His
plan was almost ready. Hands on his
hips, he stood back and surveyed his handiwork. Each phase was meticulously laid out, waiting to be
executed. He snickered to himself. Executed was a good choice of words. His little blonde reporter was sure going to
be surprised when she got the first package.
Hopefully, she wouldn’t be stupid like the pigs. They couldn’t investigate their way out of a
paper bag. That’s why he chose to send
his gifts to someone who excelled at the art of investigating. Someone who made it her business to uncover
every last little scrap of truth.
Although, he would still have to tread lightly. If he gave her too much, she would find him
before he was ready.
No, he
thought, rubbing his hands together. He
wanted to take his time and make it last.
Draw out the anticipation as long as he could. Opportunities like this didn’t come along very often. He wouldn’t let her find him until he was
ready and then he would go to her. His
eyes strayed to the pictures of her tacked to the wall. She really was an exceptionally beautiful
woman. Young and with an innocence that
belied her years on the job.
Walking
over to the wall, he tenderly traced her features. He hadn’t planned on adding her to his collection but maybe…
well, maybe by the time he finished with the others he would have a change of
heart and decide he couldn’t live without her.
After all, no one would ever love her the way he did.
***************
It was
late when Kati unlocked her front door.
Blowing a lock of hair out of her face, she yanked her rolling suitcase
up over the step and shut the door, leaning back against it for a moment. After the horror of trying to get back to
Texas, she was flat out exhausted.
Instead of leaving Los Angeles and flying directly to Dallas, she was
rerouted twice from Denver and then Phoenix due to plane trouble. Her short flight turned into every
traveler’s nightmare. Letting go of the
suitcase, Kati turned right into her living room and dropped into an
overstuffed chair. Kicking off her
shoes, she curled her feet under her and ripped open one of the two packages
she’d picked up when she retrieved her car from the office garage.
Several
items fell out of the yellow padded envelope.
She flipped it over to look again for a return address but there was nothing
but her name and the paper’s address.
Laying it aside, she picked up a folded piece of paper. Holding it in one hand, she used the other
to look through the remaining items.
There were several Polaroids bound with a red silk ribbon, a locket and
a charcoal drawing of the Adolphus Hotel. Frowning, Kati looked back to the
note and unfolded it.
“My
dearest Kathryn,
Have
you ever dreamed of going to Mount Olympus?
Dreamed of the sweet taste of nectar, of drinking the ambrosia of the
Gods? How I wish, my darling, that you
and I were there together. Someday we
will be. We will be immortal, you and
I, lovely Kathryn. We will bathe in the
blood of the innocents. Drink in their
sweet breath of life. My heart beats
only for you, Kathryn. I wait for the
day we can be together. I bear you
these gifts. To show you the depth of
my love, the breadth of my devotion.
Until the day you are mine.”
The
note fluttered from Kati’s nerveless fingers as a harsh shiver raced down her
spine, raising the hair on her arms and neck.
A terrible feeling of danger seared her stomach as she picked up the
pictures and untied the ribbon. The
first picture showed a smiling young woman.
Her curly blonde hair and blue eyes were eerily similar to Kati’s
own. With mounting dread, Kati flipped
to the next picture. This one showed
the same young woman tightly bound and gagged on a bed.
Kati
dropped the pictures with a startled cry and stared at the whole mess of items
with horrified eyes. Suddenly, she
ripped open the other packet and dumped out the contents. They were identical to the first pack. Kati jumped to her feet, ignoring the stuff
as it fell haphazardly to the floor.
Heart thudding, she ran down the hall to her bedroom, her mind spinning
in so many directions she couldn’t even think straight. She flipped on the bedroom light and a
scream wrenched its way out of her tight throat. Her hands went to her mouth and she stared in horror at her
room. Whirling, Kati ran back to the
living room. Panicked, she gathered up
the stuff on the floor and shoved it back into the envelopes the she grabbed
her purse and keys and left the house.
Several
minutes later, Kati was on the highway.
When the frantic haze propelling her on finally began to subside and she
realized where she was, she pulled into a deserted roadside rest stop. Dropping her forehead against the steering
wheel, Kati forced herself to take several slow breaths, fighting back the
tears that clogged her throat.
