by Lisa Ladew
West reached over and grabbed her hand. He squeezed it too hard and she winced. She looked down and examined herself for blood. She couldn’t believe that neither one of them had been shot.
The shaking of her muscles finally subsided and Katerina tried to gather her thoughts. Now that the danger had passed, they needed a plan.
“What is that noise?” she asked.
“We have a flat tire.” West said. “Maybe two.”
“Should we stop and change it?”
“No way.” West shook his head. “We have no idea who this guy is. What happens if we pull over on the side of the road and change our tire, and someone stops to help us – and then he pulls a gun and shoots us both in the head?”
Katerina winced at the imagery, but she knew West was right. Her mind started to play horrible scenario after horrible scenario. She had been right this morning when she had been scared to leave her apartment. A determined person could lie in wait for her anywhere, and pick her off as she got out of her car to go to work, or the grocery store, or even as she got out of the ambulance to go to a call.
West squeezed her hand again. “Hey, it’s going to be okay. I promise.”
Katerina bit back her response. A dozen thoughts fell through her brain. No it’s not. How do you know? That’s not possible. It’s never going to be okay again.
She willed herself to calm down and try to think of something a little more positive to say. “So what do we do now? Go to the police?”
West pulled his hand back to the steering wheel and struggled with the big truck. Driving seemed to be becoming more difficult. “Yeah, but not here. I say we just drive and try to make it back to your place. Then we can call Blaise.”
Katerina looked out the window. They were coming close to the border between Westwood Harbor and Tetam County, but she didn’t see how they were going to make it all the way to her apartment on one or two flat tires. Even now, the thunking sound was getting louder. Katerina prayed they would at least make it out of Tetam County.
***
“Blaise is not answering,” West said, dropping his phone, irritation in his voice.
Katerina looked around nervously. They had made it out of Tetam County without being pulled over, but in only ten minutes they had been forced to pull into this gas station. People on the street had kept flashing their lights and honking their horns and even pulling in front of them, trying to tell them about the flat tires they already knew they had.
“We could call a tow truck.” West said.
Katerina felt fear spike through her. She knew she was being ridiculous, but what if the tow truck driver was the guy who was after them? Or what if he were listening to the CB radio for tow truck dispatches. Did people even do that anymore?
“I’ll try my friend Jordan,” she said.
Katerina picked up her phone and flipped through the text messages. Jordan had been messaging her for days, but she had forgotten to ever send her that innocuous message. There’d been too much going on. Katerina groaned. Jordan’s latest message made it clear that she had read about Katerina in the newspaper. In trying to protect Jordan, all she had done was worry her. She sent back a quick message.
I’m so sorry Jordan. Things have been crazy. I’m in a lot of trouble. Can you come pick me up and take me home?
Jordan texted back almost immediately. Of course, where are you?
Katerina texted the address of the gas station to Jordan, then told West, “She’ll be here in ten minutes.”
When Jordan arrived, Katerina hurried over to talk to her, while West stayed at his truck and pulled out things that he would need.
“Oh my God, Katerina, that’s the guy from the bar,” Jordan said.
Katerina shook her head. “Did I seriously not message you since then?”
Jordan pinched her on the arm. “No you didn’t! I have been going out of my mind. I kept wanting to go to your house, but you are always at work when I get done with work and you are always asleep in the mornings before I go.”
Katerina gave her a hug and apologized, then climbed in the passenger seat. “Okay, let me tell you everything that’s been going on. You’re not going to believe any of it, but try.”
As Katerina spoke, Jordan’s eyes got wider and wider. When Katerina told her that they had just been shot at, Jordan grabbed her by the shirt and shook her slightly, then pulled her in close and hugged her - hard.
“Oh my God, you could’ve died!”
Katerina laughed. “Don’t I know it.” She watched West do a final walk around his truck and then start towards them. “It looks like West is done. Can you take us to my apartment?”
