The struggling he heard from behind disturbed his thoughts and he turned to admire his latest project. She was beautiful, young, and so naive. He was proud at the way he enticed her to take a ride with him. She knew him and he was so kind and funny. He laughed at his ability to deceive and to manipulate to get whatever he wanted.
He sifted through his pile of toys thinking about his Grace, knowing that his plan was coming along well and that she would come home to him soon.
He wrapped the rope around his knuckles smiling as he turned toward his latest victim.
“We’re going to have some fun, my little darling, but first there are some rules,” he told her as he jumped on top of her where she lay on the mattress that leaned against the basement wall. In a flash, he turned the rope into a noose and placed it around her neck.
He spoke to her, breathing erratically, becoming more excited with each thought that entered his mind.
His victim lay helpless, eyes red and bruised from her attempt to fight off her attacker. She was having trouble breathing as the killer took the noose and attached it to a solid metal clip on the wall that held her in place like some wild animal.
Initially, he thought about playing with her then letting her go. Knowing that she survived and would live with the terror of the acts he performed on her aroused him somehow. She could identify him now. She knew the serial killer and no one had a clue who he was, except her.
* * * *
She was so stupid to get into this guy’s car and take the ride he offered, but she missed the bus somehow, and if she were late getting to work again her boss would fire her. She tried to call her boyfriend, leaving him voice mail message after voice mail message, but he never called. She would die now because of her inability to be on time, fend for herself, and be responsible.
Now here she lay on a mattress on a cold, damp basement floor and no one was looking for her. Her boss would be pissed off and just assume she was a no-show and her boyfriend would eventually answer his voice mail and assume she was mad at him again. It was inevitable. Today would be the day she died.
“Grace, my love, are you ready to play?” he asked Michelle as she stared at him wide-eyed, scared, and trembling. She had nowhere to run. The noose around her neck was tight and with each small turn of her head, she hit the concrete wall. The killer began to touch her and cut her clothes off. She screamed, begging him to stop. She began to kick and punch him, fighting like an animal, choking and gasping for air with each thrust forward. She was scratching his arms and hitting his face but it wasn’t enough and he immediately retaliated with much more force and momentum as his fists collided with her face, her body sending her into darkness then light, darkness then light. She was losing it as she tried to fight him off. He was pounding on her, out of control, his eyes bulging. He was a madman, an absolute madman.
Her vision blurred. She was losing strength, struggling to hold on. Right before she passed out, he kissed her softly, gently, so easily he turned his anger to tenderness like turning a switch on then off. “Grace, sweet, beautiful Grace, let us begin, my love,” he whispered to her as darkness fell upon her.
* * * *
“Grace, the answer is no. It’s absolutely out of the question so just don’t ask again,” Sandman stated firmly, and when she looked toward Jay and Duke, she knew the question was nonnegotiable.
Sandman stared at the bags. They were packed as if she were about to go home.
“You can’t force me to stay here. I want to go home and I want you to call the bureau and have them formulate a plan to capture the real killer. I don’t mind being bait. Really, Sandman,” Grace said as she s
tood by the bed.
He grabbed her by her arms. “I’m not going to do it and you are not going anywhere. What the hell are you thinking, Grace? I can’t protect you at home like I can protect you here. My brothers and I will not hand you over to the lions,” he told her as she stood in front of him angry and frustrated.
“What if I don’t want your protection, Sandman? I can ask to be left alone.”
“Then you’ll die at the hands of that madman. Is that what you want?”
“You saw some of those crime scene pictures, is that how you want to die?” Duke asked as he took position beside her. “Being tortured, raped, beaten to a pulp? He wants you. He has sick sexual plans for you, the unthinkable, Grace.”
“Is that how you want to die?” Sandman yelled, squeezing her arms and she began to cry.
Grace was frustrated, angry, and she felt so out of control. All she wanted to do was stop this killer and she’d thought about it all night. She would go back home and that was final, she was saying to herself as Sandman pulled her close to him.
“I love you, Grace, and I won’t let you do this because I love you.” Her heart leaped and then ached again, having a tug-of-war between happiness and safety with Sandman, Duke, and Jay or sacrificing herself for the slightest possibility of catching the killer.
“Guys, why are you stopping me from leaving when I can help? Is your plan to make me choose? It would be so easy to just stay here, safe with you, making love to you, feeling protected by you, but at home my family is suffering, the public is outraged, your fellow agents are questioning Donald. There’s so much chaos and I feel I can stop it all or at least try. Can’t you understand that?” She looked at Sandman, Duke, then Jay, hoping that maybe one of them would agree.
“You can’t do it, Grace. There’s more to this than just being bait. You can’t handle it,” he told her straight out which made her feel weak and defeated but only for a moment as she allowed her will, her determination, and the hidden strength to emerge.
“I can handle it! Maybe you need to put your personal feelings aside and start focusing on the true objective here. We need to catch this killer and sitting here on our asses is not working. Whether you’re with me or not, Sandman, I’m walking out that door and there’s not one damn thing you can do about it.” She stood there ready to defeat his challenge.
“Donald never showed up for questioning, Grace, and he’s still nowhere to be found. Lancaster has pretty solid evidence against him and he’s now the main suspect in this case,” Big Jay told her and she knew he was trying to get her to stay. But she was still shocked. There was no way Donald was the killer. She felt it in her heart and she was still determined to leave.
“Well then if that’s the case, then your agents know who they’re after. I’m leaving, and that’s final.”
She headed up the stairs.