Kiss of Death Chapter 1 part 2

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         Stepping under the hot spray, Jessica was unable to forget the challenge that lay ahead of her.  She had no idea how to get him interested in her.  Obviously, a straight forward approach was not going to work.  He was too careful to approach her as soon as she presented herself to him.  He was very methodical.  Christian had told her that he had consulted the elusive ‘Phoenix’ of the FBI’s profiling team.  Phoenix believed that these killings were not the first that had been committed by this killer.  He had or was a serial killer.  No one knew how many unsolved homicides that he was responsible for.  She turns her face up to the hot water, trying to steam away her thoughts and trepidations.  Danielle was downstairs preparing to update her on the latest findings from C.S.U.  Lately, she had become fascinated with AETV’s Cold Case Files and their other forensic science shows.  She had recently bought one of the many books written by Patricia Cornwell.  She was fascinated by her dedication after catching her on Prime Time Live.  She had discussed her book on Jack the Ripper.  She steps out of the shower and reaches for a towel.  No sooner had she wrapped it around her did her cell phone ring.

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         Devin sees the girls when they come in.  They are smiling and talking loudly about things, they had bought at Victoria Secret trying to engage his attention.  He keeps his eyes cast downward.  He was in enough trouble he didn’t need a girlfriend to add to his already complicated life.  He tries not to attract attention to himself so he dresses conservatively.  Today he had chosen to wear a suit.  One of the girls, a tall leggy blond-haired person gets up and comes over to talk to him.  He doesn’t recognize her from school.  She is wearing a t-shirt and a pair of really short shorts.  She was very pretty he could tell from the haughty way she walked that she was arrogantly confident.  She sits down in front of him and flashes a smile that must have cost her father a small fortune.
         
         “Hi,” she purrs.  He nods.  She is not easily put off.  He takes off his glasses and rubs his eyes.  Today is the first time he is going to teach a class and he is not even close to being prepared.  “I’m Molly.”  She says.  He looks up at her.  She sharply draws in her breath.  “Oh my, you have the bluest eyes I’ve ever seen.”  She doesn’t give him a chance to comment.  “They are the blue of the Caribbean.  Have you ever been there?”  A sharp stab of pain grips his heart.  His family had spent the last winter his baby sister, Harmony had been alive there.  The girl continues to ramble on not paying any attention to his lack of attention.  She had been such a sweet little girl.  He had loved her dearly.  She had the face and voice of a little angel.  He had never seen a person and a name so perfectly matched.  He realized the girl; Molly had picked up his hand.  He turned to her and she was smirking at her friends.  He pulled his hand away and began to pick up his books.  She leans over and takes his pen.  She writes her number on the cover of his spiral notebook.  “It was nice talking to you,” she coos.  “You are such a good listener.  It’s hard to find a guy who doesn’t want to dominate a conversation.”  She leans over and gives him a peck on the cheek.  Devin picks up his book bag and starts stuffing thing in it.  The girl stays his hand.  His student id is clipped to his bag.  “Oh, Devin,” she says loudly.  “You are the sweetest guy.”  He nods to her and makes a hasty exit.  He doesn’t notice the man sitting in the very back of the café, holding the latest Thomas Harrisi novel in front of his face.  He seems to fade into his background.  The long shaggy hair and sunglasses making him look far different from his fleeing identical twin.  She is perfect.  She’ll never live long enough for his brother to take her out on a date.



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         Ash presses play on her machine while trying to decide what to wear.  Thorne has left her about a hundred messages it seems.  They are mostly irate calls about why didn’t she let him take her home and why in the hell did she let her brothers run her life.  The few friends she does have called to tell her congratulations on her commission and leave small hints that she needs to get out more and shop or have lunch with them.  Her friend, Robyn tells her that this would be an excellent excuse to shop.  I smile; Robyn is a shop-a-holic.  One look at my closet tells me she is right.  Most of my clothes are either to formal or simply to work out in.  I have a few casual clothes, but not many.  I sigh and pull out a pair of boxers and one of Josh’s old t-shirts.  It is so big it swallows me.  I am somewhat startled by someone pounding on my bedroom door.  I pull on my Tigger socks and yell “What?”  My cousin Megan flings open my bedroom door with a smile.  She flops on my bed behind me.  I feel a stab of jealousy.  She is dressed in Daisy Dukes, a fitted t-shirt, and has her blond hair in pigtails and despite her somewhat sloppy appearance, she still looks radiant. 

