Drained

This book is a work of fiction by E. H. Reinhard. Names, characters, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. Locations used vary from real streets, locations, and public buildings to fictitious residences and businesses.

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Brett stood at his stove, tending a pasta dish in a pan. He had a number of small glass prep bowls filled with various spices and other things lined up on the counter. Soft jazz music was playing from the sound system in the living room. He wore a pricey gray dress shirt, unbuttoned at the top, with no tie. The fitted shirt held his muscular frame perfectly.

The doorbell chimed. Brett tapped the slotted spoon he’d been using to stir the pasta on the side of the pan and set it on the granite counter. He lowered the heat on the burner and walked toward the front door. He’d just buzzed his guest, Rebecca—or Becca, as she liked to be called—through the front gates a moment prior. He’d made every attempt and excuse to go and pick her up, but the woman was dead set on driving herself to his home, which was an inconvenience as he was running out of storage space.

Brett glanced through the door’s peephole at her. She was wearing a loose-fitting black shirt that exposed her collarbones and a pair of short denim shorts. A purse hung from her shoulder, and large sunglasses wrapped her eyes. Her dyed blond hair was pulled back in a ponytail. He opened the door.

She smiled. “Hey. This is some place.”

Brett smiled back and ran his hand through his perfectly manicured black-and-gray hair. “Thanks. Come on in. Perfect timing. The food is almost done.”

Rebecca stepped into the house and looked around. “Wow. It’s just as beautiful inside.”

Brett smiled and closed the large front door at her back.

She took her eyes from observing the interior of the home and put them back on him. She stepped up to him, put her arms around his thick neck, and kissed him on the cheek.

Brett wrapped his arms around her thin frame.

“It’s about time you invite me over,” Becca said.

He chuckled. “Oh. What can I say? I like to take things slow.”

Brett let go of the embrace and started for the kitchen.

She took the sunglasses from her chestnut colored eyes and rested them on her forehead. “The food smells wonderful. What are you making?”

He waved for her to follow him. “Linguine carbonara with cauliflower and pancetta.”

She didn’t respond but followed along.

“Grab a chair.” He nodded toward the barstools around the kitchen island. “We have about two minutes, and we’ll be ready.”

“Do you need help with anything?” she asked.

He stirred the pasta and sauce. “Um, you could open that wine there.” He jerked his chin at the bottle and the corkscrew on the kitchen counter.

“Sure. Glasses?” she asked.

He tapped the spoon on the edge of the pan and clicked off the burner. Brett pulled two wine glasses from the cupboard and set them next to her. He placed his hand on the small of her back and then ran it down her backside. “I’m glad you came,” he said.

She looked at him and smiled. “I was actually starting to think you were married or something.”

“Married?” he asked.

“I don’t know. It just seemed like you are kind of hesitant, and…” She paused.

“And?” he asked.

“Only communicating through the website messenger system. That seems like something a married guy would do so he wouldn’t get any messages to his phone.” Becca twisted the corkscrew down into the cork and pulled it from the bottle. “So I’m going to come straight out and ask. Are you married?”

“No,” he said. He held up his left hand and pointed to his ring finger, minus a ring.

“Girlfriend?”

“No, but there is someone I enjoy spending time with,” Brett said.

She stared at him.

He smiled, showing his flawless dental veneers. “I was referring to you.”

“Why, thank you. I like seeing you as well, John.” She brushed her hand across his.

“Okay,” he said. “Total honesty. I guess you could say I haven’t had all that much luck with women in the past couple years, so I’m a bit cautious. As far as the phone thing, it already drives me up the wall with business. I try to limit who I give the number out to. But if you want my number, you can have it. I really don’t have anything to hide. Program it into your phone.”

Becca poured the wine and smiled. “Well, I would if my damn phone worked. It just quit on me a bit ago, right after I got your last message. It went black and wouldn’t do anything. A couple minutes later, and it wouldn’t even turn on.”

“That’s weird. Was it old?” Brett asked.

“No. I got it last year.”

“Hmm, yeah, you didn’t get it wet, did you?”

She shook her head.

“You didn’t go and get a new one?” he asked.

“No. I didn’t have time. I have insurance on it, so I imagine that they’ll just give me a new one once I go to the store. I’m kind of hoping that it just starts working again without me having to deal with the hassle.”

He nodded. Zero chance of that, he thought.

“Are these glasses going on the table there?” she asked.

“Yup. Let me just get this plated up quick.” Brett pulled two plates from the cupboard and set them on the counter. He looked back over his shoulder. Becca had her back to him. Brett reached out and grabbed one of the small prep dishes filled with a powder and dumped it on one of the plates. He spooned a pile of noodles on top of the powder and spread it around. He grabbed a fork from the drawer and used it to fill his plate. He looked over his shoulder again. Becca was sitting at the table, looking back at him.

“Here we go,” Brett said. He took the two plates and walked them to the table. He set hers in front of her and his plate at the seat across the table. He returned to the kitchen for some silverware and napkins. He handed Becca her utensils and took his seat.

