I was enjoying a quiet night at home, something I had forgotten how much I loved while Luke was around. I was cuddled up on a huge red velvet couch watching Nova on PBS and eating a huge salad with Salmon bites,(I'm a vegetarian, I do eat fish and chicken once in awhile but no sashimi. Sushi is NOT for me) when the doorbell rang. 'S**t! Who could that be at this hour'
I never felt ill at ease answering my door, like fearing it was a rapist or a burgular. I was a black belt in several forms of power martial arts, and lived in a nice neighborhood. Just the same I always played it safe. "Who is it?" I called out through the door while I peeked through the peephole. I saw a tall man with curly black hair, olive tan skin and dark brown eyes, he sort of looked like a younger Benjamin Bratt.
"Umm, Sorry to bother you like this Ms. Burns. You don't know me but I am a friend of Lukes."
He said haltingly. "Yes?" I said still not wanting to open the door. Damn! I knew Luke had friends but I didn't know he'd opened his damn mouth about where I lived!
"Well...uhh, you were the one to report him missing. So I thought I'd come by and see if there was anything you remembered or knew that could help me in my personal search."
He paused, sighed and ran his hand through his mess of curls. "Look I know it's late, I'm sorry, it's just he was my best friend since grade school. I don't know if I trust the police to do the best of jobs in this case." I sighed in turn and realized this was going to be tricky. If I turned him away it would look like I didn't care and then they might become suspicious of me.So I put on my best exhausted and caring face and answered the door.
"Hi" I said with a sad note in my voice, not looking at him but at the floor.
"I just can't believe he disappeared in my neighborhood of all places. It's usually so safe here, sorry I gave you the runaround. I just was spooked." I blurted out like I was a nervous and frightened woman who suddenly saw the city closing in on her.
I glanced up to see if he bought my routine.
He looked grievous for even knocking on my door at such an hour, and he also looked shocked,either he didn't know I looked this or he recognized me but was trying to hide it.
I continued to look down as I swung my door open wider and invited him in to my penthouse apartment.
My apartment was the envy of everyone in the building. dark wood floors covered in oriental rugs
my red velvet couch with oversized cushions that sunk in comfortably when you sat on them. I had a modest t.v. since I was not yet ready for a hi-def whatchamacallit. I had three walls covered from ceiling to floor books in side by side dark cherry wood bookcases(yes again with the dark cherry okay so it was my favorite). I had wooden floors in a rustic bamboo, not only because it was durable but it was green and I was an eco-friendly person, mostly so I could shove it down other peoples' throats about how they should be. The den had the couch that faced the t.v. wall with a shelf on either side, painted a dark stain, and on opposite sides of the couch were small table stands in dark stain each with a white porcelain based lamps, the shades were covered in a myriad of oranges and reds, causing a fire-like look to the lamp. The room recessed even further back, to where there was supposed to a be an eat-in or breakfast nook, but here I just had bookshelves, in...you guessed it! Dark cherry wood. Filled once from floor to ceiling in chilling mysteries, crime novels, true serial killers life stories, and books by cops about the ones they'd arrested who'd almost gotten away with it. Not to mention the criminology and Crime Scene technology books I'd consumed like a pig all those months ago. Keeping up to date, yes not consciously knowing what was to come, but all those books were gone, and replaced, quickly I might add, with all my old coolege books of necropsy books, english, shakespeare(pervert, trust me on this one), mathematics, philosophy, physics, and psychology, hmmm I always considered that a "soft science" really. I mean after fifty years of invasive testing, shock therapy, and even questioning under duress, they still know nothing concrete. It's funny when I was eight, my mother really started to worry about me and had an IQ test, a psychology test, and psychiatry test done on me. She never told me the results, but she did wring her hands a lot more. She would look at me with this almost, frantic expression. It would make me smile, I used to fantasize about hiding behind the couch or the hallway and jumping out and scaring her, just so I could see her worry more. Anyways, my apartment is antique but has traces of modern and I can tell as- He, walks in he is purveying this front living area with interest, looking at the ceiling, the floor, over at my small and modest kitchen, and...then to my couch, where I offer him a seat. I turned the t.v. off so I could focus on him straight off and as I looked forward I could see from the corner of my eyes that he was looking at me, studying me. I would say that I could already tell he wanted me, as if I could see that like any other guy in his situation he was looking for consolation and to feel good again. I looked at him directly, but he didn't look away. Again I got the sense he was a Benjamin Bratt Look-a-like. And with that a thought started to tug at my mind, like my subconsious was trying desperately to tell me or warn me of something, but I was too focused on Him to listen. His face softened a little and he looked, wistful, almost longing, I felt hooked on his gaze and had to tear myself from his hypnosis to even get out a sentence-
"So what is your name? And what are you hoping for me to tell you?" I asked directly and I knew a little too harshly, I was supposed to be playing the bereaved with him and so I dropped my eyelids and turned the corners of my mouth downwards to ease the harshness of what I had just said.
