“Turns out he always does his wash over here in different buildings. His girlfriend said he was such a penny pincher that they didn't eat out anywhere they didn't have a coupon for."
“Why Jake? Why was he killed? Surely not because he was sneaking in to do his laundry?"
She watched him as he moved to a display of little boxes on the mantel and began systematically lifting the lid of each of them as he spoke. “Daugherty was a nobody. Besides being the cheapest guy I've ever heard of, he was harmless. No gambling, steady girlfriend with an alibi, no debt, no real money to speak of, family living across the country, no enemies, church volunteer, works at a bank as a teller. The guy didn't even drink, believe it or not. A regular Ward Cleaver."
Jake lifted the lid of the last box. “From the angle of the knife, the person who did this was his height, about six feet or so. And it takes some serious strength to do this kind of knife work so we're fairly sure the perp was a man. No evidence of the person's identity, no obvious motive. Only a single strand of hair that wasn't the victim's and we have no way of knowing if it was a stray hair picked up from the floor of the laundry room when he fell. It will take five weeks for us to get the results of the DNA test back."
Susan drifted closer to hear him, because his voice had gotten softer as he spoke.
“No one saw the guy who did it. Not a soul.” Jake's gaze met hers and Susan felt her stomach clinch in anticipation of what was coming. She felt as if he was about to pounce. “Did they Susan?” He moved closer to her, closing the gap between them. “Or did someone see him?"
She moved away instinctively, trying to come up with an acceptable answer. “I ... I don't know what you're talking about."
Jake closed the distance again, his voice a whisper. “I think you do, Susan. I think you do know what I'm talking about. I think you saw him."
Susan shook her head slowly and whispered, “No, Jake."
He pressed his advantage. “Yes. That's what you're withholding from me, isn't it Susan? That's what I think you're hiding. Because you know something, I can feel it."
“No, nothing.” Get him out of here, Susan. Now. She stopped backing up, dredging up anger to give her some defense. “Out. Out of my apartment now, Jake. Right now."
He held out his hands as if he would surrender. “Come on Susan, don't make me leave. You said you would answer any questions I asked you."
“And I have. Now you can leave.” She pointed to the door. “Or I'm calling the cops.” She stumbled a bit on that one and saw him start to smile. “The other ones. Get out.” She marched to the door and held it open.
“What is going on here? What are you hiding? Because I know it's something, Susan. I know it's something and I want you to tell me what it is.” Jake ran his fingers through his hair, not moving towards the door.
“I've answered your questions, Jake. If you have any others, please ask them to me. Otherwise, you need to leave. I'm starting to get insulted by your line of questioning.” Susan felt a twist of guilt run through her. She didn't want to lie to him but she couldn't bring herself to tell him the truth.
“You'll answer any of my questions? How about this one?” Now he moved, but not out the door as she hoped. He walked to her, took the door out of her hands, and closed it instead. “Did you lie in bed last night, tossing and turning, your whole body aching for me, Susan love?” He framed her head in his hands and tipped her face up so she had to meet his gaze. “Because I did. I lay there in my bed, with an erection so hard you could have hung clothes on it. Aching for you.” He feathered a kiss across her lips. “So did you?"
“Yes,” she whispered, feeling all her anger and guilt wash away with the touch of his lips. Suddenly, they weren't cop and witness. They were man and woman. Attraction swirled between them, igniting them both into a higher flame.
“I laid in bed without you last night and it was all I could do not to get in my car and drive over here.” His hands lightened their grip and he massaged her shoulders and neck. He leaned down for another kiss, his lips still gentle. Susan heard herself moan, her whole body flooding with excitement and anticipation.
“I don't think we should do this,” she said. It sounded weak to her but she at least had the presence of mind to say it.
“Really,” he said, running his lips across her cheek to her ear. Licking slowly up the outer ridge, he whispered, “Liar."
“Jake.” Susan shivered as his tongue captured her earlobe and pulled it into her mouth. He released her, letting his teeth scrape across her sensitive skin.
