Dancing In Darkness

by Sherrie Weynand

  “Yes sir.” Was her only response.

  Even sitting in the middle of a police station, with a woman that had just received a note from a serial killer, the words yes sir escaping from her lips turned him on. If any words could be an aphrodisiac for him, those were it. He resisted pushing the envelope and scaring her off. So he let it go at that.

  When Det. Tony returned to tell them she had everything she needed to write up the report and they were free to leave, Priscilla informed her that she wouldn’t be returning to her apartment. “I don’t feel safe staying there.” She admitted.

  “I don’t blame you. Will you be staying with Mr. Linston?” She asked Priscilla.

  Before Priscilla could respond to the question, Adam spoke up and answered the question for her, “Yes, she will.”

  “I’ll still have my phone with me in case anyone needs to reach me. I won’t be working at Nina’s Place anymore until this is resolved either.” Priscilla added.

  “Ok, thank you Ms. Barnes. I want you to know that we are doing everything in our power to find this person.” Det. Tony told her.

  “Thank you. Three good women are gone because of this monster.” Priscilla said.

  Leading the pair out to the main entrance, Det. Tony offered her a piece of advice, “If you need to go back to your apartment for anything, please do not go alone. In fact, I would prefer it if you contacted us so we could have an officer meet you there and clear it before you enter.”

  Priscilla nodded her head in agreement and the two left the building. Reaching the car, he opened her door for her. She gave him a half smile and he knew that she didn’t have it in her for a full one. If you received a death threat from a serial killer who had already killed her friends and coworkers, you wouldn’t smile either. It just wasn’t there.

  Starting the car, he spoke softly, “I’m so glad that you weren’t hurt. I don’t know what I would have done.”

  She looked at him sitting next to her and knew that he was telling the truth. He would have been devastated. “I wasn’t and that’s all we can be thankful for. I should have listened to you.”

  “Let’s go home. At least your temporary home. I hope you will be comfortable there.” He said.

  They drove the rest of the way in silence. There was no awkwardness to it, they were two people lost deep in their own thoughts. While it might have been two different topics they were thinking about, it came back to they were both thinking of her. It wasn’t until they made the turn onto the tree lined drive that Priscilla spoke. “Oh this is spectacular. I knew the other night it would be beautiful, but I couldn’t have even imagined this.”

  “I told you it was breathtaking.” He answered.

  “Indeed you did.” Came her reply. She was lost in the beauty surrounding her.

  Finally arriving at the main entrance, Priscilla attempted to keep her awe in check. This home, if you could call it that, was mesmerizing. Getting out of the car she noticed the entrance. From the large stone boulders that lined the pathway, to the oversized carved wooden doors surrounded by the most extraordinary stained glass window arch she had ever seen. The work was impeccable.

  Today, there wasn’t a butler to open the door for them, although she was sure that at any second there could be someone there if he called for them. Before he closed the door behind him, he scanned the surroundings for any vehicles or anything out of the ordinary. When he was confident that there was nothing, he closed the heavy doors and secured them with the locks.

  Priscilla walked slowly around the large foyer examining the artwork. While she was here the other night, she hadn’t had a chance to see anything. If she did see it, she was so nervous that she couldn’t recall seeing it. That thought process led her to a question. “Adam, can I ask you something?”

  “Ask me anything you would like.” He told her.

  “What about the parties, if I’m here that long? Would I still do them or would you find someone else?” She questioned.

  “You wouldn’t have a long way to go to get here or to get home. I mean that is entirely up to you and what you are comfortable with.” He explained.

  “I don’t think I would be uncomfortable doing it, I was just curious.” She sighed.

  “Let me show you your room and then I’ll take you on a grand tour of the rest of the house.” He noticed her slight hesitation. “I won’t show you ‘there’ if you don’t want to see it. Again, I want you to be comfortable.” He said.

