Kill Me Once Page 14

  Without hesitating, without even thinking, Nathan dropped his briefcase to the floor with a dull thud, took one quick step forward and drove his right fist hard into the exposed area beneath the man’s outstretched hand, audibly cracking several of Scott Aiken’s ribs. A quick progression of surprised, pained and disbelieving looks jockeyed for position on his weather-beaten face as his groan of pain filled the homey little kitchen decorated with a variety of ridiculous knick-knacks.

  ‘Nice to meet you, Scott,’ Nathan said calmly. ‘Tell me, sir, do you have any idea what a stupid whore your wife is?’

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  Dana and Brown borrowed an unmarked car from the lot at the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office. Dana didn’t want to waste time here waiting for a rental company to deliver them a car. That kind of delay could mean the difference between life and death. So they agreed to keep the arrangement quiet and adjusted the scanner to the closed frequency that Jackson had told them about. A descrambling device inside the scanner ensured that only law enforcement would be privy to any communications, so there’d be no need to worry about the press getting wind of what they were up to. Thank God for small favours. They didn’t want anything getting in the way this time.

  ‘Where exactly are we going?’ Brown asked her.

  ‘We’re just going to drive around and keep our eyes peeled,’ Dana said. ‘Four more eyes on the street can’t hurt.’

  Brown nodded and opened a window a crack. ‘Makes sense.’

  Though it was almost the middle of November now, it was unseasonably warm in Kansas so there wasn’t any snow on the ground yet, which was a bad thing. Snow usually picked up a fair amount of trace evidence, including footprints. Dana closed her eyes. Why should the weather be different from anything else? Up to this point, everything had seemed to be working against them.

  ‘Forgive me for bringing this up again,’ Brown said, ‘but I think your parents would have been very proud of you, Dana. You do know that, right?’

  Dana opened her eyes again. ‘Yeah, I guess on some level I do. But I still miss them every single day.’

  ‘Ever think about getting married?’ Brown asked. ‘Having a family of your own?’

  Dana laughed. ‘Nah, I don’t think I’m cut out for it. Don’t have the personality for it.’

  Brown produced a hard pfft sound with his lips. ‘What are you talking about? You’re a wonderful woman, Dana, and I’m sure you’d make a wonderful mom, too. Don’t sell yourself short. The rest of the world will do that for you. And if I’ve learned anything about you since we started working together, it’s that the rest of the world would be making one hell of a big mistake …’ He blushed, aware that he might have overstepped the mark.

  Dana’s own cheeks flushed. Not knowing how to respond, she deflected the line of questioning with one of her own. ‘What about you?’ she asked.

  There was an awkward pause as Dana pulled the car onto a sleepy little lane about ten miles away from the Sheriff’s Office. ‘Listen, Dana,’ Brown said after a while. ‘My timing’s lousy, I know, and I’m really sorry if this is out of line, and please just say so if it is, but I was thinking that maybe we could go out for bite to eat once this is all over.’

  Dana tried to hide the smile on her face as she gently pressed her foot down on the accelerator and eased the car down the street.

  ‘We’ll see, Jeremy,’ she said. ‘Maybe we could.’

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  Janice Aiken walked in from the bedroom where she’d been watching one of her movies on the Lifetime Network and was shocked to find the man from the phone company holding a huge black pistol to her husband’s head.

  Obviously in great pain, Scott was clutching at his side and groaning, but he still tried to smile at her. Despite their many marital difficulties and the fact that twenty years of marriage had cooled down most of the passion they’d once shared in the bedroom, Scott was still a good man.

  ‘Don’t be afraid, baby,’ he told her. ‘This man just needs the car and he needs some money. If we don’t give him any trouble he’s going to leave us alone. Everything’s going to be all right if we just keep our cool and don’t do anything stupid.’

  He turned to Nathan. ‘Isn’t that right, sir?’

  Nathan smiled. ‘Right as a summer rain, my friend. You’re all going to be just fine. You have my word on that.’

