Text Box: * * * * * * * * Darkness…cold…so cold. Fear…paralyzing fear…can’t think…should fight, struggle…maybe if I could scream…I am screaming! Why can’t I hear myself screaming? Don’t hurt me! Please…don’t…hurt…don’t hurt… nohurtnohurtnomorehurtpleaseplease… Oh God…NO! No…no… Can’t be happening…not real…can’t be real! I can’t die! Please…I don’t want to die! I don’t understand…why are you doing this? Why…why…why… “Why…what?” The voice was deep and flat, and came from somewhere outside the terror that held her in its clammy web. Tierney Doyle clung to the voice, used it like a lifeline and managed to haul herself back to corporeal reality, the tangible, tasteable, seeable world. As she struggled to focus on the tall figure of the man standing in front of her she felt the reassuring hug of the swing seat around the backs of her thighs, the warm Portland sunshine beating down on her head, the bite of the steel chains she’d gripped so hard she knew there would be red indentations and white ridges across her fingers and palms when she let go. She touched a toe to the depression in the sand beneath the swing dug by small, pushing feet, making the swing rotate slightly as she looked up, up, up, past the slightly rumpled tan slacks, the darker brown sport jacket with the Portland P.D. detective’s badge pinned to the pocket, the unbuttoned shirt collar and the hard square jaw wearing a hint of five o’clock shadow, though it was not yet noon. On up to eyes the color of mountain lakes under cloudless skies, with lashes any woman would die for. “What?” she said vaguely, as she met the look of cold appraisal in those deep blue eyes. This she recognized—she’d seen that look often enough before. A skeptic, obviously, like so many in his line of work. “Are you all right? You looked like you were about to pass out.” It wasn’t an expression of sympathy; his mouth hadn’t softened, though there was a pleat of frown-lines between his dark brows. Skepticism, but compassion, too. Nice, even though he doesn’t look it. She tried to produce a smile, but it was too soon. Too soon. “I’m fine,” she murmured, and mentally added a determined, I will be. She rose from the swing but kept one hand tightly on the chain, uncertain of her legs yet. She brushed at the seat of her pants and nodded in a way that took in the sandy playground, the children’s play equipment incongruously painted in happy primary colors, and the people—not children, but grownups, dressed in muted shades of gray and tan and brown--moving purposefully about among them. Like sparrows, she thought, foraging in a bed of flowers. “It gets to me sometimes, that’s all.” “Yeah, crime scenes can be tough,” the detective said, slipping a pair of sunglasses from his inside jacket pocket and putting them on. “Especially on civilians.” She glanced up at him, and this time she did smile. “You’re not a believer in…what I do.” His eyebrows lifted in mock surprise. “Wow, you are a mind reader.” “I read emotions, not minds.” And he watched her eyes change, an effect so unmistakable it startled him, but which he couldn’t have described to save his life. A veil…a shadow…and yet, neither of those. Somehow, though they continued to gaze into his, her eyes seemed to be looking at something else, something only she could see. He wanted to tell her to stop…whatever it was she was doing. She was creeping him out. But before he could open his mouth, she spoke again, in a hoarse almost-whisper. “He tortured her…tied her here—” she gestured toward the swing hanging limp and empty next to the one she clung to “—so her feet wouldn’t touch the ground. He cut her…burned her…” And as she spoke the words in a breathy undertone her hand wandered here and there over her body, showing him where. A strange prickling sensation washed over his skin. He felt his stomach go cold. How could she know that? No one outside the task force knows that—no one. And it wasn’t covered in the briefing this morning, either. “Who told you that?” he demanded, his voice raw with anger. But she didn’t seem to hear him. “He covered her mouth with something—tape, I think—so she couldn’t scream. Couldn’t—” She let go of the chain, suddenly, and gripped his arm instead. He felt the cold of her hand through the layers of his shirt and jacket. The veil—whatever it was—was gone from her eyes and they were seeing him again. “Please—I need to get away from it. From here. This place. Do you mind?” “Sure,” he said, “why not? Where do you want to go?” He had to hand it to her—she was good. Damn good. The hand on his arm actually felt like