"My name is Alex ,Alex SilverHawk and I just wanted to know if he was acting unusual when he left or if you actually saw him leave that night. Or if you saw his car still here in the morning, or if you remember anything unusual?",
"Well, Alex, I'm Isabelle. Umm to be perfectly honest the night ended like any other. I mean I walked him to the door, we said good night. And I really didn't think to look out the window to see if he got to his car alright. I mean I thought this was a good neighborhood." Again I looked him directly in the eyes, but I lowered my lashes and chewed on this inside corner of my mouth, trying to look thought provoking. "How did you first discover he was missing?" he asked, and this time he gave me a piercing look, much like the one I had given him moments before. It was unsettling. 'Uh-Oh' , I thought quickly, 'How did I notice he was missing....' But my subconscious, genius that it was supplied the answer smoothly from my brain down to my mouth, before I even had to think on it. "Well his work called me saying they couldn't reach him on his home phone, business cell, or personal. So I tried calling them and it went straight to voicemail. At first the cops tried to give me the runaround that I had to wait 24 hours, but I pushed and finally got them to say they would at least check into it for me." He sat back and thought on that for a minute, chewing on the inside of his lip as his mind processed this new bit of info. I couldn't help but stare at his mouth while he chewed, and his eyes darted to mine, catching me in the act, I looked up startled. And that's when I saw it, saw him, HIS EYES. I knew then I wanted to see his eyes when they crossed over. but put that from my mind to talk.
" Now I have a question for you. Did anyone not like him? Have a grudge? Anything like that?"
I asked softly as if to say it nicely but still like I was probing him as much as he was me.
He sat back on the couch for a moment and thought.
His eyes looked off somewhere in the distance, again, that I couldn't see and again I imagined what his eyes would look like when he took his final breath.This time it was so strong it caught my breath in my chest.
"You know," He started, "There was this one girl. She was what I called the 'Trifecta of Scary'
She stalked him for about six months afterwards. Hacked into his email accounts. Called him day and night. Peeped into his bedroom. And followed him home from work."
"Wow." I said genuinely amazed. To think a girl that desperate for such a despicable gender. Mind bending. Really.
I shook off the thought and got back to what Alex said..."He finally got a Temporary Restraining Order against her and managed to keep her away. That was a year ago.
"Well, did you tell the cops about her?"
"Of Course."
"What did they say."
"Just...We'll look into that."
I made my face into a mask of crestfallen. "Oh"
"Yeah doesn't sound very promising"
"Well I am sure cops don't want to give false hope"
I looked at the clock. 3:30 a.m. flashed on the DVD player.
Crap.
"Umm I hate to break up our sleuthing team thing...but I have to be at work in five hours and really need sleep. I have a minor surgery to perform tomorrow."
"Wow. You're a doctor?"
I made a small modest smile. Damn right Mother F****r.
"Well just a veternarian"
"Oh that's so great, you love animals? Me too."
"Well," He said,as he stood, "I'll let you get your Z's"
" Call me at the office tomorrow, " I said with a grin.
"Maybe we can have lunch and do the whole Scooby Doo thing again" 'And maybe I can get just close enough to see what you're eyes will look like as you take your last breath. the thought was dizzying. I felt a like a hunter purveying the land, picking out her prey. I felt....powerful.