  A moment later Marlene Aiken came into the kitchen to find out what all the commotion was about. Her jaw nearly hit the floor as she stared at them in disbelief. ‘What the fuck, you stupid asshole?’ she snapped, breaking the words off with her teeth like peanut brittle. ‘Get the fuck away from my dad!’

  Scott took a deep breath, wincing at the pain in his ribs. ‘Marlene, just shut up, OK, honey? We’re all going to be real cool and listen to what this man says.’

  In the girl’s bedroom down the hall Rocky was going berserk, barking angrily at the top of his healthy lungs and repeatedly throwing his massive body against the thin door. As the door rattled fiercely against the jamb with each powerful blow, Nathan wondered idly how much longer it would hold.

  He shook the thought from his head and turned to Janice. ‘Better shut that dog up or it’s going to end up with a bullet in its head. I hate dogs, anyway, you know. Disgusting creatures. They eat their own shit.’

  The pitiful little sound that came out of her made all the small hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

  ‘What do you want from us?’ she sobbed. ‘We didn’t do anything to you.’

  Despite everything else going on at the moment, Janice Aiken felt her cheeks flush with embarrassment at the sound of her own voice. God, how she wished she could be stronger, more like the heroines on the Lifetime Network, who would no doubt grab a kitchen knife from the nearest drawer and fearlessly attack the man threatening her family. But Janice knew her place in life. Growing up as the fat girl everywhere she went, she’d always known her place.

  He was handsome, too. She was disgusted with herself for thinking it, but it was true. His dark brown eyes were menacing but full of life, and his hands looked very strong – the kind of hands she imagined running over her body while she soaked in her bubble bath each night, often allowing her own hands to slip beneath the surface of the water to relieve the constant ache throbbing between her thighs.

  She watched numbly as the man in her kitchen leaned down to retrieve his shiny black briefcase from the floor. He straightened back up and slowly looked at each of them one by one. ‘OK, everybody, time for the next act. Let’s all head back to the master bedroom.’

  Scott Aiken took a step forward, but the girls didn’t move a muscle. ‘Do as he says,’ Scott said sharply, repeating the order more harshly when they didn’t comply immediately.

  As the terrified family headed in single file down the hall, Rocky nearly broke down Marlene’s bedroom door as they passed. But the jamb still held.

  Once inside the master bedroom, Nathan looked over at the TV with disgust – some obnoxious drivel starring Lindsay Wagner, who was sporting two of the fakest-looking black eyes he’d ever seen in his life. ‘Turn that crap off,’ he said to Janice. ‘It’ll rot your fucking brain.’

  With shaking hands she clicked the remote, rendering the house silent save for Rocky’s relentless barking.

  Nathan set his briefcase down on the floor and tossed two lengths of cord over to Janice before motioning to Scott. ‘Tie him up – feet and hands. Try anything funny and I’ll shove this gun right up your daughter’s tight little pussy and pull the trigger. Don’t test me on this. I’m really not in the mood for any games right now.’

  Janice hesitated, but Scott smiled at her. ‘Just do it, honey. It’s going to be OK, I promise. This man has given me his word.’

  When his wife had finished securing his wrists and ankles, Scott looked at Nathan again. ‘Would it be all right if I lie down on the bed? My ribs are killing me. You’ve got one hell of a punch there, partner.’


  Nathan smiled, surprised to find himself actually liking

  Scott Aiken despite the odd circumstances they found themselves in. The man was a co-star in his nifty little play without even knowing it, and a damn talented one at that. ‘Be my guest, Scott,’ he said warmly. ‘You’ve been such a hospitable host I think you’ve earned it.’

  Turning to Marlene, Nathan said, ‘Put a pillow under his head. Make your daddy as comfortable as possible, baby girl.’

  The young girl glared at him, her silver braces flashing in the bright sunlight streaming through the bedroom window, but did as she was told. When her father was in a prone position on her parents’ bed she turned back to Nathan with her small hands planted defiantly on her slender hips. ‘Now what, dickhead?’

  Nathan chuckled. Teenagers. Why did they always think they were going to live for ever?

  He tossed two more lengths of cord at her bare feet and motioned to Janice. ‘Take those and tie your mom up, too.’

