by Nicole Thorn
I brought them back to her and got a hug as a reward. Blue had found his way to her lap, soaking up all the love he could get. Oh, he had gotten good at this game. He knew just what to do to melt her. She fell for it every time. Blue even got a belly rub. That tiny bastard.
“Are you hungry?” I asked while she called Blue a perfect little puppy.
“I could eat. Want me to cook?”
“I was going to order a pizza.”
She smiled before clicking her tongue and pointing at me. “Good choice.”
I made the call, getting a large pizza with extra cheese and pepperoni. Turned out that we liked the same things. More than that, we hated the same things.
I waited on the couch with Lynnie, letting her pick something to watch. She scrolled through the options, putting on some comic book show I’d heard about. A blind superhero sounded impractical, but good for him. And hey, I was a killer. What did I know about heroes?
Blue laid on his back on top of Lynnie, staring me dead in the eyes while she told him how much she loved him. His stumpy arms stretched out and his claws grazed me. So much cruelty in one dog.
When the pizza guy got to my house, I worried for the safety of the people on the street. He had clearly drunk himself into a minor stupor, swaying while he held my food. I memorized the name on his shirt. Keith. I’d have to look into that later.
I placed the pizza box on the coffee table and before I went to get plates, I stared at the dog as Lynnie mournfully put him on the floor, informing him that he couldn’t be trusted. Ha. She caught on.
“Oh my God,” Lynnie said while we ate. “She’s laughing at the bad guys. I kinda wanna make out with her a little.” She took a bite of her pizza and stared at the woman on TV with googly eyes.
I just smiled at her; she wore my clothes, sat on my couch, and spent time with me. It felt so normal to be doing something like that. I’d heard people bitching about this kind of thing, and I couldn’t understand it. Some of the married people at the station would complain that they only every sat around their house, watching TV with their spouse. They made it sound like torture, when I could only see it as paradise.. Just the two of us, calm and comfortable. I would be content to sit beside Lynnie for as long as she’d have me.
Lynnie started singing along to some song on the show. She used an almost mocking voice, making a joke out of it. My heart swelled when she didn’t stop singing to take a bite of pizza. She just mumbled around the food.
When we finished eating, Lynnie gave no indication that she wanted to leave. In fact, she tried making my long dead heart beat again. I sat normally on the couch and she unashamedly moved closer to me, tucking herself under my arm, and clutching a pillow to her chest. We… cuddled. Like people did when they had mutual affection between them.
I didn’t realize I’d been cold until her warmth started pouring over me. My body took over and my arm came around Lynnie, resting on her waist. She moved again, settling on me. I thought she may have wanted to get away, but no. She stayed.
****
Eventually, I had to take Lynnie home. She kept my clothes, since the dress had been trashed. Honestly, seeing her in my clothes might have been the most entertaining thing to happen to me in a good long while, and that included actual murder. The clothes fit so poorly, but she seemed not to notice. She rolled up the sleeves and went about her business. She had a tendency to laugh in the face of obstacles.
She sat in the passenger seat of my car in front of her house. They’d switched out officers on her, and Carter read a book in his cruiser. Lynnie sat up in her seat, hand lingering on the door handle.
“Thanks for patching me up,” she said, still not opening the door.
“No problem. Try not to hit another nail. I’m not sure I can handle seeing you like that again.”
She smiled at me. “I didn’t enjoy it much either.” She leaned over, kissing my cheek before finally opening the car door and leaving me. I waited until she got in the house and I saw her through her bedroom window before I considered walking away. I didn’t trust Carter to do the thorough searches I did. He and the other deputies didn’t have the reasons I did to be worried.
I pulled away, even with those worries. I had work to do at home. I needed to find the man who caused this. The sheriff had started to grow more and more concerned, even through his day-drinking. I wrote it off to him as my great concern for the safety of the poor girl who I watched over. He bought it. Somehow.
When I got home, Blue seemed upset with me. He forgave me after I knelt down for a solid five minutes of petting him and poking the bottom of his paws like he liked. The brat had me wrapped around his doggy fingers and I knew it, but what could I have possibly done to win my dignity back? When I stopped petting him, he huffed at me. I suspected why he seemed irritated.
“I didn’t want her to go home,” I told him. “But I can’t keep her.”
He barked at me.
“Not my fault.”
He turned his head away from me, laying it down over his paws. His tail beat at the cushion while he pouted.
“Yeah… I miss her too.”
I stalked off to my bedroom and went over the files I took from the station. After I sat down, I flipped the TV to the news so I’d have background noise. Years of silence had comforted me, and it only took one afternoon of noise to make me need it.
I’d been over the files ten times, reading everything available. Since I didn’t get anything from the new stuff, I moved on to the files of the initial case. It had been almost four months since the first murder, and nothing had changed since Lynnie and I had come into the picture. Every death, without fail, had been a woman. He’d display them after he gutted the women and removed some choice organs. The two people I’d killed had been added in this pile as well. The teacher fit his profile, but the man I killed threw everyone off. It didn’t fit. Since only I knew why it didn’t fit, I felt pretty alone. The girl at the party had been added to the pile as well. That had been all him, but it felt like he did it hastily. Instead of his usual MO, he just impaled the girl and slit her throat. Had that been for me? To scare Lynnie and punish me for what I’d done? I almost felt certain that it had been.
