The Collie Murders: A Serial Killer Crime Thriller (15 page)

He felt, or rather heard the almost imperceptible sound of his zip cuff slipping in its catch and without waiting for his brain to catch up with the knowledge of it, he pulled his hand free. It was time to even the score with Gun, to see who the winner of round two would go to. 

Travis shot from his chair, knocking it over from the force of the action and he threw a punch at Gun, thinking to catch him off guard as the man had done earlier, but Gun dodged him at the last second, pulled his fist back and slugged him in the gut. The pain was blinding, white hot and incredible. Travis felt his knees giving and knew that if he crumpled to the floor that it would be a repeat of their first encounter and then he really would be dead since there would be nothing left in him to fight with. Instead of succumbing to the pain, Travis held his breath and reached out to grab anything that came in contact with his hand. When he felt the tail of Gun’s shirt, he yanked and pulled the man off balance, giving him time to force himself into a standing position. Still grasping Gun’s shirt, he used it to pull the surprised man toward him, and using the last of his strength disposed to him, be belted Gun across his deformed mug like a proper man. He had a second to realize that during their scuffle, Gun had dropped his makeshift torch and that the gasoline he’d spread on the carpet had caught fire.

Gun was on the floor, smoke was making his eyes tear, and still the only thing that Travis thought of was Abby’s safety. That woman was the most important thing in his life, the only person he knew, that made his life worth living. Strangely, his brother’s vows flitted through his head and he understood the meaning behind them. It literally could be true that the one person in your life that you loved more than yourself could be the one thing that kept you going, that gave your heart a reason to beat.

Trying not to choke as the flames grew and licked their way from the carpet to the couch, Travis flung himself at Abby’s chair and struggled to wrench her hands free from the chair and the zip cuffs that held her there. He hadn’t realized that the cuffs had been strung through the wooden spindles that made up the chair’s back until he noticed that his own chair had been broken.

“Travis! Behind you!”

Abby’s screams were a second too late as he felt a pressure hit his head and his knees hit the floor. Gun had recovered from the slugging he’d taken to his gnarly face and had come up behind him and thumped him good in the back of the head. The force of the hit, not to mention the pain was enough for him to see literal stars, but still he knew that there wasn’t an option to give up, that when this was all over he could pass out like he deserved but not a minute sooner.

As he was on his knees, Travis pushed out with his legs and felt himself collide with Gun’s body. Together they fell to the floor, and all there was, was a grunt beneath him to let him know that he was the one that had landed on top. The smoke was so thick now, that seeing through the clouds was difficult, and certainly breathing was impossible.

Travis rolled off of Gun, and not leaving a thing to chance, and because he was desperate, he began to hit out with his fists and strike like a battering ram into anything they came in contact with. It was only when he saw blood that he knew it was over, that Gun wasn’t about to get back up and go after him a second time.

“Travis!”

Travis could see through the smoke that the flames had made their way to Abby, that they were now close enough to begin flicking their heated points at her enough to singe her skin. He hadn’t realized that she was dressed only in a T-shirt, that the majority of her flesh was exposed. Knowing that he didn’t have the time to get her free, he forced himself to his feet and ran at the front door to open it. Once it was open and he could see the morning light pour its illuminating rays over the Hell his house had been turned into, he was moving away and grabbing Abby and the chair together to lift it enough to carry it through the door and out into the yard.

Travis was certain that once he felt grass on his feet and could hear Abby’s whimpering in his ear that she was safe and he could finally slump to the ground. The darkness that overtook him now was frightening, but at least if he died now, he could tell Peter at the Gates that he’d done all he could.

********

Abby sat next to Travis in his hospital room, observing his sleeping face. The doctor told her that he’d suffered two broken ribs and smoke inhalation. She had been treated for getting smoke into her lungs as well, but since Travis had been moving around and fighting for their lives, he’d gotten the worst of it.

Jon had been by, along with Cory and Louis, and the three of them were able to give her more of a rounded picture of what happened after the fire rescue had showed to put Travis’s house out of its misery.

The body of Geraint Naismith had been found, burnt beyond apperception of distinguishing features, and the only way that they were able to tell who he was, was from old dental records.

