Page 36 of Pure Killers

"Man had issues with his seniors. Are you really surprised?"

"And who are your issues with?" I ask with some venom.

"Besides the ones you're locking safely away from me and giving phones to so they can call in revenge?" He tilts his head, pretending to think. "I thought my grudges were clear. And they’re not with you, although following you is proving rather eventful."

"Let’s be clear. What you're doing is stalking me, not following me."

Needler shrugs, not denying it. "If that concerned you as much as you’re making out, why aren’t you telling your colleagues?"

"Because playing by the rules isn't working," I snap.

His smile is wide, lips closed, made wider by the black makeup. This is the longest look I’ve ever gotten of him, hood back, with some but not much light. But when I focus, try to commit something to memory or recognise him in someone else, my skull aches.

"I can help you, make it like you were never here. Have it look like I did all this alone."

"Okay…" What’s that saying? If it sounds too good to be true…?

"But it'll cost you."

Of course. I grind my teeth. "Whatwill it cost me?"

He pauses for a beat. "You know what I want."

Do I? My heart does a little flip. I can't help imagining it, after so long, to be held, filled,taken. “You can’t mean…”

“Yes.”

I take a step back. "You killed my husband. I’ll never…"

He's already turning for the door. "Enjoy explaining everything away, Little Shadow…"

"Wait.” I glance around the room. Can I do this myself? I know where the evidence usually is, but we were rolling around on the floor. My skin might be under her nails, my hair through the rug, my blood... My head pounds, almost definitely the start of a minor concussion. Needler has turned back to me, waiting. “What’s it going to be, detective?”

My eyes narrow. “Why ask for this? Why not ask me to drop your case, stop hunting you?”

His head tilts, that mask laughing at me. “Because, Little Shadow, I want more of you, not less.”

I feel that my gulp is audible. Could I? Just once, to know, to feel. But it’s a bridge you can’t uncross.

“What do you want?” There’s a lilt in his voice, even through the alterer, that suggests he knows my thoughts.

“I want…” If I didn’t have minor brain damage, if I wasn’t imagining sirens already on the edge of my hearing, I might have tried negotiating, or at the very least, outright lying. “I want to know. And I want to feel. But,” I amend, mostly for myself. “Only once.”

The corner of his black mouth lifts. When he steps towards me, I inhale sharply. Now? Here? His glove grazes my neck. "Just once, then. I'll come to collect."

I blink. "Not… now?"

He chuckles. "No, we'll need more time. I have to do my part now. And you need to be far away from here."

***

I wake up late, and it probably would have been later if not for my pounding head, like someone driving a knife into my temple. I stumble out to the kitchen and dry-swallow the first two painkillers I find. Then, like a critically hungover person, Irest my head in my hands, my elbows propped on the edge of the kitchen counter.

"Fuck."

That’s how Olivia finds me. "Hell! Girl, what happened to you?"

I squint up at her. "Disgruntled witness." She's dressed and ready to go to work, much more put together than I am right now in a singlet and panties. I probably should have gone to hospital, claimed to have been mugged or something. My eyes pop open again. Dirk. He's went to the hospital. God, I should… and that woman. Sharna. Everything. My head throbs.

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