“Jordan’s taxi service at your … uh, service, Ma’am. But I’m sticking around once we get there. You can invite me for dinner. I haven’t seen you all week.”
Katerina shook her head and smiled. She knew what Jordan really wanted now. To find out what was up with her and West. She leaned over and whispered, “We haven’t done anything. He’s my boss.”
Jordan watched West walk towards them. “Your boss, huh? I bet you can’t wait to get under him every day…”
Katerina stifled a giggle and elbowed Jordan in the ribs. She felt a bit of the horror of the last hour lift off of her. Jordan always brought smiles and laughter into her life.
West opened the back door to Jordan’s car and climbed inside. Katerina quickly introduced them.
“Nice to meet you, Jordan. Thanks for coming to get us.”
“Nice to meet you too,” Jordan said. “And you’re welcome.” She raised her eyebrows and mouthed something West couldn’t see. Katerina couldn’t tell what it was either, but she was sure it was something inappropriate. She shot Jordan a warning glance.
“I invited Jordan to stay for dinner,” Katerina said to West, her mind suddenly spinning with the realization that West might not want to stick around. Her being psychic hadn’t scared him off, and finding dead bodies hadn’t scared him off, but her being shot at had to finally do it, right?
Instead West grinned, his two dimples putting in an appearance. “Great! I think we have enough meat left for taco salad.”
Katerina gave him a grateful smile. Apparently he wasn’t scared off after all.
West’s phone beeped as Jordan pulled out of the gas station. He looked at it, typed a few words in and then looked back up at Katerina.
“Blaise has news for us. Maybe I can invite him over too?”
Katerina nodded. “What kind of news?”
“He didn’t say. But it sounds like it’s about the case.” He typed on his phone. “He says he’ll meet us there in twenty minutes.”
***
“So who is Blaise?” Jordan asked, gunning her tiny car through a yellow light.
Katerina laughed, forgetting for a second that she was in the grip of her own pathetic murder mystery where she was the next one slated to be murdered. “Blaise is West’s best friend, and you are really going to like …” Katerina trailed off. Jordan probably was going to like Blaise. He was exactly her type. First, he was a cop, second he had the tall, dark, and handsome routine completely down, and third, he was quiet, mature, and hard-working. For a second, she wondered why she had never tried to get Blaise and Jordan together. Then sanity reasserted itself. Oh that’s right, duh, I’ve just been busy dealing with being suddenly psychic and trying not to get killed.
Jordan poked her. “I’m really going to like what?” Katerina grinned and mimed zipping her lips shut. “You’ll see.”
Jordan eyed her appraisingly. “You been holding out on me Kat? Keeping the two best friends for yourself?”
Katerina gasped and shot Jordan another warning look. West can hear you, she tried to telegraph with her eyes, adding daggers at the end.
Jordan giggled and made a show of concentrating on her driving.
Katerina felt herself blush and wondered if Jordan was going to be like this all night. If she was, Katerina might have to kick her out. She really didn’
t want to contemplate the potential romantic side of her relationship with West right now. She knew he had to be thinking that she was more trouble than she was worth. If he still wanted to be with her or date her in any way, it would be a miracle.
They made it to Katerina’s apartment without anymore salacious remarks by Jordan. As they were walking up the outside stairs, Katerina remembered something. “West, don’t you have a cat?”
“I do, but I asked Mrs. Lowell to feed her. That’s my neighbor. She has two cats of her own and Nina likes to go see her. She always feeds Nina for me when I go on vacation or am at a wildfire or doing something that keeps me overnight.”
Jordan made a skeptical face at the word overnight and Katerina hoped she wouldn’t say anything. Jordan didn’t know about West’s wife and Katerina didn’t want Jordan to offend him.
When they got inside West headed straight for the kitchen, saying he was going to start the meal. Katerina pulled Jordan into the bedroom and filled her in. “Just don’t say anything tasteless or anything that could remind him of his wife or hurt his feelings, okay?”
