The Tangerine Killer (22 page)

I thought he’d take me right there on the floor but it turned out Olin was a gentleman after all. He pulled me into the bedroom and lay me down gently, then he kissed me. Fire trailed up and down my skin in tiny rivers, following the path of his tongue. He brought me to the brink of orgasm again and again but each time pulled me back until I couldn’t take it any longer. Finally he was inside me and I couldn’t think of anything except this moment. He was fast and furious, his urgency probably fueled by the same need I had. To block out the world and forget. I grabbed handfuls of his hair, clung to the sheets like a life raft as I came beneath him. I couldn’t remember why I’d wanted to say no. Afterwards we lay mingled together. Neither one of us said a word.

He fell asleep and I lay there staring at the ceiling, wondering what we’d done. Would he regret it in the morning like I already did? One moment of pleasure that would change our relationship forever. I slipped from the bed where he lay naked and snoring and grabbed a bottle of Jack from his liquor cabinet, then slipped out onto the patio.

The moon was full, the air crisp and clear. I smoked and drank, watching the stars and feeling empty inside. The night I’d left Tangerine hadn’t been much different than this one. I thought I’d become a different person but the truth was I hadn’t changed at all. And even though I’d done everything in my power to bury the past, it hadn’t made one bit of difference. It was there beneath the surface all the time, a wound that wouldn’t heal. I hadn’t been honest with Olin. I hadn’t told him everything but I just couldn’t get the words out.

I passed out wrapped in a blanket on one of the patio chairs and woke to the sunrise and Olin standing over me with coffee and cigarettes.

"Thanks.”

I sat up groggily, pulling the blanket up to cover my bruises and hide the bottle of Jack.

“Did you sleep out here all night?” he asked.

I nodded. He didn’t ask why and I was thankful for that. In fact he looked sheepish. I wondered if he already regretted what we’d done.

“You want breakfast? I can make French toast.”

“You can?” I teased.

“Hey,” he laughed.

In that moment everything was back to the way it had been before. I hoped that things would stay that way. I wanted our relationship to be just that, nothing more, nothing less. I promised myself I wouldn’t sleep with him again.

The phone rung and he left to answer it. After a few minutes I heard him talking in the bedroom. He sounded worried. For the first time since last night I remembered Parker and how desperately we needed to find him before something bad happened. Even after Olin’s voice fell silent, he didn’t return. As I smoked, my mind wandered through all the worst case scenarios until I couldn’t take it anymore. I found him sitting on the side of his bed, the phone limp in his hand. He looked up when he saw me standing in the doorway, his face pale.

“Is it Parker?” I asked softly.

I wanted to go to him. To put my arms around him but I just stood fidgeting in the doorway, heart pounding in my chest.

“No,” he shook his head.

“Thank God. I was so worried.”

But if it wasn’t Parker then what was it?

“Come on Olin, you’re killing me here. What the hell is going on?”

“That was Mike down in evidence. Your stuff isn’t there.”

I’d forgotten about the missing items from my room. The mascara, the conditioner, my panties. They didn’t matter now. I couldn’t have cared less if the psycho was ejaculating all over them. Perhaps they would buy Parker more time.

“He can keep them,” I said. “I don’t care. Come on, let’s get something to eat.”

“Wait. There’s more.”

“What?”

“Faye Reynolds is down at the station raising all kinds of hell.”

“About what?”

“Apparently she’s convinced that her daughter was murdered and now her son is missing.”

“Well none of that is news to us.”

“No but apparently she is threatening to blow this whole thing wide open, go to the newspapers and bring in reporters. She could really fuck this up for us, for Parker.”

“Shit.”

“Yeah.”

“Well let’s get down there and shut her up.”

“It gets worse.”

“How the hell can it get worse?”

“She’s joined forces with my ex.”

That was all we needed. Two crazy women hell bent on their own brand of vigilante justice. Crying and sobbing their way through countless news interviews and giving the killer all the attention he could ever want. If he had the whole state focused on his every move, it was going to make things a lot more difficult for him. So difficult that he might just decide that he didn’t need Parker anymore.

“So what do you want to do?”

“Fuck it. Let’s go down there and blow this thing wide open anyway.”

The fact that the insufferable Faye Reynolds and the detested ex had joined forces seemed to infuse Olin with a renewed surge of screw the world. A small pang of jealousy rose up in the pit of my stomach. Those two women had been able to do something I had been attempting and failing at ever since we had learnt of the kidnapping. Yet deep down I knew it didn’t matter how Olin became enraged, it just mattered that he had.

Nothing much had changed down at the station since we left. There were no new photographs pinned to the board, no new lines connecting victims to suspects. It didn’t seem like they had accomplished much of anything since we’d been gone.

I quickly scanned the notes for mentions of Mrs. Crumb and Ella but there was nothing. The detectives seemed to be flagging under the strain of no sleep and so was their work. They sat slumped at their desks, heads cradled in their hands. One guy was actually drooling. Captain Bright had better start organizing his men into shifts or Parker was never going to be found. I was glad we hadn’t stayed, not that Olin and I had slept much either. Between the sex and sleeping on the patio chair, I might as well have just stayed up all night.

As a loud wave of voices crashed through the door and into the room, I instinctively stepped back behind Olin. I knew my presence there was even less desirable than his was. Better not to be seen, at least not right away.

“I don’t know who you assholes think you are,” Faye screamed. “Both our sons are missing. What are you going to do about it?”

