Tainted Pictures (9 page)

           “Where was the other photograph?” The detective tried to steer her back to answering her question while she pulled a notepad out of her pocket and a pencil.  Liz didn’t want to slip and express the anger she was truly feeling at having been left in the dark for so long.  She couldn’t believe Kate had not told them about the picture in all these weeks that she had worked so closely with her.  

           “No, this photograph was in my Bible.” Kate pointed to the photograph of her sitting on the couch.  

           “This photograph, it’s the first photograph, was in my Bible but someone put it in the top drawer of my dresser.  It was him, he wanted me to find it!  I found it in my dresser, then went to look in my Bible.  There was this new photograph!  I was wearing those clothes two days ago- someone was outside and took this picture.”  Kate started to raise her voice, becoming hysterical as she laid out the pieces of the puzzle in front of Liz.  

           “Kate, Kate, calm down.  Let’s go a little slower.  So, you just found this new photograph tonight?”  She asked her.

           “Yeah, just before I called you.  It’s why I called.  He wants me to know he can still get to me.  But you know who he is now right, so you can catch him?  Did you talk to his brother today?”  Kate leaned on the table, eagerly awaiting the good news she had been celebrating all day.  

           Detective Snow gulped and cleared her throat.  She picked up both photographs and slid them into a plastic evidence bag.  She always had one or two of those on her, her job overtook her whole life.  

           “Kate, we didn’t get to speak to Tracy Glen today and remember we still aren’t sure how they are related, it might not be a brother.” She said, simply putting her entire day into those few words.  

           “What do you mean?  You couldn’t find him? I thought he was in jail, how could you not find him?”  Kate started becoming hysterical again.  Detective Snow stood up and walked around the table to Kate, placing a hand on her shoulder.  

           “Kate, let’s stay calm.  It happens in investigations sometimes, the lead was a dead end.  How about I make you some tea?  Where do you keep that?”  She asked her, taking off her own jacket and placing it over the chair.  The detective knew that she needed to take control of the situation in order to get more information.  Kate pointed her to a cabinet where she kept several varieties of tea bags and Liz began to start a pot brewing.  

           “Listen, Kate, we are going to need to search the house again.  If he was in here, maybe he left fingerprints this time.  Something that could help us find him.  I think now would be a good time to call Derrick, maybe he can come pick you up and take you to his apartment for the night.  I’ll call my partner but we are going to need an entire forensics crew to come through here.”  She finished putting the cups of tea together, just waiting for the water to boil now.  She turned around to look at Kate who was still sitting at the kitchen table looking like she was in a daze.

           Kate just nodded slowly and picked up her phone.  She sent Derrick a text message, not saying anything specific except that she needed him there now.  She just didn’t know what else to tell him over text message and she wasn’t sure she could put a string of words together to talk over the phone.  The joy she had felt all day had come to a crashing halt and everything had taken two steps backwards.  

           Plus the truth was that she did need him.  She needed him right this moment, his arms wrapped around her to hold her up, his breath against her neck reminding her that she was alive, his eyes piercing through her in a way that always made her brain completely shut down.  She needed to shut down in that way that only he was capable of bringing out in her.  She wanted him to be there right now and her anxiety began to raise as she realized how badly every second without him felt to her.  

           Detective Snow was on her phone calling her partner and forensic techs to come sweep the apartment.  Kate went to her bedroom to put on a sweatshirt and some socks, since she was only wearing a tank top and pajama bottoms at that point.  She then went back to the kitchen where Detective Snow was writing in a notepad.  She sat down next to her and began sipping the tea that had been made for her, but she wasn’t even tasting it.

           Finally there was a knock at the door and Kate jumped up out of her chair.  She wasn’t sure how much time had gone by since she had sat down at the table, she felt quite out of it.  All she knew is that Derrick was at the door and she couldn’t handle another moment not having his broad, thick arms clenched around her shoulders and pressing her tightly against his chest.  She rushed to the door, flying right past Detective Snow, and swung open the front door.