I got a break from the files when Lynnie texted. She didn’t have anything important to say, just complaining about her parents being home for the day. Her father tested the security system, and the police had come by. She didn’t like this, since she had on her sleep clothes. Which apparently included my sweater. I got a picture of her making a face with her parents in the background speaking to the officers that showed up.
I sent condolences to her, along with a picture of the pouting puppy. He wouldn’t move from the couch. He missed her too much.
Lynnie: Of course he misses me. I cuddled him. You just need to give him more love.
Me: If I do, he’ll assume he can come and attack me whenever he wants. I can’t set that kind of example.
Lynnie: You can cuddle with me, but not an adorable puppy?
Me: You smell better.
We went on like that for two damn hours. Two, and it felt like five minutes. I didn’t get a thing done. I just stared at the three little dots on my phone, waiting for a response from her. Like I didn’t need anything in the world but her attention. When did I let myself get so pathetic? This is why I don’t talk to people.
After Lynnie told me she had to go to bed, I set my phone down and started getting back to work. That lasted about ten seconds before Blue waddled into my room and up to my side of the bed. He sat there, staring at me.
“Oh, so now you wanna spend time with me?”
He yawned.
With a sigh, I lifted him up and put him on the far corner of the bed so that he could go to sleep. He didn’t act pleased with my choice because he got up and collapsed on my leg. He fell asleep a few seconds later. Lazy mutt. I should have gotten a dog a while ago, since apparently I liked the abuse.
Before I could get back to work, the TV
distracted me. I caught a couple of words that made me look up at the tall blonde anchor delivering the local news.
“…killer that’s been frightening Cruor County for the past several months. Local Sheriff, Charles Draper, had this to say.”
The shot changed from the woman to my boss. He stood outside of the station while cameras flashed in his face. “We received the note, along with the remains of a young woman. I cannot disclose the woman’s name, or the contents of the note. But I can say that this is the first time the killer has made contact with us. We’re having specialists analyze the note in hopes of making a profile…”
I stopped listening and called the man myself. The recording looked like it had been done before the sun went down, so that meant he would be in his office. Probably sneaking some of his favorite whiskey that he kept in his bottom drawer.
It almost rang out before he answered. I had been right; he had to be two glasses in at least. “Barker?”
“Yeah. I just saw you on the news. Care to fill me in?”
I heard liquid hitting glass. “A girl got sent here in a box. Don’t have a fucking clue how it got here. Our cameras were knocked out for fifteen minutes. We open up the box, and there’s a twenty-year-old girl in it. Eyes, tongue, fingers, and most of her internal organs were gone. There was a note pinned to her chest.”
“What did it say?”
With a sigh and a sip, he answered. “I’ll give you the short of it. He’s pissed off.”
I couldn’t make a sound for a moment. “What does that mean?”
“He claims that someone is stepping on his toes. Says that some person is setting him up. Thing is, he wouldn’t tell me which of the murders wasn’t him. He just said that he’s not responsible for some of ‘em. I don’t know anything anymore. We have to comb through every case, probably without reason. He’s most likely trying to distract us. Either way, looks like the Feds might be heading up. I’ve been getting threats all day.”
Well fuck. Feds would be a terrible for me. Competent people would pick up on me in no time. They’d see something wrong, I would get carted away, and Lynnie would be left without anyone to protect her.
“What happens now?” I asked.
“The medical examiner is looking the girl over for anything we can use. I don’t have much hope on that one. The bodies keep piling up and we just can’t stop it.”
I rubbed my forehead and stared down at the files in front of me. I could feel the ticking clock as it pounded in my head. “Anything I can do?”
“Nah. Rest up and keep that little girl safe. I don’t want another kid to die because of this.”
“No one is going to touch Rocelyn Blum.”
I’d end anyone who tried.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN:
Hornswoggled
Rocelyn
My brain tried to top itself with sexy dreams. Nearly every night, Isaiah and I did something a notch above the night before. Last night we had a nice little picnic and, out of nowhere, I attacked him. Hmm, still a good dream. I… I did some stuff in that dream. Good stuff.
It had been miserable the couple of days that Isaiah hadn’t been stationed outside of my house. He returned today, and I was quite happy about that fact. Plus, my car came back from the shop, so no more rides from Bird. I liked her, but she prattled on about being pissed that bloodstains got on her favorite dress. From a fucking dead body. She didn’t know how to focus on what mattered.
School had been interesting. Most days consisted of listening to people pretend that they knew what they talked about. People who hadn’t been at the party told other people who hadn’t been there what happened. I heard from a few people that the girl’s — Natalie’s — head fell off. That one pissed me off. Everyone cared more about the act than the girl.
“I think we should do a candlelight vigil.” Bird decided out of nowhere. We ate lunch at the tree, talking about some project Hillary had to do, when Bird spit the idea out.
