Authors: Stephanie Hoffman McManus
Red Red Rose
Red Red
Rose
Stephanie
Hoffman McManus
Copyright © 2016 by Stephanie
Hoffman McManus
All
rights reserved by the author, including the right to reproduce,
distribute,
or transmit in any form, by any means.
This
book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations,
places, events and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination
or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead,
events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
For
Mom and Dad
Thanks
for buying me all
those
Nancy Drew books.
Contents
Red
Red Rose
O my Luve's like a red, red rose,
That's newly sprung in June:
O my Luve's like the melodie,
That's sweetly play'd in tune.
As fair art thou, my bonnie lass,
So deep in luve am I;
And I will luve thee still, my dear,
Till a' the seas gang dry.
Till a' the seas gang dry, my dear,
And the rocks melt wi' the sun;
And I will luve thee still, my dear,
While the sands o' life shall run.
And fare-thee-weel, my only Luve!
And fare-thee-weel, a while!
And I will come again, my Luve,
Tho' 'twere ten thousand mile!
-Robert Burns
My
heart drummed faster as I fumbled with the keys. I bit back a curse of
frustration as they slipped from my gloved fingers and fell to the floor. I
bent and snatched them back up, drawing in a deep breath. I was so close.
Behind this door, I would find her. The girl who was taken from me. My sweet
Rose. I’d almost given up hope, but they wouldn’t keep her from me any longer.
I’d gone through a lot of trouble to get here.
I
slid the key into the lock and heard the satisfying snick before I turned the
handle and pushed open the door. I slipped inside and let it fall closed behind
me. I couldn’t believe after all this time I was so close to her. The closest
I’d been since those bastards came that day and took us both away. I withdrew
the small flashlight from my pocket and clicked it on, breaking up the pitch
darkness with the narrow beam of light. I drew back the mask covering my face
and scanned the room. I headed for the first set of file cabinets against the
wall to the left. I found them locked, but I had expected that. I searched the
ring of keys and inserted the smallest one. Anticipation caught in my throat as
I slid the drawer open and rifled through the files.
It
wasn’t here.
I
slammed the drawer closed and moved on to the next set, going again to the one
marked G-L.
“Hill,
where are you?” I muttered under my breath as once again I came up empty. I
slammed another drawer closed and moved on.
I
finally struck gold in the fourth cabinet. Sealed juvenile records. Hill. There
she was. I yanked the file from its place, my heart slamming against my chest
and my hands slick with sweat inside the gloves. Finally. I flipped through the
pages one by one, snapping pictures on my phone until I came to the page that
would lead me right to her.
I
grinned and snapped another picture and then finished flipping through her
file. No time to read it now, but soon I would know everything that had
happened since that day she was taken from me. Once I had pictures of each
page, I returned it to its place and slid the drawer home. I pulled the dark fabric
back down over my face and slipped from the room. It was only a precaution.
Just in case I screwed up and managed to get caught on one of the security
cameras. I was confident I had memorized the layout and could make it out of
the building the same way I’d come in without being seen, but I couldn’t afford
mistakes. Not when I was so close after all this time.
A
quick scan of the surrounding area told me no one was around to witness my exit
at this time of night and I removed the mask, shoving it in my pocket. My truck
waited down the street, behind Mac’s, where no one would think it out of place
this late. My vehicle wasn’t the only one parked out back of the old bar, and a
minute later I was behind the wheel and pulling the pickup out onto the quiet
street, headed back toward Stacey’s.
I
pulled in next to her Prius and shut off the engine. My hands were still gloved
and I didn’t bother slipping them off as I let myself back inside her cush
little two bedroom. Very quietly, I closed and locked the door behind me, then
slid open the drawer just inside the entryway, where she kept her work keys,
and dropped them inside. She’d never even know that I borrowed them.
Or
at least she wouldn’t have.
A
light flicked on behind me and Stacey stood in the hall in nothing but her
panties and a t-shirt, a slight frown on her face. “Where were you?” she asked
with an edge of suspicion, and then her eyes darted to the drawer where I’d
just deposited the keys. “And why did you have my work keys?”
This
was not part of the plan. She shouldn’t have woken up. I thought I’d plied her
with enough wine during dinner that she should have remained passed out in bed
until morning. This wouldn’t work. Already the plan was changing in my head as
I took cautious steps toward her.
“I
just needed to slip out for some smokes, babe. I must have grabbed the wrong
set of keys to let myself back in,” I lied even as her eyes scanned the table
above the drawer to see her house key sitting right where I’d returned it as
well. I didn’t need her to believe me. I just needed her to hesitate.
She
folded her arms across her chest and took in the rest of my appearance, her
eyes lingering on my still gloved hands. Middle of June, I couldn’t very well
use the temperature outside as an excuse. Her eyes became more guarded.