           “Good evening, Kate.”  It was Detective McCraig with several crime scene technicians behind him wearing matching windbreakers and carrying cases and boxes of supplies.  Kate felt her entire face fall and practically hit the floor, she couldn’t possibly have looked more disappointed to see him.  McCraig wrinkled his eyebrows at her furtively, wondering why she looked so startled to see him.   

           She didn’t say hello back but instead just stepped to the side and motioned everyone into her apartment.  She grabbed her jacket hanging near the door and pulled it on and stepped into some tennis shoes, getting ready to leave.  She didn’t want to be here while they were making her apartment look like a crime scene again.  She just stood there, dejectedly, and waited for the last person to walk in the door so that she could leave.  

           “Kate?”  Someone called her and she looked up to see the last crime scene technician walk past her, but behind him was a friendly face.  Derrick stood in the doorway, almost blocking the entire entrance with his large, muscular frame.  

           “You beckoned, beautiful?”  He grinned at her, knowing that she needed a hint of normalcy right now.  Kate burst into a smile and rushed to him, throwing her arms around his neck and burying her face into his smooth, soft skin.  He caught her with his arms around her waist and on her back, her feet dangling off the ground as he supported her.  

           “Take me away from here.” Kate whispered to him.

           “You’re with me now and everything else doesn’t matter.  Just you and me.  This is all that matters.  Let’s forget about everything else for tonight?” Derrick touched her chin, gently pulling her to face him.  She nodded in agreement, eager to have him take over and just care for her.  She was too worn out to keep pretending everything was fine.  Everything was not fine. There was a psychotic killer hunting her.  That’s really the very definition of not fine.  

           Seeing Derrick here pushed all of those thoughts away.  The way he expanded to take over the room and envelope her in his arms was mesmerizing.  She glanced up at him, her arms still wrapped around his waist and he head leaning against his shoulder.  His lips were only inches from hers.  Her eyes were searching his, looking for any signs of doubt, any signs that he might betray her again.  She wanted to push that fear away, she couldn’t keep holding onto this much fear.  She loved Derrick and she knew he wasn’t the same man he had been before.  

           “And I’m never going to leave you again.” He whispered, reading the fear in her gaze and stifling it immediately.  He wished he had never made the mistake to abandon her in her time of need and he knew he would happily spend every day for the rest of his life reassuring her that he would never be that man again.  

           The corners of her mouth lifted into a smile and she looked down at his lips and then back up at his deep, gentle eyes.  He wasn’t going to deny her another moment and so he leaned down and kissed her gently.  He squeezed her tighter against him as he did and then he smiled at her in the midst of their kiss and lowered her back down so her feet were on the ground.  With one quick motion, he reached down and one of his arms swept up behind her knees lifting her straight up into his arms.  She squeaked in surprise but didn’t try to fight him.

           “Let’s go home.”  Derrick said to her, as he carried her down the hallway and she curled up in his large arms.  Home sounded nice, this place didn’t feel that way anymore.  Derrick felt like home and that’s where she wanted to be.  Kate giggled, surprised that he was even able to pull the smallest bit of happiness out of her, as she leaned up to kiss him.

           “That sounds perfect.  Let me just go throw some clothes into a bag.” She twisted her way out of his arms and he put her feet back down on the ground.  She began to walk towards the bedroom but he grabbed her wrist and pulled her back swiftly.  She looked up at him, questioning, with her big, brown eyes still slightly misty from the events of the last hour.  

           He smiled at her and kissed her so softly, it was barely a kiss yet the electricity that passed between them almost brought her to her knees.  When he pulled away, she attempted to regain control of her breathing and then gave him a knowing look and grin as she headed back to the bedroom to pack.  

           As she left his sight, Derrick quickly went in search of Detective Snow.  He found her in the kitchen, ordering around technicians and scribbling things in a small, leather bound notebook.  She glanced up and smiled at Derrick when he walked into the kitchen, then immediately furrowed her brow when she saw the look on his face.

