“We have it under control,” Vera replied with a friendly smile.
“With all due respect, Ms. Alexander, I don’t think you do. He’s already killed her best friend Arianna, we suspect he killed Marcella and the other night, your associate Crystal Dubois was attacked as well. If he knows she’s here or was here, how long do you think it will be before he comes after you or someone else at this facility to find where she is?” Felix stared at Vera as she stared back at him. She had no idea that Crystal had been attacked.
“Crystal… was attacked? When? Is she okay?” she asked.
“She’s in serious condition. Some type of drug cocktail was injected into her. She’s lucky she got help as soon as she did or she would have been another casualty in this mess,” Felix rubbed his hands over his face. “I know you think you can protect her, but Eric is hell bent on finding her and has zero fucks to give about who he hurts or kills in order to get to her. Please, help me find her before he does.”
Vera hesitated a moment longer and then opened the gate wider for him to come in. Once they were inside of her office, Vera dialed Derek’s number. It rang a couple of times and then went straight to voicemail.
“Derek, when you get this message, I need you to call me immediately. Better yet, bring Carmen to my office at your earliest convenience.” She hung up the phone and began sifting through her desk drawer in search of a cigarette. She was craving a smoke badly and the sense of urgency to get in contact with Vanessa became stronger and stronger. She finally found one and quickly flicked her lighter, letting the orange, golden flame dance around the tip before she sucked on it. She closed her eyes as the nicotine infiltrated her body and then she slowly blew the smoke out. It danced around hypnotically before fading away.
“Care for a smoke?” Vera asked Felix.
Felix waved his hand in front of his face, trying not to cough and declined her offer. He looked up just as Vanessa had weeks before and saw the same No Smoking sign she had seen.
“Fuck that sign,” Vera replied, knowing what Felix was looking at. Felix couldn’t hold in the laughter that escaped. She chuckled with him. “In all of my years working in this program, starting out as a motivational speaker, sharing my tragedies as a former victim of domestic abuse and my triumphs from when I escaped, and then moving up to a guidance counselor and now a facility leader, I’ve never experienced anything like this. Never. I mean, this is something out of a got damn movie.” Vera took another long drag on her cigarette and blew the smoke upwards.
“Well, this guy is very determined,” Felix said to her in return.
“Something tells me that he isn’t this hell bent on finding her because she is pregnant by him,” Vera mused out loud. She noticed the change in Felix’s expression and stopped short of taking another drag on her cigarette. “What?” she asked him.
Felix shook his head, “Nothing… I just.”
“Don’t do that. Considering everything that is going on right now and the danger this girl, hell all of us could be in right now, don’t hold back information that could possibly help Vanessa.”
Felix sighed and sat quiet for a moment. “I was doing a search on Vanessa to see if I could find anything that would help me understand why Eric was so fixated on her. I wasn’t getting anywhere. So then I began doing a search on Eric. The first red flag was when I read that a woman he was in a relationship with more than three years ago turned up dead. I found that out actually by looking through the files of a PI that he hired to track Vanessa down. He ended up getting killed in a car accident in Philly,” Felix explained.
“How convenient?” Vera smirked sarcastically.
“Yeah, I said the same thing. It wasn’t what I found in his PI’s files that had my head messed up, it was what I found on my own.
“Vanessa’s father was Darryl Malik Lofton. He was a counselor that helped women who were victims of domestic violence, recovering drug addicts, victims of sexual assault, things like that. Eric’s mother was seeing Vanessa’s father because her husband was beating the hell out of her. Apparently, she got the courage to leave her husband. One night, the husband shot her about five times and then went into the bathroom and blew his brains out. Eric was the one who found them. He was also a suspect in Vanessa’s father’s murder which happened about a month after his parents.”
“Jesus…” Vera mumbled.
“Yeah. So I’m betting that it’s no coincidence that he just happened to meet Vanessa one day and they fell in love.”
“Oh hell no, of course not. That crazy bastard’s been plotting on her ass for God knows how long.”
