The Perfect Woman (9 page)

              “
I can't take it anymore, I just can't”
She could see that golden hair girl screaming at her, making her heart ache with each word, she took a deep breath to get her bearing before gathering her thoughts.
“ I’m going, we have nothing to talk about.” Karen took one final look at him knowing this would be the last time they met face to face, she couldn’t be with him if this was the only thing keeping them together. She turned her back and made her way out.

              “ If someone else dies that’s on you and me !” Karen just cringed as he screamed, but she solider on and existed the store.

              Peewee chased after her, he couldn’t let her leave, he needed her, he needed his friend. “ God damn it, Karen, what if this is real, what if a serial killer is loose on the streets. He’s never going to stop. If I’m right and these girls are linked, we have a major fucking problem on our hands.”  She froze in her footsteps a good block away from the store, neither her nor Peewee recognize how far they had gone. “ I’m sorry for lying to you, but, for Christ sake, are we going to let Jamie stop us from saving someone’s life?”

              She turned around, never making eye contact with Peewee, her stare shot into the sky, letting every single word sink in, letting every emotion run it‘s course.“ What if you‘re wrong and this leads nowhere?” She finally said to him.

              He blew a sigh of relief. “ Then you can walk away, we‘ll never talk about another  murder case again, as long as we live, I promise you.”

              There was a good minute pause before anything was said.“ You say this is about saving someone‘s life, then I‘ll help you,” Peewee was ready to smile, only to have a curveball thrown his way “ For  two weeks only, if this case doesn‘t go anywhere by then, I’m cleaning my hands  of everything, got it?” She pointed her finger at him.

              It was a bad deal, but having her back was better than nothing. “ Absolutely.” He was ready to celebrate this moment, only to have another problem pop to mind. “ Shit, I left Ralph alone in the store.”

              Karen took her leave.“ I‘ll see you back at my place.”

              “ Where are you going?” He shouted at her as she sped down the street.

              “ I’m allergic to old man semen.” She shouted back at him.

              Peewee chuckled at the comment, only to have a burden of cleaning the mess dawn upon him. “ God damn it, Ralph.”

Chapter 13

NO MORE LIES

Janet wrestled with coming to the Midnight Heat night club with her girlfriends, her break up to Ernesto was still fresh, but as her best friend Lupe explained to her,  “ girl you need to forget about that bum, he ain't no good for you, he just some greasy  burger flipper working for minimum wage, you need a man that’s going to buy you nice things and treat you like a princess. You know what you need is a sugar daddy, trust me honey, people like that can afford your habit.” How she would find this so called sugar daddy at the Midnight Heat was up to debate, every time she came there were nothing but drunk fat Italians still living with their mothers, all desperate and willing to pitch their best woo to her,  “ Baby, it ain’t the length of the sausage that matters, it’s the thickness, you know what I’m saying, boom.” How they enjoyed pointing down to their crotch, hoping one day she would feel the urge to check out the package and fall in love with such a little thing, a small token of kindness. But, this wasn’t the only trait these lucky men had to offer, each one seemed to offer the forest that was popping out of their chest, a forest in dire need of having itself waxed or at least trimming.

              Her girlfriends where unreliable when it came to deflecting such annoyances , as always, one drink and the next guy that came braking up their tree, they spread their legs wide open, letting the mistake settle after the next day, and leaving poor Janet alone with a migraine headache from the walking talking bushes, not to mention an awful cab ride back home with a driver that always felt the need to get stuck in traffic. All of these reason should have been good enough to keep her away, but the more she sat alone with her thoughts, the more she thought about Ernesto, so she did what Lupe said and joined them for a night of clubbing, hoping faith would reward her with a kind night, something she could look back on fondly. It did.

              Faith wanted her to meet the young man that would accidentally bump into her, spilling his drink on the floor. She would apologize and call herself an “idiot.” he would smile and tell her to, “think nothing of it.”  their eyes would meet and they would be lost in each others gaze. This is what faith wanted and so they allowed themselves to be in each others arms, letting their emotions dictate the night.

              Their bodies grinded together with the sound of the blaring hip-hop music, holding each other tightly, his long dark brown hair seemed to dance with the music. Janet’s light dark skin rubbed against his white milky flesh, which only fed the lust for each other. Her mind danced around with so many erotica images, that she began to feel the wetness between her legs pass her panties,  how she wanted to feel his naked body pressed against hers, she wanted to know how he felt when he thrusted into her, was he  a gentle lover or did he lose all control in the bedroom, would he make her submit to his every will?

              His hands brushed away her black hair that was obstructing the view of her beautiful emerald eyes. They both smiled, each one waiting for the other to say something since bumping into one another, but it was Janet’s mystery prince that beat her to the punch. “ You’re beautiful.” He caressed her cheek

              “ Thank you.” She blushed like a school girl.

              “ Are those your real eyes?” He said peering into her gaze.

              “ Of course.” She giggled.

              “ Wonderful.” He said with a gleam in his eye.

Chapter 14

Hungry Like A Wolf

“ I understand you’re upset because of my rate going up, but I guarantee your money is not ill invested.” For the past six months this lonely traveler had been all over the U.S, jumping from city to city, searching high and low for one soul that seemed to allude anyone that came after it. “ I’m doing my best as it is, just ran into a snag.” Joey King was the name of the man searching for this illusive soul whose tracks would run cold every time he was nearing the end of the road. He would spent nights wide awake thinking of where this person could have gone, how one person manage to stay hidden for so long. “ I’m getting closer, make no doubt about it,” He slammed his fist on the A/C in his beaten down Chevy truck, a little something he picked up from a friend in Jersey, he knew he’d have to upgrade soon enough, if you were to roam the streets of New York, you might as well do it in style. For now he just wanted some relief from this monstrous heatwave that was consuming this city. “ Yes, I understand your frustration.” He pulled the phone away from his ear as his client vented and screamed at him.