Raising
her head, she stared through the windshield at the dark stretch of I-30. She shoved her hands through her hair and
glanced at the yellow envelopes in the passenger seat. Out of the blue, Justin’s face swam into her
head. Grabbing her purse, Kati dug out
her cell phone and the small white card he’d left for her at the hotel front
desk. With trembling fingers, she
dialed the number and waited.
It
rang once. Twice. A third time. With a disappointed sigh she—
“McKenzie.”
“Ju…
Justin?”
“Kati?” Hers was the last voice he’d expected to
hear.
Exhausted
after the trip home, Justin had gone straight to bed after King dropped him
off. Gritting his teeth, he sat up in
bed, cradling the phone in one hand and his head in the other. Something in the tone of her voice grabbed
his gut.
“Kati,
where are you? Are you all right?”
The
concern in his deep voice flipped a switch in Kati and the tears fell fast and
furious. She dropped her aching head
back down on the steering wheel, her free hand clenching into a tight fist. Words began to tumble from her so fast they
tripped over each other.
“Kati,
whoa… sugar, slow down. I can’t
understand what you’re saying. One step
at a time, okay. Take a deep breath for
me.”
Latching
onto the velvety darkness of his tone, Kati did as he asked, focusing all her
concentration on him. She drew one
breath and slowly let it out, then another, following his directions.
“Where
are you, sugar?”
“On
I-30, at a rest stop.”
“Why
aren’t you at home?” he demanded.
“I…
oh, Justin,” she sighed tremulously.
“Two packages were sent to the paper while I was in California. I opened them when I got home and found
these awful pictures and my bedroom… someone was in there.”
Justin’s
heart nearly stopped. “Someone was in
your house? Did he hurt you? Is that how—“
“No,
there wasn’t anyone in there. It was
before… before I got home. When I saw—“
Kati swallowed hard. “When I saw what
was in there, I ran out. I didn’t
think… I just… I just ran,” she whispered.
“Come
to me, Kati.”
Her
heart shuddered to a slow thump.
“W-what?”
“Come
to me. Come to the ranch and let me
help you. Have you called anyone
else? The police?” he asked.
“No. I just left. I have the envelopes with me.”
“Get
something to write with and I’ll give you directions. I’m going to get someone over to your house, Kati. Is that okay? I promise we’ll keep things quiet until we figure out what’s
going on.”
A
minute later Kati had the directions to the Running 7 in Athens and was
starting to feel like she had more control for the first time since leaving her
house.
“It will
take me about two hours, Justin. I’ll
stay on the road until I get there.
Will you… will you wait up for me?” she asked.
“Yeah,
sugar, I’ll wait.”
*************
There
were more officers inside going through every last speck of Kati’s house. She looked around in dismay at the mess but
didn’t say anything. An older man came
over and stuck his hand out.
“Miss
Wahlgen? Chief Hatch.”
Kati
returned his firm handshake.
“Chief. Thank you for coming
out.”
“Sorry
it’s under these circumstances. You
must be Justin McKenzie,” he went on, offering his hand to Justin.
“Yes,
sir. Pleasure, Chief. Appreciate you having your men wait on the
bedroom until we could get here.”
“It’s
been many years since I’ve seen anything of this magnitude. We’ve got a pretty
sick individual on our hands,” he acknowledged.
The
four of them walked down the hall to the back of the house where Kati’s room
was located and went inside. Kati froze
in place as she got her first real good look at her bedroom. Nausea rose in her throat and she swallowed
hard, willing herself to stay where she was when all she really wanted to do
was run screaming from the house. A
dull roaring sound filled her ears as she looked around. Closing her eyes for a moment, she forced
herself to take several deep breaths.
At her
side, Justin watched and waited. He
could see Kati gathering herself up once the initial look of panic crossed her
face. She carefully schooled her
expression into a calm mask and took a few more steps into the room. She was way too calm but Justin knew she was
doing exactly what he’d talked about earlier – disconnecting.
Kati
looked from left to right, so amazed at the transformation in her room that she
didn’t even know what to comment on first.
There were hundreds of photos of her all over the room. Horrified, she let gaze roam. Embarrassment and shame washed over her in
strong, hot waves. She was acutely
aware that the three men right behind her as well as all the police officers and
knew they'd seen everything she was now looking at. Kati curled her hands into tight fists, not even feeling her
nails dig into her palms. Forcing her
feet to move, she made a slow tour of the room, taking a closer look.