Games We Play (13 page)

When she noticed she was caught peeping she turned hastily on her toes and moved to the other side of the room. “Almost done? We don’t want to be late.”

He wanted to reach out and grab her around the waist when she walked past him but he used every bit of common sense he had and restrained himself. He didn’t want to push her away because of his strained libido. He was going to honor her wish and wait until the
y
put all their cards on the table. She thought once they got back home and in their usual routine the spell brewing between them would fade away. He was going to have to prove her wrong and he couldn’t wait. “Yeah we wouldn’t want that.”

Chapter 16

Sheriff Deacon Howard was a southern black gentleman who still liked to open his wife’s car door every time they were out together but he was a gentleman who didn’t like any bullshit and appreciated that character trait in others. It was a trait these FBI agents had, they weren’t trying to dick him around or keep him out of the loop because he was a small town sheriff. Deacon was small town but by no means stupid.

He had met with Noah and Wayne yesterday and taken an instant liking to the duo. Wayne’s African accent reminded him of his late mother and that brought warmth to his heart every time the guy spoke. Deacon wasn’t all the surprised to learn Maggie Walker was actually Sasha Madden undercover. It never felt right that Maggie would decide to return back to the town she lost everything even if it wasn’t Maple Oaks fault. He had been a deputy at the time and worked hard trying to bring some closure to little nine year old Maggie that never came. Now maybe they could all right that wrong. Seeing Sasha threw him back into time, he knew the girl well. “One of my biggest trouble makers went and became a fed?” it was very amusing to say the least.

The man with the deep blue eyes next to her lit up. “Really? I think we need to hear about this.”

“No, we need to focus on work and catching the deranged fuck
that
is targeting innocent women.” Her dirty mouth hadn’t changed a bit that was for sure. He remembered vividly a thirteen year old Sasha cursing up a storm after she had been brought to the station for fighting.

After raising three kids Deacon knew when an argument was on the horizon and how to defuse it and stay on track. “I’ll share all stories at the celebratory dinner we’ll throw after this monster is off the streets. I spoke at length with your chief and as long as you keep me involved in your decision making you have the full support of the sheriffs department.”

Sasha said, “Thank you.” Poor girl seemed to have the weight of the world on her shoulders and such a burden was never left the person unaffected. Her stakes in this investigation were personal now after the killer made contact.

“The press conference is scheduled to interrupt all major networks during the lunchtime rush.” It was certainly an ambitious plan the agents were attempting and one Deacon hoped worked. It was far past time Maple Oaks locked away this killer. 

Noah said, “They’ll be sticking around until then out of your hair of course.”

Deacon smiled at the young FBI agents as they piled out of his office. He wasn’t letting his ego get in the way of good police work, the town needed help to remain safe and that’s what they were all trying to do. He was willing to leave his ego at the door and admit the need for help if it meant locking a madman behind bars. Alone he whispered a soft prayer to bless every officer with the knowledge and safety this takedown would need in spades.

Sas
ha was having an odd sense of de
ja vu as she walked the halls of the police station. Not much had changed, the walls were still an ugly yellow and every room smelled like old stale cigarette smoke. It was against the law to smoke inside the police station now but that law did nothing for the old stenches already left behind day after day.

Deacon Howard was a sharp man and she wasn’t surprised at all he remembered her after she admitted her real name. After her parent’s death and endless fights with her sister at home and classmates at school she spent a good chunk of her teenage years at the police station. The sheriff at the time, Jerry Martin, and Deacon both took pity on her and avoided sending her to juvie in exchange she work around the office filing papers and cleaning the offices and interrogation rooms every day after school. She was surprised no one ever asked her to add painting the walls on her long list of chores but back then and now she seemed to be the only one bothered by the scent.

Noah and Wayne sat around the desk while she, Gage, and Nicholas pulled in different chairs to the small corner office.

“There’s still a few hours to kill.” It was Nick to point out the obvious. “Any ideas?” he directed the question to Sasha.

“I’m not going to kill time telling you what the sheriff meant about my past. I’m not your entertainment. Out of the five of us I’m the one you can’t miss this press conference, you need to decide who’s going to get some breakfast.” Sasha was sure she wasn’t the only one starving. During the morning rush out of the house none of them stopped to grab something to eat.

The four men each exchanged a look, a silent challenge of sorts as they all stood and started playing rock-scissors-paper-shoot. Sasha couldn’t believe her eyes, four grown men playing a child’s game in order to make a decision and they all swore they were smarter than her. Fat chance.

Nick lost the battle. “Fine, I’ll be gracious about it but I don’t want to hear any bitching if the order is wrong. The best you get out of me is drive thru.” He passed around a notepad for them to write down what exact number they wanted off the fast food menu.

Sasha got a good laugh as she watched Nick sulk out of the office. She doubted it was the action of having to pick up the food that left him bitter, it was merely the fact he lost. “Men are weird and I think you all are the worst of the bunch.”

Wayne rolled his eyes. “Now that we got you alone, what’s going on with you and him?” he nodded his head toward the closed office door.

“What do you mean?”

Noah answered. “We’ve noticed you haven’t tried to chew each other’s heads off yet and it’s odd. I think the sexual tension has finally caught up to you.”

