Swagger (Radioactive Tales of Love) (17 page)

Chapter 32

Cruz

Something is wrong. I’ve been calling Roxie all day and she hasn’t picked up. I also called the motel and was told by Candy that she wasn’t working today. Over the last few months, we’ve become accustomed to calling or texting one another when we weren’t together. So, for her to be gone all day without calling me or answering my texts—seems odd to me.

My inner demons have already started to bother me. I keep wondering if she feels tired of me and this is her way of showing it. I shake off the feeling as memories of the last few weeks flow over me. Roxie and I have been getting along so well. In fact, I moved into her place with her and have been helping her pack things up. The last time I talked to her was this morning when I kissed her goodbye, so I could get some research done for an article I’m writing.

I glance down at my cell one more time, hoping there’s a missed text or call from her, but I feel like there won’t be. My phone wasn’t on silent, so anything from her would have played the ringtones I set up for her calls. “Come on baby, where are you?”

I have a key to her house, so it wasn’t a matter of having to wait to get in. She’s already blessed me with her trust. We were going to be okay.
Did we have issues?
Yes, we have them and maybe more than some others, but we were willing to work on them together, so it works. Maybe something is wrong with her cell. There have been times when her cell wasn’t charged. I take a deep breath, trying to settle the ill feeling that’s in the pit of my stomach. I was an hour away from home, having to get the research I needed. Unable to calm myself enough to believe that she’s okay, I head back home as fast as the speed limit will allow me to.

I make it to the house and her car is outside. This makes me happy, yet at the same time, I don’t understand. Why didn’t she answer her phone? Once again, the fear that she didn’t want anything to do with me set in. I sit in the car for a few minutes, parked behind hers and put my forehead against the steering wheel, trying to garner the strength to go in and talk to her. I can’t lose my baby. I
won’t
lose my baby. “Roxie, Roxie, Roxie…” I mutter as I get out of the car and head to the front door. I stop short, because the front door is wide open.

Roxie never leaves her door open. She always closes and locks it. The neighborhood isn’t a bad one, but everyone knows in this day and age, you can’t leave anything unlocked.

I push the door open all the way, and I’m face to face with utter chaos. The drapes in the living room are shredded, things are turned over, and drawers upset with their contents spilled all over the floor. The thing that catches my eye—is the mirror on the wall above the fireplace. Written on it in red lipstick were the words, ‘
Lying Bitch Whore.’
A splash of purple catches my eye and on the floor is Roxie’s cellphone. She never goes anywhere without her phone and I mean
anywhere
. Hell, she even takes it into the bathroom, most times.

Someone had come in and taken Roxie. The house is totally ransacked. My mind is spinning—
where did I hear those words before?
Then it hit me. Kathy said that when we confronted and fired her. Kathy would be the only one with a reason to do this to Roxie. I did the only thing I could think of. I get my cell out and I call 911.

“911 what’s your emergency?”

“I’m over at my girlfriend’s house, Roxanne Waters. Her house has been ransacked and she’s nowhere to be found.”

“Sir, what’s your name?”

“Cruz, I mean Christopher Montoya. Don’t you need info on her? Someone has to get here, check this place out, and find her! I haven’t been able to get a hold of her all day. She always has her cellphone with her and I found it here on the floor.”

“Okay, Sir. I need the address and we will have someone come and speak to you.”

“Fine. 3069 Eucalyptus. It’s the little yellow house right on the corner.”

“Have you touched anything Sir?”

“No, well except for the door when I entered.”

“If you’re inside the house I’m going to ask that you leave and stand outside. Someone could still be inside. Are you doing that, Sir?”

“I’m already moving to the door and going outside.” I walk to my car and stand at the back of it as I talk to the dispatcher. “Yes, I’m outside now. Please, can you hurry up and send someone?”

“I have a unit on the way Sir. Please wait from them to come and don’t go inside again.”

“I won’t,” I insist.

“Give me your call back number please and stay on the line. A unit should be there any minute.”

Damn right, they should be here any minute! The town is so little.
I give her my number and wait patiently. Then I spot the black and white coming down the street. The siren isn’t going as I’m sure they don’t want to scare anyone, if they’re still in the house. God, I don’t usually like to call the police.
But this is my Roxie
. She needs help and I do what I have to, to get it to her.

“Okay Sir, I hear the officer has arrived. You can hang up now.”

“Thank you.” I disconnect the call and just watch the cop car.

The police vehicle pulls to a stop behind my car in the driveway and as the officer gets out and walks towards me, my stomach tenses. This isn’t the person I want to see. Officer Don Benson.
Fuck!

“Well now, what kinda trouble have ya gotten ya’self into Christopher Montoya?”

“Nothing at all. My girlfriend is missing and I need help finding her…that’s all.”

This is one of the worst people they could have sent. It’s then, when I see another officer in the passenger side and he gets out as well, heading toward us. Maybe this situation won’t be as bad as it seems.

I don’t know this officer, but he actually has an aura of kindness that Officer Benson could never have. I turn to him and I tell him what’s wrong.
Fuck Benson!
“Sir, my girlfriend is missing. I’ve been trying to contact her all day and if you will both go into the house, you’ll see what I mean.”

“Come on Benson, let’s head into the house and see what’s up.” The other officer waves his hand at the house. “I’m Officer Clayton I’m going to ask you some questions while my partner goes and checks the house out.”

I nod and watch as Benson stares at me and then heads into the house, leaving me with Officer Clayton. Time is wasting—someone needs to find Roxie and fast. I hope Benson isn’t the bumbling idiot I’ve always pegged him as for all these years, because if he is—that would bode ill for Roxie.

