Killer Scents (2 page)

“You do realize not everyone is like your former patients passing through life on drugs and shock therapy?”

“Of course.”
Susan
rubbed her ever-present hanky over the glass tabletop
,
a
gesture she’d
done
since they
’d
sat for tea.

Becca loved her sister
’s best friend
, but it became more and more difficult
for them
to have a pleasant visit. Her paranoia and OCD about having a clean home consumed her.

“Do you know what you need?” Susan asked.

“No, but I’m sure you’re going to tell me.”

“When’s the last time you had a man in your bed?”

“You don’t really think I’m going to answer that question, do you?” Heat flooded Becca’s face.
“
Besides, I could ask you the same thing.”

“Oh my, are you blushing? Come on. Out with it. You might as well tell me, because you know I won’t stop bugging you until you do.”

“It’s no big deal. After Jack’s funeral, I went to the bar and had a few too many margaritas. Then in walks one super-hot guy, and the next thing I know we’re in a room upstairs having the most intense sex I’ve ever had in my life. I left before he woke up and never laid eyes on him again.”

“You’re making this up,” Susan insisted.

“Nope. I wish I was. I don’t even remember the guy’s name, but he called me Red. It’s not exactly something I’m proud of. Your turn.”

“Jeremy Wilson, happy now?”

“Jeremy Wilson? Are you telling me it’s been twenty years since you’ve been with a man?”

“
Just because I don’t have a man in my life doesn’t mean I don’t have a satisfying sex life. I’ll have you know, some of the best orgasms are self-induced. Besides, d
id you ever stop to think that maybe I’m happy here on my own? For twenty years the only time I
’ve ever
had to myself was when I closed my eyes, and even then my patients found their way into my dreams.
”

“There’s a whole big world out there between the hospital and here
, you know
.”

Susan
balled up her hanky
, agitated. “Is that what you tell yourself?” She narrowed her gaze at Becca. “What do you do with your time between visiting Jack’s grave and riding around on that motorcycle?
I mean, aside from your
drunken one-night stand.”

“Touché.”  Becca raised her cup and drained the last of her tea. “And on that note, I’ll
leave you in peace to do whatever it is you do here every day, all day, on your own.”

“Don’t be like that. I don’t expect you to understand. Just know
that
I’m okay.” Susan lightly patted her hand and immediately wiped it on her hanky.

Becca pushed away from the table and picked up her helmet from beside
the
chair. “Okay, but promise me if you need anything
—and
I mean
anything
—
you’ll call
me
?

Her friend
smiled. “Yes, I promise.” She picked up the cups and
stepped over
to the sink. “Lock the door behind you.”

“You got it. I’ll call you sometime tomorrow.”
Becca stepped out onto the front porch scattered with potted mums of yellow and red. She smiled at the colourful, homey touch and made her way down the stone walkway to her bike.
What gives me the right to judge her or anyone for that matter?
With a heavy sigh, she straddled her bike and turned the key.

Would I have ended up a recluse like her if
my father
hadn’t
left me his
bike?
What would’ve happened if I had stayed in the room that night?
She
pushed
the thought
s
from her head.

“
There’s no turning back the clock.
”
She
flipped up the kickstand. The sun still shone high in the sky, and she paused at the end of the driveway to slip on her sunglasses before turning onto the street.

The mere mention of her partner, Jack, had her heart aching. Almost
a year
had passed since that horrific day
he
was shot
.
If
she ha
d dismissed protocol
and followed her gut instinct, s
he could
’
ve saved his life
.
She
woul
d
’
ve taken the perpetrator down before he had the chance to point his gun at Jack’s head and pull the trigger.

A car
horn
blared behind her, jolting her in her seat
at the same time
the light turned yellow, then red. The irate driver honked
again
and yelled out his window. “What the hell’s the matter with you? Shouldn’t you be home baking cookies or something? Do everyone a favour and leave the big toys to the men.”

Becca sucked air through clenched teeth, reminding herself she wasn’t a cop on duty anymore. She
turned the key off,
set her bike on its kickstand
, and
count
ed
to ten under her breath
as
she sauntered back to where the driver stared wide-eyed at her.

“Listen,
why don’t y
ou just turn yourself around like a good girl
before things get ugly
.”

Becca reached his door and jerked it open. “Get out.”

