Jake felt a tightening in his gut and tried to pick up his speed. Charging into the stairwell, he didn't think or act like a policeman. There was no way he would wait for backup. He had to get to her NOW.
She was up on the landing, out of the stairwell.
Jake came up to the second floor and everything seemed to go forward in half-time. Susan turned and something silver flashed in her hand as she brought her arm straight into her attacker's head. The man's body jerked as if he had been shot and he collapsed into the hallway, holding his face. With a look of pure horror, Susan fell against her door.
“Get into your apartment and call the police,” Jake yelled, holding his gun pointed at the man on the ground. Jake still couldn't see his face.
“I...” Susan face took on an ashen color that signaled that she might be sick. “I can't, Jake. I can't.” Her body shook so hard her voice shook with it.
A man appeared on the landing a few apartments down. Jake yelled to him to call the police and he disappeared again. “Susan, you need to get into your apartment."
“I can't. I can't get into my apartment.” She was breathing too hard and he knew that if she didn't slow down, she would start to hyperventilate.
“Why not?” Jake wanted to shake her, but kept his focus on the man still moaning on the ground.
“My key. My key is in his eye!"
Jake glanced at Susan, the hand holding the gun still pointing at the man on the ground. She was covered in tears and sweat. Her knees were bleeding badly down into her white running socks. Her short hair was sticking out in all directions. But some of her personality was coming back. She seemed to be getting a hold of herself.
Concentrating again on the man before him, Jake reached his left hand into his right pocket, a gesture that twisted his body, and held out his keys to her. “Go get the pair of handcuffs in my glove compartment.” Susan's hand paused in reaching for the keys when she met his gaze, her eyes scared. “Handcuffs, Susan,” Jake reminded her gently.
Susan stood up using her door for leverage, carefully avoiding the man before her. Turning, she used the other stairwell to get down to the parking lot. Jake looked back at the man on the ground in time to watch him pull the key out of his eye. It made a hushed sucking sound he could hear from where he stood at the railing.
“Don't move,” Jake said in his cop voice. Jake was sure the doctors weren't going to be able to salvage the man's eye. The socket looked like it held a mass of bloody pulp. Jake took a steadying breath.
“Hello piggy!” The man's voice was childlike and high. He struggled to sit up, not even fazed by the fact that one of his eyes had been torn apart.
“Stay where you are,” Jake ordered. This guy is going to keep trying to get up. He didn't want to shoot him if he could help it.
The man sat up and began to work himself onto his knees, saying, “Where's the other piggy? Where did the girl piggy go?"
* * * *
Susan ran down the steps, her legs shaking now that everything was over. She clutched the railing to keep herself upright, concentrating on moving so she didn't fall. Her body felt used up, each step an effort. As she rounded the corner, she heard the sirens at the same time she watched Georgia stagger to her feet. Susan had forgotten about her but now she had to get past her neighbor to get to Jake's car.
Susan moved forward slowly, watching Georgia turn towards her. Talk, Susan. Talk to her. That's what you do, that's what you're good at. “Did you know, Georgia?” Susan watched a car pull into the parking lot. “Did you know he'd killed them?"
Georgia still had the stick in her hands. She moved unsteadily up the two stairs. “He didn't mean to, Susan. He's sick. It was Robb's fault. Robb got him all riled up last Sunday."
“Then why did he kill Jim Daugherty? He had nothing to do with Robb."
Susan watched as Gordon got out of the car with his gun drawn but Georgia didn't even look back at him. She kept coming towards Susan, stick half raised.
“He didn't mean to, Susan. It was a mistake. He was confused. He thought Jim was Robb. But then Robb came back to my apartment and Samuel followed him out onto the landing and killed him. He was trying to protect me from our uncle. He can't go to jail, Susan. He's very sick."
“Put down the stick,” Gordon said, fanning out into the grass so that he made a triangle out of the three of them.