         “I left early last night so you are gonna have to feel me in.  Did you choke any chickens last night?”  We begin to giggle as if the past ten years had never happened and we were still 16 years old.  Megan was the only one who understood how I felt.  She experienced some of the barbs of the backstabbing hen house that was the female minority of our precinct.  Some people felt that just because she was blond she must have slept her way through high school and even onto the force.  The rumors and innuendos were made worse by the fact that she was beautiful. 

         “No, I didn’t kill anyone.  I did get falling down drunk though.”  I proceed to tell her about the horrible nightmare and swear her to complete and total secrecy.  She doesn’t do anything maw-maw like pat my arm and coo sympathetically.  She nods where appropriate and only when I’m finished does she speak.

         “Have you even looked at his picture?”  I shake my head no.  “He doesn’t look anything like your dream.  “He dresses like my dad.”  We begin to giggle again and when we subside, does she begin again.  “He also wears glasses.  We have had a detail watching for sometime and he doesn’t appear to date very much.”  Her voice drops an octave as if we aren’t alone in the room.  “Christian thinks he acts gay.”  My jaw drops and I shake my head.

         “No way, what is his thing with women then?  Does he think that maybe the more women he kills he’ll become one?”  She rolls her eyes.

         “I really have no idea.  I just know that when I hit on him today he didn’t seem the least bit interested in what I was trying to peddle.”  Not until this very moment did the weight of all this truly hit me.  It was all dependent on me to get him to open up and trust me.  If she couldn’t do then how could I?  She was so much prettier than I was.  My sigh alerts her to my disharmony.  “What’s wrong?”

         “I just don’t know how I’m going to attract him when you don’t think he seemed interested in you.”  She looks offended.

         “How dare you talk about my favorite cousin like that?”  She playfully punches me on the arm.  “Jessie, you do not give yourself enough credit.”  She drags me over to the full-length mirror.  Her reflection dwarves mine.  She is almost six foot tall and blew off the WNBA to be a cheerleader for professional football.  I have to wear heels just to come up to her shoulders.  “See?  You are very pretty….for an elf.”  The old joke makes me feel better.  The third musketeer, our cousin, Michelle loved fantasy.  Terry Brooks was her favorite author.  Danielle knocks on the door jamb. 

         “Hey, we have work to do.”  Megan tosses me a goofy face and I have to fake a cough to hide my grin.  Danielle is a serious person.  “I don’t have time for shenanigans this morning, girls.  I have to pick up Livvie at day care in a couple of hours.”  I send Megan a look of amusement.  At least when Livvie gets here Danielle will lighten up.  She enjoys her children immensely.

         Danielle spreads out folders across my living room as she begins to speak.  "Okay, Ash, Megan has been on this case for quite sometime.  She has even gotten some of the other students to accept her as a peer.  Now, your cover is Korie Richard.  You are a 19 year old transfer student from Nichols State in Thibodaux, Louisiana.  Our witness is a 19 year old sophomore from Patumwah, Iowa.”

         Megan snickers and elbows me in the side. I grin and take the hint.  “She wouldn’t happen to be related to our good buddy, Radar O’Reilly would she?”  Danielle purses her lips as Megan and I have a good laugh at Christian’s expense.  He is an avid M*A*S*H fan and knows the character history as well as the stars’ film and life biographies. 

         “Could we please be a bit serious?  This guy is just as methodical as he is psychotic.”  She begins to spread out the 8 X 10 blow up glossy’s of the crime scene photos.  We see the mutilated & naked bodies of the three young women this monster had raped and then murdered.  “Our witness, Mary Dobbs was raped and left to die behind the field house at the football stadium.  It was as if he wanted her found.  He did not fathom that she had a strong will to live.  From this, he has made a fatal mistake.  While he may have taken her tongue as a souvenir, he has allowed us a glimpse into what it is going to take to stop him.  We have now been able to find out that he does not scout his victims.  If he had done so he would have never taken such a big risk leaving a victim alive especially one who volunteered at the local school for the hearing impaired.”  I close my eyes.  The responsibility of this assignment hits me like a bolt of lighting.  I was supposed to get him to trust me, possibly get him to date me.  One screw-up and I was dead.  I sigh.  Danielle glances at me and continues.  “Christian visited Ms. Dobbs in the hospital a few days ago.  We were able to find out that her assailant wore a t-shirt commonly referred to as a wife-beater.  In the attack, she was able to rip his shirt off to reveal a tattoo of some kind on his chest.  It is on the right side just above the pectoral area.  The top is rounded and appears to be a face.  Now, we have no clue if our suspect has a tattoo.  He certainly doesn’t have it listed as an identifying mark.” 

