[Harbinger 01.0] Plain Jane

by Carolyn McCray

  Nicole turned the upper half of her body, but kept her toes pointed toward the stairwell. Toward Ruben. “On time?” He couldn’t help but smirk. “Don’t push it.”

  CHAPTER 17

  Ruben watched Nicole drive away with Kent.

  Why was he not surprised?

  He hadn’t meant to eavesdrop. He had come down to apologize. But then, imagine that, he found Kent standing right next to her. Just as he had predicted. Ruben had thought he was just being sarcastic during the fight with Nicole, but obviously a part of him feared that she quickened to the profiler’s ultra-dangerous aura.

  Worse, Kent was not just a bad boy. The profiler was a downright awful boy. Harbinger did not just ride motorcycles, he would hot-wire one to bring on a date.

  How could anyone sane compete?

  When Kent had driven off, leaving Nicole standing there all alone, Ruben’s heart skipped a beat. For once, the profiler was showing his true colors. The deep selfish streak that for some reason seemed beyond anyone else’s comprehension to see was shining through.

  Ruben knew he could never be Nicole’s knight in shining armor, however, tonight he had the chance to at least be a guy with a silver Lexus who could make sure she got home safe and sound.

  Those hopes were dashed in their infancy when Kent backed all the way from the street to Nicole’s parking spot. An action that spelled the end to Ruben’s rescue fantasy.

  He’d seen it in his partner’s eyes. Instead of being pissed that Kent had not only stolen her car but left her with no ride home, Nicole had somehow seemed content. Maybe even a little gratified. Maybe a lot.

  After everything Harbinger had put her through, Nicole seemed ready, even eager, to get back on the profiler’s emotional merry-go-round.

  Ruben knew a lot of men would just give up on her. Back off. But he was not most men. It was not arrogance or some masochistic urge that kept him in the game. No, Kent’s allure, ultimately, whether Nicole wanted to admit it or not, was that the profiler would hurt her. Not just hurt her, but jeopardize her career again. Ruin her life again.

  And when that day came, Ruben would be sure to be there to catch her. Again.

  CHAPTER 18

  Nicole knew that assisting Harbinger was a bad idea. A really bad idea. Helping Kent break into the morgue was possibly the worst idea since…

  Well, since the brain incident of 2010. But the truth was she never felt more alive than she did right now, knowing that Kent was somewhere in the shadows behind her.

  Following her.

  Unlike the profiler, she knew the door code and let them into the morgue without incident. They made their way to the intake desk, keeping to the back halls. Nicole in the lead. Kent trailing in the darkness.

  Even she needed to avoid old man O’Fallon. He might be well past retirement age, but the security guard would know if she showed up at the morgue in the middle of the night, Kent could not be far behind.

  Instead they targeted the new attendant. It didn’t hurt that the kid had a crush on her. While Nicole tried to avoid the morgue after the ugly incident several years ago, her job brought her here frequently. Between the memories and the rank odor, Nicole always had to go home and take a hot shower afterward. She had no idea how anyone could work here full-time. You would have to be a morbid son-of-a-bitch with a poor sense of smell.

  Yet here she was approaching the desk, making certain that O’Fallon was not nearby before she showed herself. Luckily the elderly guard seemed to be off on one of his many catnaps he took during the long night shift.

  Nicole came out of hiding. “Hey, Joshua.”

  The younger man continued to stare straight ahead at the bank of security monitors. Well, they couldn’t have him doing that if Kent was going to break into the crypt. Nicole tapped the young man on the shoulder.

  “Joshua.”

  The attendant practically fell out of his seat. The kid jerked the buds out of his ears and the tinny sounds of death metal floated on the air.

  “Detective Usher! I didn’t hear you buzz me.”

  “Nah. I know the codes.”

  Joshua fumbled with his iPod, trying desperately to turn it off as he spoke. “Yeah, duh. Of course you do.” Finally the music stopped. “Do you have a new body? Because I’m all about new bodies. I mean I’m—”

  “I need to review the paperwork on Plain Jane.”