  ‘No way. No fucking way.’

  God, she was sexy.

  ‘Marlene!’ Scott snapped. ‘Just do it, honey. Don’t talk back any more.’

  Reluctantly, the young girl finally did as she was instructed. But if looks could have killed, then Nathan Stiedowe would have been dead on the floor.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  Dana and Brown were almost at the end of the sleepy little lane when the scanner crackled out a report over the closed frequency.

  ‘Possible domestic – 18 Overlook Drive,’ the disembodied voice of the dispatcher said. ‘Several calls from neighbours of a dog barking and people screaming.’

  Dana’s heart somersaulted in her chest. ‘Punch the address into the GPS,’ she told Brown.

  Her partner did as instructed. After what seemed an interminable wait while the global-positioning satellite processed the directions, a female voice with a slight British accent finally spoke.

  ‘Turn around and go to the end of the street. Turn left after four hundred yards.’

  Dana whipped the car around and slammed her foot down hard on the accelerator. The engine whined to life underneath the hood. ‘How far?’ she asked Brown.

  Brown studied the readout on the GPS. ‘Twelve point one miles. Ten minutes if we hurry and avoid traffic.’

  Dana activated the power window on the driver’s side of the car and slapped a powerful magnetic siren onto the roof. ‘Buckle up,’ she told him. ‘We’re going to make it in five.’

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  The little girl had spunk. Nathan liked that. Not to mention those hot little tits and that sweet little ass of hers. Still, even though he would have loved to fuck her right there in front of her parents, he just didn’t have time for simple fun and games at the moment. It really was a pity.

  When Janice had been secured and was lying next to her husband on the bed, Nathan took two more lengths of cord from the briefcase and quickly tied Marlene up in the same fashion. He reached back into the briefcase and took out a pair of sharp scissors before slowly backing her up against the bedroom wall, looking over his shoulder at her parents as he deliberately ran his hands over their daughter’s delicious little pubescent breasts. He smiled when the girl’s nipples hardened involuntarily beneath his touch.

  Scott Aiken groaned – the sound a mixture of pain and rage while tears of abject horror pooled in his eyes – but he didn’t say a word. The fool was still trying to play it cool. But when Nathan used the scissors to cut away their daughter’s Snoopy T-shirt, finally exposing those delectable little buds, Janice Aiken’s ear-splitting scream caused an enraged Rocky to redouble his frantic efforts to break free of his prison in the girl’s bedroom down the hall.

  Nathan turned to her and slowly shook his head. ‘Bad move, Janice. You know what you just did? You just cost your daughter one of these pretty little nipples, that’s what the fuck you just did.’

  In a flash he had Marlene’s throat pinned hard against the wall with his left elbow. Reaching down, he pinched the puckered areola of her left breast between his right thumb and index finger and pulled at it like a piece of bubble gum until it was nothing more than an elongated piece of stippled pink flesh.

  Marlene Aiken’s big blue eyes widened in horror as Nathan Stiedowe calmly snipped her left nipple off.

  When he let go of her throat, her horrified scream of pain was deafening, and Nathan watched in amazement as the bright red blood gushed from her severed nipple and down over her belly-button-ringed navel, staining her tight yellow shorts and splashing down onto her legs. Her mother’s screams followed an instant later; screams of murderous rage and disbelief. Howling with impotent fury at the sound of his masters’ suffering, Rocky crashed against the girl’s bedroom door again.

  Nathan would have to work more quickly now. Within thirty seconds he had a strip of silver duct tape slapped over both of the females’ mouths, finally shutting the screeching bitches up.

  He tossed the bloody scissors back into the briefcase and took out a plastic convenience-store bag before taking a step toward Scott Aiken.

  ‘No, please, God, no!’ Scott moaned, frantically jerking his head away.

  But a moment later the bag was on and Nathan was tightening it around Scott’s neck with the final length of cord. Scott’s gaping mouth desperately sucked away at the blue plastic as he tried in vain to draw a breath into his tortured lungs, the horrified expression on his face alternately visible and then invisible again through the thin translucent material.

