Page 8 of Saved By the Lieutenant
I want to laugh. He has no idea that he's the only person in this world that has hurt me, and he still has the ability to do so. I promised Peter that I'd stay here until it was safe for me to leave and I'll not break that promise, but I'm pissed. I'm so freaking mad at him for doing this to me. At the two of them for putting me in a situation where I'm not safe. Sure, I'm safe from the killer, but my heart isn't.
“The first victim was found in an alleyway, again, beaten, naked, and bloody. It took the police weeks to be able to identifyher as she was homeless and had been for years. She'd changed so much from the last picture that her parents had of her.” I take a deep breath again and continue. “The second victim was found in a dumpster. The guy who found her was a seventeen- year-old who was bringing out trash from his job at a restaurant.”
“Christ,” Jake bites, and I realize that he's still in front of me. Too damn close.
“The third was found on the side of the road, a commuter found her on their way to work. The fourth was in Philly, she was found much like the first, in an alleyway, but this time she was placed in a way that she was hidden. Each body is left in more open areas, he's getting braver, cockier even.”
Jake nods. “Seems it. He's gone from taking homeless women and prostitutes, to taking women that'll get him attention. It's fucked up, Amy, it's so fucked up that he's not been uncovered yet.”
“He will,” I say adamantly. I'm not going to stop searching until I find out who's doing this. “The police took swabs from me, they'll find out who's doing this.” He would’ve left behind some DNA, I’m hoping that he has.
“You're very sure that it's a man,” he says, but in a soft gentle tone. “Why is that?”
“I had my suspicions about it being a man from the get-go. It's very rare for a woman to do this, especially as every autopsy has come back with no signs of any drugs, usually women killers will use some sort of drug on their victims to incapacitate them. This isn't the case with this killer. But I knew for certain last night, it's definitely a man. He's strong, he knows what he's doing and he's angry that I was looking into the murders.”
Jake releases a harsh breath as he shoves his hand through his hair, something he used to do when he was angry and frustrated. “How the hell did he find out that you've beenlooking into the murders? Did he come after you to stop you from doing so?”
I press my lips together as I remember what the killer said to me last night. My blood runs cold as his words replay in my mind.
“What?” Jake asks. “What is it?”
“I was always on his radar,” I confess softly.
“What do you mean?” he grunts. “How do you know that?”
“You’re a fighter, I like that, none of the others have fought like you. It’s a shame, it wasn’t your time, not yet at least. But you couldn’t keep your nose out of it,” I say low, repeating the words that the man growled at me last night.
Jake rears back. “Tell me you're fucking joking?” he snaps. “Why the fuck didn't you tell Peter or I that before?”
I push my laptop off my lap and rise to my feet, every inch of my body is hurting, it feels like my throat is on fire, I'm tired and I won't let Jake talk to me this way. Not now, not ever.
“I forgot,” I snap at him, wincing as my throat burns. “You have no idea what happened last night, you don't know what the hell I've been through. Don't you dare speak to me that way, Jake. I didn't tell Peter because I forgot, I had other things to tell him, you asking me about the killer sparked the memory.” I blink back the tears. “You can be an asshole Jake, but you won't ever speak to me that way again. I'm tired and I'm going to bed.”
I push past him and gingerly walk toward the bedroom, thankfully he doesn't say anything and lets me be. The bedroom doors are open, and I spy Jake's belongings in the room to my left, I take the other room and close the door behind me. The second the door closes, a tear falls from my eyes, it's followed by another, then another. I crawl into bed and my body shakes as my tears fall silently.
I didn't cry last night, I haven't cried since I was attacked and then Jake comes along and within an hour, I'm crying.
How does that man always know how to hurt me?
4
JAKE
I fucked up.Christ, what the hell is wrong with me? I never meant to snap at her, I was shocked when she told me what that asshole had said last night. Peter and I should’ve known that whoever this monster is, would’ve had Amanda in his sights. She's his type down to a T. I know I pushed her too hard. I could see she was struggling, but I needed all the information from her.
She's having panic attacks. I'm not sure how long she's been having them, as she's able to breathe through them herself, but she was definitely having the start of them a few times while we were talking. The last time she had one, she looked in pain, her chest was rising and falling rapidly, and it didn't seem as though she was breaking through. I wanted to help her, I wanted to coach her through breathing, but the moment I touched her she flinched. Seeing her withdraw from my touch was a punch to the gut. I tamped down my anger, not wanting to cause her any more distress than she was already feeling but I did that anyway.
Rising to my feet, I reach for my cell and call Peter. “Is she okay?” he asks as he answers.
“Right now she's in her room, I'm hoping she'll take a nap,” I say through clenched teeth.
“What happened?” he asks with a sigh. “Please don't tell me you pissed her off.”
“Well, it was inevitable, wasn't it?”
He chuckles. “Yeah, sticking you two in the same room, it was bound to happen that one of you would piss off the other. I had money on it being the other way around. What happened?”
Oh, I have no doubt when she's fighting fit, Amanda will absolutely piss me off, but I'll welcome it. Hell, I've missed it. That woman devours life and loves hard, she runs headfirst into every situation and when I tried to caution her to think first, she'd let her sass out and god, it was a sight to behold. I'm looking forward to seeing that side of her again. Right now, she's confused, she's hurting, and she's trying to piece things together. It'll take some time for her to get to fighting fit, I'll be here every step of the way.