“Exactly,” Felix agreed. They fell silent for a moment.
“Do you think she knows?” Vera asked.
“Probably not.”
Vera took another drag on her cigarette before smashing out the butt. She picked her phone up again and dialed Derek’s number. It rang until it went to voicemail again. She huffed angrily before slamming the phone down. “Damn it!”
“Still no answer?” Felix asked. Vera shook her head. “Why don’t you give me the address and I’ll go over there? Is this guy and Vanessa in a relationship or something?”
“I honestly don’t know what is going on with them. He seems to have taken a liking to her and when I expressed my concern over her being a possible liability, he insisted she stay with him until we worked out something else for her.” Vera explained as she grabbed her purse. She scribbled Derek’s address and phone number down on a piece of paper. “I have a few meetings to attend to. I would much rather tag along with you to make sure Vanessa is okay. Derek is like a son to me… but with Marcella gone and all the craziness going on…”
Felix took the paper that she handed to him and looked at Derek’s address. “Yes, I understand. You have an obligation to this center and the other women who need your help. I completely understand.” They both stood up and Vera walked him to the door. “As soon as I get in touch with Vanessa and Derek, I will reach out to you and then we can put our heads together to figure out what the next move should be.”
“That works for me. It was nice meeting you, Mr. Montague,” Vera said before shaking his hand.
“Please, call me Felix,” he replied with a warm smile. He hurried to his car and got inside after putting Derek’s address in his GPS. Once the directions populated on his screen, he sped off towards Derek’s apartment.
Vera headed back down the hallway to her office. The facility was quiet that day since most of the women were either in school, at work, or enjoying the beautiful weather. Her meeting wasn’t for another hour so she decided to get some paper-work done while it was quiet.
She was engrossed in her files when she had a hunch to look up. There standing in her doorway was a man she was not familiar with. Vera was startled and felt her heart practically in her throat as she looked the individual over.
“I didn’t mean to startle you,” the man said with a friendly smile. “My name is Detective Alex Michaels, I’m from Philadelphia down here trying to locate a witness to a homicide. Her name is Vanessa Lofton, but she might be going by the name Carmen Thompson. Is she here by any chance?”
Vera caught a bad feeling from the man named Michaels as she continued to look him over. He didn’t give off the sincerity that Felix gave off when he first approached her. She cleared her throat as she folded her hands on her desk.
“I’m sorry detective, but that young lady is no longer here,” she replied, making sure she kept her voice stern and steady. Inside she was trembling with fear.
“By any chance, do you know where she went?” Michaels asked.
Vera shook her head. “My guess is that she no longer wanted the help that our facility was providing her. Yesterday, she bagged up the few things that she had here and our security escorted her to MARTA East Point train station. She didn’t say where she was going.” Vera’s office phone rang. She reached across her desk to answer it when Michaels pulled his gun on her. She froze in terror as she
looked at him.
“Be very, very mindful as to how you answer that call, Ms. Alexander,” Michaels warned her in a low and cold sounding voice. He waved the gun at her slightly for her to answer it. She picked it up and cleared her throat.
“Vera Alexander’s office,” she said in the calmest voice she was able to muster up at that moment. She kept her eyes on Michaels and his gun.
“Hey Ms. Vera. I just got your message and was giving you a call back,” Derek said into the phone.
“Is that Derek?” Michaels asked in a quiet voice. When she hesitated he put the gun closer to her. She nodded her head quickly. “Put him on hold so you can do and say exactly what I tell you to do and say.”
“Derek, could you hold a minute? I have someone in my office.” Before giving Derek a chance to respond, she placed his call on hold. “Please…” she murmured with tears in her eyes.
“Shhh,” Michaels said as he shook his head. “Save your pleas for the next man. You have one simple task. Tell Derek that a detective is coming to see him by the name of Felix Montague. He is not to be trusted. He was hired by Eric Washington. Tell him not to let him in his apartment or anywhere near Vanessa. Make it sound good. You seem like a woman who is good at bullshitting. Go.”