“How in the world are you single?” she asked. “Great looking, you have all of this, you can cook…”

Brett shrugged. “I lead a pretty busy life with work. It doesn’t allow me all that much time for a social life.”

She nodded and looked down at her food. “It smells amazing,” she said.

“Thanks. I’ve made this dish a handful of times before. It usually turns out pretty good, so we’ll see.”

“Do you cook a lot?”

“I guess you could say that.” Brett took a sip of his wine. “I had a chef on staff to prepare meals for me a few years back. I watched what he was doing like a hawk. As far as my diet, I eat pretty well, which isn’t really possible consuming things that are premade. This dish here I guess you could call a bit of a guilty pleasure.”

She scooped up a forkful of the pasta and placed it in her mouth. She chewed and smiled. “It’s delicious,” she said.

He nodded. “Glad you like it.”

She continued eating.

Brett picked at his food and watched her shovel forkful after forkful into her mouth. It took her the better part of twenty minutes to finish all but a few noodles on her plate. He gulped his wine down and went to refill his glass. “Did you want more wine?” he asked.

“Um, I guess,” she said.

He walked the bottle back to the table and topped off her glass.

Brett retook his seat across from her as she lifted the glass to her lips. Brett watched her hand waver on the way up, spilling some wine on the table. She didn’t even notice she’d done it. Then she squinted hard and quickly shook her head.

“Something the matter?” he asked.

“Um, I don’t know. I just got a little dizzy there.” Her words slurred. She poked a piece of pasta with her fork and brought it to her mouth. She attempted to stab another, and the fork fell from her hand, clanked off her plate, and hit the floor. She tried to reach down for it and slipped from her chair to the tile.

Brett quickly went to her aid. “Let’s get you back up,” he said. He lifted her back onto the chair.

Becca pressed her hands flat on the table to keep herself steady.

“I think I know what might be the problem,” Brett said.

She didn’t respond, staring down at her plate.

“I said I think I know what might be the problem that you have going on right now.” He waited for her to respond.

“Problem?” she asked. Her voice was low, and the single word took several seconds to come from her mouth.

“Yeah, it was probably the five milligrams of Rohypnol I put in your food.”

“Ro… Rohypnol?” she asked.

“Yes. Rohypnol. I put it in your food to knock you out. You know how your phone stopped working? That’s something I designed into the website app that gets downloaded onto your phone. It’s actually part of the code in the messaging system. All I have to do is send you a specific message through the app, and it opens a virus which kills your phone. Cool, hey? That way, you couldn’t be tracked here.”

Becca didn’t respond.

“You see. I’m going to kill you. I knew I was going to kill you from the second you responded. Every last thing you see is bait: the car, the house, the way I look, the way I dress and act. Everything has been put together to lure you in, to get you to this exact moment in time. Hell, I’d live in a trailer if I could. I honestly don’t care about any of this stuff.” Brett took a sip of his wine. “But apparently, you women do. They see someone single, in good shape, successful with money… Like moths to a flame.”

Becca again didn’t respond. She was facedown in her plate.

Brett shook his head, walked to her, and pushed her off the chair. Becca’s limp body hit the floor, her head bouncing off the tile. He grabbed her by an arm and pulled her toward the stairs.

“Now for the fun part,” he said. “At least for me.” Brett reached out for the basement door.

My cell phone rang. I reached into my pocket and fished it out. The caller ID read Kane—my old partner, and technically my superior, at my last job at the Tampa PD. I clicked Talk.

“Hey, Captain. What’s up?” I asked.

“Hank. How’s it going?”

“I’m heading into the new office. Hoping this navigation in the car can actually get me there. It got me lost on Friday, so I’m taking a different route today.”

“I see. So, are they putting you straight to work?” he asked.

“It sounds like it. I came in last week and met with the supervisor for the department. Seemed like he wanted to get me off and running right away.”

“Special Agent Hank Rawlings,” Kane said. “It still sounds weird to me.”

“How do you think I feel?”

“So, did Karen buy you a bunch of new suits and dress you this morning? Get you all set for your first day?” He laughed on his end of the call.

“She might have picked me up a few things. Have to make a good first impression and all, or so she said.”

“That sounds about right. So, how’s the new house?”

“Boxes and mayhem. Porkchop bouncing around, doing his best to constantly be underfoot. Karen being emotional. So pretty much the same as in Tampa, plus boxes.”

“Speaking of Karen, has she started yet?” Kane asked.

“Yeah, beginning of last week. She seems to act like she likes it so far. Same job, just a bigger division. One second, Kane. The car’s nav is giving me some directions here.”

“No problem,” he said.

My navigation instructed me to take the exit in one mile and told me the name of the exit. I put on my directional and got to the right lane. As soon as I did, my navigation stated that it was rerouting. The woman’s voice, along with an arrow on the screen, told me that I’d arrived at my destination. I poked my finger at the navigation screen in the car’s dash, and it went black aside from the time in the upper-right corner. Then the middle of the screen said Calculating.