Georgia's head turned slowly to Gordon. “Robb was a very bad man. He tried to attack me. He's always touched me, especially when he baby-sits after I get home from school.” Her voice had turned into that of a little girl. Gordon and Susan exchanged a glance. They didn't know what she was talking about now. “He had to die. He's the one that's the piggy, not us.” The branch dropped to the ground as if it had slipped from her grasp. Gordon moved in, taking her roughly to the ground and cuffing her hands behind her back.
Susan moved past him towards Jake's car. “Jake needs his handcuffs out of his car,” she told Gordon in a slightly breathy voice that didn't sound like her own.
“Take my extra ones.” She turned to accept them from him and started back up the stairs. Her legs felt like they were attached to lead weights.
* * * *
Jake could hear Susan coming up the stairs behind him and made an executive decision that he would probably have to answer to his Lieutenant for later. He kicked the Piggy Man, who was still struggling to stand, right in the face as hard as he could. Piggy Man went down in a heap. Yep, I would say that that was excessive force, Jake thought with satisfaction.
Susan handed him the handcuffs, her eyes still glazed over, and he rolled Piggy over and put the cuffs on. He could hear the sirens get louder as the police cars turned into the parking lot.
Turning to look at Susan, Jake realized that the sun was setting. It was gorgeous—shades of reds, yellows and oranges lit the sky behind her. Putting an arm around her shoulders, he turned her from Piggy. “Look, the sun is setting. Everything's going to be okay."
Susan looked at the sun and then turned to look at Jake. She screamed as Samuel fell into her, his arms still cuffed behind his back. Jake jumped back from her, completely taken off guard, then grabbed Samuel by the shoulder and wrestled him down to the ground. It was too late. Susan had grabbed onto Samuel as he fell, and she was swept into a vision.
* * * *
"I'm telling, this time I'm telling. I mean it!” The boy backed into the living room wall, his whole body trembling uncontrollably.
Laughter followed him. “Oh come on, Sammy, you say that every time."
Samuel shook his head back and forth, back and forth, “This time I'm going to. It's going to stop."
"What's going to stop, Sammy boy?” The tall, black-haired man got up and walked towards him.
"You, touching me.” Samuel's lips were trembling so hard that spit began to stream down the side of his mouth. “I'm telling mother.” His hands splayed out in front of himself as if to ward off the man.
"I'm telling mother, I'm telling mother.” The man mimicked in a high, whiney voice. “You are so pathetic, Sammy. So damned pathetic. Your parents think so, too, or they wouldn't have left you home every day with me, now would they?” The man took another step forward to tower over the 10-year-old boy. “You're such a little piggy, Sammy. Oink, oink, oink.” The man's face leaned into the boy's, his good-looking features screwed up into a twisted mask. “Oink for me, Sammy the piggy.” The man laid his hands on the wall on either side of the boy's head.
Samuel whispered, “No,” with the last bit of his will power.
The man's hand, quick as a snake, grabbed Samuel's scrotum and gave it a vicious tug. “Oink, or you'll pay."
Samuel knew the price, had paid it before so he did what he was told. But from somewhere hidden came a powerful calm, a new Samuel rising up. This Samuel knew what to do, would stop this man who was supposed to be his uncle. He felt power well up within him, felt his strength doubling, tripling. And he knew what to do with a clarity of mind that he had n
ever had before.
So the new Samuel waited until it was over, doing what he was told for the last time, and went into the kitchen. Taking his mother's biggest knife out of the block, he walked back into the living room, where his uncle was on the phone with one of his many women, saying, “Yeah, babe, I'd love to come over tonight. You know I love watching you dance. You going to dance for me tonight?” He said it in the same voice he sometimes talked to Sammy-the-pig in. His uncle had a date most nights of the week.
The new Samuel knew his mother would never again have to worry about his uncle settling down, would never have to worry about him reaching his 26th birthday without finding that special someone. Because the new Samuel grabbed his uncle's black hair, pulled his head to the back of the sofa with superhuman force, and slit his neck from one side to the other.