Abby told Jon what she’d learned, that she knew for a fact that this Naismith guy had been responsible for killing Norma’s husband and the old maid that had worked for her father. She told them she didn’t know why he did it, only that he’d be hired to do it by someone. She didn’t think that since Naismith was dead that they would be able to prove any other wrong doing, since the only person who had known who hired him for certain had been Naismith himself and the man was hardly able to talk now that he was a charcoal briquette.

She closed her eyes and let the mess of all that had happened drift out of her head. What mattered was that she was alive and that Travis was going to be all right.

“Abby?”

Abby felt Travis stir and his eyes caught hers. They were a little unfocused, and Abby could see that the painkillers the doctors had given him were doing their job like they were supposed to do. She lifted Travis’ hand and gripped it.

“Hi there, tough guy.”

Travis’ voice sounded like it was being pulled over gravel, but it was firm as he asked, “Are you okay? You’re okay, aren’t you?”

Abby kissed Travis’ forehead. “I’m just fine. They gave me the works when we got here and then gave me a clean bill.” She leaned forward and put her head to Travis’ belly as she pouted. It was probably the one thing on him that wouldn’t hurt if she touched it, even with his pain killers and she had to hide her face so that Travis wouldn‘t be able to see her gears turning.

“What?”

Abby chuckled. But didn’t respond.

“Abby, you make that face when you’re hiding something. What is it?”

During her check up to make sure her lungs were going to survive the smoke beating they’d suffered, Abby told the doctors that she feared she might be pregnant and that if she was something might have happened to the baby. They confirmed what she already knew, and now there was nothing she could tell herself to keep from having to tell Travis. He deserved to know.

“I love you, Travis.”

Travis chuckled. “I know that, Honey. You don’t have to say it.”

“I love you, so I think we should move in together.”

“Well sure. It was my idea. What are you trying to get at?”

Abby lifted her head. “We’ll have to find a new place, since yours is a pile of ashes now. And, it’ll have to have more space.” She lifted her chin. “It’ll have to have more room because we are going to have a baby.”

The expression on Travis’ face would have been priceless if she hadn’t been scared to death that he was going to reject her. The second his eyes went wide, they settled the moment after and he said the last thing that she’d expect. “Is that all? Geez, I thought you were going to tell me that weasel Gun was still kicking. Whew, you really had me going there.”

Abby stared right at Travis’ face to make sure that he wasn’t joking. “You’re okay with this? You know what it’s going to mean.”

Travis lifted his hand and put it to Abby’s face. He caressed her cheek gently with his thumb. “Abs, when we were in my house, facing death, there was only one thing I knew for certain. I knew that I couldn’t ever lose you. Having a baby is nothing compared to the thought that I might have lost you.” He paused, and said, “I told you I loved you; that meant I was in it for good. You’re mine, that’s all there is to it.”

Travis kept his eyes on Abby so that his words hit home as they should. He meant them, and he was surprised that the knowledge of his impending fatherhood hadn’t knocked him for a good loop. He thought it was because everything with Abby had felt as natural to him as breathing, and that even if his conscious mind hadn’t known it, his subconscious
mind knew it was an eventuality. They had gone about it backwards, but the only choice was to move forward and try to build a future. He knew beyond a doubt that Abby was going to stay and that he‘d keep her as close to him as possible for as long as she would have him.

The battle was over and the war was just beginning.

MATCH MADE IN COLLIE

Louis Kale leaned forward on the bar’s smooth surface and eyed his third vodka shot as if it was going to spontaneously lift from the table and pour itself in his mouth. With a finger, he poked at the new badge he’d been given and he frowned. Even with the noisy atmosphere surrounding him, he couldn’t seem to get his mood to lift.

The badge had been the last of a series of wonderful surprises thrown in his direction. The first of them had been his best friend’s decision to leave Collie with his new fiancé; something he never thought the guy was capable of.

Travis Harper was as much a part of Collie as the dog from the fire station that had inspired the town’s name had been. The place wasn’t going to be the same without him around. As he knocked back his shot, Louis realized, sadly, that he wasn’t going to be the same either.

“You usually this depressed after work, or is it because of me?” Said a hopeful and delightfully feminine voice.

