Tainted Pictures (11 page)

           Kate, we found 17 different cases up and down the east coast that matched your attack.”  Detective Snow pulled out a map with red dots all over it, most of them around Washington DC and a few in other clusters in Maryland and other areas.

           “Seventeen cases?” Kate was incredulous as she picked up the map and touched the red dots gently, as if seeing a friend in them.  

           “Kate, this man is a serial killer.  All 17 of these cases, the victims were found dead.”  Detective McCraig spoke up in a low and ominous tone.  Both Kate and Derrick stared at him, processing what he was saying.  

           “All of them?”  Kate repeated, it was phrased as a question but really it was a statement of shock, her attempt to process the information she was hearing.  Why was she alive and seventeen other women were dead all at the hands of the same man?

           “They have dubbed him ‘The Photographer’, Kate.  He has been doing this about five years from what we can tell and most likely there are more victims than these but this is just what was discovered.”  Detective Snow interjected and continued to explain, wanting Kate to know that things were progressing.

           “How are you going to catch him then?  If all these other women couldn’t be saved, all these other police departments couldn’t catch him?”  Derrick asked the detectives.

           “Well, that’s the good news.  We have spooked him, guys.  He knows we are closing in and he basically admitted to us that we are closing in on him.  Remember the DNA that we linked to a close male relative?”  Snow asked them and pulled out a picture of Tracy Glen.  Kate and Derrick both nodded as they looked at the photograph.

           “Well this is him and went to go talk to the guy in prison where he was serving time, but he was killed by an unknown visitor minutes before we arrived.  This means that he is monitoring the investigation and trying to stay one step ahead of us, but it also means that he is telling us we are heading in the right direction.”  Snow explained to them.

           “Wait, are you saying he went to the jail right before you and killed his own family? The man who attacked me?  He is monitoring us?  And he killed his own brother or cousin or something like that?”  Kate asked them, shocked again.  She obviously knew her attacker was a monster, but to kill his own family?  Kate shivered as a bolt of fear shot through her.