Vera cleared her throat again and took Derek’s call off of hold. “Derek, I’ve been trying to call you all afternoon. Listen, there’s a guy claiming to be a detective from Philly who is trying to help Vanessa. He’s really a PI working for her ex and is just trying to get her to him. Whatever you do, don’t let him in your apartment and don’t let Vanessa anywhere near him.” Vera looked at Michaels for his approval and he nodded his head.
“Is everything alright, Ms. Vera?” Derek asked.
“Right as pie,” she replied. “Call me later.” She quickly hung up the phone.
“Good job, Ms. Alexander. Very good job.” Michaels said as he tucked his gun in the back of his pants.
“I did what you asked me to do, now please leave my office. I won’t call the cops. I won’t mention you ever being here,” Vera said sternly, still terrified.
Quickly, like the trained marksman he was, Michaels pulled a second gun from the back of his pants that had a silencer on it and shot Vera twice. She jerked back in her leather chair and then slumped downward. He used a napkin to turn her office light off and closed the door behind him as he left.
27
Derek and Vanessa caught an early showing of The Perfect Guy. Vanessa couldn’t remember a time where she had gone on a date and laughed while having so much fun. They walked from the theater back to his car hand in hand and drove back to his apartment that way as well.
“You look tired,” Derek said to her as they came into the apartment.
Vanessa managed a smile as she sat on the couch slowly. “My back hurts. I know I only have a few more weeks left but I didn’t think it would be like this.” She leaned back on the couch and closed her eyes.
Derek looked at his phone and saw that he had a couple of missed calls from Vera. “You hungry?” he smiled down at Vanessa.
Vanessa giggled and looked at him. “You know I am.”
Derek chuckled with her before kissing her briefly. “I’ma run to the store real quick to grab some stuff. My mom used to make these bomb-ass stuffed pasta shells with ricotta cheese and spinach and chicken parmesan. I’ma hook some up tonight. You finna be licking the plate, watch.”
Vanessa burst out laughing. “You swear you’re Chef Boy-R-Dee out here.”
“Girl, please. Chef Boy-R-Dee ain’t got nothing on me. I’ll be right back. Kick your feet up, relax. There’s ice-cream, juice, water, and other snacks in here. Help yourself,” Derek told her before leaving out and closing the door behind him. Vanessa looked around and sighed. She felt awkward being in his apartment by herself.
“That’s a sign that he trusts you, girl. Chill-ax,” she heard the voice in her head tell her. It sounded like Arianna and it made her jump. It was the first time in a while since that had happened to her. She hadn’t felt like she was crazy with the voices in her head in a while.
“Don’t start,” she mumbled to herself. She got up and made her way over to the kitchen to get a bowl of ice-cream when she caught a cramp in her stomach. “Owww,” she whined while placing a hand on her belly. She took a deep breath and waited a moment before continuing into the kitchen. For some reason, the pain she felt in her stomach reminded her of one of the many punches and kicks she suffered at the hand of Eric.
“You must be outside your mind if you think I’ma let another nigga step in and play daddy to my baby, bitch. You’re playing a dangerous game and about to fuck around and get you and that pussy-ass nigga bodied.” This time the voice in her head sounded so much like Eric that Vanessa jumped. She dropped the bowl that she’d taken from the dish rack and it shattered after hitting the floor.
“Shut up!” she shrieked as she banged her fist on the counter. She breathed heavily in anger as she looked at the broken pieces of the bowl on the floor. Eric had terrorized her for almost two years so much so that the sound of his voice, even in her imagination, struck fear in her down to her core.
She tried to kneel down to pick up the broken pieces of the bowl but caught a sharp pain in her back that caused her to stand back up. Vanessa leaned into the counter with her hand on the lower part of her back and shook her head. She was having such a good day until the voices in her head began fucking with her again. She decided to take a hot shower hoping that would help her to relax.