  The attendant’s chest puffed up. “No worries.”

  “Torres and I got our wires crossed, and we didn’t double-check it.”

  “I’m telling you, everything is five-by-five.”

  “This is the city’s most prolific serial killer, Josh. The documentation needs to be more like ten-by-ten.”

  Nicole forced a flirty smile.

  CHAPTER 19

  Kent watched as Nicole leaned forward on that last “ten.” She had pushed some cleavage together.

  The attendant’s eyes dilated and his cheeks blushed. Nicole didn’t have a lot going on in the chest department, but what she had, she knew how to use.

  After several seconds completely slack-jawed, the attendant snapped back to attention. “Of course, let me get it.”

  As Joshua turned away, Kent snuck down the hall, past the desk, and into the corridor to the right. Silently, up on the balls of his feet, he easily eluded the kid. Even in the pitch black, Kent made his way to the crypt without a single misstep.

  Not hesitating, Harbinger pushed open the door and strode across the crypt to the rows of coolers. Rapidly, he read the names on the doors. The attendant had not been exaggerating, they had nearly a full house. Kent did not linger on any one name. These others did not concern him. The only one that mattered to him was Joann Forme.

  The woman he had stalked for over a week. Nicole was not the only female whose bathroom he snooped around. He even knew that Joann was only two days from bleeding. That was how he knew the killer was going to strike tonight. Besides the trophy, Kent was beginning to form a theory that Plain Jane wanted his women at their sexual peak.

  As much as Kent loved to cultivate the perception that his insight was near psychic in origin, it actually arose from long, boring hours of observation. Sometimes so many hours that other lives were lost in the interim.

  You could not rush genius.

  Kent had come so close to saving Joann because of the hundreds of hours he had logged on the last three victims. Claudia Simons, Julie Gamos, and Maria Villa. From them he had learned that it was not just their petite forms that drew the killer, but their pert breasts, high on the rib cage. The killer also required a fairly narrow waist sloping into full hips. A nice ass did not hurt, either.

  All of those characteristics plus one other that still eluded Kent drew both the profiler and killer to Joann. It was then that the profiler realized he had been standing in front of the brunette’s crypt, a hand on the lever.

  Kent did not have the luxury to brood. Nicole’s cleavage was not going to keep the young attendant fascinated forever. She just did not have that much to go around.

  He jerked open the door and rolled Joann’s body out of its temporary tomb. The sound echoed in the small room, filling it, making it seem even smaller. Cool air rushing out from the interior gave rise to goose bumps along his arm. Or was it the sight of the woman’s pale face that stood out against the bright red slash across her neck?

  The press might have dubbed these victims as Plain Jane’s, but to Kent each held their own beauty. Joann’s small button nose. Her baby-smooth skin, now marred by bloody hair matted against her cheek.

  Despite his sense of urgency, Kent gently pulled back the unruly strands. Joann would have been horrified to have her hair in such a mess. Unlike Nicole, this woman only used one brand of shampoo and conditioner. A boutique brand, priced at over a hundred dollars a bottle, just like the celebrities used. A price she should not have been able to afford on a bookkeeper’s salary.

  As if hiding some state secret, late at night, Joann would go online and buy the
expensive products on eBay. Hell, just last night she had gotten free shipping thrown in. Kent could not help but grin. Joann had looked so proud. A small victory in a small life.

  Pulling her purple scarf from his pocket, he draped it over her slashed neck. A small tribute to their bond.

  Quickly the smile fell. This was not a wake. He had work to do. Snapping on a pair of latex gloves, Kent silently apologized to the brunette for what he was about to do.

  CHAPTER 20

  Nicole read the intake form again. For the fifth time. Where in the hell was Kent? A piece of paper tossed into the hallway was supposed to be the signal that she could wrap up this charade. Each time she glanced to the hall, still no paper.

  She was not sure how much longer she could keep Josh distracted. For what seemed like forever, while she had been checking out the paperwork, she had made sure the attendant was checking her out.

