He was different.
Closing my eyes I let my mind reach into his. I couldn’t dare remove too much. My stomach lurched and I braced myself on the brick wall beside the door. Digging deeper I found some blurry images of Las Vegas, but then saw the ones from last night. He tried to grasp them. My only hope was to remove them all.
Stumbling, I rounded the corner and slid to the ground as my legs gave out. Every muscle burned as I regained focus on the road in front of me and the businesses across the street. I held my stomach as my memories comingled with the man in the bar. There was a lot of collateral damage on the way out.
“Are you okay?” a woman’s voice asked from above.
“Just a dizzy spell,” I explained as I cradled my head in my hands. “I’m a little hypoglycemic.”
“I took an early lunch. How about you come with me?” she offered.
A smile crossed my lips as the blonde stranger extended her hand to me.
* * * *
Esther Benson
At the back of the barn was a panel where I placed my hand. To those walking through the barn they would see an older motorcycle, a blue muscle car, a large black pick-up, a higher end foreign car, and three SUV’s. None of which I knew how to drive. I knew at some point in my life I should learn how to drive a car. Half of those in our compound were born before the first car was designed, let alone built. Still, women were not trained in driving on my father’s commune. I was not an exception.
The panel appeared to be one of the boards on the barn, but if you looked closely you could see it had a slight sheen to it. Once the panel scanned my hand print there was a beep and the door opened into our foyer. A large area with cherry and pine flooring with alternating patterns of boxes spread out until they came to one in the middle. Along the stairway were pictures of all the active members of our compound painted by the Heavenly artists at the time of our commitment. Those who’d passed in this location had been repainted with their heads down. Mine had me looking off to the sunset over a mountain as I stood in a field. Perhaps I was too simple then.
Tearing off the sweater I went into the bowels of the large compound that couldn’t be seen from outside. Crossing through the workout area, I reached a second set of stairs that ventured deeper inside. The curved staircase had sensors that needed to be shut off before attempting to travel down them. Once the code was entered I took off down the stairs and came to a halt at the bottom to reactivate the sensors.
I heard Kiriana’s voice at the end of the hallway. There were five cells on each side of the hall and the worst and most secure was the last one at the end. Kiriana sat just outside the cell with its glass wall.
“It’s the kindergarten teacher,” Damarion said. Each of the few encounters I’ve had with him resulted in a new nickname.
“Kiriana, we need to speak.”
“I have less than five minutes before he gets to talk with the princess,” she said as she powered on a laptop.
“It’s important.”
“If he doesn’t talk to her she’ll attack and I’m not sure we can keep up with her when she does.”
“You handled her well last time.”
“Nye won’t let me take a chance like that again.” Her hand instinctively rubbed her swollen belly. She was the first Frozen on record to carry a child…children according to Dr. Ashworth.
“How long do you give her for communication?”
“Thirty minutes.”
“Fine, I’ll change and meet you in the training room.”
With that I returned to my bedroom and stripped off the rough muslin fabric of my dress. Flipping through my closet I found my leather pants. Sliding them on then the corset I used that had compartments perfectly designed to conceal two twenty-five caliber Rugers. Not the most effective in a fight, but they did slow down a charging bantling. Even with a black tank top you couldn’t see the bulge from the weapons.
Going into my en suite I undid my braid and brushed out my hair. With more precision than before I made sure every strand was accounted for and my hair was arranged tightly on my head. Then I wrapped a bun at the base of my neck. Satisfied, I returned to my room and strapped my claustranima to my hip. With a whirl I pulled on my leather coat with the extra lining for the cold. The hat and gloves could wait. I don’t need to fight until midnight, but if I was asked to help with the noon hunters I could use the distraction.
I calmed once I pulled on heavy boots that went to my knees. I was safe in my fighting gear. Vince had caught me in such a vulnerable situation. Unarmed and unprepared. Digging in the pocket of my skirt I pulled out the sucker he’d given me.
Sugar is the pathway to the devil.
My father’s words hit me. I placed the candy on my dresser and headed back to the training center. Kiriana was lumbering up the last stair and saw me waiting.
“Although I love the cardio, I really think we need to move him closer,” she said. “How dangerous could he really be?”
“You tell me. He’s your friend.”
“Friend is a stretch…well, not really, I guess.” She crossed to where a bench was set up with weights. “So, what’s the problem?”
“I was at Bruce’s—”
“You know Bruce? You just got here. Am I the only one who didn’t know he existed?”
“Screens have made a huge sacrifice for us. They are not immortal like we are, but still they dedicate their life to protect us.”
“Didn’t he just get back from a week in Dubai?”
“Yes.”
“Before that, he was in Bora Bora?”
“I believe so.”
“He’s a saint,” Kiriana scoffed.
“His travels aside, a detective came to the house. He named you. Saying you may be the only survivor of someone who’s hurting women.”
“Who? My dad? He never laid a hand on me.”
“Your father? Who is he?”
“No one, I wouldn’t worry about the detective.” Kiriana started to push up, then stopped. “Was his name DeTello?”
“Yes, Vince DeTello. Why?”