Jordan nodded. “I didn’t know. I promise I’ll be on my best behavior.”
Katerina nodded, hoping it would be good enough. Sometimes Jordan’s mouth was quicker than her brain.
Out in the living room, Katerina heard a knock on the front door and heard West answer it, then two male voices.
“Is this the mysterious Blaise?” Jordan asked.
“Let’s go see.”
In the living room, West and Blaise were talking intensely. Blaise was still in his police uniform, gun belt and all. Katerina could almost hear Jordan drooling.
West noticed them and let Katerina and Blaise say hi and then he introduced Blaise to Jordan. Blaise smiled politely at Jordan but Katerina was immediately disappointed to see that he seemed to take no interest in her whatsoever. She wondered if Blaise was involved with someone, or maybe he was just all business while at work.
“I’m on my dinner break,” Blaise said. “I actually was hoping to talk to the two of you alone. The reports have come in on the first two bodies And there’s some things that I think you need to know. The detective in charge of the case has cleared me to tell you about them, but no one else.” He looked pointedly at Jordan. Jordan seemed flustered and embarrassed and Katerina felt bad for her friend.
“Jordan isn’t going to say anything,” she said to Blaise. “And besides, whatever you tell me, I’m just going to tell her anyway. Can’t you just pretend she’s not here?”
Blaise nodded. “Fair enough.”
“You have to let us feed you, Blaise,” West said. “Just give me five minutes and we’ll be ready to eat.”
West retreated into the kitchen and Katerina followed him, hoping maybe Blaise and Jordan would get some time to talk. Katerina chopped the lettuce and onions while West checked his ground beef and gathered the condiments. Katerina cocked an ear to the living room, but she didn’t hear any talking. Then Blaise strolled in, alone.
They brought dinner to the table and Katerina called in Jordan so they could all sit down to eat.
“Smells heavenly,” Jordan told West. He smiled at her and offered her the first pass at the food.
Blaise assembled his first taco, took a bite, and then pulled out his notebook. He glanced over a few of his notes and then looked at Katerina. “This is definitely a serial killer we are dealing with. There was almost no evidence on either body, but traces of the same paralytic were found in both women.”
Katerina leaned forward, her own food forgotten. “A paralytic?” Visions of a needle rippled through her mind.
“Yes, a paralytic that no one can identify. The Medical Examiner says it most closely resembles something called Saxitoxin, which is a chemical found in shellfish. He’s got his assistant trying to identify it now.”
“He synthesized it himself,” Katerina breathed, her mind suddenly filled with new images and connections that hadn’t been there a moment ago.
Blaise fished a pen out of his pocket and poised it over the paper. “Do you know that for sure?”
Katerina squeezed her eyes shut, the images suddenly coming too fast. She couldn’t decipher them. “Maybe. No. I don’t know,” she said, her voice strained and tight. West scooted his chair closer to her and put a hand on her shoulder. At his touch, a black screen dropped between the still-flowing images and the rest of her brain, letting her breathe. She threw him a grateful glance, not totally sure how he did it, but glad that he could.
Blaise put his pen back in his pocket. “He gave both the women the paralytic, then possibly raped them. Definitely while wearing a condom. Maybe after they were dead -the ME says he can’t be sure exactly when it happened - and then he washed the bodies. That’s why we can’t find any evidence.”
West leaned forward to ask something, but they were interrupted by Jordan leaping out of her chair and running out of the kitchen. Katerina blanched. “Oops, I forgot most people don’t like to talk about …” she flapped her hand at Blaise’s notebook, “dead bodies when they are eating. I’ll be right back.”
She ran after Jordan, stopping at the closed bathroom door. “Jordan, honey, are you OK?”
“No,” came the strangled reply.
“Sorry, Jordan. We weren’t thinking. Cops and paramedics … well, that kind of stuff doesn’t bother us. Can I come in?”
“Yeah.”