Louis rearranged his gaze, and focused on the figure of a beautiful woman who was batting her eyelashes as if she were a gigantic butterfly. Her hair, like lacquered hay crowded her shoulders and enhanced the rich brown of her eyes which were brought to his attention by her actions. He blinked and forced himself to try and see her differently, to see her as one of the guys from the station, which is the only image he should have of her. It was a laugh God was having at him for taking away his best friend and then saddling him up with this breathtaking woman as his new partner. If he wasn’t so sad, the humor of the situation would have induced fits of amused smirking that would have left his face permanently disfigured.

Louis kicked the stool beside him away from the counter he was sitting at and motioned for Rebecca Tabb, newly transferred police officer and
hottie, to sit next to him.

“I’m not depressed. I’m not particularly overflowing with happiness, but I’m not depressed.”

Rebecca placed her hand on his shoulder as he returned his eyes to the bar. She said, “I’m sorry that I didn’t have a chance to meet your last partner. I hear he was quite the guy.”

“Whatever you heard, it’s not true.”

Rebecca squeezed his shoulder. “I know you’ll miss him.”

Louis sighed and shirked Rebecca’s hand from him. He’d only known her for the single shift he’d worked with her, and while she seemed like a decent person, he didn’t want to be talking about himself with her, or hear how she knew anything about him when she didn’t. He also wasn’t used to a woman making the first move or being the
handsy one

“Let’s not talk about it, okay? Why don’t you grab a
shot and we’ll drink to our health or some bull like that.”

Rebecca scoffed. “Golly, this town is just full of friendly people. Every man I’ve met since stepping foot out of my car has had his eye on my derriere and not my face. The first time I think I might meet a friend, he’s a morose jerk.” She paused, waved the bartender over and added, “I feel
very
welcome.”

Louis ran a hand through his hair. “Come on, be fair. I didn’t know I’d be getting a partner so soon, and it‘s made me irritable. I’m not used to the changes and I think Jon Harper is lying in bed right now, cuddled up to his wife and having a good giggle about what he’s done to me. He knew I’d be attracted to you.”

Rebecca lifted both of her eyebrows and giggled. “Did you just hit on me? How many of those things have you had?”

The bartender appeared just as Louis would have answered with a witty comeback. He sighed. “Two more and whatever the lady wants.”

“Rum and coke, please. No ice.”

The bartender nodded, gave Rebecca a second glance as if he’d had to get his eyes full of her appearance because he’d never again see someone so beautiful and then went to find the alcohol they’d requested. On his way to the bottles, the bartender slipped and fell into the counter. As he righted himself, he looked around to make sure no one had seen him exercise both of his left feet.

Louis chuckled. “Classic.” He put a hand underneath the left side of his jaw and he fixed his eyes to Rebecca. Even though she was downright gorgeous, there was already a woman in his life that he was interested in. It wasn’t fair to her that he make puppy eyes at his new partner, just as it would probably cost him his job if Rebecca became a notch on his belt. He pursed his lips.

“Technically I wasn’t hitting on you, just stating a fact. I find you attractive;
its not like that’s a sin.” He offered Rebecca a lifted eyebrow and a lopsided smirk.

“I think you’re attractive, too.”

The shot that had been poised to his lips faltered in his hand and nearly fell to the countertop. He hadn’t expected her to counter him with a shot of her own. After he got his shot down, he couldn’t help the fact that he found Rebecca’s talent to rise to the challenge sexy.

“You’re going to get me into trouble, you know.”

Rebecca shrugged her shoulders and winked. “At least you’re not sad anymore.”

Looking directly at Rebecca had
its consequences, especially for his moral fortitude. She was right; he was the furthest thing from sadness. Perhaps the solution to Travis’ leaving could be found in the arms of random women. After all, and after hindsight gave him the perspective, he could always claim that the alcohol made him do it.

Louis leaned forward, mostly to make sure he wasn’t going to all off his chair and look like the world’s most graceless ass, and he lifted a hand to Rebecca’s face. At this point, the advance could go fifty
fifty; mainly because either a woman allowed him to continue or he got slapped. Three seconds, four seconds, five second and safe. Five seconds was plenty of time for a woman to decide whether or not she wanted to be touched.

“You
bastard
.”