Chapter 33

Roxie

I wake up feeling really groggy and in pain. At first, I think it’s because I’d just been sleeping wrong, and then the memory hit me.
Kathy.
I try to sit up but I’m strapped down. I thought back to what happened this morning, after Cruz left to get stuff done for his article. I’m terrified and I hold my eyes closed tightly, wondering if Cruz is looking for me now.

Kathy is mad, completely and utterly crazy. I’d been home cleaning and packing up some things I wanted to keep and setting things aside that I wanted to donate to the Salvation Army in town. I’d been so caught up in what I was doing, I didn’t hear Kathy approach until she came right up on me. The sound of the gun cocking close to my ear was my only warning of how I wasn’t alone.

I hurt. She’d beaten me, even though I basically didn’t put up a fight. Hell, she has a gun. If it’d been just her…fist to fist, I would’ve kicked her ass. She knew it too, or she wouldn’t have brought a gun to a fist fight. Things were supposed to get better after all the steps I’ve taken to get my life back together. I’ve dealt with so much darkness already and I honestly thought, I’d finally have a chance at the light.

“I know you’re awake bitch.”

I ignore Kathy. I continue to act as if I’m out. I need to survive until I’m found. On one hand, I have a fear that I’ll never be found and on the other hand, I held on to hope—I held on to Cruz.

“I told you to wake up, bitch. I’m going after your fucking boyfriend next.”

Cruz!
I open my eyes and find myself face to face with Kathy as she leans over me. “You’ve stepped over the line Kathy. Let me go.”

Kathy cackles.

I fight back a wince. I couldn’t let her see how scared I am. She seems ready to kill me and I feel sure it wouldn’t take much to set her crazy ass off. Her eyes look wild and I swear she has the face of a demon.

“I’m not letting you go and I’m going to enjoy killing you. Before I do though, I’m going to show you what Macy liked done to her.”

My stomach clenches and I force back the bile that surges into my throat. I want to throw up. I swallow hard, so I wouldn’t.

“Ah yeah girl, you’re going to like what I do to you.”

I need to keep her talking. I left my cell on the floor, trusting that Cruz would find it. So, I bury my pride and egg Kathy on. I’m going to let her think I want her. Lord help me, I wanted to be an actress before—but not like this. “Tell me what you’re going to do to me?” I ask softly, hoping my voice sounds seductive.

Kathy lets out a cackle again.

I bite the inside of my cheek, so that my expression stays the same.

“Oh, you are just ripe with wanting to know what I will do to you. I may be older but I still got it where it counts…eh girl. You’re momma hasn’t been any good to me in a while and you made sure,
we
couldn’t be together. Now it’s time to show you what you’ve been missing.”

All that is going through my head is how I’m completely cut off from anyone else. I don’t recognize where I am. I’m hurting and tired. I have to fight the urge to not just pass out and fall asleep. “Yes, you’re right. I want to know.”

“I want to know why you told all those lies on me and stopped me from seeing your mother first. You even have the nerve to be suing me.”

What a fucking lunatic!
I’m getting angry but I have to keep my cool.
Oh, my good lord, help me keep my cool!
I’m defenseless and strapped to a bed. “It was a bad move on my part I know.”
Yeah right.

“Damn right, it was!”

All I can think about is not only is Kathy a pedophile she’s a rapist and just plain psychotic. It’s then when I see the gun. I don’t know where it came from but the glint of silver catches my eye as Kathy waves it about.

“You’re a lying bitch. You lied to your mother about me and you lied to the cops about me. So, how can I believe you when you say what you’re saying?”

“I can only show you in time. I don’t know how to show you but just with my actions, maybe. You should believe me, Kathy. If it weren’t for that gun and being strapped down, I would be taking my shot at her.

“That’s right, you’ll have to show me.”

I need to find out where we are. “Kathy where are we?”

“Remember the little house I had when your mom and I met?”

Okay, so we we’re not in town anymore.

“I killed the family who stole it from me and brought you here.”

Oh, my god, she’s killed someone?

The wildness in Kathy’s eyes shows she’s serious about doing harm. Kathy seems stupid and crazy, though her crazy trumps her stupid any day.
Cruz, please find me!
“Oh, I didn’t know. I thought you’d take us some place special.”

“Oh, this place is special all right. It’s where I first was with your mother and your sister. I would bring Macy here and she liked being with me.”

I remember Macy mentioned how she’d been to Kathy’s place in the diary. This is a nightmare come true and Kathy is the demon of my bad dreams come to life. To think that all these years, Kathy still harbors such evil thoughts and acts.

She strokes the barrel of the gun across my cheek and I couldn’t stop the gasp or the flinch.

Kathy snickers, “I can’t explain how good it makes me feel to see you squirm. You’ve always thought way too much of yourself. Now I get to bring you down to the level you should be at.”

I can see the darkness in her. This is what people mean when they say someone is evil. She’s not just crazy—she’s malevolent.

“You’re mother used to be enough for me. But then I saw you two girls and I wondered why couldn’t I have you all? Macy messed it up by killing herself. Then you hired me on, when your mom got sick. Perfect. All I needed to do was wait for you to come to me, so we could be together. Then you had to get with that loser Cruz.”

She planned this all along?
“You’ve waited for me that long?” I had to ask. It seems Horrific to think she truly waited for me that long.

“Unh-huh. Your mom was lingering too long. So, I’ve been holding back her meds. She didn’t know and you didn’t know. I was hoping she’d just die, so then I could comfort you.”

“But you’ve always been so mean to me.”

Kathy shrugs her shoulders. “Enough of this. I’m going to call that boy and get him over here, so I can kill him. Then, you and I will be together like we’re supposed to be.” Kathy turns away and heads out of the room. She doesn’t close the door.

I’m hoping I’ll be able to hear what she’s doing. I can only hope Cruz contacted the cops and that Kathy wouldn’t be able to hurt him.