…
Derek looked at his phone after Vera disconnected their call. A bad feeling began to settle inside of him. “Right as pie,” he heard her say in his head. Something inside of him told him that everything was not right as pie as she put it.
He was just getting in line after picking up what he needed for dinner when he decided to call Vanessa and check on her. Her phone rang, and rang until it went to voicemail. At first he told himself maybe she had gone to the bathroom and left her phone in the living room or maybe she’d fallen asleep and her phone was on vibrate. Suddenly, the line that he was in seemed to be moving slow as hell and he was getting impatient. He looked at the phone again and dialed Vanessa’s number. Again it went to voicemail. He sat the food he was about to purchase on a rack near the cashier and excused himself as he squeezed pass people who were still in line. He had a nagging feeling that everything was not right as pie as Vera had stated, and he had a bad feeling that whatever it was, it had caught up to Vanessa. He jumped into his car and hauled ass back to his apartment.
…
It took little to no effort for Eric to pick Derek’s lock after gaining access to the apartment complex. He pretended to be looking for a keycard when a beautiful young woman was heading inside.
“Damn it, I did it again,” he grumbled as he searched his wallet. “I left my damn keycard on the counter again.”
The young woman smiled, immediately attracted to him. “It’s okay, I have mine,” she said in a friendly manner. “You must be new here. The same thing used to happen to me all the time when I first moved in.”
“Yeah, I just moved here a couple of weeks ago and this is like the third time I’ve done it. I’m so used to just using my keys,” Eric said in return. He gave her his charming smile nearly making her melt. After heading in, he waited for her to choose her floor first on the elevator. She chose the fifth floor and he pressed seven. They made small chit-chat in the elevator until the young lady got to her floor. Once the doors closed, he pressed two so he could go back to Derek’s apartment. Michaels already had eyes on Derek and texted to let him know that he was in the market going grocery shopping.
Eric wasted no time picking the apartment lock and slipping inside before anyone noticed him. He could hear the shower water running as he quietly moved about. Being that close to Vanessa and finally being able to get his hands on her after she had the audacity to walk out on him began to arouse him. He thought back to how he caught Regin
a by surprise when he finally caught up with her and that intensified his erection.
“Teach her a lesson, Ricky. Learn that lil’ dame hard and slow. Teach the little bitch what happens when she steps outta line. She has to learn just like your momma had to learn, Ricky. And that little nigga she’s all snuggled up with, he needs to learn what happens when he tries to play super-save-a-hoe…just like her daddy.” Eric heard his father’s voice in his head.
“I will, Dad. I’ma learn them both. They gon’ learn today…” Eric mumbled as he moved towards the bathroom.
The bathroom door was slightly ajar and Eric slipped inside quietly. It was hot and steamy from Vanessa’s shower. The water beat against the glass, sliding doors heavily and he could see her curvy silhouette. His erection intensified as he imagined the look on her face when she laid eyes on him. His breath became exacerbated from being so close to her, so close that he could touch her, smell her…learn her, hard and slow.
Vanessa was completely unaware of Eric’s presence in the bathroom with her at that moment. The hot, steamy shower was just what she needed to relax and soothe her tired body. The heavy water rained down on her body and she leaned her head under the water letting it hit her in the face.
Eric reached a hand out to the glass shower doors and stopped short of touching it. Instead, he used his index finger and lightly wiped a line across the glass, clearing away some of the fog. “Bitch,” he mumbled. He backed away and slipped back out of the bathroom quietly as though he was never there.
“1, 2, Eric’s coming for you…” Vanessa heard the chilling tune in her head as she was in the shower. Her eyes popped open as she felt a chill slither down her spine that even the heat from the shower could not displace. She quickly turned the water off and grabbed her towel. She wiped the water from her eyes and rung her hair out before wrapping herself in the towel and carefully stepping from the shower. The steam from the shower had already covered the finger trail that Eric left behind, but Vanessa suddenly felt like she wasn’t alone.
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