“Say you want me, Susan. I won't have you lie about not wanting this when morning comes."
“I do want this Jake. I want you.” She tried to focus as his mouth suckled at her throat. “I've always wanted you. It's dangerous."
“Oh yes, it's dangerous all right. But it doesn't make it any less real.” He drew back from her and tipped her head back up. She opened her eyes to his brown ones. “Say yes."
Susan took a deep breath and said, “Yes,” on the exhale.
His mouth crashed down on hers and they kissed deeply. His tongue stroked along hers, his hands at the buttons of her blouse. His fingers fumbled but he stuck with it until he finally pushed the fabric free of her shoulders. He stepped back, capturing her hand to pull her towards the couch.
Sitting on the arm, he looked at her standing there in her simple white bra. “I rushed last time. I want to look at you.” Susan tried to shake off the feeling of embarrassment that came over her as she stood there before him. The look on his face told her he liked what he saw. Her nipples tightened into strong peaks in response.
He grabbed her other hand and pulled her closer. Bending down, he ran his tongue along her right nipple, wetting the cotton cloth, the friction different from anything else she'd ever felt. He suckled her, bringing in as much of her breast as he could. Susan cried out at the sharp sensation. When his mouth moved away to the other side, she saw that the wet mark on her bra highlighted her dusk colored nipple through the cloth.
“God you have beautiful nipples,” he whispered, his breath blowing across the wet material to make her shiver. He stroked across her one more time before pulling up to kiss her lips. Jake's hands went to the top of her pants and she realized that she would be naked before he even had his shirt off if she didn't take the initiative.
Her hands pushed his suit jacket off his shoulders and he shrugged to let it fall to the floor. His fingers returned to the top of her pants, unzipping them as she pulled at the knot on his tie. Her hands struggled to cooperate. She was trying to kiss him, feel his hands on her waist, and take off his tie at the same time. She was on overload.
“Wait!” she said, pulling back from his mouth and batting at his hands. “I get to get your tie and shirt off before you can take off my pants."
“Oh sorry, I didn't know that rule.” He grinned at her, then slid his belt free and shrugged out of his shoulder holster, letting it drop onto the floor.
“I'll provide you with a copy of the manual tomorrow.” His tie loosened and she tossed it over the sofa. Then she undid the buttons on his shirt, one after the other, her hands working as fast as they could. “Umm,” she hummed in appreciation as she opened his shirt. He had the best chest on any man she'd ever seen. When his chest was bare, she leaned down to run her cheek across him.
Turning her head, she took one of his nipples into her mouth, sucking lightly. He moaned. For a moment, as she swished her tongue across the tightened tip, she thought about how she was getting to know what he liked in bed. She wanted to please him, wanted him to be in her power, wanted him to please her. It was a strange feeling.
Jake unbuttoned the cuffs and let his shirt fall back onto the sofa. “My turn,” he said, reaching for the top of her pants. He only had to pull them off her hips and down to the floor. Susan stepped out of her heels and pulled off her trouser socks as she discarded her pants. “Stop. I want to see you this time.” His gaze raked her body. “I went too fa
st before and didn't get to see you in those yellow panties of mine."
“Of yours?"
“You gave them to me,” he said, raising his head to grin up at her. “I know you didn't mean it but a card laid is a card played. I'm not giving them back."
“Jake,” she said, trying to make her tone a warning.
“Susan,” he said back, running his hands down her body and then back up to slide across the outside of her underwear.
“What on earth are you going to do with a pair of women's panties?"
“Frame them and put them on my bedroom wall."
“No! You wouldn't!"
“Of course I wouldn't.” He grinned at her. “But you'd better come over to my place regularly to check, just to make sure."
She narrowed her eyes at him. “That's blackmail."
“Isn't it though?” Jake reached up and undid the clasp between her breasts with a flick of his wrist. “Oh yeah,” he whispered as he leaned down to kiss her breasts again.