Louis blinked and the fog of cleared. Rebecca was sitting in front of him, her eyes glittering in his direction, and yet behind him had been where the voice had issued from. He turned, not so carefully this time, and as he slipped off of his barstool, he saw Reyna Casey’s blistering scowl, her face so livid the expression alone could melt steel. The last thought he had before she slapped his face to the opposite side of the bar went something to the fact that Reyna was in the bar. What in the world was she doing here?
 

********
 

Louis thanked Rebecca as she was kind enough to drive him home after the “girlfriend thing” at the bar, and luckily enough for both of them, Rebecca left him to his own devices.

It wasn’t the fact that Travis was gone, or that the guy just up and left without so much as a reason. The most the man gave him was that he was taking Abby north to Reston, the Big City, where they were going to take advantage of the hospital there for the baby they were expecting. Until the baby was born, and maybe for a long time after, they were going to try and make a home up there.

That had been five months ago, following the fire that destroyed Travis’ house. Lovely how time could just fly by. Of course, Louis knew what that really meant. It was goodbye, so long and see you later, pal all wrapped up into a nice little bow entitled women and commitment. A word that he never wanted applied to him, and especially never thought would be permanently applied to Travis.

Once inside of his house and after he’d safely secured a locked door between himself and Rebecca and that rest of the world, Louis threw himself on the sofa in his living room and let his pity party continue. Alcohol wasn’t invited; the spinning sensation he felt as his stomach teetered back and forth on whether or not it wanted to throw up made the decision to keep drinking pretty simple.

As he let the cushion of his sofa attempt to absorb his face, Louis let himself think about Reyna. She really was a special woman; she’d been kind enough to console him after Travis left, and even when it seemed like things were going to be okay, he’d stayed with her because strangely enough, Reyna was too interesting an individual to leave alone. It boggled his mind how a woman could be as beautiful as Reyna and yet have no thought of herself.

Louis chuckled. Save for tonight, naturally. The one place he never thought Reyna would be, she was, and now that she believed he was the dog everyone said he was, he was likely never going to see her again. The alcohol prevented him from feeling the impact of that, but he was certain there’d be more than one type of pain in the morning.
 

********
 

Reyna Casey sat at her kitchen table in the darkness, letting the tears that formed in her eyes fall where they wanted. She wasn’t a fool. She’d known what
kind of man Louis was, hell, anyone with eyes would know the man for what he was.

One little tear, one little frown was all it took for her to think that there had to be something more to Louis; so much more that she had, at all costs, needed to find what else there was to him. Even if it meant that she’d be hurt by him.

Seeing that woman’s lips about to touch Louis’ perfectly formed ones made her feel like she had been about to lose her mind. The image of his light brown hair moving over his stormy grey eyes as he leaned in toward that woman like he was a magnet made her want to scream until she went hoarse. Before she’d lost the ability to control her body, she let him have it with her words. If words could hurt, Louis would have been butchered right where he sat on that bar’s floor, looking up at her as if he couldn’t understand English.

Reyna wiped at her tears, though knew she didn’t have it in her to force herself to go to bed. She hadn’t wanted to realize Louis for the creature he was, least of all witness it for herself. Her heart certainly hadn’t
been prepared for it.

For almost five months, literally since her best friend had left town to seek greener pastures with the love of her life, she’d been interested only in filling the hole she’d left behind. She knew that Abigail had to do what she thought was best for her, and her baby and Travis, but to suddenly not have someone around that had been in your life
every day; it was like having her legs just cut from underneath her.

Then there was Louis. Grinning as if nothing in the world ever bothered him, solid as a rock and witty enough to induce a smile a mile wide at a single word. Even if she kept the knowledge to herself, she’d fallen for him the moment his eyes lifted to hers the first time. He had so many gifts, so much to give someone, and for a time, because he’d let her, she wanted to bask in the warm glow that was his soul. She’d been fool enough to believe that once she was there, cuddled against him, that there wouldn’t be a time when he’d grow cold and leave her behind to shiver in the darkness.

It didn’t matter now. She was certain that after what she saw at the bar and what she’d said to him, that their relationship was over. She couldn’t blame herself, which is why the pain seemed to feel as if she were being shredded, and yet she did throw the fault in her direction. It had been her decision to allow herself to love him, and the only person she had to look to was herself; the pain in her chest that threatened to destroy her had been her choice to encounter from the very beginning.