Level Five (19 page)

He grabbed Edie by her arm and pulled her up and over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Thankfully she was a small, slender woman.  All he had to do was walk out of the gate and load her into the trunk of his car.

As he carried her, he smelled the scent of her, felt the warmth of her body against his own. The thought of finally getting her into his paper room filled him with sweet, wild euphoria.

She was the one.  He knew it in his heart, in the depths of his very soul.  She would be the one to save him.  She would be his redemption, finally releasing the rage and pain that had been his master for so many years.

When he reached his car he popped open the trunk and gently placed her inside.  Before closing the lid he pulled a syringe from his pocket and injected her in the arm with enough sedative to keep her out for hours.

That would allow him time to get her into his house, into the room where his work could begin.  Nothing would be done tonight.  She would be unconscious while he chained her, unconscious while he drank in the amazing reality of her presence.

He wouldn’t be able to begin his process with her until the next day when he got home from work.  He would love to take off the next couple of days and just spend time at home with Edie. But he knew the importance of keeping his routine the same.

Before he slammed the trunk closed he reached out and, with a trembling hand, stroked the length of her long, dark hair. 
So beautiful. 

She looked just like the mother he remembered from his childhood, the woman who had loved her things more than him.  The woman who ignored him except to show off whatever new treasure she had found in some dumpster or alongside the road and had brought home.

He slammed the trunk lid before the rage could carry him away, before the red curtain of pure hatred descended in front of his eyes.  The last thing he wanted was to have to bury her before he had a chance to spend time with her.

                    Chapter 19

              It was the afternoon from hell for Jake.  Thoughts of Edie distracted him.  He’d thought he’d done the right thing when he’d told her he needed some time away from her. As the hours of the work day wound down, doubts began to play in his head.

             
Was a part-time Edie better than no Edie at all?  Was the pain he felt over the fact that she couldn’t fully commit to him greater than his joy whenever they did have time together?

             
He’d always wanted a wife and a family. He wasn’t sure that was possible with Edie.  He’d done everything he could to convince her that they belonged together, that they could build something beautiful and lasting. She apparently wasn’t buying what he was selling.  Why not?

             
Maybe he really needed to talk to her, a deep discussion about what was keeping her from marriage to him.

             
“Why don’t you just call her back,” Teddy said from the passenger seat of the car.  “You know you’re going to cave.”

             
“I don’t want to call her back.  She probably won’t answer my call anyway,” Jake replied.  Funny, now he couldn’t summon the frustration and anger that had exploded from him earlier.  All he could think about was that he didn’t want to take time away from Edie.

“I’d rather go by and talk to her in person,” he said to Teddy. “Would you come with me?”

              Teddy looked at him in surprise.  “Why do you need me?”

             
“How well can you belch a verse of I’m Sorry?” he asked half-joking and then sighed.  “Maybe if you’re with me she’ll at least let me inside the door. I’ll just feel better if I have a little back-up.”

             
“You know I’ve always got your back, Jake,” Teddy replied.

             
For a few minutes they drove in silence and it was Jake who finally broke it.  “How soon after you met Lisa did you know she was the woman you wanted to spend the rest of your life with?”

             
Teddy smiled.  “I met Lisa when we were both sophomores in high school.  One day I was walking down the hall and I noticed her standing with a couple of her friends.  I introduced myself, told her I thought she was cute and had a nice ass.  She told me to fuck off and went right on talking to her friends.  I knew at that moment that someday, somehow she was going to be my wife.”

             
“And it was smooth sailing from that point on?” Jake asked.

             
“God, no.”  Teddy laughed.  “Lisa and I dated off and on all through high school.  One day we were in love, the next day we were broken up.  It wasn’t until college that we realized we belonged together, that she understood nobody was going to love her as much as I did and for some crazy reason she believed I could be the man she wanted, the man she needed in her life.”

             
“From the first minute I saw Edie I was crazy about her and she seemed to feel the same way about me.”  Jake frowned as he turned down the lane that led to Edie’s house.  “She’s not like any woman I’ve known before. I just don’t understand her.”

             
“Don’t even try,” Teddy replied.  “I’ve spent years trying to understand Lisa and I’ve come to the conclusion that men really aren’t supposed to understand women.  We’re just supposed to love them.”

             
Jake parked the car behind Edie’s in the driveway and shut off the engine but made no move to exit the car.

             
“What are you afraid of?  Is she a screamer?  A yeller?” Teddy asked.

             
Jake shook his head.  “Not at all.  Sometimes I wish she’d do that.  When she gets angry she just disappears into herself.”  He turned to look at his partner.  “That’s why I wanted you to be here, so that she won’t just disappear and will be forced to have a conversation.” 

             
He stared at the house where he’d known such happiness.  “And maybe I’m a little afraid that instead of being hurt by my phone call telling her I wanted some distance, she was actually secretly relieved.”