         “Well, if he is killing people why would he have it listed?  I’m sure he doesn’t want to be caught that bad.  Second of all Christian already has it in his notes that its an identifying mark.” Megan looks at me questioningly as I continue.  “First of all, why haven’t any of his classmates been interviewed?  According to his class schedule, he takes a lifetime fitness course.  After working out I’m sure that he would want to take a shower.”  Danielle looks at me approvingly.

         “Now you are starting to act like a detective.  It seems that no one has ever been in the locker room with him.  He is always the first person out on the equipment and the last one into the locker room.  He has it all worked out.  If it is his last class for the day, so apparently he showers at home.  As for the way Christian has it listed Sears is identical to the computer generated sketch of the suspect and he has the same height and build.”

         I roll my eyes.  “How convenient is that?  This case would be tougher than I thought.  Although, I did have a bit of an idea of how to get his shirt off. I smirk.  "You know I could always sick Simon on him and have him go for the shirt.

         "Interesting, but of course he would probably sue us for violation of his civil rights.  You know the whole blah blah legal mumbo jumbo of guilty until proven innocent." Megan stretched her long legs.  "I sure Christian would love to violate procedure."  She wagged her eyebrows at us.

         Danielle groaned.  "You two are unbelievable.  We aren't going to physically provoke him."  She pinched the bridge of her nose and then began to gather files.  "Just remember to make sure that you are up early enough to sneak into the safe house at an early enough time that people do not see you.  You can set up then and arrange to be staying there for an indefinite amount of time.  I am off to pick up Livvie.  See you in the morning."

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         I yawn as glance at what is to be my room for however long this assignment is going to take.  The clock on the faux mahogany end table reads 5 A.M.  Way too early for any normal person to be up but then again why would a normal person get up at 5 A.M. to arrive at their safe house?  I pause in mid-thought most people wouldn’t need a safe house.  Simon comes in and begins to sniff around.  The doggy bed brought in for him is inspected and then quickly discarded with an indignant woof.  He steps lightly onto the end of my bed and doggy grins.  Megan stumbles in to me.

         “Why did you stop?”  She grumbles.  She never was a morning person.  “I almost spilled my coffee all over you.”  She follows my gaze.  She makes a disgusted sound that matches my feelings exactly.  We know immediately who has decorated this room: Christian!  Who else would have the nerve to put up posters of horses and figurines on shelves?  It is almost comical the lengths he has gone to with having this room decorated.  Bookends shaped like horses hold up the John Grisham and Patricia Cornwell collection.  I drop the school supplies borrowed from Josh on the desk.  I hear a snicker and spin around.  Brandon has made his presence known.  He makes his way around the room alternately picking up and then dropping stuffed animals from who knows where.

         “I bet Olivia doesn’t even have this many stuffed animals and she’s seven.”  I walk over and knock them all off the bed that I might have to spend many nights in.  I give the stuffed animal collection my own twist:  a plush replica of Simon, a plush singing Tigger, and a white tae kwon do teddy bear.  “I thought that with all of the prep work that you did yesterday that you might not have a chance to shop.”  Megan and I glance at each other and roll our eyes.  “Danielle was Ms. Slave Driver yesterday, I assume?”  I nod.  She and Christian are perfectionists.  It is apart of why they get along so well.  “Okay, so Erin went and picked out some outfits you might want to use.”  He laid a garment bag and a small suitcase on the bed.  “You will be pleased to know that she did this all on her own and there was no sibling involvement.”

         “Of course not.  If it were up to you, guys Ash would be dressed maw-maw or like a nun at least.  Sometimes nuns get to wear short sleeves with their habits.”  Brandon takes a playful swing at her.

