill’s kitchen. It was almost exactly the same as the drawing except they saw no dead body, no blood, no cookies and no dish rack.
The house remained silent and dark. Holly and Avery stood beside each other wondering what to do next.
“Hello, Holly,” a man said pleasantly. The sound of his voice in the silence made Avery and Holly jump nervously. Light flooded the kitchen.
Blinded for a second, they instinctively turned towards the voice. About two feet away from Holly stood Stryker Cain. Dressed in dark clothing, a navy t-shirt and jeans, he leaned casually against the counter, each hand resting on the marble behind his hips. He crossed his feet at the ankles, looking completely at ease, the situation firmly under his control.
“What brings you here at this time of the night?” he asked calmly.
Avery had narrowed her eyes and Holly knew she was about to speak, but Holly jumped in.
“Stryker Cain, I’d like you to meet my friend Avery.” It was ludicrous making polite introductions under such strange circumstances, but Holly didn’t know what else to do. Damn, even under these circumstances she felt his pull.
Avery looked at her as if she’d lost her mind. Stryker’s smile widened. He was humoring her. She recognized the signs and frowned at him. His smile still had power over her. Her pulse raced.
Thankfully, Avery stepped in. “What brings you here?”
“I think I asked first.” His deep voice was mild.
Holly said, “You’re not supposed to be here anymore than we are and you’ve turned on the lights.” She moved towards the switch.
He raised a hand. “Don’t worry, the constable was just here. He won’t be back for at least twenty minutes. I’ve been watching.”
“So you’ve been waiting until the coast is clear?” Holly asked.
Still smiling broadly he nodded. “I have a good reason for being here ladies. Irene O’Neill was a friend of mine. She told me that someone had suggested she leave town for her own safety and was prepared to pay heed to that advice, but by the looks of it, she didn’t act quickly enough.” He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, leaving it standing straight up and irresistible. It was the first time Holly had seen him disheveled in any way, and it made her feel even more drawn to him and in far less control of her response to him.
“I’m not convinced the authorities around here have enough experience in this sort of thing,” he said.
Avery, eyes still narrowed, said, “And you do?”
Stryker’s smile faded away and he stared unwaveringly at
her as he said, “Unfortunately, I do.”
“Do the police know you’re here?” Holly asked.
He shook his head, “I’d rather slip in under their radar. It could be…complicated. How about you?”
Avery laughed. “No, the police do not know we’re here.”
Holly blurted out, “We were the ones that warned Irene.” Avery looked at her like she’d lost her mind and Holly wasn’t sure she hadn’t. She had no defense and shrugged at her friend. Under her breath she said, “I don’t know what came over me.”
Avery sent her a look that indicated she knew very well what had come over her.
He politely ignored their interaction. “How did you know Irene was in danger?”
“I drew it.” Apparently, Holly wasn’t finished spilling all her secrets.
“Holly,” Avery hissed between her clenched teeth, nudging her. She put up a finger and pointed it at Stryker. “How do we know you didn’t kill her and now you’ve come back to revisit the scene of the crime?”
“You don’t. All I can do is give you my word that I did not kill this woman. Irene was my friend.”
Still under his spell, Holly believed him without hesitation. Avery, ever vigilant, stayed silent.
“Have you found anything in your search?” Holly asked.
He shook his head, “They found the body outside. Her throat had more than one deep puncture mark. The killer came up behind and struck with such viciousness he almost severed her spinal cord. It’s possible he wouldn’t have got a drop of blood on him that way. I’ve already been over the garden. I was just about to start in the kitchen when you two showed up. Care to help me?”
Neither woman answered as they began to look around.
“Since we’re all here together anyway and time is at a premium, why don’t we get organized?” He suggested. “I’ll check the kitchen, Holly could you take the bedrooms and Avery, you take the living room?”
Drawing Blood Page 5