“Pants,” she said. “I get to take off your pants now.” At his groan, she added, “Fair's fair.” Jake stood so she could undo the zipper and slide them off his hips. He reached back to catch a condom out of his pocket as they fell. “You're sure of yourself."
“Just hopeful.” He lightly flicked her nipple with the foil packet, making her gasp. She pulled down his boxers and slid off her underwear. Then he grabbed her close and fell backwards over the sofa arm onto his back. Susan landed sprawled across his chest, letting out a surprised gasp.
He ripped open the foil packet and rolled on the condom. His fingers found her clitoris and then slid into her body, making her groan. He pulled her into a sitting position. “Ride me. I want to watch you come.” Susan adjusted herself on the sofa and then took his shaft into her hands. Rising up on her knees, she slid his head back and forth across her opening, picking up the wetness, before she worked him inside her. She only took in his head then leaned forward to rest her forehead on his chest. He tried to push up, but she raised herself away from him.
“Susan,” he groaned. She raised her head and captured his lips with hers, leaving herself at the top of his erection.
“Feels good, doesn't it?"
“Yes,” he ground out, pushing up again. She moved away.
She squeezed her internal muscles on his large head and he cried out. Careful not to take any more of him inside her, she leaned back to roll his testicles in her hands. She lightly closed them in her hand, tugging them, as she lowered herself a little more onto him.
“Susan."
She leaned down to hear him better. “I'm sorry,” he whispered, his hands moving to her hips, “but I'm not in the mood to play.” He pulled down hard as his cock rammed up, bringing him home, making them both cry out.
For a second, they both stayed still, then Susan moved, using her leg muscles to rise up and down his shaft. Every time she came down, she ground her clitoris into his body and felt herself edge closer to release. She had to find release. It built inside of her—up, up, up—until she couldn't stand it any more. God she needed it so badly.
Jake's hands grabbed her hips and helped them keep in time with one another. They were both close—she could feel it. Then he thrust up into her as she came down. That was all she needed. “Jake,” she cried, as an orgasm raced through her body.
Another climax hit her as she felt him start to come. She cried out again. Then she crumpled forward to rest on his chest, feeling tremors shake through her body with little aftershocks of pleasure.
Finally, Jake pulled out of her body and rolled to his side, tucking her against him. “God, Susan, you're amazing,” he said, kissing her hair and holding her tight.
* * * *
Jake left with obvious reluctance. She had convinced him he needed to leave, mainly so she could think things through.
“All right Susan, I'm going but I can tell you right now that I'll be back. Lock the door behind me. And keep your eyes open.” Pausing at the door, he planted a kiss on her lips. Susan felt the electricity arc between them like a slap. She wondered if that would ever change or if it would always be like that between them. He raised his head and gazed down at her for a second before saying, “You may not have known him, but Jim Daugherty is dead. Don't let his killer go free if you know something that might help us. Nothing's worth that."
“Nice guilt trip, Matherly. Now get out of my apartment.” She closed the door after him before she changed her mind and did something even more stupid than she just had—like beg him to stay.
His guilt trip over what she had Seen in the basement was working, for all her bravado.
Susan went back to the mantel over the non-working fireplace and touched her box collection, lifting the lids as Jake had. She loved this box collection. There were thirty boxes total, one for every year of her life. Each one different and most of them had things inside them that went along with the theme of the box. Her grandmother had started it, but after she had died, Susan had continued to buy the little boxes each year as a Christmas present for herself. She had put them on the Christmas list she gave her mother year after year, but had finally stopped when she realized her mother wasn't going to buy them for her. Susan wasn't the only person her mother had been angry with about the True Seeing. Gran had caught the brunt of her mother's anger as well. As far as her mother was concerned, Gran's genetics had caused this abomination.
All of a sudden, she missed her grandmother. She wished Gran was still alive so she could ask her advice. Her grandmother had been the only person to believe her about the Seeing and still love her despite it. She remembered the first conversation they had about it, when she was thirteen or fourteen, in her grandmother's kitchen.
