Dancing In Darkness (14 page)

“Have you lost your mind?” She heard that secreted away inner voice speaking to her.

Inside the mansion of the Linston Estate, Adam found himself sitting in his office chair, surrounded by every luxury that money could buy and yet he was miserable. For the first time in many, many years, Adam Linston was incredibly lonely. There was no laughter to be heard, no one to grab from behind and hold on to. It was himself and his staff. The staff which seemed to make themselves blend in with the woodwork, were unseen and unheard unless they were called. What could he do to make her understand how he felt? She lit up his world in a way no other had. Today had been the longest day of his life, starting with the words, “Can you take me home.”

Sitting with his phone in his hand all he wanted to do was text her. To see her name on the screen when she replied. Fighting the urge to appear needy, he sat there in silence. If she went to work tonight maybe he would go and watch. “No dumbass that would make you nothing more than a stalker.” In reality, he wanted her to come back and be treated like the queen she should be, no more men drooling over her with their sick, perverted fantasies. He knew it was only a job to her, but still, just the thought made him sick. If anyone were going to drool over her, it was going to be him.

Since Priscilla had not heard from Nina today, she decided to call it an evening and relax with a glass of wine. Everything that she didn’t get done today, she could get done tomorrow. Now it was time for herself. Drawing a hot bubble bath she waited while the lavender scented water filled the tub. Lowering into the hot water she instantly felt her muscles relax. Closing her eyes, she pushed everything from her mind but right now. This moment was the only important thing she needed to concentrate on.

Being in the bath for only a short time, Priscilla heard the knock at the door. It could only be one of two people, Adam or Nina. She knew she had to answer it no matter which one it was. Grabbing her soft, purple robe that hung on the hook behind the door, Priscilla made her way to the living room. Checking the peephole she was taken by surprise. When she opened the door she exclaimed, “Detective Ward!”

“Ms. Barnes, I’m sorry if I caught you at a bad time. We are doing a line up this evening and needed to have you come in to see perhaps if you had ever seen this man before.” He told her.

“Oh. I don’t know if I want to do that. It’s unsettling enough as it is.” She hesitated.

“No one would be able to see you through the two way mirrored glass.” He assured her.

Worry instantly closing in, she shut her eyes to let it all sink in. “I thought tonight was going to be relaxing.” She sighed.

“It won’t take up much of your time and if you can say that you’ve seen him in the club before, it would be a big help to the investigation.” He prodded. “You could ride with me and I’ll bring you back or you could follow me in your personal vehicle.”

Knowing that she needed to do anything she could to make sure this monster was convicted she looked at Det. Ward and said, “Let me get dressed and I will follow you.”

“Take your time. There is no rush.” He assured her again.

Pulling clothes from the closet, she threw on an old pair of jeans and a hoodie. No need to dress up, she only wanted to get this over with. Finding her slip on shoes, she was as ready as she would ever be. How many people actually look forward to participating in a line up, to identify someone that may or may not have threatened to kill you…after killing three of your friends?

“I’m ready, Det. Ward, let’s get this over with.” She sighed, grabbing her keys and bag from the very countertop that had once held a death threat.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Beth Tony was sitting at home trying to enjoy the time with her kids. The exotic dancer case playing on her mind all day. Between the shrill screams and laughter of her children she was trying to put together a jigsaw puzzle of pieces from the files. Nothing added up. She was still convinced that this guy in fact had not committed those atrocities. Why would a money seeking drug addict murder three innocent women?

Dialing Ward’s cell number, she had a nagging question that she needed to ask him. It was the one piece that didn’t fit anywhere.

“Ward.” He answered.

“Hey, do you have a minute, I have something that I have to run by you and get your opinion?” She said.

“Shoot. Make it quick I’m in the middle of getting on the freeway. Headed out of town for a few days. Thought I would put those vacation days to use. You should do the same.” He replied.

“We have zero evidence. Even only the circumstantial evidence that puts this kid in a location with a girl that works at the same club. That could make him incredibly stupid without being guilty.” She continued, “It hit me while I was sitting here today, someone knows what we look for. What not to leave at a crime scene and how to get away with this.”

“Yes, you have a point.” He answered.

“Ward, what if it’s a cop?” She returned.

There was a hushed silence from the other end of the phone. “Ward, you there?”

“Yeah, I was running that through my head.” He told her. “I guess anything is possible, but I believe this dirt bag we have now is responsible. Look who his victim was, she would have been one of the next in line, other than Barnes.”

“We aren’t on the same wavelength with this one, partner.” She replied. “Anyway, go enjoy your vacation. I’ll see you in a couple days.”

“Later.” Was the only reply before he hit end call.

Lifting her feet into the white wicker chair next to her, she was trying to understand why he hadn’t told her, his partner of years that he was taking vacation days. It wasn’t her issue, her issue was with his attitude about the entire case. A disturbing fleeting thought ran through her mind. Without vocalizing it or even trying to rationalize it, she brushed it off. “No way, not even a consideration.” Leaving work with that phone call, she jumped into the pool with her kids. She had always enjoyed the night swims with them.