           “Detective, I need to talk to you.”  He said in a low voice, trying to keep his volume down so that only she would hear him.  

           “Yeah, of course, what’s going on?” She asked him quizzically, motioning him to join her in the corner of the kitchen near the window where they wouldn’t be disturbed.

           “This isn’t the first time.”  Derrick says, wringing his hands and looking guilty.

           “First time for what?”  She shot back.

           “He has been watching her, I think.  Or been in here before, I don’t know.  That’s why you guys are here, right?”  Derrick asked.

           “Yes, he left a photograph in her bedroom.  He was here.” She confirmed.

           “Well, it’s not the first time.  I’ve seen little signs that I thought was nothing but now I am not so sure.  Awhile ago, when she first got out of the hospital or a week after, she was asleep here and I got up because I thought I heard something.  There was a cigarette, still burning, on her fire escape.  What if that was him looking in the windows?”  Derrick said.

           “It’s possible but it could also have been someone smoking on the roof and tossing their cigarette over the edge.”  She said to him, taking note of his observation but also trying to reassure him.  She could see the worry on his face and she knew that she needed someone to be strong for Kate.  

           “I know, that’s why I didn’t say anything.  I brushed it off, but it’s been happening more.  And not just here, at my apartment.  The other day, there was a Styrofoam cup filled with cigarette butts on the balcony right across from mine.  It was as if someone had been there all night, looking across into my apartment.  That place has been empty for a while, so there is no way it was a resident or something like that.  I’m telling you, he is close by.  I don’t know when or where, but I think he is always close by.”  Derrick finished his explanation and a chill shot up and down Detective Snow’s spine.  

~~~~

           “Detective Snow just sent me a message that we should meet her at the police station in the morning so that everyone can get on the same page.  I can take the day off work tomorrow, do you want to go in late or call out?”  Derrick asked her as he pulled on some boxers and turned the lamps off around the room.  

           Kate was already warm and cozy under the thick blankets, curled on her side hugging a pillow.  She was just enjoying watching him walking around the room, getting ready for bed.  She felt safe as she saw him check the locks on the windows and doors, carefully protecting her in his home.  He smiled at her as he pulled up the blankets and climbed in underneath them next to her.  

           “I will probably just go in late unless it takes a long time.  I don’t know what there is to get on the same page about.  She dodged my questions about the brother and maybe the forensic people will find something tonight.  I don’t know what is going on anymore.”  Kate sighed and her voice trailed off.  Derrick reached over and pulled her towards him, her chest pressed against his and her head tucked into his neck.  

           “Things really seemed like they were looking up for a bit there, huh.”  Derrick mused, thinking about the events of the last twenty-four hours.  He squeezed Kate a bit closer for a moment of comfort that they both needed.  

           Kate pulled away slightly to look up at his face in the dark.  His dark chocolate skin glistened in the moonlight and his eyes were as piercing as ever.  He brushed some hair off her face with a gentle caress of his fingers.

           “What are you thinking about, beautiful?”  Derrick said softly.  Kate smiled at him, blushing hesitantly.  

           “Just that I love you.”  She stated, simple and elegant.  She hadn’t told him that she loved him in a while.  They both knew how the other felt, but she hadn’t said it out loud much since the attack, maybe not at all. There was something powerful about saying it out loud that meant more than the knowing looks and smiles they had been exchanging.  Something about saying those little words that strengthened the tether that had been almost worn in two between them for the last few weeks.  

           Derrick looked at her intently, his lips weren’t smiling but his eyes clearly were.  He leaned his face towards her, pushed her chin up with his finger, and kissed her delicate lips.  She kissed him back eagerly and wrapped her leg over his legs, pulling herself tighter against him.  

           “I love you, Kate.” He responded to her after a moment of passionate kisses and then quickly returned to devouring her lips.  Her leg was wrapped around him and his arms were around her so with one swift motion he pulled her underneath him and was laying on top of her.  He bore his weight on his arms so as not to crush her but he allowed his hips to press against hers firmly so she could feel every bit of how much he loved her.