I loved the way she made Harvey Lee Reynolds, adulterer and all around slimy scumbag, sound like he was a missing child. Olin’s ex didn’t seem to mind. She held onto Faye’s hand protectively.

“Don’t you care about a mother’s rights? A mother’s instinct?” she said.

Faye nodded. “Yes. Victoria and I know what’s going on here.”

The two women locked arms fiercely as though they could take on the whole police department together. Standing side by side I realized how Faye’s age played on her. Her blonde hair held an artificial sheen next to Victoria’s shiny locks and her skin looked sallow under the glare of the florescent lights. The woman who had seemed fairly buoyant at her daughter’s funeral now looked distraught at the disappearance of her son.

“Ladies please, let us conduct our investigation in the way we see fit. Trust me when I say we know what we are doing.”

It was Captain Bright, trying to take back control of his squad room. His face belayed how tired he was but his voice did not.

“You know what you’re doing?” Faye said. “I highly doubt that. We’re going to talk to the press and there’s nothing you can do to stop us. Come on Victoria.”

She grabbed hold of the younger woman’s hand and tried to pull her from the room. Victoria turned back to look at Olin and I didn’t like what I saw. She was grief stricken and distraught. I knew she would do anything to get her son back but there was something else. Hidden beneath all the layers was something only a woman would notice, longing. She wanted Olin back, I was sure of it.

“Victoria, please.”

Olin stepped forward and tried to grab her arm. She pulled it out of his reach.

“Don’t touch me.”

“You have to listen to me. This is crazy. What you’re considering doing could get Parker killed.”

“You’re the one who’s going to get our son killed. I have to do everything, you do nothing. It’s always been your problem. You’ve never been there for him. If he dies, his blood is on your hands.”

I saw her words cut through Olin but he didn’t back down. He stepped closer to her and lowered his voice.

“Don’t make this about us. It’s about Parker and getting him back safe and sound. That’s all that matters.”

“It’s not about Parker.” Her eyes latched onto me. “It’s about her. She’s the reason all this is happening and you know what?” She stepped closer to Olin and stuck a pointed nail into his chest. “I know you’re fucking her.”

In that moment I wished the floor would swallow me whole. Captain Bright and the other detectives were all staring at me. I looked at my feet guiltily, then it hit me. I didn’t care what they thought and it was certainly none of their business who I slept with. I looked back up at the room with a steely glare and as I did each gaze fell away from mine, all except Victoria’s.

“You’re not even going to deny it, are you?” she said. “Typical.”

“Who I sleep with is none of your business. Remember?” Olin said.

“It’s my business if your fucking around gets my son killed.”

“He’s our son and if you go to the press you’re the one who’s going to get him killed. Right now the person who has Parker thinks they have the upper hand, that they’re safe. You spook them by giving interviews and getting the public all riled up then you might rattle him.”

“Good. Maybe he’ll give Parker back then.”

“He won’t give him back you stupid bitch,” Olin started to shout. “He’ll kill him.”

Captain Bright stepped between them. Up until now he’d been lurking in the background, letting the conversation play out. But now he looked less than amused.

“All right, that’s enough,” he said.

Olin stepped back and Faye grabbed Victoria and tried to pull her from the room. She resisted, pointing at me like a crazed woman.

“How does it feel to know you’re getting all these people killed?” she screamed. “That my little boy will die because of you?”

I didn’t answer. What could I say? In a way she was right. I was the reason he was killing but I had no idea why and no way to stop him.

“Fuck each other’s brains out while you still can,” she spat. “Because if my son dies, I’ll kill you both.”

“All right ladies, come on now.”

The captain herded the two women from the room. Faye screeched as they vanished down the hallway. She wanted to know what was being done to find her own son. She needed to get in line. Four year olds trumped thirty something losers any day.

I sank into the nearest chair, my legs a little weak.

“You okay?” Olin asked.

I nodded but I wasn’t really. Victoria’s words had shaken me up. She was right. Who did I think I was kidding? I was fucking around while a little boy’s life hung in the balance. I’d never be able to live with myself if Parker died and Olin? He’d never want to look at me again. I had to find a way to turn the situation around. I had to do something.

Olin put his hand on my shoulder but I shook it off. I didn’t need his pity. I just wanted answers.

Captain Bright reappeared and pointed at the two of us.

“My office. Now.”

Maybe now I was going to get some after all.

The little boy cries in his sleep. Whimpering like a puppy who has been weaned before he was ready. He doesn’t make a move to comfort him. He knows that will only make it worse. He is fully aware that he’s no substitute for a father and he has no desire to be. The little boy thought it was all a fun game at first but at bed time he wants to go home, even demands so in an angry little voice. When he doesn’t get his way the tears come and that infuriates him in a way he never intended in front of the child. Seconds away from lashing his hand across the boy’s face he leaves the room and locks the door behind him, muffling the cries.

“Crying is a sign of weakness,” he says through the closed door. But he knows the boy is too young to understand.

Down in the basement he can’t hear anything at all. He busies himself with the intricate work of the next stage of the plan. His dream catcher swings in the light from the electric bulb and he wonders if she’s figured it out yet. He highly doubts that she has. He knows her better than she knows herself. She’ll never put together the pieces of the puzzle until it’s too late. Besides, he knows all good things come to those who wait. He knows that eventually she’ll come to him. She won’t be able to resist.