Miles away in a home so big he didn’t have to have any human contact if he chose not to, Adam felt the walls closing in around him. Going stir crazy, he made the decision to simply go see her. He didn’t have to bring her back he only wanted to spend time with her. Making his way to the garage he hoped he would make it in time before she went to bed.

Following Ward out of her parking lot, Priscilla Barnes had a wave of anxiety spread through her. Where did it come from? “Come on woman, you’re going to try to identify a person who killed three women. Maybe that’s where it came from, you aren’t stupid.” She told herself.

Making the left turn on to the freeway onramp, she had no idea how much she should have listened to that inner voice. Less than a mile on the freeway and her car started to make an odd noise. While she was completely unfamiliar with anything mechanical even she knew that this wasn’t good. Ward was ahead of her by a few car lengths, she would have to call him because she had to stop. Pulling to the shoulder area, she reached for her phone. “Damn it,” she cried to herself. She didn’t have his number and his business card was at home in a different bag.

Mike Ward watched through his rearview mirror as Priscilla pulled to the side. He was too far ahead of her to pull over himself. He took the next exit off of the highway. She watched him exit and hoped that he had seen her and would circle around. They were still a few exits from where they needed to be, that played in her favor. Once she turned the car off and tried to restart it, it was dead, wouldn’t even turn over.

As he swung the car into the parking lot he was all smiles. He missed her even after only a few hours. His surprise visit was going to do one of two things, it was going to make her smile or it was going to piss her off and he would see the angry her again. Adam didn’t care, he had to see her. Not that he wanted to see her upset, but he would take whatever he could get. The grounds surrounding her building were blooming into lush, green areas. The shrubs and the grass filling in to make a beautiful cover for the older buildings. He knew that while she couldn’t afford a lot when it came to living expenses, she was proud of what she had. These buildings did not appear run down in anyway, the groundskeepers did a remarkable job with the landscaping.

He knocked on her door and waited. It wasn’t very late so he wasn’t worried about her being asleep already. With no answer, he knocked again. He hadn’t thought to check the lot for her car and he completely blanked out the fact that she was returning to work tonight. “Fuck, Linston get your shit together.” He said to himself, disgustedly.

In the parking lot he realized that her car definitely was not there. He would have to go to Nina’s to see her, he hadn’t drove this far to turn around and go back. Nina’s wasn’t far from her apartment and it would only take a few minutes for him to reach the destination. Stopping along the way to pick up some flowers, yes…even from a convenient store they were still flowers, he hurriedly drove the remaining distance.

The club wasn’t as crowded as it had been on his previous visits and he found parking with relative ease. Taking care of the cover charge he made his way indoors. The music with the heavy bass thumping in his ears encompassed him. There was a dancer on the stage that he didn’t recognize, of course that was understandable with the events of the last few months. His eyes scanning the darkened crowd looking for her, after all, bottle service is how he finally met her. With no luck, he had to convince one of the bouncers to find Nina for him. Leon wasn’t too difficult to win over when it came to getting Nina, which was a good thing. He was kind of tired of not succeeding at anything tonight. All he wanted to do was walk back and get Priscilla himself, but knew that wouldn’t fly, with security, the girls and Nina. So, he waited.

“Adam, it’s good to see you and much better back in the real world.” Nina said with a smile as she wrapped him in a hug. “How is my Priscilla doing? Tell her I tried to call her back, but there was no answer.”

Adam stopped and looked at her, “What, she isn’t here?” He asked.

“No, she’s not been here at all. I missed a call from her earlier today, got busy and forgot to call her back. I tried a couple of hours ago but it went straight to voicemail.” She replied.

“That’s not like her. My guess is that she got tired of being kept away from the outside world and is enjoying some time to herself.” Adam tried to convince himself.

“Obviously you’ve tried her apartment.” Nina said out loud. “If her car wasn’t there then it makes sense that she is just out and about.”

“Yeah, I guess so. Well look, if you see her, don’t tell her I came looking for her. I don’t want her to think that I was stalking her.” He said with half a laugh.

“I won’t. Let me know though when you hear from her.” She smiled at him. “Now, I better get back there and make sure these new girls know what they are doing.”

Smiling at the older woman he told her he would have Priscilla call her as soon as he talked with her. They said their goodbyes and parted ways. He had to give her room and showing up unannounced at both her home and work on their first night of separation was not giving her any space. Deep inside he had a terrible apprehension that something was wrong, without any definitive information, he had to go home and quit hunting her down. She wasn’t his, she hadn’t said anything about loving him, and he had been the fool to admit that. He had to let her go until she came to him. It was the hardest thing he could face. Or so he thought.