             
“Jake, if it’s meant to be it will be. If it’s not then you’ll eventually move on because that’s what you’ll have to do.”  Teddy’s voice was gruff as he opened his car door.

             
Jake did the same and got out of the car.  He felt as if his future with Edie would be decided in the next few minutes.  His heart beat as fast as it did when he stepped into a crime scene.

             
Teddy was right.  Either they were meant to be or not, but Jake had to figure out how to get off the merry-go-round and either change things with Edie or move on. 

             
He could face a suspect armed with a knife who had just stabbed two other people and was still in a fugue of rage without even a rise in his blood pressure, but as he knocked on Edie’s door his head pounded with blood and his heart beat crashed in a fevered dance.

             
There was no answer.

             
He knocked again and when nobody answered the door Teddy shifted from one foot to the other.  “Maybe she’s out back or working.  You always tell me when she’s at the computer she goes into some kind of zombie zone.  Don’t you have a key?”

             
Jake nodded and pulled out the house key she’d given him a year ago.  It didn’t feel right to use it under these circumstances, but he needed to see her. He needed to talk to her and he didn’t want to wait another minute.

             
He unlocked the door and together the two men stepped into the small foyer.  To the right was the dining room which Edie used as her office.  She wasn’t there. Her computer was either off or in sleep mode. 

             
“Edie?” Jake called.  “She must be out back with the dog, otherwise Rufus would be barking and licking our faces off right now.”

             
Jake and Teddy walked through the living room and into the kitchen where the back door led out to the deck.  The door was open and Jake looked out, expecting to see Edie seated at the table while Rufus ran in the yard.

             
But, there was no Edie and no Rufus that he could see from the doorway.  He stepped out on the deck, aware of Teddy following right behind him.

             
“Edie?  Rufus?”  Jake scanned the yard and then he saw the dog.  “Rufus!”  He took the stairs to the yard by two as he raced to the side of the prone animal.

             
When he saw white froth foaming from Rufus’s mouth his heart nearly stopped.  For a single terrifying moment his brain refused to function. 

             
“Where’s the nearest vet’s office?” Teddy asked as he reached down and picked up the dog.  Jake looked up at him, stared at him blankly.

             
“Jake, your dog is dying.  Where can I take him for help?”

             
“Dr. Barrows…three miles up the road on the right.  Healthy Pet Animal Clinic.”  The words tumbled from Jake in horror.

             
Teddy hurried toward the side gate in the fence as Jake got to his feet.  He’d seen poisoned dogs before and he knew that there was a chance Rufus wouldn’t make it.  He couldn’t think about that right now.   

             
Edie. 

             
Somebody had poisoned Rufus.  Somebody had tried to kill their baby.  So, where was Edie?  Where could she be?  Danger.  Danger.  The word reverberated inside his head.

He had to find Edie.

Anthony pulled up to his house and parked in front of the garage, his heart pounding with the sweet rhythm of success.  He’d stolen her right from her house, right from beneath the nose of her Detective boyfriend.  He’d taken her from her backyard, leaving no clues for the cops to follow,
no trail that might lead back to him.

He was safe to carry on his work without fear of discovery.  He got out of the car. His fingers trembled as he opened the garage door
and went inside. He quickly changed from his business suit to one of the T-shirts and a pair of jeans that were neatly folded on the top of the dryer.

He closed the garage door and paused to look around. 
Nobody.  The only witness to his actions was a lazy hawk swooping circles in the sky.  He punched the button that released his trunk lock.

As it sprung open and he lifted it, his heart nearly beat out of his chest as he gazed at his prize.  Even with her eyes closed and her mouth agape in unconsciousness she was as beautiful as his mother had been when he’d been young.

An ache of need rose inside him, the need for her to open her eyes and tell him how important he was, how proud she was of him.  He’d just wanted her to hear him, to acknowledge that he was as important to her as anything that filled her house.  

He picked her up in his arms and knew in his heart she was better than the others. What could a fast food waitress or a dental assistant know about victimization?    

It took several minutes for him to maneuver her in the front door and through the narrow path that led to the paper room. Hopefully, she would last longer than the others who had come before her.

He laid her gently on the floor he had cleaned and bleached and locked the cuff attached to the chain around her ankle.  He crouched next to her, staring at her.  She would remain unconscious for hours, but even now he found her fascinating.

He’d read the book he’d bought at the book signing and had found her take on victims of crimes both insightful and sensitive.  She was obviously more intelligent than any other project he’d had here before.  He thought she might be sensitive enough, intelligent enough to understand him, to really understand what he’d been through, what had made him who and what he had become.

He reached out and touched a strand of her silky hair, the way he’d once wanted to touch his mother’s hair.  He wanted Edie to be the one, the final one who brought him peace from his
tormenting past. And if she wasn’t the one then she would grow a lovely rose in his garden.