I'll Be Seeing You (19 page)

“Why did you have to go and soil yourself with him, Katie?” he hissed, and Katherine felt her world come crashing down around her ears.
No! It couldn’t be! It just couldn’t be!

“What did you say?” she choked out unsteadily. “Jeff, the…the police are right outside.”

Jeff chuckled, his eyes gleaming, and Katherine knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that she saw madness there.

“Oh, Katie,” he cooed, the hand that wasn’t holding onto her arm coming up and caressing her cheek, and Katherine felt the bile rising in her throat. “He was so very easy to dispose of. These small town cops think they know what they’re doing,” he laughed maliciously. “But one quick thrust of my knife right through the heart takes care of that pretty quickly. Did you really think that after all these years I would ever let someone or something get in the way of my getting to you? Oh, Katie.
Never.
”

Katherine couldn’t speak. Her throat had seized up on her as the realization that her nightmare was standing right in front of her hit her with all the force of a tsunami. Dear God! It was
Jeff!
One of the very few people in her life that she thought she could trust.

“Jeff, please…” she croaked, but she didn’t have time to finish. The hand that had only a moment before been caressing her cheek, suddenly fisted and he pulled it back.

“I’m sorry, Katie,” he whispered a moment before she felt the blinding pain of his punch…then only blissful darkness.

***

“Jesus
H
,” Ben groaned as he squatted down beside the girl’s body, shaking his head in disgust. “The bastard really did a number on this one. It looks like the asshole was angry as hell. Son of a mother loving bitch,” Ben spit out as he snapped on a pair of latex gloves.

Cole glanced down at the woman lying prone on the ground. Her battered body bruised and violated in ways that made him physically sick to his stomach. Her chestnut hair–so much like Katherine’s–was caked with blood and her sightless eyes swollen shut. Oh, yeah, he thought with a tightening of his jaw. This son of a bitch was angry as hell. The bastard was pissed off because he knew that Katherine was with him. And that she was safe from his sadistic reach.

“God, I really hate this shit,” Cole muttered, walking around the area where the body had been found. Nothing seemed out of place as he carefully took in the scene…nothing that was, except for the poor dead girl that lay in the wet grass under the blare of the bright floodlights lighting up the area. The area was abuzz with officers and crime scene, and Cole got the sinking feeling in his gut that something was off.

“Hey, Detective,” one of the guys called, and Cole walked over to where he was stooped down on the ground. “I’ve got a footprint,” he informed him as he walked over.

Cole squatted down beside the man and studied the print, guessing in an instant that it was at least a size ten running shoe. His brows furrowed as he leaned in closer.

“What’s that?” he asked, pointing to the few pieces of what looked to be plaster imbedded in the dirt. He grabbed his small pen-light and directed it to what he was looking at.

The tech leaned over and picked up a fragment of the debris with his tweezers. “Hmm, looks like porcelain…or some type of pottery maybe,” he mused, and Cole felt his blood run cold.
Pottery?

“Bag up every fucking piece,” he barked before standing and storming over to Ben. He suddenly felt sick to his stomach.

“Ben,” he ground out, his body tensing slightly. Ben glanced up at his partner a moment before standing.

“Yeah?”

“When you spoke to Katherine’s employee, did anything strike you as odd with the guy?”

Ben shook his head, his mouth turning down at the corners as he tried to remember anything that had seemed off.

“Nothing that I can think of seemed strange, really. He just said that Katherine showed up unexpectedly and he was hit from behind when he ran in back to get some receipts she had asked for.”

Cole felt his entire body tense up, a pit of momentous proportions forming in his gut. That wasn’t what Katherine had said to him when he had asked why in the hell had she left the house. She had told him that the
only
reason that she had left that night was because Jeff had called her about an order that had been wrong. And she had even asked him again when they had run into him outside the restaurant if he could take care of it for her. Shit!

“What’s going on, Mac?” Ben asked, immediately picking up on his partner’s unease.

“It’s him,” he breathed, grabbing his phone. “It’s
fucking
him! What’s the bastard’s last name?”

***

Katherine forced herself to open her eyes, even though her head was pounding viciously. She unconsciously reached up and touched her jaw, wincing in pain as she did; knowing that there was most likely one hell of a bruise there. Dear God, he had knocked her senseless.

“I didn’t want to have to do that, Katie,” Jeff’s voice drifted across the room as Katherine looked around frantically. She was lying on a bed, surrounded by vases full of white lilies, their overpowering scent filling the air and making her head spin as her stomach lurched. She could hear the faint sound of
that
song as it played softly from somewhere off in the distance, and her body turned to ice.

“Jeff, please…” she sobbed, her voice trembling frantically.

“It’s not
Jeff!
’ he suddenly screamed, making his way over to the bed and sitting down beside her. She instantly stiffened, not wanting him anywhere near her. The man was a maniac! “You don’t even know me, do you?” he spit out, his eyes narrowing with fury. “But then again–why would you? You always felt that you were too good for anyone! The perfect little Ice Queen,” he snarled.

“Jeff…” she croaked, terror seizing her insides. What was he talking about?

“I told you, it’s
not
Jeff!” His fingers wrapped around her arm painfully as he jerked her up closer to his face. “Alex,” he hissed. “I’m fucking
Alex!
”

Katherine felt the blood drain from her face as her body began to vibrate. Oh, dear God! It couldn’t be! No! No! No!

“You never would even give me the time of day, Katie,” he rasped, his eyes boring into hers. “I knew I loved you from the first moment that I saw you walking down those halls at school. I knew you were different. I
knew
you were mine! But, no…not you! You were too good to even see me–always rushing away from me whenever I tried to talk to you. Then finally…
finally,
you agreed to go out with me, and I thought
this is it
! You’ll finally realize that we were meant to be together. You would finally
know
that you belonged to me. But no! You wouldn’t even kiss me good night that night! The damned Ice Queen strikes again!” His words came out guttural, laced with fury. “You just kept freezing me out!”