Sasha stuttered around a gasp of breath. “What?” it hit her like a ton of bricks that Gage had said nearly the same thing last night. She looked at him now and he shrugged as if to say I-told-you-so. “I don’t know what you all think you see but there’s nothing going on between me and Nick. I look at him the same way I look at all of you.” Ok, maybe over the last few days something was changing with
N
ick but it wasn’t anything like what they were hinting at. Back home there wasn’t one shred of sexual tension or anything close to it.

Noah snorted. “Bull shit. You look at us like brothers you don’t really like but love deep down, most of all Gage. You look at Nick like you can picture him naked in the shower and you want to lather him up.”

She felt her face turn bright red with insufferable heat. She lowered her face and tried to conceal her embarrassment all while praying she really didn’t look at Nicholas like that. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” That was the truth.

Gage finally ran to her rescue, so of. “Let’s stop before she passes out, she’s in too much denial to find the humor in this.”

“There is no denial!” 

“Are you admitting then that we’re right in our observations?” Wayne was highly curious.

“I’m admitting that you’re all idiots.” Sasha wanted to scream that her personal life was none of their business but she couldn’t treat them like simple colleagues because they weren’t, they were her friends and that had a right to tease her. Her only option was to return the favor one day.

Noah threw a pen at her for the remark. “If it helps at all I think you’d make a nice couple. You balance each other out even now.”

Now Sasha’s interest was peaked. “What does that mean?”

Wayne answered. “You compliment each other and that’s why Pete likes you to work together. You both won’t admit it but there isn’t a competition of whose better because you’re so much alike in your thought patterns and solutions.” His words gave her something to think about and something she couldn’t brush away with denial.

FBI agents didn’t have assigned partners like local police departments but when it was called to work with another agent it was true Pete always found some way to put Nick and Sasha together. She thought it was because he secretly enjoyed their arguing like those crazy people who enjoyed reality TV fights.

“Anyway,” she was more than ready to move past this conversation. “what’s going on back home?” sure she had asked Gage that very question last night but she hadn’t asked Noah or Wayne yet and it was a good opening line.

Chapter 17

The screams were loud with vigor and anger when he first locked them in the room. He enjoyed listening to how the screams changed as time passed. Soon the fight and hope would fade and left would be desperation and fear. It was the fear he enjoyed the most because it solidified what he as the master and she as the victim both knew; he was in control and her life now belonged to him to do as he pleased. He also liked when they tried to bargain because they somehow knew the magic trick that was going to save their lives. In twenty one years not one of his little toys had ever said the magic words because they simply didn’t exist.

He strolled up from the basement into his kitchen with a satisfied grin on his face. He nudged the sink handle open with his wrist and started to wash the bright stains of red blood from his hands.

The TV was low in the background just the way he liked it. Silence got on his last nerve and made the hairs on the back of his neck stand at attention. Silence would always lead to bad things when he was a child and he avoided it at all costs now. The hum drum of the news became important at the mention of Maggie May’s name. The grin on his face broke into a big smile at the thought of his favorite toy. It was sure nice getting her scared past night. She had tried to appear strong but he smelt her fear from where he hid. It was so much fun that he made plans to pay her another visit very soon. He couldn’t jump the schedule and take her to his play room but that didn’t mean he couldn’t have some fun in other ways.

He dried his hands on a paper towel as he walked into the living room and put the volume higher on the TV. On the bottom line it read ‘
7Xs killer returns to Maple Oaks’
and all the joy he felt from playing with his
new toy quickly vanished. The hi
ck sheriffs department wasn’t supposed to know of his return, sure he suspected with the same MO someone might become suspicious but never had he thought it’d be this soon or that the small time sheriff would be so bold to have a news conference. Now everyone was going to be on alert and that made hunting troublesome.

He frowned as he listened to the sheriff announce the first two victims names and express his condolences.  On the stage across from the sheriff’s right side sat three chairs and Maggie May was on one of them. Suddenly the world was full of cruel coincidences. Had his pet returned only to trap him? She was going to live to regret it if true.

“We don’t want this man getting away for a second time.” The Sheriff said with strong conviction only he was fool enough to believe. “I want to help me welcome with open arms the FBI. They are lending a helping hand and with their resources and ours we hope to end this nightmare soon.”

Scattered applause sounded as another black man took to the stage. “Hello Maple Oaks, I’m Agent Wayne Smith and along with my partner we’re here to put this case to rest and give all of the grieving families closure. The Sheriff and the only surviving victim Maggie Walker reached out to my office this morning with their concerns and after surveying the evidence we agreed this unidentified subject is striking again.”

He sat back in his couch and kept his eyes on the nervous Maggie in the corner of the screen. She had returned back home almost a week ago, before the idiot sheriff called in for reinforcements. He liked knowing she wasn’t back as some plant to draw him out but he still hated the idea of cops surrounding her and interrupting his plans. He wasn’t going to let them ruin all his hard work.

Twenty one years of evading capture from much better cops, he had nothing to worry about.

When it was time to answer some questions Maggie stood and joined the fed behind the podium. Hers was a name he had never forgotten, she was the only one to ever get away for the simple fact she wasn’t supposed to be there and he didn’t kill children. It wasn’t some miracle that saved Maggie’s life, it was him
to let her
go and he could’ve just as easily decided the opposite and killed her. He couldn’t wait to tell her that and remind her of the screams her parents had let out as he cut into them. The same way he was going to cut into her and hew new husband in just a few short days.

Chapter 18