              Tonight’s out and about wasn’t apart of his assignment, but he was damn sure making his client pay for it, tonight was about finding himself a little company on those lonely days. He cruised the streets of Harlem, passing by every street hooker he could find. He wasn’t one to fuck hooker after hooker each night, he enjoyed having one for each city, it gave him this false sense of entitlement of being in a somewhat committed relationship, he’d take them out to eat, catch a movie and even ask them to stay with him through out the night till the next morning just to talk. Some of the girls he paid for were freaked out by such demands, the rule on the streets was to never make any type of relationship with a client, others didn’t mind, they would tell him whatever he wanted to hear and believe as long as he was paying. That wasn’t an issue for King, his clients were picking up the tab after all. “ You know as well as I know, that I’m the best man fit for this job,” He paused for a moment as a purple headed girl caught his attention, she looked so pure with those baby doll eyes and a face you would could only slap on a girl exploring her sexuality for the first time. “ Sorry, I thought I was getting another call,” He cleared his throat and flashed his headlights at the girl. “ It’s your choice, you can walk away from it all and hire someone else who’ll have to start from the beginning or pay me what I’m asking for and let me end it here and now.” He slowly rolled down his window as he waited for his client to answer, in the end it always went according to plan. “ I knew you would see things my way. Call me back when you‘ve wired me the cash.” He hung up the phone and tossed it to the back seat as he drove near the girl. “ Looks cold, want a ride?” He said with a grin.

              The purple haired girl looked too clean to be a hooker as he drove closer, not a bag under her eye, no bruises, no missing teeth, weight was average and no needle marks on her exposed body. If King didn’t know better, he’d finger her as an undercover cop, but an old friend of his working in the force recommend the East side of Harlem as the perfect spot to do his purchase, cops tended to stay away from this area, it was too much to deal with and busting one horny guy wasn’t going to end the prostitution ring in New York, not with Hector Pardo around. So he had no reason to believe his dear friend had steered him wrong.

              “ Nice shades.” The girl pointed to his thick rim glasses, as she leaned in through the window.

              “  You looking to make some cash?” He said to her.

              “ That depends.” She said. “ Do I have to do anything weird?”

              “ I’m on business, going to be a while. I want someone‘s company, you know, but not looking for that person to leave right away. . .” He was looking for the right way to phrase it as not too scare her off, but this purple hair vixen knew the game.

              “ You’re looking for a girlfriend?” He nodded his head. “ If that‘s your thing, who am I to judge, but the pay better be good.” He tossed the girl a few rolled up hundred bucks, she smirked as she began to count. “ You’ve done this before?” She said with a chuckle.

              King didn’t answer that question. “ What’s your name?”

              “ Jasmine.”

Chapter 15

Connecting the dots

Karen’s entire bedroom wall was covered with pictures of all the suspected victims Peewee had pin together, with the most recent identified victim in the center of the pack, “ Angela Dennings” Twenty-six years old, Italian descent, worked as a sales associate for Victoria Secret, no criminal record, no enemies at work, the most lovable girl you could find. Every old picture of her told a story of a happy go lucky girl, that couldn‘t harm a fly. “ Who did you meet, you silly girl.” Karen whispered to the photo, looking  lost in all this, wondering if she was doing the right thing.

              “ You‘re never really there are you, Karen?”
She could hear Jamie’s voice whispering inside her skull.
“ All of this is what keeps you together, what happens when this is gone, what happens to us?”
She shivered as those words crept up, she pulled her attention back to the other girls, anything to silence that voice.   

              Peewee sat in her bed going through everything he had on Angela on his laptop. He rubbed his eyes in frustration, he wanted to make the connection to this newest murder, give his hunch some legs, get Karen on his side and stop whoever was doing this. It scared him to think he might be right, that they could be dealing with a serial killer, what actions would they take once they knew his identity, call the cops or try to apprehend this person by themselves. He knew he was getting ahead of himself, first they needed to make the connection. “ Everywhere I look, there doesn’t seem any reason for her death, her Facebook is filled with lovey-dovey quotes with the hashtag write to inspire, she was like Mother Teresa. So, yes it rules out death by someone with a grudge, but our charming man feeds off women like this.”

              Karen scanned the photos carefully. “ Anything about her falling in love?” Peewee gave the thumbs down. “ Then it’s a safe bet this isn’t connected anyway at all.”

              Peewee jumped quickly to defend . “  No, I know for a fact it is.”

              Karen shook her head. “ You have three girls connected to Lisa Donner, not a single one turned up dead.”

              “ Maybe someone saw him, didn‘t give him enough time to dispose of the body, could be why he dropped it in the middle of Harlem.” Peewee said.

              “ Not enough time?” Karen chuckled. “ He had enough time to gouge her eyes out and put enough of his man juice into each socket.” Peewee hung his head down in defeat. “ If we’re still pinning this person as  your, “ Karen did air quotations. “ serial killer, then he did this for a reason.”

              “ That’s so stupid,” Peewee shot back in anger. “ what reason would that be, his DNA is all over the girl…” That was enough to let it dawn on him.

              “ You see what I’m saying,” Karen took a spot near Peewee to lay down and stare at the ceiling. “ your man, has crafted everything on being careful.” Karen chewed on her lip as she replayed the evidence in her mind. “ What’s not to say he lost his cool, did something holy outside the moment.”