Priscilla couldn’t see anything in the total darkness of the room. She didn’t know where she was or how she got here. Her first instinct was to panic and try to fight the restraints that were on her arms and legs. At first thought all she could come up with was Adam. No, this was far too painful and terrifying for it to be him. She had to think and gather her composure. As her eyes began to adjust to the night, she could begin to see outlines of the room. Windowless with no outside light entering at all, she could make out a table of some sort in the corner and a door to the left of that. No light was coming through under or around the door, so she knew that the lights were off elsewhere. It was deadly quiet. She fought the urge to scream so as not to let anyone know that she was awake. Laying on the floor her wrists and ankles bound and then bound together, she couldn’t move.

She thought to herself, “Wait, Det. Ward would have come looking for me after he found my car on the freeway.” She remembered being with him to go to a lineup. “I don’t think the killer is locked up.” She said silently. The one thing that she was sure of, was that she was going to have to save her own life. Panic continually trying to creep in, she was battling her own mind to remain as calm as she could.

Listening to every sound she could hear to try and figure out her surroundings, she heard the wind in the trees and thought she could hear water gurgling in a stream in the distance. There was no sound coming from inside the building. She couldn’t say it was a house because she wasn’t sure. There were no footsteps, no noises of any kind. Without knowing how long she had been unconscious she couldn’t determine the distance someone had traveled with her. The tears that fell onto her cheeks and the dusty wood floor would not stop.

Nina remembered that she had a key to Priscilla’s apartment. If no one had heard from her by the time she closed down the club for the night, she would go check on her. She knew that Adam was correct, Priscilla didn’t take off for any length of time and not return calls. After closing, she rushed all of the girls so that she could lock up and go. This was important and she was angry at herself for not thinking of it when Adam was there.

Racing the few blocks to the complex, Nina jumped out of her car and in a slow jog went back to Priscilla’s building. She had noticed that her car wasn’t parked in its designated spot when she had pulled in. Knocking on the door, in case she was inside, Nina waited. After a couple minutes and no answer, she put the key into the lock. When the lock gave way and she pushed the door open, she called out for Priscilla. Again, there was no response. She walked slowly into the apartment and made her way down the extremely short hall. When she came to the bedroom she used the sleeve of her shirt to push open the door. If anything was wrong, she didn’t want her fingerprints to be all over possibly contaminating evidence. The bedroom was empty but the bathroom light was on. Entering the bathroom, she immediately took note that something wasn’t right. The tub was full of water that had at one point had bubbles in it, the remnants of which floated on the surface. A glass of white wine sat half empty on the side of the tub and there were clothes strewn about on the floor. Feeling uneasy about the scene she found, she backed out of the bathroom and dialed Adam Linston.

“Adam, its Nina. I forgot about having a key to Priscilla’s apartment. I’m here now and I think you should come back right away.” She spoke hurriedly into the phone.

“Dear God, is Priscilla okay?” He stumbled over his words.

“I really don’t know. I’m going to go and call Det. Tony or Ward. Someone needs to come check this out.” Nina said almost in tears.

Hanging up his phone he made an illegal U-turn in the middle of the street. He had decided to stop and grab a drink before heading home. Now he was relieved he did. Ten miles was much easier ground to cover than thirty. Especially in his mood. “If anyone has hurt her, I’ll kill him myself.” He screamed to the otherwise empty car.

“Det. Tony? This is Nina Powalski, we’ve been trying to reach Priscilla Barnes for most of the evening. I remembered that I have a key to her apartment and after I closed down tonight, I decided to come check on her. It’s not like her to leave calls unreturned, which is what caught our attention in the first place.” She rambled to the detective. “I think someone needs to come see this and help us find her.”

“Ms. Powalski, I’ll be right there.” The detective said. “Det. Ward is on vacation for a few days, but give me a few minutes to get there.” She hung up her phone, told her kids that she had to go to work, kissed her husband goodbye and jumped in her car. Her instincts had been right, she knew that kid wasn’t guilty. Now she had to figure out what was going on. Maybe the woman wasn’t missing at all and simply went out for the night.

Calling in to dispatch, Tony requested a marked unit meet her at the Barnes’ residence and wait for her at the bottom of the stairs. While she didn’t think there was any dangerous issue at the apartment itself, she wanted to cover all the bases before arriving. This way they could clear the apartment together and she wouldn’t be there without backup. Damn Ward for deciding now was the time to take a fucking vacation.

Parking behind the marked unit, she walked to the building farthest in the complex. As in every situation she found herself dealing with, she took in all of the small details in her surroundings. Made mental notes of the vehicles that were in the lot and under the covered parking structures. Without video surveillance of the lot, she wouldn’t know who had come and gone from the lot. Waiting at the foot of the stairs was Officer Long. “Thanks for meeting me.” She quickly briefed him on the information she had. “The female resident was a target of the exotic dancer murders. She had received a note that was found in her apartment. In light of the recent arrest of a suspect, she returned home earlier today. Now her friends can’t reach her and there could be suspicious circumstances.”