“She said it was actually fun to shop for cute clothes again.  My poor baby is about ready to deliver the baby herself.”  My sister-in-law Erin was relatively small in stature and the added weight of pregnancy was overwhelming her.  Megan rifled through the clothes immediately.  She removes a white spaghetti strap shirt, a pair of jeans, and a white button down. 

“Put these on and then I’ll fix your hair.”  I raise my eyebrow at her and take the clothes into the bathroom.  I lean my forehead against the cool surface of the door.  Today would be the first day of my new identity.  How was I going to get through this?  I close my eyes, utter a small prayer for strength, and quickly change into the clothes.  At least this outfit was something I would normally wear.  As for the attitude, t-shirts and the mini-skirts I would just have to ease into them gradually.  Megan knocks on the door and then peeks around the jamb.  “Ready?” she asks.

“As I’ll ever be.”  I say as I turn to face the mirror.  Megan brushes my hair and then puts in butterfly clips. 

“This morning we are going to go the campus and Christian said the best way to start out is the common sense approach.  You’ve never been there and obviously neither has ‘Korie.’  Therefore, we have to do show you around anyway.  Sears often spends the morning reading on one of the benches in the common.  If he is not there then he is in the Student Union.  I talk to him for the first time yesterday there.  He didn’t seem like he was interested in talking to anyone.  The girls in his study group think he is a freak and generally stay away from him if they have a choice.  He is usually alone.  The only people he ever seems to talk to on a one on one basis are the professors and only them when he has too.”

“Okay, that makes sense.  Most serial killers are the disassociate type.  They generally are loners who intermingle with people on a have to basis only.  The only serial killer I know of that was highly social was Ted Bundy.  Researchers have said that he was very charming.”

“If that is so then he must be one of the more frightening.  Most people would never suspect.”  Those two words echo into my psyche.  Never suspect.  Serial killers have alternately fascinated and frightened me ever since I did a paper on them at the academy.  “Some come from a relatively normal existence and then an event happens and they just go over the edge.  Such as the case with Cary Stayner, the Yosemite Park killer, he was okay until the kidnapping of his younger brother Steven tampered with his sanity.  It was further shattered by Steven’s tragic death in a motorcycle accident in 1994.”

“Yeah, I saw that movie.”  She rolls her eyes.  There is an impatient knock at the door.  “I bet that’s Danielle.”  She turns to open the door and sure enough, it is.

“Come on, its time to go.”  Danielle looks us both over.  “Megan, don’t you think that skirt is a little short?”

“For what?  A police officer off duty or a girl about to go to class?”  She snickers as Danielle rolls her eyes.  She turns to leave and we follow her in silence.  The ride to the campus is relatively short.  The campus is bigger than I had previously thought.  I was surprised to see that the Student Union featured a Pizza Inn and a Burger King!  We ambled around the campus going from one end to the next.  We finally end up walking through the quad.  It was situated on more yardage than a football field.  It stretched most of the length of the campus.  It started in the middle of the auditorium and the student union and stretched to the smaller amphitheater on the other side of the property.  We had to walk down a circular set of brick steps engraved with the names of alumni to get to the first section.  I paused to look at the beautiful fountain in the center of the circle.

“This is really Gothic romantic at night.  It’s a little shadowy and looks like something Anne Rice would write about.”  Danielle points out different things as we walk by.  “Over here to our left is the drama department and the main theater.  Sears has been known to hang around and paint scenery for them on occasion.”  We then end up in the area where Sears spends most of his time.  It is set up like a park with trees and benches everywhere.  At this time of the morning, there are very few people out and about.  Most students are in class.  There are a few walking around and one lone figure sitting in the shadows of a great oak.  Danielle nudges me forward.  “No time like the present.”  I walk forward a couple of steps and then turn to look back.  They have vanished into midair.  I step up beside him.

“Excuse me?”  He doesn’t look up and mumbles something incoherent.  I kneel down beside him and touch his shoulder.  My hair falling forward as I do so.  He starts to look up and pulls back startled for some reason, knocking me over.  “Are you okay?”  He regains his composure and finally looks at me.  He glances away quickly.

“What do you want?”  I sat cross-legged next to him on the grass.  For some reason, it seems like he is terribly nervous.  He keeps glancing around as if someone is going to jump at him and yell gotcha!  I begin to feel sorry for him.  I don’t know why.