“I’ve
never seen you smoke.” She took a step back toward her bedroom, but already I
was almost within reach.
“Been
trying to quit,” I said softly. “Nasty habit, but a hard one to kick.” I
continued to edge closer.
Her
brow furrowed deeper in confusion. “What’s going on Robbie?” She used the name
I’d given her, but it wasn’t my real name.
“Nothing,
baby. I just needed a quick peek at a file you keep locked up in the records
room.”
Her
eyes went wide. “You broke into the courthouse?”
“I
didn’t have to break in. I had your keys and passcode. I couldn’t have done it
without you. You’ve been so helpful, so how about now you let me reward you?” I
grinned and she took another step back.
“You
used me?”
“Why
do you have to say it like that? We both had a good time. At least I know I had
fun.” I watched her cringe and I thought back to earlier in the night and the other
nights this week we spent tangled in her sheets, my grin spreading.
“I
want you to leave, and I’m calling the cops.” Her voice shook and I backed her
into the wall. I leaned in close and she flattened herself against the hard surface.
“You’re
not calling anyone,” I whispered, grazing my lips over her jaw. She still
smelled like wine and sex, and her body trembled.
She
turned her face away from me and gave my chest a weak shove. “Please just go. I
won’t tell anyone.”
A
low chuckle fell from my lips and I grasped her wrists tight in my hands.
“You’re right. You won’t.”
She
started to struggle in earnest and a soft cry bubbled up. Excitement stirred in
my blood, hearing her fear, knowing I was in control. I started to drag her
toward the bedroom as she pleaded with me to let her go. I shoved her through
the doorway and pushed her down on the bed.
She
looked up at me, tears pooling in her eyes. “What are you going to do?”
“I
told you. I have to make sure you don’t tell a soul about what I did tonight. I
can’t have anyone stopping me. Not when I’m this close to finding her.”
“Who?”
I
knelt down on the foot of the bed and she scrambled backward, but I caught her
ankle. “You don’t need to worry about that. You don’t need to worry about anything
anymore.”
Terror
flashed in her eyes and I watched her chest heave as she sucked in a breath,
preparing to unleash a scream that might bring the neighbors running. Before
she could, I was on her. My hands curled around her throat, stopping the scream.
I pinned her hands beneath my knees. She fought, and twisted and bucked, but
her small stature was no match for my larger one and it wasn’t long before she
couldn’t keep the fight up. Tears poured from her eyes. They stared up at me
pleadingly as I felt her life slipping through my fingers. It was a rush, one
like I’d never felt before. Not even when I bashed that bastard’s head in. This
was so much more personal. She was beautiful beneath me, her fear and tears making
me grow hard against her belly. I tightened my grasp and her eyes went even
wider one last time before her body became limp and all the light left her
eyes.
It
was another minute before I released my hands and sat back on my heels. I gently
brushed her hair off of her face. “Sorry baby, but you were never the one for
me.” Her lifeless eyes gazed right through me.
This
wasn’t part of the plan, but I couldn’t deny the exhilarating rush I felt. Now
there was no time to waste. I climbed from the bed and scooped her into my
arms, carrying her to the bathroom, where I stripped her down and placed her in
the tub. With a twist of the nozzle, the tub began filling with hot water. I
removed my black leather gloves and went about wiping her body down. I’d used
protection earlier, but it wouldn’t do to get slipped up leaving behind some
trace of evidence. I grabbed up her clothes and stripped her bed down and
tossed it all in the wash, pouring in enough bleach that if any DNA survived
the wash cycle it would be useless.
I
returned to the bathroom for my gloves and then made quick work of wiping down
any surface in her place I’d touched, erasing all traces of myself. I left her
in the tub and then made my getaway before the first rays of dawn broke through
the night sky. By the time anyone found her, I would be long gone and no one
would ever know I was there. No one knew about Stacey’s dirty little secret and
the guy she picked up at a bar to help her with her loneliness. Of course it
was no coincidence that I was that guy. I’d watched her from the moment I knew
she could get me to the file I needed.
I
hit Boise and still had the cover of darkness when I returned the truck to Mr. Edward’s
garage. The old goat would wake up and find it right where he left it, never
knowing I’d seen where he hid the spare key that time I fixed the garage door
for him when it got jammed.
My
car was still safely up the drive, parked in front of the little shithole I
rented from him. I walked the rest of the way up the drive and let myself
inside the rundown shack, flipping on lights as I made my way to the kitchen.
My stomach grumbled in hunger, but stronger than my hunger was my excitement. I
had what I needed now. I went straight to my computer, firing it up, cursing
the slow start-up. But once it was powered on and ready, it only took a few
minutes of plugging names into the right places to find what I was looking for.
Bellingham,
Washington.
Gotcha.
I
closed my laptop with a smile on my face.
I’m
coming baby. I’ll be seeing you soon, my pretty little Rose.
