Jake caught his arm as he stormed away. “What color are his eyes?"
“Is this some sort of How-Good-A-Cop-Are-You game? You're such a jerk Matherly. You've always been a jerk.” Martel shook with anger, and Jake could tell he honestly believed Jake was playing with him.
Jake couldn't tell him why he asked the question without going into Susan's True Seeing, so he took his hand off Martel's arm and said, “I'm sorry I came across that way, Martel. Congratulations on your collar."
Martel stormed off without a backwards glance. Jake and Gordon shared a look and turned as one to go back into the interrogation room. Jake threw himself into a chair across from Dwaine and sat looking at him until the man said, “You can't speak to me. I've asked for an attorney!"
Jake leaned over to look long and hard at Dwaine's eyes before pushing back from the table with force. He shook his head once at Gordon and they both left the room. They had worked too long together to have to talk about the fact that they would continue to look for the Apartment Slasher, because old Dwaine had mud-brown eyes and motive to kill his girlfriend but not two other strangers.
They stopped in to talk to the Lieutenant on their way out. He agreed to keep them on the case and admitted there was a possibility that someone else had murdered the two men. “But you two had better keep this quiet. If I read in the newspapers that we are still looking for the Apartment Slasher, I will not be happy with you.” He looked down at a report on his desk. “Now get the fuck out of my office and go figure out if we've got the right guy for all three murders.” He stopped them before they were out the door when he added, “And if we don't, bring me whoever it is pronto. We need to put this to bed."
Gordon and Jake exchanged a look but didn't comment as they walked out of the station.
Chapter Thirteen
Susan looked at her watch. If she left now, she had time for an extra long run before she went to Georgia's to baby-sit.
Grabbing her Walkman and her spare key, she was out the door and down the steps in a flash. She ran slowly to warm up, saving her stretching until the end, even though she knew that wasn't the way the experts said she should do it. But Susan hated working out and took shortcuts where she could. At least three days a week she did some sort of activity—racquetball, aerobics, running, power yoga. And she hated them all. She had been an overweight teenager and knew that only exercise stood between her and next size up in clothes.
She started this run like she did all the others. Painfully. Her body groaned and her legs begged her to stop. It wasn't pleasant.
But after the first fifteen minutes, her second wind kicked in and she felt the rush of new energy that always came if she made it past the beginning. When this happened, her thoughts turned to Jake.
Their relationship was still up in the air. They hadn't resolved their issues. He seemed okay with her ‘gift’ in theory but he didn't ask to stay over last night and he hadn't kissed her goodnight. She had a strange tightening in her stomach that told her he might be about to end things. Or maybe he needed time to think about it all. Their relationship hung in limbo between a thing and a true we-are-dating-each-other gig. Or, she thought morbidly, it could be over.
But what she did know was he had left her without telling her how he had felt about her True Seeing. He had gone into detective mode half way through their conversation and hadn't come out. Detective Matherly believed her and would use the information to help solve his case but she didn't know how Jake felt about all this.
She should prepare for the worst. She wouldn't be one of those women who made an ass out of herself when their guy gave her the boot. She was a strong, independent woman who had lived through other heartaches and rejection and would get through it.
For the first time, she truly understood why Briles kept going back to Benny, even when she knew they weren't going to be together. Maybe sometimes a taste of something was better than nothing. Susan tried to tell herself that a taste of Jake was better than never being with him, but couldn't help thinking that that was just so much bullshit people said to make the poor dumped person feel better.
She added a bit of speed to her run when she realized she had slowed down. If Jake didn't want to date her because of the True Seeing, she would cut herself off completely. She wouldn't see him again if she could help it. It would be too painful.
The worst thought she had as she ran was that Jake could be thinking that a couple of times in the sack (or the kitchen or shower, as the case may be) didn't mean a whole lot to him. Sure, he'd said and done things that made her feel like he wanted more than just casual sex, but it might be a bunch of garbage. Maybe he would dump her and it had nothing to do with the True Seeing.
Regardless, she needed answers from him. She would call him when she got home, before she went to baby-sit Georgia's brother. She would ask him out to dinner Monday night, at a public place where they would have a nice, mature, adult discussion about their relationship. Because knowing had to be better than this. Her heart constricted at the thought of losing him. God she loved him so much. How in the hell had that happened so quickly?
She pushed herself into a faster run. If she were going to be dumped, at least she would have a nice body. Not that anyone but her would see it if she got the boot.
When she got in sight of her apartment, she put on a burst of speed until she reached the sidewalk. For a few minutes, she walked back and forth, trying to catch her breath. She'd overdone it. Susan bent over, hands to her knees, and tried very hard not to throw up.
* * * *
Jake left the station with a sense of total frustration. They were no closer to finding the answers they needed after questioning Parker and searching his apartment. He had hoped something would turn up when they tossed his apartment. Parker had been at work until right before the second murder, making it tight time-wise for him to have gotten back to Malvern Manor. Without physical evidence, it would be hard to link him to the crimes. Jake had added the Dumpster in back of the apartment on the warrant but they hadn't turned up anything there, either. He could have dumped the clothes he was wearing in the twenty-four hours it had taken for them to get the warrant. The judge had taken some convincing, since the newspapers were saying they already had the right guy in custody.