  However, there was only so much shifting and strutting in an underwire bra you could do before it began cutting off circulation. She needed a new strategy.

  Then movement on the security screen caught Josh’s eye. Over his shoulder, Nicole could see the image of Kent moving around in the crypt.

  The attendant pointed. “Oh man, that freak again!”

  Before she could stop him, Joshua flew down the hallway. Nicole had no other option but to rush after him. She caught up right at the door to the cooler, praying they burst into an empty room, but they found Kent elbow-deep in the brunette’s belly.

  The most shocking sight, however, was the sheer joy on the profiler’s face as he pulled pink tissue to the surface.

  “It’s still here.” He urged the mottled tissue toward her. “He didn’t get it.”

  Several moments passed before the surprise wore off and Nicole realized what Kent was showing her.

  Joann’s uterus.

  CHAPTER 21

  Kent tugged at the ovarian ligament, trying to expose the womb better. Didn’t Nicole realize what this meant? The killer had been thwarted. Denied his prize. His trophy. Kent’s mind reeled with the implications.

  “Dude, get another hobby!”

  The attendant’s outburst brought Kent back to the present circumstance. “It’s still here.”

  Joshua pointed. “Um, that’s against the law, right?”

  “Uh, oh yeah.” This seemed to break the detective out of her shock. She drew her gun. “Step away from the body.”

  Kent did not like taking orders, even if they were fake ones. “What? At least I put on gloves this time.”

  Nicole tilted her head to the side.

  “Um, you know how to use the gun, right?” Josh asked.

  Oh, she knew how to use it all right, Kent thought as Nicole leveled her aim at his head. “Step away. Now!”

  Not so much to obey her now that his job was done, Kent let the uterus slip from his hands, snapped his gloves off, and tossed them into the red-lined medical waste receptacle for three points, but strangely no one cheered.

  “Hands behind your back.”

  Playing along, Harbinger turned and was mildly surprised when he felt Nicole’s knee in his back, pressing him up against the gurney. She was getting into this role-playing gig a little too enthusiastically.

  “Do you think…? Do you think he’s Plain Jane?” the attendant asked.

  Efficiently, Nicole slapped the cuffs on his wrist, tightening them more than Kent would have liked. “No. The creep only gets up close and personal after they’re dead.”

  “Oh, so he’s a necro…” The attendant stared at him with a new sense of revulsion and wonder. “Cool. I never met one face-to-face before.”

  Nicole urged Kent toward the door. “Let’s go. You have the right to remain silent—”

  Joshua looked to the bloody mess.

  “This is the best job ever.”

  CHAPTER 22

  Once they were out in the parking lot, Kent tried to pull free of her grip. “You can take the cuffs off now.”

  “I could…” Nicole shoved him toward her car. He was going to know who was in charge, at least for now.

  “You have to,” Kent demanded.

  Even though she tried to keep him facing forward, the profiler slipped from her grasp and turned around. For a guy who had never lifted a dumbbell, Kent was deceptively strong.

  His entire posture changed, and even though he leaned against the car with his hands cuffed behind him, one would never know he was the one restrained. Who needed to actually be in control, when you could just act like you were?

  “I interrupted him. He’ll be out again.” Kent implored. “Soon. Maybe even tonight. Maybe now.”

  Nicole did her best to keep up. “He’s never struck so close. He’s gone at least a week between kills.” But she only ended up playing his foil.

  “He’s never been denied his prize before. He needs it.”

  “As much as you needed to stick your damned hands in Joann’s belly?”

  “More,” Kent emphasized.

  That damned hungry tone. A palpable need that radiated from the profiler like an irresistible pheromone. Even though she intellectually knew that the hunger was not for her, there was no telling her body that. Kent was never as charismatic as when he was honing in on a killer.

  But she had walked this path before with him. One that lead to pain, self-destruction, and abandonment. If not for his sake, then for her own, Nicole needed to find a way to work this case differently. She wouldn’t repeat the mistakes of the past.