“What? Are you nuts?” He chuckled. “Trust me, you do not want me to get out of this car.”

Before the driver had a chance to move, Becca pulled him out of the car and threw him belly-up on the hood of his fancy Mercedes. She twisted his arm behind his back and leaned over him until her mouth was a whisper from the silver fringe of hair above his ear. “Listen, asshole, you’re lucky I’m in a good mood. I suggest you learn some manners
on
how to treat a
lady
before you open that fat trap of yours again.”

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” He strained to turn his face toward a group of bystanders. “Someone call the cops
.
S
he’s fucking crazy.”

Becca laughed, and so did most of the crowd.

“What’s the matter? You don’t want to call the cops on a
little girl
like me, do you?” She kept hold of his arm and pulled him upright, shoving him
into the driver’s seat
. “Now I suggest you take your sorry ass home and check your undies.” She slammed the door and strutted back to her bike while the crowd erupted in applause. Before she twisted the throttle, she
glanced back
.

“Have a nice day.” She smiled sweetly and batted her eyelashes over the rim of her shades. The driver mopped his
damp forehead
.

Her heart beat a hundred miles an hour as she rode away.
What the hell did I just do?
Becca hadn’t lost her temper like that in years. When she first joined the force she’d been reprimanded several times for her quick
fuse
, and had to quickly master reining in her anger.

Why now? Sure the guy was a chauvinistic pig, but he didn’t deserve to have her go all psycho on him.
If she wasn’t so embarrassed about her behavior she’d turn around and apologize. She smirked. 
In any case,
I bet he thinks twice the next time he’s pissed at a chick on a bike.

When she pulled in her driveway
,
t
he sun had begun its descent. She’d normally eat out before heading home, but after her earlier altercation, she just wanted a nice
,
quiet house, microwave popcorn, and a couple of cold beers in front of the idiot box.

Talk about a stroke of luck. He smiled broadly
,
watch
ing
the motorcycle ride away.
How will she feel when she learns her
friend
’s killer
lurked outside in the shadows and watched her ride away
?
He snickered into his clenched hand.
Probably not half as bad as
she’ll feel
when she finds out how much easier she made things for
me
.

Susan’s house sat back from the road
.
M
eticulously manicured hedges skirt
ed
the edges of her self-imposed exile from the human race.

He didn’t have to gain entry under the pretense of delivering a flower. Thanks
to Detective Talbot he slipped in through the unlocked door.

Sneaking up behind her added
an
element of surprise he enjoyed. The tea cup in her hand fell to the floor, shattering against the stark white ceramic tiles. With his
hand
over her mouth, he half-dragged her back into the living room.

Before he
uncovered her mouth
, he pressed his gun to her temple. “Now, you’re going to lie down on the sofa like a good girl
.
A
ren’t you, Susan?”

He spun her around to
look straight at her
for the first time. Susan’s
eyes
grew big
,
and she started to sway.

“Oh, come on now,
” he whispered. “Y
ou don’t want to miss all the excitement, do you?”

T
ears slipp
ed
out from under
lowered
lashes
seconds before
she collapsed. By the time
she came to
, he
’d
tied her up and
now
straddled
her on the couch.
He‘d put on
gloves and
a
mask
, and a
ll his tools
were
lined up on the coffee table
next to
them
.

“Well, hello there. I trust you had a good sleep.”

Susan writhed beneath him, desperation in her
cries
. “Oh, my God! Why are you doing this to me? What do you want?”

“Justice, my dear
,
justice.” He picked up
his
bag and pulled out a soiled adult diaper. “Does this give you a clue?”

T
he putrid smell of shit filled
the space between them and she gagged
. “You’re crazy. What are you going to do with that? Are you a former patient of mine?”

He tilted his head back and laughed. “No, my dear, you were the patient.”
Seconds before
he stuffed the first piece of diaper in her mouth
, h
e noted a flicker of understanding in her
eyes
.

His rain suit peeled off like a second skin and he tossed it in a portable incinerator along with the soiled gloves and wipes.

I’ll have to thank the detective one day for making things so much easier for me
. To think
Susan actually thought he was a former mental patient of hers. The corner of his lip twisted
as he
remember
ed
the precise moment she understood
—and
how she literally pissed her granny pants when he revealed the needle. It almost seemed a crime to leave behind the beautiful lavender aster in her wrinkled hands.