“Shit.” She settled back on the bench. “What else did he say?”
“That I was a prostitute for some reason I couldn’t understand. Bruce introduced me as his niece and I wasn’t in provocative clothing.” I held my hand to my heart. “My sweater was off, but my dress covered my chest. He kept going on about Bruce not having siblings.”
“You became Frozen in the seventies, right?”
“Yes, at twenty-four.”
“Did you watch TV?”
TV and the arts are a pathway to Satan.
“No, my parents felt books were a better way to spend my time.”
“What about at school?”
“No, never.”
“Right, well, in movies and what not, the older man always checks into motels with his niece.”
“And?”
“She’s not his niece. It’s a running joke.”
“That is just wrong. And to think that man thought I would have relations with Bruce.”
Kiriana looked back at the door that housed the hallway leading to Damarion. Nibbling on her bottom lip, she began rubbing her belly as if it were a crystal ball.
“Why are you dressed like that?” she asked when she came out of her trance.
“I wanted to be ready if the noon hunters needed me.”
“How about a therapy session instead?” she offered.
“My job is to hunt demons, not talk.”
“Mine is to hunt demons too, I just hunt them in the compound.”
I looked at the floor in shame. Were my demons that plain to the naked eye? I did not believe Kiriana had the ability to destroy the demons that possessed me, but she was a member of the House of Ryeal. Her gifts might be greater than that of the charlatans who attempt to drum up business by promising to stop one’s hatred of their parents. Butterflies unsettled my stomach and I
turned sharply.
“I think I’ll go check in with Kiyoshi,” I called behind me as I exited.
Chapter 3
Detective Vincent DeTello
“MADDIE went out to lunch around ten yesterday?” I asked Velma, a round-faced woman busy dabbing her eyes.
“Yes.” She sniffed and wiped her reddened nose with a used tissue. “It’s not like her to take a long lunch. She usually just runs and grabs a sandwich.”
“Where?”
“Um…usually a Maid Rite. It’s only two blocks away, then she comes right back and eats at her desk.”
“At ten? That’s a little early for lunch.”
“Her stomach was rumbling and we don’t have a vending machine or anything in our break room.”
“Are you sure she didn’t just quit?”
“She wouldn’t.” Velma sniffed. “Not Maddie, she loved this job. She even left her hat and mittens behind.”
I continued to ask the standard questions. Family, enemies, last contact, and a picture of the missing. A blonde. Of course.
“I’m going to head over to her house and see if she’s there.”
“I’ve called.”
“Maybe she turned the ringers off.”
Twenty minutes later Officer Jones was nodding as I approached the Victorian-style home. With white shutters on a baby-blue house it screamed of being one of the originals to the town. Close to the college, it didn’t surprise me, especially when I found out it was a rental. Iowa Wesleyan, the college in town, had the honor of being the first college west of the Mississippi. The town had formed around it.
“We’ve knocked a few times,” Jones explained. “Looked in the first floor windows, but found nothing suspicious.”
“She left her car at work, but this is close enough to walk,” I added as I too looked through the glass and hoped to see something, anything, that would justify breaking the door down.
“What now?” Jones asked.
“I’m not going to stand out here freezing my ass off, that’s for sure.” The snow crunched under my boots as I walked back up the pathway to the street. It was undisturbed in the last few hours by anyone but Jones or I, indicating no one had been here since the last snow fall overnight.
“Has anyone attempted to contact her family?” I asked.
“Chief said he had Wendy call. They should be at the station now.”
Sliding my finger across my phone I called over to the station and spoke to the mother who was just as distraught as poor Velma. Luckily she also knew where her daughter hid the key and gave me permission to enter the home. After moving a guardian angel statue I found the key and Officer Jones and I entered the home. With our guns drawn we cleared the home and found nothing out of place. Even her bed was made.
Flipping through my notes, I noticed Velma had said Maddie had been wearing a black, ribbed turtleneck sweater, and gray knit skirt. Opening her hamper, I found the two items on top.
“Now what?”
“She came home at some point,” I said as I held the skirt in my hand. The gray fabric had a stain on the back and I pulled out an evidence bag from my inside coat pocket. “We have a crime scene here.”
“Here?” Jones asked. “It looks fine.”
“Too fine,” I said and held up the bag. “And this looks like blood on the skirt she was last seen in.”
“Are you sure she didn’t just spill her lunch?”
“How many times have you dribbled on your ass?”
“I’ve sat in things,” Jones said, hooking his fingers on his belt loops and pulling up.
“We need to photograph and dust this room.”
“Are you trying to justify your existence?”
“Excuse me?”
“I know you came from Chicago where good people who get murdered mixed with garbage. Some whores went missing,” Jones began. “Not even their welfare workers miss them. Now a few girls have been found dead, maybe murdered, but this girl is gone. She probably decided to head over to the Quad Cities and gamble or crashed at a friend’s house after partying on campus.”
“You’re fine with a killer on the loose?”
“He’s cleaning up the trash.”
Extending my arms, I turned in a circle to point out the beauty of the house.
