Page 57 of Look My Way
Twenty-Five
Zavier
My blood goes cold as I watch Daniel switch more of Liam’s pills through the window. He’s drugging him. This fucker. My fists clench. He has to go. I wanted Liam to make the choice to get rid of him on his own because he should have that opportunity. Maybe if I got rid of my own nightmare myself, I wouldn’t need to keep killing to fill some void.
But if I keep letting this fucker live, no telling what else he’ll do. Infidelity is one thing. Drugging and manipulating is another. He grabbed his wrist earlier and something snapped in me. I pressed my feet hard into the dirt to keep from breaking through the glass door to shove Daniel to the ground. Deep breaths aren’t helping me calm down and I’m reeling.
I usually only handle one problem at a time, so going after two people back to back would go against my rules. The ones that kept the cops off my back. The ones that keep anyone fromlooking my way and me getting sloppy. Overdoing it in such a short time is how evidence gets left behind. How careless mistakes are made.
I have to do something, though. More than hiding his badges and creating more work for him, like fake drug busts and whatever else I can think of. Fuck. I slam my hands on the sides of my head as he drives away. I pull out my phone and see he’s not going home. Good. Because that’s where I’m headed. Straight to his place. I get in my car and head in the direction I’ve followed him twice before. He doesn’t stay there long. Rarely sleeps there. Why?
Veins burning with fury, I step on the gas and run a red light. My eyes go to the GPS and he’s not going to the lake house like I thought. It’s somewhere new. Interesting. Not letting him distract me from my task for long, I pull into a parking space at his apartment complex and jump out of the car. No one’s around. It’s quiet of people with only insects chirping. He lives on the first floor, which makes things easy because I hop over the railing of his balcony, shoving at his sliding door.
When it doesn’t budge, I pick the lock with some tools I keep in my pocket in case Liam ever decides to give me more of a challenge by locking the door. After minutes of angling the piece of wire, the door clicks and I walk inside. The dark living room greets me with an eerie feeling.
There’s one couch and a coffee table. No decorations or shelves. No books or movies. The kitchen is bare and the fridge is empty. Does the guy even live here? When I reach the bedroom, it’s locked. Weird. Who locks a door when they live alone?
I get the lock open minutes later and step inside, flipping the switch on the wall, and the room only has a bed and one dresser. What the fuck? Why lock it? Rubbing the back of my head, I look under the bed and inside each drawer, and then when I walkover the same place twice I notice a hollow sound beneath my feet.
Dropping to the floor, I wiggle one of the boards and there’s a box hiding underneath. I open it and I’m more confused than before. Wedged inside is a perfume bottle, hair tie, bracelet, diamond ring, and scarf. What is all this?
I examine the items where they are, not touching anything even with my gloves on. All the items are placed in an exact way, and something tells me he’ll know if they’re moved. Why does he have all this random shit? Are these items from people he’s arrested? Things from his lovers?
My skin crawls when my gaze falls on a pair of black panties tucked in the corner. Quickly throwing the lid back on, I put the box back where I found it and move the board back in place. I look at my phone again, and wherever Daniel was headed he must be there because his car has stopped moving.
I walk around the room again and look in the bathroom. Only towels, toiletries, and an empty hamper. Leaving his room, I lock it behind me and slip out the way I came, checking the surrounding area before hurrying back to my car. Where did you go Daniel? As much as I want to know, I have to finish my plans from earlier. I have something sitting in my apartment that can’t be there for much longer.
So much got in my way and distracted me from the task at hand. All worth it, but it is putting my plan more at risk. The guy should at least be sleeping by now. At least, I hope. I haven’t had time to follow Rick around like I do my other prey. I keep breaking my rules. This must be why most serial killers don’t fall in love. Makes you lose sight of the big picture.
With a quick stop at my place, I get out and grab what I need. I hold it away from my body in the buzzing box, carrying protective wear in the bag strapped to my back. I have Rick’s address memorized and he doesn’t live far. When I finally arrive,his house is dark except for the porch light brightening around his front door. I’m not going in that way, so it doesn’t matter.
The windows are mostly covered, with the curtains opened just enough for me to tell all the lights are off inside. Good. I won’t need to go in there. Getting out of my car, I slip on a face covering and thicker gloves, smiling as I grab the box from the back. Leaving my bag behind, I stalk toward the garage and frown when the door won’t lift open, but I’m back to a cheery mood when his car in the driveway is unlocked, and I push the remote opener in the visor.
The guy isn’t as bright as he thinks he is. I didn’t have time to follow him around, but I did have enough time to look into any weaknesses he might have. He has a very severe allergy. Could even be deadly. Laughing to myself, I carry on into the garage and hurry as I set the box down, opening the top.
Bees lift from the hive, floating around it, and I lift it up, carefully carrying it to where a washer and dryer sit. My laughter gets louder and I need to stop, but I can’t help the glee pouring out of me as I set the hive inside the dryer. The buzzing gets louder once the hive hits the metal, and I shut the door after directing an escaping bee inside.
Not hearing anyone, I keep moving and leave the garage after hitting the button inside. I slide under the large gap and laugh some more as I walk to my car, pulling off my gloves. When I look at where Daniel is, he’s driving again and heading to the lake house. Did he pick his lover up and is now taking him back there?
I look at the dot and then think about how I left Liam, drowsy and being shoved into his room by Daniel. I have to check on my carino, to make sure he’s okay. He comes first. He always will. The lake house and Daniel aren’t going anywhere. I’ll pay a visit tomorrow night as long as I’m not needed and kept elsewhere.
Who knows when Rick will use his dryer, and whether my plan will work. I might need to go back and hide hives everywhere in his room. And if it does go how I want, then Liam may need a shoulder to cry on or smile into as he pretends to grieve for his snake of an editor who’ll either be dead or close to it.
More laughter flies from my lips and I go to the one place I never like leaving.
Reaching Liam’s house, I don’t bother parking far away this time. I pull into the driveway beside his car and enter the house like usual. The back door is still open, and I lock it behind me, quickening my steps to where Liam is snoring. His face is buried in his pillow, and his bathroom light is left on. Shaking my head, I brush a thumb over his cheek, and as I’m turning off the light, I look at the medicine cabinet and snatch the pills from the third shelf. I study each one, looking up what they should look like, and as I snap a picture of the slightly smaller ones into Google, my chest heaves.
Xanax. He’s been replacing his pills with Xanax. A high dosage too, I bet. I remove all the wrong pills from the bottle and slip them into my pocket, slamming the medicine cabinet shut. Liam wiggles in the bed behind me and I smile, shutting off the bathroom light before entering his room again.
He tosses under the covers, making sweet sounds, and then shouts, “No. Please.”
My face falls, my heart squeezing as he curls his fists around his blankets, squirming from a nightmare.
“I’m here, carino. It’s okay. I have you.” He settles under the weight of my hand as I perch myself on the edge of the bed. I rub his back, singing him a song my mom used to sing me whenI was restless and she wanted to distract me. To get me to think happy thoughts.
He settles, relaxing against the mattress, and I strip out of my clothes, looking down at him one more time before climbing in under the blankets beside him. Wrapping my arm around him, I tug at his leg with mine and kiss his head. This is where I belong, where I’ll try to be every night from here on, doing what I can to keep Daniel from thinking he should be instead. Daniel is where he truly wants to be anyway, and quite possibly where he’ll be when I drain the blood from his body.
Twenty-Six