           Who were they dealing with?

~~~~

           Kate and Derrick sat quietly next to one another in the car as Derrick drove them away from the precinct.  So much information had just been thrust upon them that they were both reeling with trying to process it all.  Derrick even more so than Kate because he had never heard about the photograph until he was staring at it a few minutes earlier.  The image was burned into his mind.  Even when he blinked, he could still see her laying there in ripped clothes covered in blood.  The blood, there was so much blood.  A knot had been forming in his stomach since he saw that and he mentally was beating himself up even more for having left her at the hospital.  

           He had thought seeing her bruised in a hospital bed was the worst thing he had ever seen until today.  He had just abandoned her.  He had no idea how he could have been such a coward and he hated himself for it right then.  He suddenly felt a surge of anger at himself, at The Photographer, at everything.  He smacked the steering wheel with the palm of his hand with a firm bang. Kate jolted, startled at the sudden sound and movement, and looked over at Derrick.

           “Derrick?”  She placed her hand on his bicep, gently squeezing him to let her know that she was there.  Her voice was soft and her face was concerned.  

           “I don’t even know how you can even stand to be in the same room as me, Kate.”  He said through clenched teeth, seething with anger at himself.

           “Derrick, you made a mistake.  You know that and I know that but even in this short time, you’ve grown and changed.  I can see it in you, a warmth and selflessness that wasn’t there before.”  Kate softly told him as she reached her hand to rub the back of his neck while he continued driving.  He was quiet for a few minutes, thinking about what she said.  He knew that she was right, but he still felt like his mistake was insurmountable.  

           “How can you ever trust me again?”  Derrick said, much quieter this time, glancing sideways to look at her and then back at the road.    

           “I forgave you, Derrick.  I don’t know how else to say it other than that.  I just don’t feel angry anymore, I don’t feel broken like a part of me is missing.  You’re here, back in my life and in my heart, I am whole again.  I love you, Derrick.  I’ve let go of what happened.  If I can forgive you, why can’t you forgive yourself?”  Kate spoke to him softly, rubbing the back of his neck.  

           “Because maybe you can forgive me, but how can you ever trust me again? Forgiveness and trust are two different things and I don’t deserve either from you, Kate.  You deserve better than me.”  Derrick said, hitting the steering wheel again.  Kate was quiet for a moment, contemplating what he said.  

           “Pull over, Derrick.”  She said to him firmly.

           “What? Kate, what are you talking about?”  He looked at her quizzically.  

           “Derrick, pull over the car. Now.”  She said with more authority in a tone that warned him that she was not joking.  He switched on his turn signal and snuck over a few lanes until he reached the shoulder of the road where he slowed to a stop.  He put the car in park and then turned his body to face her, as much was possible in the car.  

           “What, Kate?”  He asked flatly, attempting to push her away with a noncommittal tone and avoiding her direct gaze.  He had pushed women away all his life after his college girlfriend, Rachel, had cheated on him and run off with a married man.  Since then he had been so afraid to let another women close for fear that they would hurt him, but this was different.  He was doing the same thing but for the opposite reason.  This time, Derrick was afraid that he was going to hurt her and hurting Kate was the last mistake he ever wanted to repeat.  

           “Don’t do that, Derrick.  Don’t do that.”  Kate said to him sternly and unbuckled her seat-belt.  She leaned closer to him over the middle console of the car and grabbed his face in her hands.  She gently but firmly forced him to look directly in her eyes.  

           She had spent weeks being vulnerable, scared, and a victim.  She wasn’t that Kate anymore, with the reentrance of Derrick into her life and her resolve to start anew Kate was transforming into a stronger version of her old self.  A confident Kate, a Kate who had a purpose, a Kate who was madly in love with Derrick Kane.

           “Don’t push me away, Derrick.  Not again.  You don’t want to do that, I know you don’t.  That isn’t what you want.  You want me.  You want to be with me and you want to be happy.  Don’t toss that away because it’s too scary, it’s too vulnerable, or it’s too real.  Stay here, stay with me, Derrick.”  Her words started firm but faded into softness, a gentle look in her eyes was like a lullaby pulling him gently into her arms.  His stern and tight posture loosened as he slumped down in his seat a bit and looked at Kate as she let go of his face and just looked at him.

           “I love you, Kate.”  He told her quietly, leaning against the car seat headrest and looking at her.  She just smiled at him and nodded her head.  He reached over and caught her waist, pulling her towards him until their lips met in the middle.  Simple and gentle kiss, expressing more between them than their words had ever been able to.  

           “Do you trust me, Kate?”  He asked her softly, afraid of the answer but knowing he needed to hear.  She tilted her head to the side as she looked at him.  His eyes were so full of pain, tearless but still ripping at her heart with the emotions exuding from him.  She surprised herself when she realized that she really did trust Derrick, even after what he did at the hospital.  He wasn’t that man anymore and she saw that.  She loved him and she trusted him, but now she wanted him to trust himself.  She searched her mind for the right thing to say, something that would put him at ease and steal the hurt from his gaze.  

