Witness Protection (The Witness Series) (11 page)

“Miss, can I have your phone.”

The older woman kneels beside me, I am shaking violently.

“Miss?”

I don’t answer her, I can’t. I can’t breathe. She gently reaches down and grips the phone in my hands and
pry’s
it out. I let
her,
I have no energy not t
o. I can hear her conversation, but it isn’t sinking in.

“Hello, is this Ryder?”

Silence.

“A police officer asked me to call you and said to come back to the apartment.
There is this woman hanging from a tree and
..”

Silence.

“Yes.”

Silence, the woman looks down at me. “Is your name Ari?”

“Y-y-yes.”
I croak.

“Yes, a girl named Ari is sitting beside me.”

Silence.

“Ok.”

She hangs up and hands the phone to
me,
I take it back in my vice like grip.
I hear scurry and police cars pull up but I don’t move, I can’t move, even if I wanted to. Her face, her dead, lifeless eyes, I can’t get them from my mind. It hurts, it is burnt in and it hurts.

“Hey, hey.”

I feel warm arms go around me, comfort. I smell the cologne and know
it’s
Nate. He pulls me close to his chest and whispers soothing words in my ear. I hear more voices, but I feel just a touch better now.

“Hey, you are ok.”

“He…he…
knows
where I am.”

“We got it, we got you,
he
won’t get to you.”

“He got in!” I cry. “He could have been watching and shot me down like a bird.”

“He doesn’t want to shoot
you,
if that is what he wanted he would have done it. He
wants
a game, he wants to play. Come on.”

He pulls me to my feet and I see Ryder talking frantically with James Clancy. H
e looks over at me and his aqua
ey
es are pained, for me. I nestle
further into Nate’s shirt and just focus on breathing in his scent.

“I am taking her out of the
way,
she doesn’t need to see that.” Nate tells the two men.

“Yeah, we got it.”

I feel another arm touch my shoulder and I am turned to face Ryder.

“You ok?”

“No.” I whisper.

“We
won’t
let anything happen to you.”

“I keep hearing that, and yet…he got so close.”

“Take her up Nate, we will come up and talk with her soon.”

Ryder strokes my cheek and Nate leads me away. When we are back in the apartment, I crumble onto the couch. Strong, I have to be strong. He wants me
weak,
he wants me fragile so he can pounce. I have to be strong.

“Hey, you want a cup of tea sweetheart?” Nate asks, sitting beside me and stroking back my hair.

“Please.” I croak, sitting.

“He is getting closer,
more game
, we will get him Ari.”

“Maya, my name is Maya. You have no need to call me Ari anymore.”

“No, I guess I don’t. Maya, that’s real pretty.”

“Nate?”

“Yeah?”

“That girl, was it her… the missing girl.”

“Yeah, sorry sweetheart.”

“Oh
God
.”

“Don’t you go blaming yourself, he would have kept killing weather or not you saw him that night, it wouldn’t have mattered.”

“It still pulls at my heart strings, I saw only briefly what he did and it haunts me to know what he did to them.”

“We will get him.”

“What if he gets me
first.
”

“Hey,” He snaps, gripping my face. “No one is coming anywhere near you. Security will go mad around this place
now,
he won’t dare to come back.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I do know that.”

“Nate, can you just hold onto me for a while, just a while.”

Nate grips me and pulls me towards his chest. My cheek rests on the hard planes and I breathe in deeply. I close my eyes and just focus on him, on being in his arms, on the comfort it gives. We stay there until the front door
opens,
then, I am passed onto another chest,
Ryder’s
. I follow the same process, just breathing in and feeling the comfort.

“You ok?” He whispers.

“I don’t know.”

“You want to hear what we know?” He asks.

I sit up and rub at my eyes. “Yes.”

I look over and see James Clancy talking closely with
Nate,
he has a note in his hands. Oh no, oh no.

“Another note.”
I croak.

“Yeah.”

“What…what does it say?”

“It says you can’t hide, I found you but don’t feel left out,
your
turn is coming.”

The tears flow again and I grip hold of Ryder’s hand. “He will get me.”

“No, he
won’t
.”

“We have upped security,
guards
on every entrance including all the docks, which is how he got in.”

“He came through the docks?” I ask.

“Yes, he said he was a delivery driver and had some deliveries to make. He drove right on in and around the back, strung the girl up and left. No one knew better. We now have an officer on guard that will check every damned person, van, car, bike and anything else that comes in through those doors and gates. No-one gets in without being seen.”

“What if he makes a disguise?”

“Every person will be checked for weapons, and their vehicles will also be checked.”

“What if he just takes a damn shot?” I cry, frustrated.

“He
won’t
, he is a serial killer,
if
he just wanted to shoot you he would. He likes games, he likes the hunt. He will stuff up and we WILL get him.”

“My family?”

“Under protection.”

“What about moving her?” Nate asks. “It could be safest option.”

“NO!” I cry, standing. “No, I am not running and I am not being shoved into someone
else’s
care. I trust you guys, I don’t want to be moved around to someone I don’t know. Please, don’t move me. Running isn’t going to stop him, he found me once, he will again.”