Alex smiled back,"Yout Got it." And he headed for the door. Oh, I will have fun watching his eyes snuff out. I laid against the closed front door just letting my mind imagine what that heavenly creature would look like as he winked out of existence. I pictured his eyes, looking at me with fear and understanding, like he realized it was me that bested him. But then Her eyes pierced the reverie and the moment was ruined. I felt ill to my stomach again. And reality came crashing in as I realized if both of them went missing both so quickly and also both last in the company of me, I'd be picked up so quick it'd make my head spin. 'For now it seems Alex, you will have to be a fantasy,' I sighed with that sullen thought and just stalked off to my bedroom passing straight out on bed without changing.
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Charlie anxiously sat beside her desk, waiting for an update. She had sat at the desk practically all night last night only going to the lights out room for a nap because she was dead tired. She couldn't believe she had allowed Silverhawk to do this risky undercover operation by himself. But it had seemed she'd been bamaboozled from the beginning. Yesterday she'd called Narcotics Detective Second Grade, Alex Silverhawk, first to tell him she was on his brother's case, and second that she might have a lead. She told him to come over and look at some photographs. He said that he'd not yet met his brother's (adopted brother) girlfriend but she was the person he was last with before he'd disappeared and she'd called it in herself. He knew what her basic looks were and described them to Charlie. Lo and behold about 1:20a.m. a woman fitting her description is seen crossing over to the bus stup and getting on eight minutes later. They wanted to keep the element of surprise for as long as possible on and to keep her from suspecting that they knew it was her. Alex surmised the easiest way to guile her, would be to pose as a grieving friend and act like he was just there to reach out to anyone else who was sad to lose Luke as well. "If she is just as manipulative as I think she will be, she'll try to act and play this out as best as possible. I'll lay on the guilt and keep it on thick and she'll break. Trust me, I eat girls like her for breakfast." Alex said with a cold look in his eyes. Charlie had seen that look plenty of times, since she's the one to either clear a cops name or to hunt down a killer of a cop's loved one. But to Charlie, Alex looked like a softie, like he'll get eaten alive. 'If that girl is even half what I think she is, and I think she's a sociopath...just starting out. He'll be dead if he tangles with her too much' Charlie thought with a piercing look at Alex.
"Well, just be careful, one night Silverhawk. You hear me? You're only going to identify her, cuz that's all we need." Charlie said sounding like mother but her warning fell on death ears as Alex walked out the door. And now Charlie was basically tearing her hair out as she waited for that call.
She was just about to get another cup of coffee when- RING RING!!! 'OH THANK GOD!!!
She rushes to pick the phone up and almost drops it in her fervor, but finally she grasps it correctly and says, "Davidson here"
"Charlie? It's Alex....It's her! Isabelle is the one in the photo! I am not just giving up though.I think I can study her and get a working profile of her criminal behavior. Actually figure out her method of madness to a precise enough point as to when she'll next strike, what sets her off, and how she might attack next.I can get her, I know I can, just give me time! I saw her mask today all perfect in place, but I also saw it slip...she doesn't even suspect me. I'll nail her three sheets to the wind before she'll smell me coming!" He said this so vehemently. Charlie could tell he sounded different, weird...almost. You would think he was on drugs but You'd know better, 'No' thought Charlie, 'He's out for vengence and thinks that he has an in, thinks he can take this monster down by himself and that's worse!' but before she could say anything, the line was dead and she sat back and stared at the phone in disbelief. Silverhawk was doing this totally off the clock and Davidson and Silverhawk made a deal that if he was let in on the case, no mention of him or his help would go in the jacket. Now Charlie wasn't so sure her deal was such a great idea. But she knew if the tables were turned...she'd want in on it. 'Damn' She thought running her hair though the long tangled waves of mess that was her hair, 'I wanted so badly to connect to another cop even in a different precinct I was willing to throw out the one rule when helping a brother in blue. Never NEVER let them get involved in a case that involves someone they're close to. It always ends badly.' Charlie sat back and stared hard at nothing, hoping, daring against her instincts that what she'd initially done was wrong.
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