“Hey, are you okay?”  I ask softly.  He looks up and his eyes are so blue.  They are the color of the sky on a warm spring day.  I smile at him, a little nervous myself.  Is he going to flip out right here?  I push that thought to the back of my mind.  I can handle this.  “My name is Korie Richard.”  He just looks at me.  “I don’t want to bother you but Professor Marks told me that I could find you here.  He said you might be able to catch up on a couple of classes that I’m behind in.”  I tilt my head a little acting confused.  “You are Devin Sears aren’t you?”  He seems to relax a little and gives me a little half smile.  He runs his hands through his hair.

“The professor sent you?” he asks.  I nod.  “I might be able to help you.  What class do you need to make up?”  I smile as I realize that this isn’t going to be so hard after all.  A change of sorts comes over him and then he smiles too for a few minutes and then he glances down at the books beside him.

“Are you okay?  You seem upset.”  I smile.  “I’m not going to bite you or anything.”  The moment the words are out of my mouth, I instantly regret them.  The color drains from his face and he looks around terrified.  I touch his shoulder and jerks away from me.  Afraid that I might lose what little ground I’ve gained I quickly bring the conversation back to the original point.  “Sorry, my mouth runs away with me sometimes.”  I look down quickly.  I hear him sigh.

“Yeah well you really shouldn’t joke about that.  Especially with a serial killer running around.”  I look at him.  I catch him studying me intently.  He glances away quickly.  “You seem like a nice girl and…” he stops in mid sentence.  “Is that an accent I hear?”  I feel my face heat up.  I had taken French in high school and attempted to prepare myself to sound as if I was a Southern Louisiana native.  “Look, I am the last person who would ever make fun of you.”  We hear some snickering and we both glance up.  Two girls who look like they could have been the cover of 17 Magazine are standing a few feet away openly mocking him.  They both appeared startled when looked at them fully.  They were even more surprised when I touched his face and turned him to face me.  “What are you doing?”  He whispers.  I smile at him and lean in & gently kiss him.  He relaxes somewhat until the girls gasp.  He then pulls away from me.  They rush away whispering furiously to each other.  “You really shouldn’t have done that.”  He looked so sad when he said that that I thought he might cry.  “It will be all over school by this afternoon.  Your social life here will be over.  I mean I'm sure a girl like you would want to join a sorority.”  I look at him funny.

“What do you mean a girl like me?”  I glance at him a little annoyed.  “You think that just because I need some help catching up on some classes that I one of these girls whose only reason for coming to college is to have an excuse to join a sorority so she can party all the time?”  The Irish in me begin to flare up.  I stand up and look down on him.  “The professor said that you were different.  He said that because I was new you wouldn’t treat me like an outsider.”  I turn as if to walk away but he is up so fast that he didn’t make a sound.  He puts his arm around me and turns me to face him.  He stands there for a moment.  It is almost as if he is holding me.  He leans forward and whispers in my ear.
         “I’m sorry.  I never intended it like that.  It is just that most pretty girls I know pretend like they like me so they can have a laugh with their friends.”  I turn to face him.  He keeps his hand on my shoulders.  He tilts my face to look up at him.  I still cannot get over how pretty his eyes are.  He leans forward.  “I don’t have that many friends.”  He sighs.  “I really don’t think I have any.  I mean I’m friendly with most of the professors but that’s about it.”  I smile at him.

         “As long as you don’t think I’m dumb…” He finally gives me a real smile, one that lights up his whole face and shakes his head no.

         “I won’t.”  He leans forward a bit more.  Our faces nearly touching.  “I wasn’t making fun of you.  I never intended for it to sound that way.  I was remarking that you didn’t sound like you were from here.”  Bingo.  He was hooked.

         “No, I am actually a transfer student.  That is why I need some help with my classes.  The business law course I took was based on the Louisiana state law.”  He nods.  I could smell his aftershave.  I saw those same girls coming back.  They had a couple of their girlfriends with them.  Sears groans.  I smile at him.  He looks confused.  “Forget them.  They are small minded fools.”  I whisper.  I reach up to kiss him.  Again, his initial reaction is to pull away, but for some reason or another wraps his arms around me and gives in.  I press closer to him and he responds gradually.  He breaks away, almost reluctantly.  I touch his face.  “Let’s go someplace a little more private.  I’m not into public showings.”  He picks up our book bags and glances at me curiously.  I take him by the hand with a devious grin.  “Shall we go to your place or mine?”  He smiles at me and we leave the girls gawking behind us.