  With a slightly bigger smile this time, she added, “Oh no. I want to see it. If I’m going to be here, then I should at least know where everything is and more importantly, what everything is.”

  “Good girl. That’s the way to look at it. There is nothing here that should scare you.” He smiled back at her. “Now come on and I’ll show you to your room. A little later we can go out and walk the grounds, if you like. It really is something to see. The only thing I ask is that you do not go out there alone right now.” He told her.

  “No, I don’t want to go anywhere alone right now. Even out here. This whole mess is ridiculous. I’ve never been so scared in my entire life and I’ve been through some crazy shit.” She shook her head as she spoke. “I was wondering how I was going to be able to attend Megan’s funeral services, but I don’t think I am even going to be able to do that.”

  “I’m sorry, but I think you are making the right decision as hard as it is. If you go and the killer is there, because we don’t know who he or she is, and they see you with me, they will know where you are.” He agreed.

  He pointed her in the direction of the huge, sweeping staircase to the right. “After you my dear.”

  Everything about this house was perfect. There wasn’t a detail that had been missed and it was spotlessly clean. The bannisters looked to be hand carved and the spindles as well. Again, at no loss for artwork the home was tastefully yet elegantly decorated. The painted and textured walls were works of art on their own. She couldn’t imagine the time it took to build and complete this home. With even more of a twist to it, she knew that in the interior, behind closed doors and walls, was another entire section of home. It could have been used for anything. A safe room area, hidden wing for older teen’s privacy, if he had kids, anything. It was unbelievable. He chose to use it for a dungeon. That still threw her for a loop trying to comprehend that. Intrigued her, but confused her.

  Coming to a stop outside of the second door on the right he looked at her. “I hope you will find this suitable.”

  She couldn’t imagine finding any room here unsuitable. He slowly swung the door open and he heard her breathe in as she put her hands to her mouth. Before her was a room that she didn’t know could exist. It was very large, bigger than her entire apartment. There was a sitting area off to her right, with a bar and a built in coffee maker. The furniture was overstuffed and welcoming. The crystal chandelier that hung gracefully from the ceiling caused prisms of light to bounce off of the walls as the sunlight hit it. The one thing that caught her attention immediately was the bed. It was incredible, as if it were straight out of a fairytale. It was raised and had two steps leading up to it. The white carved headboard and footboard offset by a huge canopy. She loved it.

  “You’re going to make it so I don’t want to go home.” She smiled, her eyes filled with tears and it confused him.

  “You don’t like it?” He asked her solemnly.

  “Oh I love it. I absolutely love it. I guess these are happy tears because there is no reason for me to cry.” She continued, “I didn’t meant to say that, of course I will want to go home.”

  “I’m not bothered either way.” He admitted. “I’ll leave you for a few minutes to get accustomed to it and look around in privacy. While you are doing that, I will have Marta go into the city and pick you up some clothes.”

  “Thank you, I appreciate it. I mean, I appreciate everything. Sorry, I’m rambling, it must be the stress.” She whispered.

  After he left the room she began to l
ook around. If the bedroom was amazing, the bathroom was simply to die for. She didn’t like those words at the moment, but they were appropriate. Incredible. The walk-in shower with multi heads, the bathtub that was roomy enough for four people at least, the heated marble flooring, the carved vanity. Just stunning. From there she made her way out to the balcony off of the sitting area. She could easily spend hours sitting and watching the world around her, as long as she was doing so from right here. This was her perfect spot.

  Finding her surroundings to be beyond compare, she walked back into the room. Stretching out across the bed to see how comfortable it was, she closed her eyes for a second. Between the stress, the early morning, and the afternoon’s events, she was exhausted. It wouldn’t hurt to rest for just a minute. When Adam knocked on the door an there was no answer, he opened it slowly and peeked his head in. What he saw, melted his heart. There she was across the bed, sound asleep. He couldn’t make himself wake her. Taking a light blanket from the linen closet he draped it over her gently so as not to disturb her. He would let her sleep while he took care of some things himself.