“Oh, my God,” Katherine whispered, her throat constricting painfully. “But…but he ran you off of the road,” she choked out, unable to believe that this was actually happening. This just couldn’t be! This had to be a nightmare!

Alex laughed, his eyes gleaming. “Jesus, Katie! Are you that dense? I ran
myself
off of that road! There was no crazed maniac! I needed you to worry about me–to be afraid of losing me. I needed you to realize how much I meant to you!” He stood and stalked across the room, turning back a moment later to glare at her. “But you…you didn’t even come to the hospital to see me! You wrote me off like I was worthless…like I was nothing!” he bellowed, his body shaking with his anger.

“You killed my mother,” she rasped.

“Yeah, well. That was unfortunate,” he replied evenly. “I wasn’t really expecting that bitch to come nosing around downstairs before I had the chance to get to you.” He shrugged slightly.

“The other girls,” she breathed, feeling as if the oxygen was being sucked from the room. “Why?”

Alex walked back over to her and leaned down, his eyes locking with hers, and recognition finally hit Katherine hard. Yes, it
was
Alex. He had matured, bulked up…changed his hair style, the color, and now sported a neatly trimmed beard and glasses…but it was him. Oh, dear God. It
was
him.

“They were just practice,” he murmured, his lips twisting up in a grin. “Although, I do have to admit that I really did enjoy what I did with them. But they were just a way to pass the time until I finally had you. Christ, Katie. I’ve followed you around forever! Just waiting for my chance,” he sighed, shaking his head slowly. “I was hoping that you would come to care for
Jeff
in time, but no. You were still that cold bitch that you always were; distancing yourself from me…always keeping everyone around you at arm’s length. Then, you had to go and fall into bed with that piece of shit
Detective
!” He spat out in disgust.

Katherine’s heart ached so painfully at the mention of Cole that she found it hard to breathe. She would never see him again. Never feel his arms around her…and her sob finally broke free with a vengeance, knocking what little air she had left in her lungs out with a whoosh.

“Don’t you cry for him!” he screamed, his face turning red. “He doesn’t deserve you! You belong to me! All these years of you disappearing–of having to find you time and time again…no! He doesn’t get you! You’re
mine
!”

***

Cole’s phone vibrated as he and Ben made their way back to the station at breakneck speed. He had their best IT guy working on getting him an address for that piece of shit, and was hoping this was what he was waiting for.

“Ken?” he answered, his hand gripping the wheel to the point that his knuckles were turning white.
Not long now you son of a bitch. I freaking got you! I’ve got you!

“Cole,” his Captain’s harried voice on the other end of the line caused an instant wrenching to hit him directly in the gut.

“Captain,” he ground out, not sure that he wanted to know why Mike would be calling him now.

“Cole, we…we can’t get a hold of Samuels,” Mike replied miserably, and Cole felt every nerve ending in his body snap. “I have guys on the way over to your house, but…I wanted you to know.”

“
Fuck!”
Cole roared as he slammed on the brakes and spun the car around, heading towards home–where he silently prayed over and over again Katherine was, and that she was safe and sound. But when her cell phone went unanswered, he felt as if his heart was being ripped right out through his chest. He had never before experienced such complete, gut wrenching fear.

***

Katherine’s eyes frantically darted around the room as she tried desperately to find anything that she could possibly use as a weapon. She needed to get out of here. She needed to get away from this madness once and for all. This was it. This was the end of it all. No more running…no more jumping at shadows. She knew who her nightmare was and she was going to fight him with everything that she had to get her life back–and to be able to spend the rest of it with the man that she loved. No more being afraid. No more
running.
It ended now. After almost ten years…it ends.

“Thinking about trying something stupid, Katie?” Alex asked, his mouth lifting up at the corners in a smug grin. “Don’t bother. I’m always a step ahead of you. Jesus, no one even suspected me that night in the shop. What a bunch of ignorant bastards. You were so concerned about me afterwards. I do have to admit, slamming my head into the wall did hurt…but damn if it wasn’t worth it.
You
are worth it.”

“You know that you’re insane, don’t you?” she asked softly, meeting his eyes with a look of defiance. “I don’t know what happened to you to make you like this,” she went on, refusing to back down from him. She was so done. So damn done with being a
coward
. “But I’m sorry, Alex. I’m so sorry that whatever happened to you twisted you like this.”

“
You
happened to me!” he screamed, grabbing her arm and pulling her from the bed. “You just wouldn’t love me!”

Katherine took a deep breath and held his gaze. “No, Alex. What you’ve done was your own doing. It isn’t my fault. You’re right. I don’t love you…and I never will.”

She watched as a muscle in his face twitched and he glowered at her. Finally, after what seemed an eternity to her, he spoke, his voice low and determined.

“We’ll see,” he whispered. “Come on, Katie, it’s time to move on.” With that he pulled her towards the closet and grabbed a suitcase from it. “We’ll have to get you some new clothes once we get settled,” he informed her softly, and Katherine felt her stomach drop to her feet.

***

Cole flew into the driveway and slammed his car into park, rushing to the house. The front door stood open as officers searched and Cole felt his entire body tremble when there was no sign of Katherine at all, just a deathly silence that shook him to his core.

Ben came up behind him, his mouth set in a tight, worried line. The man looked positively green. Cole turned as his partner rested his hand on his shoulder. “Samuel’s dead,” he whispered to him, and Cole felt full-fledged panic hit him straight to the chest, knocking the damn air from his lungs.