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         Danielle and Megan stand frozen unable to speak.  Megan turns to her finally with a horrified shrug.

         “What in the world is she thinking?!”  She puts a hand to her own mouth.  “She kissed him within seconds of meeting him and then before she’d been talking to him for ten minutes they were practically making out in front of a crowd.”  Danielle looks at her with a not so concerned look.

         “I don’t know why but I think that girl is going to seriously break the rules just to get the job done.”  She silently prays that this is a good thing.  “She sure had him eating out of the palm of her hand though.”  She glances around and lowers her voice.  “If he ever found out who she is I’m afraid of what his reaction might be.”  Megan’s eyes are still as wide as dinner plates.

         “I still can’t believe she is going through with the plan that was laid out.”  She shivers and wraps her arms around herself.  “I could never kiss him.”

         “You won’t have it seems that Jessica is really going out on a limb on this one.”  She glances at the clock.  “I have to go.  You follow behind her and see that she doesn’t get into any trouble.”

         Megan watches her cousin leave.  She quickly grabs her stuff and hurries off in the direction that Ash and Sears went.

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         I quickly unlock the door to the safe house.  Sears is and has been silent the entire ride over.  Simon rushes into the front hallway to greet us with an energetic woof.  Sears seems to relax as he bends down to stroke the big dog’s head.  I am surprised when he begins to speak.

         “You rent this all by yourself?”  I turn to give him my full attention.  He blushes when I smile.

         “No, I moved in with my cousin and her roommate.”  He follows me into the kitchen.  I open the door to the refrigerator hoping that it’s not empty.  I say a silent prayer when the light reveals that it is at least partially stocked.  I set a coke on the counter.  “Coke or sprite?”  I ask over my shoulder.  I hear the water running and think what is he doing?  I turn around and watch in wonder as he fills Simon’s dish.

         “Good boy.”  He pats him on the head and turns to me.  “Oh, anything is fine.”  He looks around a little uncomfortable.  I motion him toward the table and sit across from him.

         “I hope you don’t think I’m forward or anything….” I begin.  He glances away from me nervously.  “I mean back there at the campus.  I don’t know what those girls problem was but I can’t believe they were so mean.”

         “Some people are just like that I guess.”  He says this while staring at the floor.  I sigh thinking that he isn’t going to say anything more, but instead he looks up at me.  “I don’t know who was more surprised, them or myself.”  He smiles at me and I can’t help but smile back.  “I have never had a completely stranger wrap her arms around me.”  I laugh and he does too after a few seconds.  “It really got my attention.”  Simon comes up and sits on the floor under the table.

         “I’ve never done that before either.  I just, well…I…” I falter for a reason and don’t meet his eyes.

         “Possibly because you’re not small minded like those girls who think you have to be an All-Star athlete for them to speak too.”  He finishes for me.  Hmm, I think.  That sounds good to me.

         “My shallowness extends to hoping that I don’t fall down the stairs in Professor Marx's class.”  He smiles again.  Each time they come more frequent as if he is warming up to me.

         “I’m sure it’s not that bad.”  He smiles.  I kind of blush and look away.  In a flash, he is holding my hand and I gasp.  He drops it quickly and looks away.  He starts to get up and leave.  I reach for his hand and pull him back down.  The shell has resumed its place and he refuses to meet my eyes.  I stroke the top of his hand.  He starts to speak but then he bites his lip.

         “Devin?  Are you okay?”  I ask in my most concerned voice.

         “Why do you keep asking that?”  I wonder myself as I pick up his hand so I can hold onto him with both of mine.  He still won’t look at me but his hand relaxes a bit.

         “You’re shaking.”  He looks up sharply at me and then his whole body relaxes.  I do my best not to recoil at his look of frustration and anger.  I continue to stroke his hand.  He looks down at our intertwined hands and then up at me, his lower lip trembling.  I don’t know why but I begin to feel sorry for him.  “Dev?  What is it?”  He looks away but he places his other hand on top of mine.  When he finally looks at me, he seems so determined.