The new Samuel walked slowly around to smile at his uncle. “Oink,” new Samuel said. And then, watching the horror in his uncle's eyes as he died, new Samuel said, “Oink,” forty-nine more times, each time driving the knife into his chest to the hilt.
* * * *
Jake knew Susan was caught in a vision and punched the large man in the face as hard as he could, his only thought to protect her. He moved the Pig Man away so that no part of him was in contact with any of Susan's now motionless body. “Susan,” he said calmly, shaking her to get her to come back. God only knew what she was Seeing. Something terrible that would come back in her dreams. She blinked as she regained consciousness and he lowered her to sit on the ground.
After assuring himself that she was going to be okay, he went back to the Pig Man, who seemed to be reviving. Putting a knee in his back where Jake knew it would hurt, he kept the struggling man pinned. “Jesus, this guy is like the Energizer Bunny,” he said to no one in particular.
“Having problems Detective Matherly?” Gordon's voice drawled from behind him. “This seems to happen whenever you get to the scene before me."
“Shut up, Miles.” Jake looked over at Susan. “Susan, are you okay?"
“His uncle.” Her voice was dreamy and far away. “Gordon, their uncle abused them when they were kids. They were alone with him after school and he abused them. He molested them both.” She shuddered.
“Don't think about it Susan.” Jake's only concern was for her. Screw the case.
“Georgia told her brother that Robb was their uncle,” Susan went on as if she hadn't heard him. “She's sick, too, but she's hiding it better than he is. She wanted Robb to leave her alone permanently."
“Why kill Daugherty then?” Gordon asked. He had taken out his notebook and started writing.
“Georgia said it was a mistake. That Samuel thought he was Robb."
“That was one hell of a mistake,” Jake said, still pinning Samuel done with his knee.
“Let's get a search warrant for the apartment before we enter it.” Gordon flipped open his cell phone. “We want to do this one by the book."
Chapter Fourteen
Susan's life had been hell for the last two weeks, but now it was Saturday, and Jake was coming over for a talk. Susan wasn't sure how she felt about the word talk. After all, it sounded ominous. She hadn't seen him since about 3 a.m. on Monday morning when he'd taken her home from the hospital, although he'd called her every day to see how she was doing. Their conversations had been reserved and short. He had seemed distracted, working on wrapping up his case, and she hadn't helped matters by being all kinds of internally stressed about their relationship. They still had never really talked about his feelings about her True Seeing and she didn't know how he felt about it. And they had never been officially dating, anyway. They had only really had a string of the hottest sex known to man.
Susan sighed. She wished it was as simple as just sex for her, but of course, she couldn't do anything simple. She didn't even know how he felt about her and she had to go and fall in love with him.
Susan wished he would arrive so whatever was going to happen, would happen. She picked up her phone and called Briles. “B,” she said, “I need some cheering up."
“Sweetie! What's wrong? Tell Briles all.” Briles’ voice was melodramatic on the other end of the phone. Susan loved the fact that Briles almost never took life seriously.
“I think my love interest is on his way over to give me the let's-be-friends blow-off."
“The detective?” Briles’ voice became fierce. “How dare he! You're the best thing for him, the asshole."
Susan laughed. “You don't know that!"
“I know that you are the best thing for any man, once you decide you want a man, that is."
Susan gave an over-exaggerated sigh. “His loss, I guess."
“Damn straight, his loss!” Briles’ voice became calm. “Still, you sound a lot more upset than you were when things went down the tubes with John Walters six months ago."
“John was an ass. I had to control myself from singing a round of ‘Ding Dong the Witch is Dead’ when he dumped me that night."
“Guess I knew it wasn't the real thing when you two never did the beast with two backs. How are you really feeling about this?"
Susan let the joking go out of her voice. “Like shit."
“That bad?” Briles’ voice lost its amusement.