  “If I un-cuff you, you’re going to ditch me, aren’t you? Not even bothering to come to tomorrow’s briefing, are you?”

  CHAPTER 23

  It was Kent’s turn to study Nicole. He had cranked up his rogue, lone wolf vibe to high, and still she resisted him.

  There had to be a reason.

  “What’s so important about this briefing?”

  Nicole met his stare full on. “Every once in a while, you do need to participate with the department. With your colleagues. With me.”

  “You’re not very good at lying, you know?” Her valiant effort to fool him amused Kent.

  “Whatever,” she said as she pulled out the handcuff keys.

  He rebuffed her attempt to turn him around. The one thing he knew how to do for certain was make Nicole squirm.

  Her face flushed. “Don’t you want to be un-cuffed?”

  Kent did not oblige an answer. Instead he locked eyes with her.

  There could be only one winner of this little power struggle, and he certainly was not going out on the prowl for Plain Jane after being a loser.

  Finally Nicole shrugged. “Fine. We’ll do it your way.”

  Round one. Kent.

  He pressed his advantage as she reached behind him to get to the cuffs’ lock, forcing her into close proximity.

  Round two. Kent.

  Their body heat mingled as the air around them cooled. The storm did not seem quite over. Kent bent his neck to bring his lips ever so close to her ear. “I repeat. What’s so important about tomorrow’s meeting?”

  His breath upon her neck had the desired effect as she fumbled the keys. The only way she could unlock the cuffs now was to lean into him. Force their bodies together. His lips turned up into a smile as he felt the points of her breasts rub against his chest as she fished for the cuffs’ lock.

  Round three. Kent.

  He moved her hair back from her face with his chin, rubbing stubble across her cheek. “You always were better at putting them on than taking them off, weren’t you?” he said huskily.

  The top of Nicole’s ear turned a bright red as her breath came at a quicker and quicker pace. Obviously she remembered the nights he referred to as well as he.

  Leveraging her flustered state, Kent made his move. He grabbed her hands and with a shift of his weight, pulled Nicole around, forcing her back against the car. He stood over her, pressing the entire length of their bodies together.

  Round four. Kent.

  He
could feel the heat of Nicole’s body through her thin silk blouse. Unbidden, his loins stirred. That was definitely not supposed to happen.

  Round five. Nicole.

  Worse, she had the presence of mind to continue working on the cuffs. It would not do to have Nicole less rattled than he by their close proximity. He had to keep his mind focused on why he had cornered her in the first place.

  “Tomorrow’s brainstem-storming session, why is it so important that I attend?”

  Nicole would not be deterred, though. She not only ignored his question but finally got the key in the lock. There was an audible click. When she tried to pull her arms from around him, Kent resolved not to be outdone this night.

  Flicking the metal from his wrist, he grabbed Nicole’s soft hands before she could squirm free. With practice only gotten from a certain amount of illegal activities, Kent closed the cuffs around her wrists.

  With a click, Nicole was now his prisoner.

  TKO. Kent.

  CHAPTER 24

  Nicole tugged and tugged. Not only had Kent somehow cuffed her hands, he had locked them to her Mustang’s door handle.

  “What in the hell do you think you’re doing?”

  “You don’t like?” Kent asked, seduction warm in his voice. “Have you changed that much in two years?”

  Desperate to ignore the pulse pounding in her ears, Nicole tried to free herself, but knew it was futile. There was no reason to scratch her chrome door handle.

  Kent smiled. “Mellowed out to please Zorro?”

  Nicole frowned. Kent had reached new heights of exasperation. She refused to play this game.

  “Why do you want me at the meeting?” he asked.

  Setting her jaw, Nicole mimicked Kent’s earlier behavior, staring ahead, as if this whole scenario just bored her. However, the strategy backfired as Kent’s eyes lit up. She forgot how much he liked a challenge.

  “Well, if you won’t talk, then…” Kent’s finger traced her neck, along the edge of her blouse to the top button. “I’ll have to increase the stakes.”