He and Gordon had agreed the best thing they could do now would be to re-canvass the apartment complex again. Starting tomorrow, they would methodically talk to every tenant, including a chat with Georgia and her brother. Jake wanted to speak with them and had gone by three times now but no one ever seemed to be home.
Right now, he wanted to find Susan and talk to her about lying to her friends about him staying over last night. He had tried to call her to let her know he was coming, but had only gotten her answering machine. He made a mental note to get her cell phone. He figured he had a fifty-fifty chance that she was home. If she wasn't, he would go to the gym and get a workout in before he tried to track her down again.
He had to admit, Courtney had a point when she said someone should stay with Susan until the murders were solved. He thought he was the ideal candidate for the job. As Jake drove to Susan's place, he thought for the first time about how her ‘gift’ would relate to him.
It was the worst possible condition a woman with a cop as a boyfriend could have. He thought about coming home at night, after some crazy chopped his wife to bits or some drug dealer killed a kid or some hooker ended up with the wrong John. “Honey, I'm home,” he'd say, reaching out to embrace her with a hug. And then she'd See it all. And he'd be responsible for her nightmares.
The car behind him honked and he realized that he had been sitting at a green light. He put his car in gear and drove on, his thoughts turning back to Susan.
For over eleven months now, he had wanted this woman more than he had ever wanted anything. Yeah, the sex was great. Fantastic, actually. In fact, just touching her lit him up like a Christmas tree. But that wasn't the only thing that made him want something long-term with her.
He wanted to come in every night and give her a welcome home hug. He wanted to fix her breakfast and cuddle up to watch a movie with her on the couch. He just plain wanted her. All day, every day, in his life.
And that meant they were going to have to figure out a way to deal with her ‘gift’ so he didn't accidentally cause her to need counseling. She had been able to See on command. It was possible there were many things she didn't know about her visions they could figure out together. Jake thought it was strange she could only See bad things. Other emotions could be as strong as fear or anger or guilt or horror or whatever it was that made her pick up people's memories. Lust, for example, could be as strong an emotion as fear.
It was something to think about. He would bring it up tonight, as he held her on the sofa. After he gave her a hard time for lying to her friends last night. Jake grinned at the thought and increased his speed.
* * * *
Susan bent back over again to grab her knees as she tried to breathe normally. Thank God it was October, or she would have passed out from the heat. She'd pushed herself too hard on her run, not realizing it in her tumbled thoughts about Jake. She knew she might be blowing her worries about Jake all out of proportion.
“You okay?” Georgia's voice came down from the landing on the second floor.
Susan looked up and tried to smile. “Yeah. I pushed myself a little too hard on my run."
Georgia and another person came down the stairs. Susan watched them emerge around the corner of the stairwell, still holding onto her knees, fighting waves of nausea.
“Are you going out? I need to get a shower, then I'll be over to stay with your brother."
“We're running to the McDonald's to get Samuel some dinner. I heard they caught the Apartment Slasher,” Georgia said, walking towards her. The large man behind her seemed to be studying the ground as he walked. When Georgia stopped in front of Susan, he automatically stopped, too. He acted as if he were on autopilot. He was wearing a green and black Eagles sports jacket, with the hood pulled up.
Susan forced herself to stand up straight and again had to fight for a moment not to be sick. Her head was pounding. God, she'd overdone it. She had put her body through the mill this week. Maybe she needed a vacation. “One of the detectives on the case told me that he wasn't sure the guy they have in custody murdered all three of those people, so be careful Georgia."
Georgia's face flashed surprise, then something else. “I thought they all had their throats cut?"
“They did, but the two guys they found here had been stabbed repeatedly and there were other similarities that the woman's murder didn't have.” Susan watched Georgia's face reform into something like horror. Horror mixed with knowledge. “They have a witness who told them the guy that killed those two men here was wearing a yellow raincoat."
Georgia's gaze sharpened. “I thought you were the only person who found both people after they were murdered, Susan?” She stepped forward and Susan fought the urge to step back. Something in Georgia's face was making Susan's stomach twist. Lie, her mind screamed.
“Actually, someone else told the police about the guy in the raincoat. I think it was an anonymous tip.” Susan knew she was the world's worst liar and, from the look on her face, Georgia knew it too.
“Nice try, Susan.” Georgia's face showed what might have been regret. “But I know you're lying.” She shook her head sadly. “The worst part about this is I really liked you.” She looked around the deserted parking lot then at Susan. “You know what they say—blood is thicker than water. I can't have Samuel going to jail, Susan.” Susan inched backwards towards the parking lot as the other woman spoke, fighting the urge to run. “He's sick and needs help.” Georgia followed Susan and Samuel shuffled behind her. “He won't get the help he needs in jail."
“Georgia, don't do anything stupid.” Susan tried to sound authoritative, but her voice came out as a squeak.
Georgia smiled sadly, then turned to Samuel. “Samuel,” she said, “this woman is a little piggy."