  Her husband slowly suffocating to death in front of her eyes, Janice Aiken was next. Fully erect now, Nathan leaned over Scott’s flailing body and wrapped his powerful hands around her double-chinned throat, squeezing with all his might until he felt her jugular vein collapse beneath the enormous pressure. She was dead within a minute.

  Marlene Aiken was last. Dessert.

  Tears of horror streamed down her pretty face and streaked her mascara in thick rivers of dirty water as Nathan calmly wrapped his strong hands around her slender throat and began to squeeze. The light scent of her fruity perfume floated up into his nostrils and made him feel dizzy.

  ‘No time to fuck today, honey,’ he moaned into her ear. ‘Believe me, sweetheart, I’m just as disappointed about it as you are.’

  Marlene Aiken’s big blue eyes fluttered as she lost consciousness.

  ‘As a matter of fact, I’m probably more disappointed about it than you are.’

  Just then, the gunshot sound of splintering wood down the hall heralded Rocky’s sudden arrival, causing Nathan to turn his head just in time to see the huge dog come barrelling into the master bedroom at full speed. Almost as if the scene were unfolding in slow motion, the animal launched its muscular body through the air, its sharp fangs like yellow daggers pointed at Nathan’s throat.

  Acting on instinct alone, Nathan dropped Marlene’s dead body to the floor and whipped a pistol from his waistband in one fluid motion, squeezing the trigger and finally silencing the yapping mutt in mid-air with a single headshot between its eyes.

  As Rocky lay convulsing on the bedroom floor three feet away, Nathan moved forward and drew back a powerful leg, kicking the dog in the head as hard as he could. Neck badly broken, the Labrador suddenly ceased its thrashing.

  On his way out of the house, Nathan heard Marlene’s pink cellphone vibrating on the kitchen table but didn’t bother answering it. Instead, he simply paper-clipped the pornographic photograph of a naked transsexual to the floppy disk he’d created and tossed it onto the kitchen counter next to the sink.

  A bead of sweat slipped down the back of Nathan’s neck as he grabbed the keys to the Aikens’ Infiniti G35 from a hook on the wall and quickly left through the front door. Thirty seconds later he was inside their car and making the short drive over to the nearest Wal-Mart SuperCenter. They were all over the place in Kansas. Big fucking surprise.

  He abandoned the car on the west end of the crowded parking lot and took his time walking the two miles bac
k to his own vehicle, thoroughly pleased with his performance.

  A mile away from the crime scene, an unmarked car suddenly flew past him with its sirens wailing. Nathan put his head down and spat on the sidewalk when it had passed, the pure contempt he felt for Dennis Rader and his pathetic fucking victims setting his teeth on edge.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  Dana and Brown screamed up Overlook Drive five minutes later and came to a screeching halt in front of a small well-kept house with Thanksgiving decorations taped to the front door. Seven patrol cars were already parked in haphazard angles on the street out front, their blue and red lights flashing.

  A young uniformed cop approached as they left the vehicle, his face white. ‘Nobody inside,’ he told them in a halting voice. ‘At least, no one alive. Three dead bodies and a dead dog.’

  Dana’s mind raced. She couldn’t believe that they’d missed him, but he couldn’t be far away. He wouldn’t have had time. ‘Get a dragnet set up in a ten-mile radius,’ she ordered.

  The young cop looked sick. ‘Who are we looking for?’

  Dana resisted the urge to scream at him. ‘Just detain anyone who even looks suspicious. Ten-mile radius. Get on it now.’

  The officer scampered away. A moment later, having contacted LA and ordered McGreevy’s artist’s sketch sent countrywide, Dana and Brown walked through the front door of the house. In the living room Dana stopped a lieutenant who appeared to be in charge. ‘You absolutely sure this place has been cleared?’ she asked.

  The lieutenant nodded. ‘Yes, ma’am. Searched it top to bottom myself. Nobody here except the vics.’

  Dana stretched her neck. ‘Get everybody out of here right now. I don’t want the crime scene compromised.’