it needed his support, and he could see tiny beads of sweat scattered across her forehead and the bridge of her freckled nose. He could hear the faint shudder of her uneven breathing. And even with her touseled head of sunshot red-gold curls just inches from his shoulder, he realized he hadn’t thought of cheerleaders since she’d first looked into his eyes. “I don’t care, just—” she nodded toward the parking lot, crowded now with law enforcement and crime scene vehicles of all shapes and sizes. The news media, thank God, had been restricted to the park perimeter by manned police barricades. “Just anywhere. I need some distance. From where it happened.” “Sure. Whatever you say.” Annoyance made him tight-lipped and shorter with her than he should have been, though the annoyance was with himself for beginning to believe, even for a moment, that there might be something to her flimflam. And for not being smooth enough to think of a way to rid his arm of the oddly disturbing weight of her hand without seeming churlish. They walked, slowly. He had the interrogator’s knack of patient waiting, and in due time it paid off. She began to talk, in a voice that seemed completely normal, nothing like the hoarse half-whisper of a few minutes ago. She had a nice voice, he had to admit, with an almost musical lilt to it. Out of the blue he found himself wondering if she did sing, or play an instrument of some kind. “I don’t know if I’ve been able to pick up much--anything that will help you identify the killer, that is. She didn’t know him. She was so afraid, at first. Later, she just wanted to know…she just kept asking Why? That was what was in her mind when she… At the end.” Wade let out a breath, shook his head. Couldn’t believe what he was about to ask. “What about him? The killer? Pick up any vibes from him?” There was a long pause before she answered, and this time while he waited he allowed himself to look down at her, thinking—hoping—he might get some kind of clue to what made her tick. He didn’t, of course, but what he did get was an unexpected kick right square in the libido. Damn, but she was pretty, even with a little watermark frown marring the creamy perfection of her forehead. She jerked a look up at him, as if she’d—damn it, he wasn’t going to believe she’d read his mind. But he saw a pink tinge in her cheeks before she looked away again. “Yes,” she said finally, with a small, frustrated shake of her head, “but it’s all confused. Muddled. I can’t make sense of it. He’s…was in a terrible hurry, for one thing. And distracted, almost, as if his mind wasn’t entirely on her--this victim. That really doesn’t seem right, does it?” He stopped walking, mentally gritting his teeth at the thought of what he was going to say next, and turned to face her. “Okay, how about this? Don’t try to make sense of it. Just tell me what you saw. Uh…felt. Whatever.” She nodded, touched the fingertips of both hands to her lips and closed her eyes. “Fear. That’s what he feels. He’s afraid, like a child is afraid. And in a hurry…he must hurry…finish this. He wants it over with. He’s not enjoying it. But he has to do it. Has to. He isn’t seeing her. Or—he sees her, but she’s all mixed up with…others. Other faces. I can’t—” “Other faces? His other victims, you mean?” “I don’t know…some of them, maybe. Yes, definitely some. But others…” She shook her head, opened her eyes and aimed them at him, and instinctively he threw up his emotional defenses to block against the pain and confusion he saw in them. “I don’t remember seeing any of them at the briefing this morning.” “Could be more victims we haven’t found yet…” He heard himself say the words, musing, half to himself, and couldn’t believe it. His mind flashed a silent blasphemy. She’d started walking again, but now she stopped and looked at him. “Uniforms. He’s…I think he’s afraid of uniforms.” Wade almost laughed, snorted instead. Talk about obvious. Once again he’d almost bought it, whatever it was she was selling. “Cops, you mean? Well, he damn well better be,” he said in the even tone he employed when he was on the verge of losing his temper. “Because we’re going to nail this creep’s ass.” Hopefully, he thought, before he kills anyone else. Tierney stared at him, frowning a little. Uniforms…cops…? No, that’s not…it’s something…something… Wait…I can’t… But it was gone, the emotions dissolving in her consciousness like smoke in the wind. Copyright 2008 Kathleen Creighton-Fuchs

Excerpt from “Danger Signals”

By

Kathleen Creighton
 

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