  On the other side of town, Nina had located Abi and her kids. They were shopping and had a basket full of items. It was a surprise for Abi to see Nina there, since it was in a completely different section of town. Nina told her, “I need you and the kids to come with me when you get through. I’ll walk with you.”

  “Nina, what the hell is going on?” Abi asked quietly so as not to scare the kids or even capture their attention,

  “Priscilla had a note presumably from the killer that told her she was next. We aren’t sure that they aren’t watching you as well. I know the police were going to check on you at the house, but since you aren’t there, I don’t know. Pris asked me to come check on you and bring you and the kid’s home with me. It would be a safer alternative.” Nina said.

  “Oh dear God. Okay, well, I can’t really take this stuff all home then, but I do need diapers for the baby and some other things. Would it be okay to bring our groceries with us? I have nothing else to do with them.” Abi asked her. “Is Priscilla doing okay?”

  “She’s fine. She is staying with a friend for now.” Nina replied.

  “Good, I’m glad she has someone that she can stay with. I know it had to be hard on her not only for obvious reasons, but poor Megan.” Abi said.

  “This will do her good in more ways than one I imagine. Now all we have to focus on is who in the hell is doing this and what possible motives could they have?” Nina agreed with Abi.

  Getting the kids ready to go through the checkout, Abi asked Nina a serious question. “Priscilla said something quite some time ago and it never dawned on me until recently. She said something about Yvette Dornan and you having a disagreement the night you fired her. I mean it might be nothing, but at this point anything is worth taking into consideration. What do you think?”

  “Good point. I hadn’t thought of that, always assumed that Yvette was more talk than anything else. I think we should call the police with even any shred of information. It might be nothing, but it could be what we were looking for.” Nina said. “Why don’t you go ahead and take care of this, I’m going to step outside and call either Det. Ward or Tony. They need to hear this. I believe she was brought up after Zena was found, but I need to stress the importance. ”

  “Ms. Powalski, do you not think it would have been important to pass this on to us immediately?” Det. Ward spoke into the phone.

  “Look, I didn’t think about it then. We always had little spats, but she was a damn good employee and always came back. She was just one that had to be reined in from time to time.” Nina explained to the officer.

  “I’ll add this to the report and new information file. Is there anything else, I mean anything that you should have told us months ago?” He snipped.

  “I told you months ago. There was no reason for me to believe that she could possibly be involved.” Nina replied. “If I can think of anything else I will call back.” She said, ignoring his condescending tone.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Sitting at his desk looking at the information that Nina Powalski had just called in, why hadn’t the woman said anything earlier? That isn’t something that you forget. Every one of them were nothing but loser strippers in his mind and nothing would change it. He held them no differently than prostitutes. Selling their bodies for money. It didn’t matter if one had sex and one didn’t. You couldn’t tell him that those women weren’t fucking someone for money. He crumbled up the piece of paper that he had written on and threw it in the trash bin. It wouldn’t make a difference, one whore wasn’t killing the other whores over being fired. There were many clubs in this city and he thought wryly that she was probably already at one of them.

  When Tony came back into Homicide to pick up papers from her desk, she noticed the dark expression on his face. “What’s going on with you?”

  “Nothing. Thinking a little, but other than that, nothing. Did they find anything in the way of fingerprints off of that note or out of that woman’s apartment?” He asked her, trying to change the subject.

  “No, there were hers of course and in her apartment there were hers and a couple others, but running them it showed that they belonged to the cleaning crew that came in between tenants.” She replied. “This is too far gone. Three murders and now a direct threat to another woman. What bothers me the most is that when she gave me that note, the handwriting seemed familiar, like I had seen it before, even though I knew there was no way that I had.”

  He looked up at her quizzically. “What do you mean? No, I know what you mean, but where would you have seen it?”

  “That’s the thing, I have no idea.” She said.