“She is right.” Ryder says from the couch.

I shoot Nate a hurt look, he open
s his mouth but
closes it again, but he gives me a sorry stare.

“Alright, we have most of it covered. We are going to take the note and go over it, as well as the body. We will let you know of anything new, meanwhile, you lot stay safe.”

“You want complete lock down?”

James Clancy thinks a moment. “No, he is unlikely to come here. He wants to draw her out, go about your usual things, just DON’T and I mean DON’T let her out of your sight, not even for a second. He is going to stuff up and when he does, we will be there, but hiding in here
won’t
give him a chance to and he is likely to find a way to drag her out, which could be worse.”

“You’re right about that.” Ryder agrees.

“Well I am done
here,
I have a lot of work to do.” James Clancy says, walking to the door, just before he steps out, he turns
and stares at Ryder
. “I don’t know what’s going on here, but I can feel it. I am old, I have seen a lot and I don’t judge. Your business it is, but, her safety is number one and I w
ill say no matter what you
are doing, you make sure that stays at the top of the list.”

The two men nod and James Clancy walks out, shutting the door silently behind him.
Nate turns and gives me a look.

“I’m
sorry,
I didn’t mean to imply that I wanted you gone.”

“I know Nate.”

“So, I guess our day of work is over, what do we do?”

“I don’t feel up to anything, you two go ahead.”

Both men raise their brows and Ryder comes to sit beside me.

“You know, the first time I saw death it really shook me too. It isn’t easy seeing someone die, especially when you are blaming yourself. I know how you feel inside right now, you feel sick and horrible. You can’t get that image from your mind, but you know what else I learnt over my time?”

“What?” I whisper.

“That doing things, that keeping up your daily life, it helps. If you wallow, those images will haunt you. So you know what I say?”

I shake my head.

“I say we go for that swim, I say we buy beer and we drink it. We have some guests tonight, so we can stay in but
let’s
go and enjoy that water. It will help.”

I go to say no, an instant reaction, but he is right. I can’t let this eat me
up,
I can’t let the image kill my brain. I also need to show whatever freak is watching me, that he didn’t scare me, that I am laughing and having fun, because that isn’t part of his plan.

“Ok.”

“Alright, Nate
let’s
get changed.”

When the two men are changed, we all head down to the pool. Thank Christ it is on the other side of the complex. I slow my trembling as much as possible as I peel off my shirt. When I turn and cop an eye full of cop, I shiver. Holy mother, those two are gorgeous.
Standing in only board shorts, both men are shirtless.
So different and yet both so
striking
. Women stop and
stare,
others smile and giggle as they pass. I can’t help the small smile that creeps across
my face, knowing they are with me.

“If you don’t smile soon, I am going to throw you in that water.” Nate says and snaps me from my lusting.

“What?”

“Too late.”

He lifts me and I squeal, then seconds later I am dumped into the cold water. I come up gasping and screaming, but, I am smiling. Both men dive in
and swim over to me.
Ryder lifts me and throws me again, and I soar through the air in a fit of laughter. We continue to swim and laugh, until my stomach cramps from it. Then we all just sit with a drink, enjoying the sun and the fresh air. After four drinks, the images and pain has eased and I am laughing stupidly on the sun lounge.

“Drunk, she’s drunk.”

“Good move Ryder.” Nate grumbles.

“Oh stop it, I am not drunk.” I giggle.

“No, we might have to see about that. Miss, stand for me please.” Ryder grins, putting on a cop voice.

“But officer, the ground is hot.”

“Stand or I will be forced to make you.”

I stand and giggle, gripping on to the table beside me.

“Now, walk in a straight line to me.”

I begin walking in a straight line, giggling stupidly. People are watching, some are laughing.  I fall forwards and Ryder catches me.

“Far too drunk, I am going to have to place you under arrest.”

“But officer.”
I plead.

“Allow me partner, this one needs punishing.”
Nate steps in, taking my hands and pulling them behind my back.

“Most certainly, away with her.”

Nate leans down and scoops me over his shoulder and I giggle the entire wa
y back to the apartment. Nate throws me down onto the couch and I bound up with a giggle.

“Music!”

Nate and I turn on the music just as Ryder comes back in. I am doing
my best impression of shake that ass
, and Nate is slapping my bottom with his best impression of the spank dance. Ryder sighs and shakes his head.

“Oh you like it when he spanks you!”

“He doesn’t mean it!” I giggle.

Nate snorts a laugh and walks into the kitchen to get more beer. Ryder walks over and grips my hips, dragging me close.

“Want me to spank you again?”

I grin up at him. “I want you to fuck me first.”

His eyes widen and he grins.
“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“You ready to play baby?
”

“I might be.”

He leans down and takes my lips to his and pulls me into a deep, long kiss.

“Um, have I interrupted something?”

We hear a voice and turn
to see Janelle standing at the door. Nate walks out and sighs.

“Well bloody hell, good way to kill a party.”