           “When I was in elementary school, the principal abused me for months.  Forced me to do things I still have nightmares about.  I told my parents and their reaction was even worse than what I had endured.  My mother liked the attention.  She loved parading me into the police station and the hospital and telling everyone how she was the mother of the abused girl.  How she was so affected by everything and how she was being so strong handling everything.  My feelings, my thoughts, my experiences- they weren’t even a blip on her radar.  

           My father found out and called me a liar.  He was so embarrassed at the thought of anyone knowing, that he forced me to recant.  He made me write an apology letter to my principal.  I had to apologize to a man who tortured me for months.  Made my life a living hell.  I was six years old, Derrick.

           Obviously my parents took such separate stances on the situation that they fought nonstop and they soon divorced.  My mother was never really interested in having children, she had even told me once that my dad made her have kids.  If she could go back and do it again, she would not of had me and Annie.  So she left.  Just up and left without a word, only showing up from time to time if she needs money.  The last thing she said to me was that everything was my fault.  That our family would have been fine if I had just kept my mouth shut.  

           My father couldn’t handle being alone so he drowned himself in vodka and anything else that could numb him.  Annie and I spent more time taking care of him than either of our parents ever spent taking care of us.  The drinking is what killed him.  I tore my entire family apart, Derrick, and I was broken long before The Photographer attacked me.”  Kate exhaled as she finished her short monologue.  

           The story of her life, of who she really was, suddenly laid bare for him to judge.  She was terrified of what she had just confessed but she knew that telling him the whole truth about herself was the only way Derrick would know that she truly did trust him and love him.  She wanted to give him that peace and so being vulnerable and regurgitating the darkest parts of her past was worth it to show Derrick how much she truly loved him.

           “Well that’s everything, Derrick.  That’s the very last skeleton in my closet.  You know everything about me now, down to the ugliest details.  You asked me if I trusted you, does that answer your question?”  She said softly and looked over at him, nervously awaiting his response. She had been fidgeting with her hands and only glancing occasionally at him, afraid to look him directly in the eye.  

           Derrick was still, enthralled by her story just as much as he was surprised by it.  This woman sitting before him was the strongest woman that he had ever met in his entire life.  She was beautiful and fierce, but delicate and broken.  She loved to fight and fought to love.  She took on the demons of the world as if it was nothing, handling herself with dignity at every step.  She was everything in this world that he had ever dreamed of or wanted, all wrapped up in one gorgeous, supple body.  

           “Marry me, Kate.”  It wasn’t a question, it wasn’t a command.  It just was.  It had to be.  He hadn’t even thought about it until it was already sliding off his tongue but nothing had ever felt so right before.  This was his everything, Kate was his everything.  

CHAPTER NINE

           The next day, Kate was standing out on the sidewalk in front of her house waiting for Detective Liz Snow to come pick her up after Kate called out of work for the rest of the day.  Detective Snow had called her last night and asked her if she wanted to go on a short day trip that involved the case.  

           Kate didn’t want to go to work anyways so she had happily called out for the day.  She was eager to be involved in the investigation and feel like she was doing something to take back her life.  The closer they were to catching her attacker, the closer Kate felt like she was to moving on and healing.  There was a part of her that whispered fear into her at the idea that he was still out there, lurking and watching.  Derrick had asked Kate if she wanted him to accompany the two of them, but she had said no.  

           The truth was that she was eager to spend some time with Liz.  She had never really had girlfriends before and she felt a connection with Liz that made her wonder if they could be friends one day.  Kate was realizing that she was craving more human connections.  She had spent so many years isolating herself but now as she was changing and growing, she realized that she needed people in her life.  She needed to allow herself to be loved and to let people in.  

           “So where are we going?”  Kate asked Detective Snow as she opened the passenger door to the detective’s car and hopped in.

           “Eldersburg, Maryland.  It’s about an hour north of here.”  Liz answered as she climbed into the drivers seat and buckled up.  

           “Does the mother know that we are coming?”  She continued her questions, feeling nervous about the small journey in front of them.  She had never been involved in any type of investigation like this or doing any sort of police field work.  But here she was following up a lead on The Photographer with a detective.  

           “Mrs. Connelly knows that we are coming but she doesn’t know the details.  She just knows that we have some questions for her about her daughter’s passing.”  Liz told her as she started up the car and headed out of the parking lot.

           “So Clara was one of the victims of The Photographer?” Kate asked her, pulling on her seat-belt a bit nervously, wondering what was she was in for.

           “It hasn’t been confirmed since he has never been caught but it certainly looks that way.  She was found in her bedroom of her studio apartment, raped and murdered.  There was a photograph left with her as well...uhm, near the body, similar to yours.”  Detective Snow said rather awkwardly as she wondered if Kate could handle this information. Kate was silent, just watching the scenery pass by the car window and absorbing the conversation.