  “You are letting your brain work overtime and it’s getting to you. Let this sit for a night and chill.” He told her as he began straightening up his desk and putting papers away. It was time for him to get out of here as well.

  “Hey Ward, I have a question for you. I’ve tried to answer it myself but came up with nothing.” She said to him.

  “Shoot.” He replied.

  “If you were this killer, why would you be killing these women and leaving them there in the park for all to see within a short time? Almost as if this guy isn’t even trying to hide them.” She asked.

  Stunned into silence he had to think. “I have no idea. I would take a shot in the dark and say that he wants them to be found quickly. It’s all I got.”

  Tony didn’t say anything and took his thoughts into consideration. These cases were the single most frustrating of her life. Now the city had workers in the sex industry in some fashion all up in arms about catching a serial killer that was targeting members of that community. She couldn’t find the words to give them any sort of relief from worry and she wasn’t getting any help in an official capacity from her partner. Calling it a night herself, she closed the file on her desk, shut down the laptop and tablet in front of her and walked away. Maybe Ward was right about needing to let it go for the night.

  Just before seven, Adam carried a tray with dinner on it, into Priscilla’s room. She had been asleep for almost three hours. Stress only intensified exhaustion and he couldn’t fathom the stress she was under. Sitting the tray carefully on the vanity, he walked over to the bed and softly called her name. She murmured in her sleep and moved her head. He laid down next to her and started to stroke her cheek, causing her to stir. When she opened her eyes she was startled by her surroundings and by him next to her. It took her a second to remember where she was and why.

  “I’m sorry to wake you, I thought you might like some dinner.” He told her.

  “Thank you, that is sweet. How long have I been sleeping?” She asked, looking confused.

  “Almost three hours, you obviously needed it. There are clothes in the closet for you if you would like to shower and change.” He said.

  It was only then that she realized he was still stroking her cheek and hair. She liked the feel of hi
s touch. She reached a hand out to touch his face. This is what she needed, human touch. It had been far too long and now this man lay here with her in bed.

  “Don’t.” He said. “Around you I have almost no control. I fight it constantly. I’m terrified that your touch would make any boundaries go away.”

  She withdrew her hand only slightly before saying “Don’t fight it.” Laying her hand across his cheek, she felt his resolve slip away.

  He groaned quietly under her touch. Moving his hand from her face down to her waist he pulled her closer to him. “Priscilla. Are you sure?”

  “Yes sir.” She whispered.

  Those words were his undoing. He held her tightly against him as he lowered his hungry mouth to hers. His kiss deepening until their tongues met in a feverish dance. She returned his kiss just as passionately. His hand sliding up and down her body over her clothes. He sat up and pulled her with him. “Raise your arms above your head and don’t move them until I tell you to.” He demanded.

  She looked at him with curious eyes as she did what she was told. With her arms up, he gripped the bottom of her shirt and lifted it straight off. The pushup bra she wore beneath defining her breasts. He watched the rise and fall of them as she breathed. Instinctively she started to lower her arms to wrap them around him.

  “No. I said do not.” He commanded her.

  Quickly raising her arms like she was told, she realized she did not want to disappoint him. He raised his arms to meet her hands, his fingertips trailing across her skin, finding their way to her sides, his thumbs finding the apex of her breasts. She sighed as he continued his journey. He stopped when he reached the waistband of her jeans. Waiting for the next movement, she was surprised when he turned her around so she was facing away from him. “Lower your arms.” He said.

  Instead of unbuttoning her jeans he started at the nape of her neck and kissed all the way around to her shoulders. Both sides. He placed his hands across her stomach as he left a trail of kisses followed by licks, down her spine. Her heart pounded against her chest as the first chills crossed her body. Slowly covering every inch of bared skin with his mouth, he felt her give in to it all. Over her jeans he slid his hand between her legs, roughly lifting her and pulling her back against him at the same time. “I want this, this is mine.” His whispered voice breathed against her ear. She could say nothing.