         He takes a deep breath before he begins to speak.  “I…” He falters and I squeeze his hand.  “I think that you need to know some things about me or else you’ll never understand the reason people whisper about me.  I wouldn’t want you to think that I’m psycho or anything.”  Psycho, the word was now definitely out there.  The irony of this situation causes me to glance down so I can contain my composure.  The top suspect in a series of brutal homicides has just asked me not to think that he is a psycho.  He continues as I return what I hope to be a look of concern on my face.  “Korie, can I be blunt?”  I nod silently.  “The reason why those girls were snickering this morning is because…”he pauses not knowing how to say it.  “They think that I’m creepy for whatever reason I don’t know.  I don’t talk to that many people and I don’t really go out.”  I smile encouragingly.  “The times that I do go out I sit by myself and I don’t talk to anyone.”  This is going to be easy I thought.  Tell me all of your secrets.  I’ll be glad to take you in and have all your problems taken care of.  What he says next really shocks me.  “I don’t want to get all psychoanalyzing on you but since my sister died I haven’t really wanted to socialize.”  Now, it’s getting interesting.  “I used to be this monster jock and I blew out my knee my junior year playing baseball.”  Okay, I think now we are getting closer.  He pauses with a sigh and looks down.  “I don’t know exactly how it happened but on the day that I had surgery on my knee my sister drowned.”  I gasp.  On one hand, I think how easy that would be to check out, but on the other hand, I think that is so sad.  When he finally looks up at me, he has tears in his eyes.  “My parents made me go to therapy and…” he gazes into my eyes.  “I quit the team and everything else I was in and focused on school.  My sister was like my angel.  She was only six years old.”  He stops talking and holds our hands up in front of him staring at them.  “I…I am telling you this because of the sacrifice you made with your reputation this morning.  I can understand if you never want to speak to me again.”  He pulls his hands away and stands by the window looking out.  I start over to him and he says, “You don’t have to drive me back.  I can walk.  I am used to it.”  I walk over to him and place my hand on his back.  He stiffens.  I then wrap my arms around him.

         “I don’t think that will be necessary.”  He turns to face me with a confused look on his face.  I smile coyly at him.  “I think I’d rather kiss you again.”

         He reaches down to pull her face down to him once again.  He runs his fingers through her auburn hair and she wraps her arms around his neck.  Ash has to fight herself not to close her eyes.  He senses her hesitation and opens his own.  He breaks away looking down at her.  “Is something wrong?”  He looks at her worried.  She opens her mouth to speak when her cousin flings open the front door and bounces into the kitchen.  She pauses and glances at them.

         “Devin, what a pleasant surprise,” she flashes him a brilliant smile.  Ash looks down.  There is no way she’d ever be able to flirt subconsciously and as easy as Megan did.  “Remember me?  It’s Molly from the Student Union?  Oh, how could you forget?” She says waving her hand nonchalantly.  Ash covers her eyes.  Devin turns to her feeling a little trapped.

         “I was helping Korie play catch-up with some of her classes.”  He is still holding my hand but drops it, almost guiltily.

         “Catch-up, in what subject,” she says batting her eyelashes at him.  The display of affection was not lost on her and he knew it.  He clears his throat and turns back to her.

         “Korie,” he says.  She drops the hand that is hiding her eyes.  “We could meet tomorrow morning to go over the rest of the assignments that need to be made up.”  She nods.  His body reacts and leans him in to kiss her on the cheek, but when Megan widens her eyes he spun on his heel.  From behind his back Ash made a ‘this close’ motion with her fingers and followed him to the front door.

         “Devin,” he turns to find her standing alone in the hallway behind him.  He steps forward and quickly brushes her cheek.  “I don’t want to make you feel obligated or anything.”  She says feeling a little more hurt than she wanted to pretend to be.  He searches behind her and strokes her lips with his finger.

         “Something about that girl just doesn’t seem right.”  He whispers.  Ash frantically searches for something to counter whatever he is planning to say.  “Is she always that well,” he pauses thinking for the proper word, ‘overtly sexual?”  Ash eyes widen.  He mistakes her look of shock for one of hurt.  “She’s an alright person,” he says brushing her cheek with his knuckles.  “She just seems…”

         “Just come out and say it,” she says anxiously.  He sighs and shakes his head.