* * * *
"Gran,” Susan said, “I have something I want to talk to you about, but Mother says I shouldn't tell anyone.” Susan had thought long and hard for the whole week she had been visiting her grandmother about whether or not to talk to her about it. Since she was leaving tomorrow, the opportunity to share her concerns with Gran would be lost.
"Oh?” Gran said, rolling dough out on the floured countertop. “You know you can always talk to me about anything, Susan. You can tell me anything and it will be kept only between us."
"Mother says I'm making it up but I'm not, Gran."
"Making what up, dear?” Gran got out a drinking glass and used it to cut circles of dough to make biscuits for dinner.
"Well, sometimes I See things, Gran. Things that have happened to people.” Susan picked up the two flamingos that were Gran's salt and pepper shakers. “Like a movie, in my head."
"Hmmm,” Gran said, looking up from the dough, her always-busy hands stopped in mid-motion. “So. You have the gift of True Seeing, do you?” At Susan's look of surprise, Gran had laughed. “You didn't think you were the only one? No, no. My sister and your great-great grandmother both had that gift.” Gran's face turned grave. “And it's a scary gift to have, Susan."
"It is Gran,” Susan voice was serious despite her young age. She had known from the first time it had happened that it was a big responsibility. She felt a myriad of emotions flow through her. Relief that she wasn't the only one with this gift was foremost in her mind. But even if she wasn't the only one, that didn't help her with her current problem. She lifted her worried face to her grandmother's. “I See things that no one wants me to. Like the fact that mother had sex with Mr. Johnson in the choir room at school.” She steeled herself for her grandmother's disbelief. Susan's mother wasn't the type to do that kind of thing. Susan's dad had left two years earlier because her mother had been ‘cold.’ Because, Susan reasoned, she wasn't the type of woman to have sex in the choir room.
"Who is Mr. Johnson?” Gran asked, her voice holding no judgment for her daughter's actions. Gran didn't judge anyone. Susan was relieved that she had been believed so easily.
"My choir teacher. I told Mother I Saw it, but she said I was lying, Gran.” Susan felt tears welling up. “I told he
r I See all kinds of things, like when Billy Henson told the whole class he fell out of the tree and broke his leg but his father really pushed him down the stairs. But when I told Mother, she slapped my face and told me I was lying.” Susan raised her face to look at her grandmother, her lips trembling. “I'm not lying, Gran."
Gran came over and leaned against the countertop where she was sitting on a stool. “Susan dear, I know you aren't. But you have a terrible gift. No one wants their memories stolen, which is basically what you are doing. That is what scares your mother and will scare anyone you tell about this. Your mother knows she shouldn't have slept with Mr. Johnson and you knowing about it makes her defensive and angry."
"But what should I do, Gran? I can't stop the visions, I've tried."
"You don't have to stop them Susan.” Her grandmother's face was kind and understanding. “You're probably right that you can't stop them. But what you can stop is talking about them. People have a right to their secrets, Susan. You should never tell people what you See."
"But,” Susan felt tears slide down her cheeks, “Gran, sometimes I See terrible things."
Gran hugged her tight, rubbing her back with her hands. “I know you do, Susan. And it's a terrible burden for you to carry.” Her grandmother pulled back to tuck a loose lock of hair behind her ear. “But no one will ever thank you for repeating their secrets."
* * * *
Gran hadn't known very much about True Seeing and hadn't been able to help her with understanding her gift. So she had stumbled along on her own, only going to her Gran when she didn't know what else to do or had Seen something particularly disturbing.
Susan knew that Jake wouldn't thank her if she told him she knew what had happened between his parents. But the vision with the murderer was different, wasn't it? This would solve a murder. No it won't. All you Saw was a man in a yellow raincoat, Susan. That's it. They can't solve a murder from that. Susan lifted the lid of a box that looked like a Christmas present and looked inside at the tiny China teddy bear. This box was her favorite out of all the ones her Gran had given her. “You've given me many things, Gran. But good advice was the best gift out of them all. I'll follow it and keep everyone's secrets,” she said to herself, feeling peace come over her with her decision.
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