Katerina slowly opened the door to her tiny bathroom and found Jordan sitting on the floor next to the toilet. “Did you puke?”
“No. Almost.”
“Sorry.”
Jordan shook her head. “No, I’m sorry. I’m sorry you’ve been dealing with all of this. No wonder you haven’t messaged me.” She looked at Katerina, misery on her face. “You’re really in danger aren’t you?”
Katerina nodded, her brain suddenly whirling again. “A lot of danger.”
“I’m glad you’ve got West.”
“Me too,” Katerina said, sighing. But for how long? her mind added.
“Do you mind if I just take off?” Jordan asked. “I don’t think I can deal with anymore talk about bodies.”
Katerina pulled Jordan to her feet and hugged her. “I don’t mind at all. Thanks for coming to get us tonight. You’re a lifesaver.”
Katerina took Jordan to the door. Jordan didn’t even want to say goodbye to the guys. Katerina could tell Jordan was embarrassed so she walked her out, made sure she got into her car safely, then went back inside, locking the door behind her.
Again, the men were in deep discussion. West looked up when she came in and asked after Jordan. “She went home, she wanted me to apologize for her and say goodbye.”
West nodded. “I was just telling Blaise about what happened today. He said he’ll have to go out and look at my truck, then talk to the detective in charge of the case, then come back here and get our statements.”
With Jordan gone, weariness and the severity of the situation settled in on Katerina like a heavy weight. They’d been shot at. By a serial killer. She was the target of someone who was killing women. And there was nothing she could do except sit around and wait for him to show up. What about work tomorrow?
Katerina felt a pounding in her head start just behind her left ear. Before she had even sat down to eat, it spread to the other side. She pushed away her plate of food and tried to focus on what West and Blaise were saying.
“He washed the bodies. That makes me think it’s somebody who knows what they were doing. Somebody who knows what the cops will be looking for,” West said.
Blaise shook his head. “These days, with CSI and all the other cop shows on TV, everyone knows what the cops are looking for. The most it tells us is that he was methodical. This was not an emotional killing. But that is how many serial killers are.”
Blaise stood up. “I’ve got to cut this short. My boss is going to want to know what happened today. I’ll be back in about two hours.”
Katerina
tried to get up, but she felt weak and lightheaded all of a sudden. She waved at Blaise and said, “Thank you for coming over.”
West walked Blaise to the door and after a short conversation returned to Katerina. Concern lined his face. “Katerina, you don’t look good. How are you feeling?”
Katerina shook her head. “Headache…”
West rounded the table and grasped her shoulder. “Why don’t you go lay down? It’s been a hard day.”
Katerina nodded, feeling a bit better with West being close to her. She let him lead her to the bedroom. The bed looked inviting, and as she climbed onto the cool sheets, her headache abated somewhat. West covered her with the blankets and looked down at her with something like pity on his face. Katerina almost couldn’t stand it. She didn’t want him to pity her. She reached out and grabbed his hand. It felt cool, rough, and strong.
“Stay with me? Just for a few minutes?”
West nodded and sat on the bed next to her. She tried to pull him down next to her, but didn’t have the strength. She closed her eyes, trying to gather the courage to ask him to lay with her. But she couldn’t do it.
What if he said no?
Chapter 21
West checked the lock on the door for the third time. Still locked tight. He was glad the apartment only had one way in and one way out. He couldn’t shake the feeling that this man, whoever he was, was only going to get more aggressive in his pursuit of Katerina.
West couldn’t help but feel even more strongly that it was his fault. He’d been stupid. He’d made a colossal mistake. Katerina hadn’t said a word about it though. He paced restlessly through the living room, an ear cocked to the bedroom.
Katerina had fallen asleep almost instantly and hadn’t woken when Blaise came back to get their statements. West had given his and Blaise had said that Katerina’s could wait. But even though her sleep was long, it was restless. She muttered and moaned and rolled around constantly. Twice he had peeked in on her and she had kicked the blankets onto the floor.