“Maddie’s trash to you?” Jones shook his head as he gave a bored glare. “And, Renee, you planning on telling her kids she was rubbish? A slut not worthy of our time?”
“You’ve been locked on these women and that one man who disappeared. We’re a quiet town. Between you and Yappy I swear you expect to find bodies in everyone’s backyard.”
“Do I need to check your basement?” I questioned. “You look like someone with at least one torture chamber.”
“Why are you here? You don’t know the area or the people.”
And there it was. The real reason Jones and most of the MtPPD didn’t like me. I’d been in Mount Pleasant for about three years. The other officers had hoped the detective opening would have been filled internally, but the chief wanted someone with experience. His hope was that I’d have no use, but if something happened I could help the other officers learn.
“I’ll make the call.”
Sadly the response from the rest of the MtPPD wasn’t much better. Even the chief looked at me as if I’d lost my mind. We’d send the skirt to Ankeny. I felt bad hoping it had blood and not BBQ sauce on the back. We kept our head buried in the sand over meth, a homegrown favorite drug, until we ended up with a rash of “accidents” from the labs blowing up. Why couldn’t they see the evil staring them in the face? Worse, why couldn’t I stop seeing the evil?
* * * *
Esther Benson
Although Detective DeTello was a fit man and in law enforcement, he didn’t know about what really went on in this town. I stood out on the sidewalk in front of the two-story Victorian as he went about his work inside. What he must be thinking?
In the upper front window of the home I could catch a glimpse of him as he passed by the glass. He was quite striking, even from this distance. I could make out his lips pursing as he ran his fingers through his hair. As I continued watching him, he stopped pacing. Now fully in the window, he cocked his eyebrow and I was caught.
Turning quickly I ran into Kiyoshi. His Asian heritage and warrior history showed in his strong jaw line and lean body. Like his Other, he wore jeans, motorcycle boots, and a tight jacket.
“I didn’t give you an assignment yet,” he said.
“I’m on night shift,” I informed with crossed arms. I didn’t need a babysitter checking up on me.
“You offered to help on the day shift.”
“Yet no one asked for my help.”
“Why are you here?”
I bowed my head for a moment, then straightened my shoulders to look in his mahogany eyes.
“A detective came to Bruce’s yesterday and I was just making sure we knew before he wandered our way again.”
“Then ask Zarmina for a tracking device.”
“A tracker?”
“Yes, hers tend to be a bit higher tech than the standard version. Not only does it give you an exact location, you can usually hear activity for a hundred yards or so. Just don’t put it on the back bumper of his car.”
“Thank you, Kiyoshi,” I replied and turned to leave.
“Why was he at Bruce’s?”
I stopped.
“Ask Kiriana.”
“I’m asking you. For a new recruit you seem to be putting your nose in a lot of places.”
Turning back around sharply, I glared at Kiyoshi.
“I’m far from new and your whole compound is nosey. I barely register on the scale. How dare you condemn me?”
“I was pointing out a discrepancy from your file, not condemning you. I leave that for Gabriel.” Kiyoshi then looked over my shoulder and his jaw tightened.
Turning slowly I caught Vince�
�s gray eyes. The overcast sky seemed to have hidden the green I’d seen in them yesterday. He crossed his arms and gave me a queried look.
“Hello, Detective DeTello.” I swallowed hard in my attempt to settle myself.
“It is you. Esther, right?” His gaze scanned down my body and back up. I felt my face warm as my arms clung to my sides. “You look…different.”
“You don’t.”
“I see you got your car out of the barn.”
A blast of cold came from behind me as a click sounded and I reached back to place my hand on Kiyoshi’s.
“Is this your husband? Boyfriend?”
“Something like that. Why are you here? Still looking for the mystery woman?”
“You mean the one you don’t know.”
“I told you I don’t know anyone named Kiriana.”
“It’s a strange name, but you pronounce it just as she did.”
“Did? Is she dead?”
“No.” Vince’s lip quirked up. “I meant the one time I met her.”
He looked me over one more time. I felt a warming in my center and across my cheeks.
“I wouldn’t have taken you for a leather girl.”
“It’s cold out.”
“It has gotten colder. Must be the cloud cover.”
“Must be.”
He stepped closer and I turned my gaze down. My heart beat increased causing my face to burn and all noises to mute. When his hand moved toward me I feared I’d jump. Instead I leaned close. My fingers twitched and I reached toward him.
“Well,” he cleared his throat, and I regained my senses, “I’ll let you get back to whatever had you planted on this corner.”
“I was waiting for my friend.”
“Right,” Vince said and his lips formed a thin line. He was back-peddling to leave when I burst out:
“Thank you, by the way.”
“For what?”
“The candy. It was a kind gesture.”
“It was nothing.”
I wanted him to stay…no, needed him to. The smell of his cologne carried on the wind and enveloped me. Kiyoshi released my hand and placed his arm around my shoulders. It felt more uncomfortable than the itch of my muslin dress. Wrong on levels I couldn’t comprehend without a sermon from my father ringing in my ears.
Stolen Redemption Page 3