The man in the Eagles jacket looked up from the ground, raising his head in exaggerated slowness that seemed to be done for effect. Susan gasped when blue, blue eyes looked out of the hood at her. Samuel said, “Hello piggy."
Susan's feet felt stuck to the sidewalk. Her mind shut down and she could do nothing, could not move or talk or even walk away. He stared at her and Susan knew that under the shadow of the hood, he smiled.
Georgia stepped off the path into the grass, out of Samuel's way.
Samuel took a step toward Susan. He reached his hand out to touch her, breaking the spell that held Susan immobile. No way was she letting this man touch her. No way was she going to share his memories. Because whatever created the man before her would be something she did not want to know about. Tripping, Susan fell onto the concrete. Hard. She sucked in air as she fought back pain and the nausea that returned in full force. “Georgia! Stop him! Please!” She screamed, unable to do anything about the panic in her voice.
Georgia held up her hands in a gesture that said she was out of it now. “You should have kept your mouth shut to the police, Susan. There's nothing I can do now."
Samuel looked at Susan, watching calmly as she struggled to regain her feet. “Hello piggy,” he said merrily.
Run, run, run, run, run. Her flight instinct was in over drive but all Susan could do was back down the walkway. “Why did you kill those two men, Samuel?” Susan asked the question, not even caring about the answer. She was an attorney who specialized in negotiations. The first rule in a negotiation was that everyone had to be talking. If the people weren't talking, the negotiation was over before it even started. Dialog was the key.
“Oink,” Samuel answered.
Susan didn't think that counted as dialog. You couldn't negotiate with a loony-tune. She looked at Georgia but the woman stayed motionless by the path. When she glanced back at Samuel, he pulled a long carving knife from an inside pocket in his jacket and launched himself at her. Susan scrambled back as quickly as she could, her left foot suddenly coming down on air as she made it to the two steps that marked the descent into the parking lot. Then her whole body was flying and she screamed.
Samuel looked down on her from the top of the steps. Susan looked frantically around the lot. Where was everyone? Why was the damned parking lot empty? She looked back at Samuel, who took the first step down, his eyes glowing blue from the darkness of his hood. “Heeeellllpppp!” Susan screamed it as loud as she could. “Help, help, help!” She regained her feet.
“I'll help you piggy,” Samuel said solemnly.
Susan scrambled around a parked car as Samuel reached the parking lot level. Samuel started one way, and turned to go the other when she moved away from him around the car. He giggled. “Round and round we go, where we stop nobody knows,” he sang in an off-key child's voice, as they went around the car three times.
He wasn't even close to her. Susan comforted herself that she could go around the car for the rest of her life if she had to. Someone was bound to see them out here soon. It was then that he chose to jump onto the hood, still giggling joyously. Susan turned to run and took half a step before he landed on her back. She skidded across the asphalt, feeling both knees shred painfully. The asphalt stopped her with a jolt, but Samuel's momentum kept him going, and he rolled to a stop several feet from her.
Susan got up and put another car in between them. She had been exhausted from her earlier run but now her body was filled with energy, even as her fear was causing her to breathe in huge gasps of air. Think Susan, she urged herself. What did the self-defense class teach her about these kinds of situations? Call for help. Check. Done that. Give him your purse. Okay, that one was not all that applicable.
Samuel started singing something that sounded like a perverted version of duck, duck, goose, circling her around the car.
Susan braced herself for him to jump onto the car again.
Then she saw Georgia walking towards them with a tr
ee branch clutched in her hands. “Samuel, we must hurry,” Georgia called to her brother. “Someone could come along any minute. We don't have time for games.” Georgia walked down the two steps into the parking lot and Susan knew she would soon be trapped between them. She needed to take the initiative and go for one or the other.
In a burst of speed, she ran towards Georgia, ducking when the woman brought the branch down, taking the blow on her shoulder. It hurt but she was still in motion, and her body hit Georgia's with enough momentum that Georgia fell back, her feet flying out from under her. Georgia's head hit the stairs with a sickly crack but Susan didn't wait to see what happened. She climbed the steps, scrambling over the other woman's body, one foot actually pushing off from her chest.
“What is piggy doing?” Samuel asked the question from behind her in a tone a child might ask their parent why the sky was blue.
Susan took off in a sprint across the lawn. She clutched her house key in her right hand, wanting to have it out and ready once she got to her door. Rounding the corner to take the stairs to the second floor, she saw that Samuel was right behind her.
Catching her looking at him, he grinned and said, “Hello piggy!"
A small scream came out of her mouth and she redoubled her efforts to climb the stairs.
* * * *
Jake parked his car and jumped out, suddenly anxious to see Susan. Locking the car door, he heard someone moan and went around another parked car to see one of Susan's neighbors lying on the stairs, clutching a stick. “What's wrong?” He asked her, his body filling with an eerie feeling that told him he wasn't going to like her answer.
Georgia caught his hand. “My brother can't go to jail. He's sick. He needs help."
Jake didn't even think twice about leaving her when he heard Susan's scream. Grabbing his gun from his shoulder holster, he took off running, following Susan's footsteps across the lawn.
“Hello piggy!” someone said merrily from the stairwell and Susan screamed again.
True Seeing Page 14