“Yep. I've got it bad for him. I don't honestly know if he's going to show up here tonight to dump me or to ask me to be the mother of his children.” This got a laugh out of Briles as Susan had known it would.
“I wouldn't write him off yet. He was amazing when he dealt with the whole Benny mess. I can't imagine he did that for me."
“I don't know. He's a cop. Maybe he did it because it's his job."
“To get my purse back from Benny? Come on Susan, use your head. He did it for you. By the way, thanks for keeping that to yourself. I don't think I want anyone else to know I made a jerk out of myself again."
“Come on. You know I can keep a secret."
“On the very off chance that he does give you the old heave-ho, you want to get together for a good cry tonight?"
“That would be just what the doctor ordered. Thanks, Briles."
“Hey, I've cried on you enough. And I can give you the latest installment of my crush on Charles Morton. His wife left him last weekend.” Charles Morton was one of the married partners in the firm. Briles thought he was cute. Susan thought any new guy was an improvement over Benny. Charles would be a good way to break away from her bad cycle.
“So he's up for grabs, huh?"
“Oh yes. Guess who got a phone call? You'll have to wait until tonight for all the details, though."
“Now that will be worth waiting for! About seven o'clock? We can meet over here if you want."
“Sounds good. Call me to confirm if he decides to make the dumbest decision of his life.” Briles paused before she hung up. “And Susan, it really is his loss if he does break up with you. Don't forget that."
“I won't,” Susan lied, and hung up the phone.
She felt better having talked to Briles. With an hour to go before Jake was supposed to get to her apartment, Susan went and dumped her sock drawer out on her bed and began to match up pairs. She might as well do something useful while she waited for him.
“I don't think you are ever going to learn to lock your door, are you?” Jake's voice behind her caused Susan to scream as she whirled around to face him.
“Oh my God,” she breathed, clutching two socks to her chest. “I cannot believe you scared me like that."
“Why didn't you lock your door?"
“Why didn't you knock?"
“I was checking to see if you locked up, which you didn't.” Jake gave her a seriously put-out look. “You are so in need of a keeper."
“And you are so in need of a manners lesson. People don't walk in uninvited to other people's houses."
“Last time I looked, this was an apartment and when people are dating, they don't have to knock."
Susan drew herself up. “I wasn't aware that we were dati
ng, Jake."
“Oh God, don't start this again."
“Start what?"
“This ‘I'm not dating you’ thing. Of course we're dating."
“Really? I thought dating meant seeing one another. You've been MIA this whole week!"
Jake's mouth dropped open. “I've called you every night!” He walked up to her, looming over her in an intimidating manner she was secretly beginning to find amusing.
“And you were completely cold on the phone."
“I've been finishing up a murder case. And I had something else I needed to take care of."
Susan wanted to take a step back from him but refused to give him the satisfaction. Instead, she placed a finger in the middle of his chest and pushed. “One giant step back, Big Guy.” Jake didn't move an inch, which caused Susan to review ways in her mind that she could get him to back up.
“Don't even think about it,” Jake warned.
“Think about what?” she asked him sweetly.
“I don't know but it didn't look good, judging from the look on your face a second ago."
Susan narrowed her eyes. “What did you have to take care of?"
Her question caused Jake to take a giant step back all by itself. He ran his fingers through his hair and stared down at the socks scattered all over her bed. “I went to see my mother."
“Really!” Susan closed the distance between them, touching his arm. “That's wonderful, Jake. How did things go?"
Jake made a face and tipped his head from side to side. “Fair. It wasn't one of those Oprah reunions, but we were civil to one another."
“Why did you change your mind about seeing her?"
He met her gaze for the first time since they started talking about his mother. “I guess it was our conversation last weekend that did it. So when she called for her monthly check-up, I shocked her by not hanging up the phone. I ended up taking the day off yesterday and driving all the way up to New York to have lunch with her. I figured a restaurant would be a good place to meet for the first time.” It didn't sound like Jake had one hundred percent forgiven his mother, but it was a good start.
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