Brian Freeman - Stalked

"Lassiter never came out."

Serena leaned forward into the front seat. "What are you talking about? She should have been one of the first ones out the door."

"I've been watching everyone," Teitscher said, shaking his head. "Lassiter never left."

Sonia threw open the door. Her red hair was a mass of limp curls, like sleeping snakes. She wore a robe loosely tied at her waist, and her body smelled of sex. "What are you people doing here? Haven't you done enough?"

"Where's Kathy Lassiter?" Stride demanded.

Sonia shrugged. "You should know that. You're the spies."

"She's still inside," Teitscher insisted. The furrows in his forehead stretched taut, and his eyes registered disapproval, flicking over the deep V of open skin between the folds of her robe. Sonia read his expression.

"You think I have her tied to a bed somewhere? Sorry, Detective. She left."

"Can we look in the house?" Serena asked.

Sonia curled her lip and shook her head at them. "You can stand out here and freeze for all I care."

"Sonia," Stride chided her.

"Oh, fuck it, all right." She held the door wider, and they poured in. Along with musk and perfume, Stride smelled alcohol on Sonia's breath. She swayed on her feet. Her nipples protruded in two bumps through the silk robe.

"I'll check upstairs," Serena said.

Teitscher stood uncomfortably in the foyer, as if he were dipping new shoes in mud. His cell phone rang, and Stride watched his face blacken as he listened to the call. He snapped his phone shut and clenched it in his fist. "That was Guppo," he told Stride. "Brandt jumped a red light downtown, and Guppo got stuck in traffic. He lost him."

"Shit," Stride swore. Things were getting out of control. Teitscher crooked a thumb at the front door, and Stride nodded. "Go, go. Get an ATL out in Duluth and Superior. Use the highway police, too, in case he's headed south on the interstate."

Teitscher left.

Stride checked the living room. The lights were low, and the room was empty.

Sonia trailed behind him. "I told you, she's not here."

"She didn't fly away," Stride snapped.

He pushed past her and headed for the opposite side of the house, but found no sign of Lassiter in any of the downstairs rooms.

"Where's Delmar?" he asked.

"Sleeping," Sonia replied.

"Alone?"

Sonia snickered. "Unless Serena wants to give him a go. He might not even need Viagra with her."

Stride felt his patience wearing down, like a bare patch of carpet that's been walked on too many times. "Show me the basement."

"All the fun's over down there."

"Just show me."

Sonia shrugged and led him to a staircase that descended to a closed oak door below him. It was heavy but unlocked. Sonia was on his heels as he crossed into the temple. He smelled smoke from the burnt-out candles, and he felt on the wall for a light switch, bathing the room in fluorescent light.

He squinted, and Sonia shielded her eyes. He sized up the room with a pit of dismay in his stomach. The sheets on the circular bed were soiled. Condom wrappers littered the floor, along with wine stains and glass. The musk of lovemaking was strong here. For an instant, he saw Maggie, draped on the bed, and felt an irrational anger.

It took him only a moment to survey the open room and see that everyone had left. When he turned around, Sonia was right there, and she laced her fingers behind his neck and drew close so he could inhale her. She leaned in to him.

"Kiss me," she murmured. "I need to be kissed."

He pried her hands away. "You've been kissed enough."

Sonia spun dreamily. "Oh, no, no, no. I've been fucked plenty, but not kissed at all. You were a great kisser."

"Shut up, Sonia. Where is Kathy Lassiter?"

"I don't know."

"You're lying."

Sonia shrugged. "Kiss me, and maybe I'll tell you."

Stride took Sonia by the shoulder and squeezed harder than he should.

"Go on, hit me," she said. "You know you want to."

He pulled his hand away as if her skin were burning him.

"This is no game, Sonia. She could be in serious danger. What the hell would you have done if Serena wasn't there? Would you all have stood around while Brandt raped her?"

"Serena misunderstood. It was sex play that got a little out of hand. Kathy told me so."

"When?"

"After."

"You talked to her," Stride said. "So you know what's going on. Tell me where she is."

Sonia ignored him and undid the bow of her robe and let it fall like a dirty towel. She was naked. "Bring back memories?"

It did. He remembered her body in vivid detail, right down to the freckle on her left breast and the appendix scar creasing her stomach. He pushed the memory out of his mind. "Tell me where Kathy Lassiter is right now, or I'll march your bare ass downtown and put you under arrest. So help me, Sonia, I'm not kidding."

Stride picked up her robe and threw it at her. She clutched it to her chest and smelled it. "We're going upstairs," he said. "Put it on."

Sonia tied the robe around her waist, letting her breasts wobble free. She grabbed for Stride's belt and sank to her knees in front of him. He wrenched away and looked down into her dilated eyes. "What are you on?"

She giggled. "A little Diet Coke and a little regular coke," she whispered.

"Son of a bitch. How much did you take? Do you need to go to a hospital?"

Sonia stuck out her tongue. "Come on, Jonathan. For old times, huh? I'm wet, and you're hard, so why the hell not?"

Stride felt the bones in his hand stiffen like a club. He hated Sonia at that second and hated that she had anything to do with his past. He jerked his hand back and knew that in the next instant he would slap her and watch her tumble backward, her cheek tattooed red with his fingerprints.

"No, Jonny."

He turned and saw Serena standing beside him. She was unbelievably calm as she shook her head.

He swore and turned away. He watched as Serena knelt down in front of Sonia, who gave him a crooked grin. Sonia closed her eyes and rocked back.

"Where is Kathy Lassiter?" Serena asked her in a mellow voice.

"I told you, she's not here." Sonia opened her eyes and waggled a finger at Stride. "She borrowed my car. She didn't want you to find her."

"Where the hell was she going?" Stride demanded.

"To meet Mitchell Brandt. She said she had to stop him before he ruined everything."

Serena sat for a long time in the frozen silence without starting her car. She wrinkled her nose. A faint aroma of fish lingered in the leather seats, and she wrote it off to the smoked fish she had bought at Russ Kendall's last week. She opened the window, trying to dispel it, but the smell had already made its way inside her nose and lodged there. The wind whistled into the car and brought crystals of snow with it.

Jonny was gone. The alert for Mitchell Brandt and Kathy Lassiter had spread through the city, but she wasn't part of the chase. Her frustration gnawed at her. This was the time she regretted giving up her shield, when she felt cut off from the adrenaline rush as it began. She had to watch his car peel away from the curb and not follow him. She hated it.

She was worried about Jonny, too. He was surrounded by lies and secrets, and she felt guilty because some of the lies were her own. She wondered again if she was making a terrible mistake by keeping him in the dark.

Was the man in shadows just a blackmailer?

Or was he a predator whose evil went far deeper? Someone who raped. Someone who killed.

Someone who was following her.

She was uneasy, because the feeling was back. She was being watched. She didn't know where he was, but he was close to her again, and time felt short. Her unease trebled as she realized the streets were empty. All the cops were gone, and she was alone. Was that what he wanted all along?