         “I was thinking that she is probably a major slut.”  Ash’s mouth drops open and her first reaction is to defend her cousin’s honor by knocking the hell out of him.  “Ok, so maybe that was a little harsh, but she sure doesn’t act like she knows too many strangers.”  Ash stands there not knowing what to say.  He scans her face and when he doesn’t see anything encouraging he reaches for the doorknob.  She places a hand on the small of his back sending delightful shivers up the length of his spine.  His breath catches and he turns back to her.

         “She’s overly friendly, but you don’t have to worry about her.  Molly has never been competitive with me about dates or,” she pretends to be flustered over this, “or anything really.” She says hoping that it sounds like someone being sweet and bashful.  He reaches down and wraps his arms around her.  She presses her face into the front of his shirt.  He leans down and kisses the top of her head.

         “I’m teaching a few of Professor Marks’ morning classes tomorrow.  Stop by and see me.”  He says.  He caresses her and is gone in a flash.  She watches until he disappears around the corner.  She then turns, and marches right into the kitchen where Megan has immediately slipped into a pair of dish washing gloves and is placing both coke cans into its own individual sandwich baggy.

         “Hey, I wasn’t done with that!”  She exclaims as the bag begins to fill up with the brown liquid.  Megan silently curses as she throws the bag and can in the trash.  She reaches for some paper towels and begins to wipe up the mess on the floor.

         “Is this one his at least?”  She says nodding to the can sitting on the counter.  Ash walks over to inspect the can.  She then pops the tab and takes a sip.  “What the hell are you doing?”  She says turning around.

         “I had just given it to him before you barged in here.  He never had a chance to open it.  No DNA on this because he didn’t drink out of it.  We have several volumes full of his latents so there is no reason to waste a perfectly good can of coke to Christian and his OCD.”  She giggles and nods.

         “Okay, I guess you’re right.”  She shakes her head.  “What in the world possessed you to walk up and kiss him?”  Ash spills the whole theory of public displays of affection being the complete opposite of what the suspect would do during one of his attacks.  As for bringing him here, surveillance would catch most everything.

         “Besides, I had to get him comfortable enough to talk about things.”  She yawns.  The early day combined with the pressure of the assignment begins to show on her face.  “Could you please not mention this to Christian or Danielle?  I do the write up but I’m going to take an early night.”  She turns and takes the steps two at a time.  She turns the laptop on and stares at the blank Word document for over an hour before being able to put a positive spin on what had happened during the course of the day.  As she begins to type, the way she wanted her brother to think of the kissing begin to flow from her fingers unhindered.  Before she knew it the day had transgressed into late afternoon.  Her old injuries teemed with the emotional stress of the early morning’s assignment made her feel completely drained.  She had to drag herself into the shower.  Simon, upset at being ignored since Devin had left continued to rudely press his cold nose into the back of her knee.  “What?” She grumbles looking down at him.  He whimpers.  She points down the stairs. “Go then.  Just because we’re working doesn’t mean you need permission to use the bathroom.”  He whines and bounds down the stairs.  She listens and recognizes the sound of her brother and sister-in-law’s voices.  Trapped, she decides to shower in the morning and hurries back to her room.  She sheds her clothes quickly and flips the switch on the alarm.  She slides into the bed mere minutes before the sound of two legged persons coming up the stairs is heard.  She shakes out her hair and shuts her eyes.  A knock is heard, followed by the door opening.

         “Ash,” her brother says.  When there is no answer, he switches off the bedside table she forgot about and heads toward the door.  “Whoa, big man, watch those flying leaps.” He says as Simon flies into the room and settles himself at the foot of where Ash is laying.  He slips out of the room and quietly shuts the door.  He shakes his head as his wife meets him in the hall.  “Well, whatever the theory is that she tried to explain to Megan will have to wait till tomorrow because she’s already crashed.”  Danielle nods and points to the downstairs.

         “So is Olivia.  She didn’t even flinch when Simon sniffed her in the living room.”

         “Let’s just go home.  There is no since for all of us to have to stay here.  Megan will keep us informed of tonight’s activities.”

         Ash stayed awake for quite sometime pondering what she had overheard.  Her brother had already begun to spy on her.  She groaned and turned over to lay on her stomach so she could look out the window.

         “How can one person be so suspicious?” She wondered.  All she knew was that everyone expected her to fail.  No matter what happens with this case, she had to prove that she was doing the best job she could do.