Seth arched an eyebrow at his girlfriend. “Why would we do that? We didn’t know the chick The Ripper wasted.”
Christ.
“I know.” Bird shrugged. “But it’s almost the end of the school year and we’re all about to leave. I think this would be a good way to get everyone together.”
I held back a sigh. “You wanna use the death of a girl to have an end of the year party?”
“Not a party,” she corrected. Her hands came out as she gestured to nothing. “A gathering. We can all go to the park or something. There’s a fancy one with bathrooms and a snack shack. It’ll be great.”
I ignored her as she went on about the details. She would glom onto any excuse to have a party where she could be the center of attention. She hardly seemed to care that someone had been killed at her house, other than the fact that she had to deal with cops outside all the time, keeping an eye on things. There had been one day where she went radio silent, and then she bounced back to normal.
“We can talk about it over dinner,” Bird said, shaking Seth’s shoulder to get his attention. “All of us.”
“Huh?” he mumbled, juggling about ten fries in his mouth.
Bird made a face, smacking his arm. “Dinner tonight, Seth,” she hissed.
“Oh yeah.” He smiled. “We’re all going to dinner tonight. We can take my car. I’ll pick everyone up.”
I didn’t have any plans, so I couldn’t really get out of it. I’d ditched them on three other occasions, and they’d start asking questions if I did it again. Two hours. I could give them two hours.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
Bird looked ecstatic as she popped open her soda. “A place I know. Very nice. You have to dress up. Something sexy.” She winked.
“Umm… I don’t know if I have something sexy.”
“Make it work.”
I finished my lunch and lied about having to go and talk to a teacher. I needed a reason to get away from them for a while.
Instead of heading to my class, I went home. The classes I had left didn’t matter to me, and I knew something better waited for me at home.
I pulled into the driveway and skipped up to Isaiah’s car without hesitation. He rolled his window down and I leaned in, shamelessly. “Why hello, darling,” I said in the world’s most obnoxiously dramatic voice. “And how are we today?”
That earned a look. “I am just where I’m supposed to be. So I’m fine.”
“Aw.” My nose wrinkled. “Are you not happy to see me?”
“Of course I am. But you’re truant. Technically, I’m supposed to cuff you and throw you in the back seat.”
I smiled. “I can think of things far more fun to do with those handcuffs, deputy.” God... I really needed to pull back on the innuendo. Not only did he not reciprocate, but he always looked confused after. I found it adorable, if not frustrating. I tried to recover. “Also, I don’t think you’re supposed to cuff me for ditching class.”
“But you don’t know for sure, and it would be wise to fear me.”
“Oh well, guess I’m not wise. Slap them cuffs on me, deputy. Take me.”
He cleared his throat and nodded to my house. “Your parents have been in and out all day. And your mother yelled at me for my taste in music. I guess it was too loud.”
My eyes narrowed with annoyance. “I’ll hit her for you.”
“Thank you. Why are they so frantic?”
I sighed. “They’re going out of town. Some big conference in London. Dad promised to bring me home a little Big Ben clock. I assume he’ll forget.”
I thought the conversation would have been better if I got in the car with him, so I hopped in the passenger’s side seat and threw my feet onto Isaiah’s lap. I wiggled my shoulders at him like I looked cute or something, but I just felt annoying.
“Comfy?” he asked.
“I am, thank you.”
He glanced nervously at the door. “Your parents probably wouldn’t like to see this.”
I snorted. “Th
ey won’t notice.”
“You sure?”
I breathed sharply out of my nose. “Isaiah, you could be screwing me on the driveway while my dad painted the garage and he wouldn’t notice. It’s like the light around me bends and he can’t see me when I’m around. I don’t mean anything to either of them. Their lives would be exactly the same without me, but they’d probably own a slightly smaller house.”
God bless Isaiah, because the man tried his hardest to make me feel better about a dead end situation. He smiled crookedly. “That would be an incredibly awkward situation, me screwing you while you were invisible. I would look very silly. People would walk by the driveway and be horrified.”
I shrugged and smiled. “Either way, you get to come. I don’t see the problem here.”
He laughed before adjusting my feet on his lap. “I just pay attention. More people should pay attention to you. You’re sweet, caring, and utterly pleasant to be around.”
“Utterly pleasant?” I repeated.
He nodded. “I enjoy our time together.”
“Me too.” I looked over at my front door. “They’ll be gone soon,” I told him. “My parents. Maybe you can come in and we can hang out for a couple hours. I have to leave later, but I have time.”
“Where are you going?” he asked curiously.
“Dinner with my friends. Bird made a big deal out of it. I have to dress up. You can help me pick something out.”
“Because I have such good taste?”
I stared at him. “I feel like you can handle telling me if I look okay or not. You manage to dress yourself every day.” And look good after. The uniform was lovely, but he looked nice while off duty too. He always wore a sweater or something like that. Utterly cuddle worthy.
“I guess I could come in for a while.”
And with that, I had won.
My parents left without telling me goodbye. I only knew because the car had vanished from the driveway when I looked back out my window. I’d walked out of my bathroom to show Isaiah the first dress I picked.
