Riss (6 page)

Fear made her sit down
, and she thought if she had to put one bite of food in her mouth she’d puke. There was no way she was going to let him stay there. Kala had a sudden thought. “Did you kill your mother because she asked you to move out?”

“
What kind of person do you take me for? I would never shoot my own momma. I’d hit her a few times when she deserved it, but I’d never kill her.” He took another hunk of cornbread and shoved it in his mouth. He continued talking around his food as it spilled from his lips. “Now you, on the other hand, I just hit a little. It’s only fair, I think. It’s not really right of you to save all that money up and not let me have a bit of it. Especially how we feel about each other. And now I find out you’re looking for a new place and you’re not planning to share that with me either. After all I’ve done for you. And the love we’ve shared.”

“
I don’t love you. I liked you until this bullshit, but I don’t love you. And for that matter, what have you done for me?” He snorted, and she decided right then she was never doing that again. “You’ve mooched off me for years and years, but I never said anything. Having me bring you in some dinner or having me pick you up some breakfast on the way in. You even had me pick up your laundry when your mother’s washer was broken. You’ve never even offered to pay me back for any of that. Now you think that just because you’re down on your luck I should take you in? You’re fucked up.”

“
No, I’m not. I’m not crazy.” He threw the bowl across the room, and it shattered on the wall. “You call me crazy again and I won’t be responsible for what I do to you. I’m not fucking crazy. They just said that to me to make me have to stay there. I’m not crazy, and you take it back right now.”

Kala was afraid.
Terrified really. And when she tried to think what to do, she heard a small voice in her head telling her to call the police. How the hell was she supposed to manage that? Looking around the kitchen, she saw her cell phone on the counter near where Dan had thrown his bowl. Picking up the hand towel and a few paper towels, she wrapped her phone in it and went to the wall to start cleaning it up.

“
Good job, Kala. You clean it up really good, okay? I never thought about us not getting our deposit back when I did that. Make sure you get it all up. We don’t want them to deduct anything from our money.” Taking out the phone, she laid it on the floor as she started wiping down the mess. “I’m talking to you. I need you to answer me. Kala, you’ll have to speak to me sometime. We’re going to be together for a long time.”

S
he hoped that he wouldn’t be able to hear if anyone on the other end spoke when she dialed 911. As soon as she heard the man answer, she started talking to Dan, hoping that the man at the dispatcher office would understand. Her voice was so shaky that she was sure he was going to hang up on her and she’d be dead when they came to redo her apartment.

“
You brought that gun here to keep me in line, didn’t you? You’re going to shoot me and leave me for dead. I don’t want to die.”

Dan told her that it was his
insurance that she minded him. “I won’t hurt you if you’ll just do what I tell you. You know you want to help me, you’re always trying to help me, and I love you for it. I can’t live without you, Kala, but I won’t have you treating me this way either. It’s not right.”

“
I’m not going to let you live with me, Dan Carey. I sympathize, but you’re still not living here. You’ll have to leave before things get more out of hand and that gun of yours goes off.” Kala closed her eyes when the man on her phone spoke. She couldn’t hear what he was saying but hoped he was telling her that the police were on their way.

“
You’ll let me or I’ll plug you full of holes until you do.” Dan laughed, and she heard the man on the phone ask her if she needed help. What the hell did he think she was doing here, having a party?

“
Yes.” She waited for Dan or the dispatcher to speak and when neither of them did she continued. “I’m afraid of you. You wave that gun around like you’re planning to shoot me. Are you?”

“
Not if you simply do what I want you to. I would really hate to have to hurt you, Kala, but if you don’t let me live here with you, I’m going to be homeless, and I can’t let that happen.” She glanced at him when the chair scraped across the floor. He was coming toward her, and he had the gun.

“
I said you’re not living here. I don’t even like you very much right now.” Dan laughed just as the dispatcher told her that help was on the way. “You should know that I’m not going to go easy. I have ways to get you out. You’re not living here with me. We just worked together, and you should go back and talk to your mom. She might let you stay until you can find yourself something.”

“
Nah, she’s set on me not staying there anymore. She’s been telling me for months that I need to find somewhere else to live, but I have stuff I need to do at home. She was never on my side like you were. And as for you getting out of our arrangement, I’m sure you do. But in the event you didn’t notice, I have a gun, and I’m much bigger than you.” Dan laughed again. “We’ll have fun, you and I. Once the unemployment runs out, you can find a job if you don’t have one already, and I’ll take care of the house. But we’ll need to get cable again. I won’t miss my shows.”

“
I’ve called the police.” His laughter had her standing up. “I have. They’re on their way to come and arrest you.” He looked at her phone still on the floor. She hoped that the dispatcher was still there, but she wasn’t sure. When her phone went black like that, she was never sure what was going on with it.

Dan stomped over and smashed her phone with his boot before he hit her across the mouth.
“Why the hell would you do that? You and I are going to be living together. This is no way to start a relationship.” Kala backed up when he stood up and pointed the gun at her. “You shouldn’t have done that, Kala. Now you’ve made me mad. I’m not so nice when I’m mad.”

“
Neither am I. And I told you we’re nothing to each other. You’re a pain in the ass, and I want you out of my house.” He took a step toward her again just as someone knocked on the door. When she started for it, something exploded in her head, and she fell back. It wasn’t until she saw Dan moving out of the room that she realized that he’d hit her again, and this time hard enough that she could see stars.

A few seconds later
, she heard shouting and then gun fire. The police had arrived, apparently. Before she knew it, she was being helped up, and someone handed her a Baggie of ice. They said she’d been out for several minutes and should go to the hospital.

“
You invited him in?” If she had to answer this question once more, she was going to have to hurt someone. It had been twenty minutes since the police had arrived, and they were treating her like she was the bad guy here. “Did you know that he was unstable?”

“
No, do I strike you as the type of woman who would invite a mad man into her house? We were going to have dinner together. As friends. He and I had just lost our jobs and I had thought that we’d have a laugh over it.” Kala glared at the officer. “How many times do you suppose I have to answer this same stupid question before you get your head out of your ass and go look for him?”

The officer opened his mouth and snapped it close
d before looking at the man near him. Kala looked, too. He was much bigger than the first officer, and he had on a suit rather than a uniform. Enough was enough. She stood up to show them out and try to figure out what the hell she was supposed to do now.

“
Miss Marrow, I’m Detective Benson Anderson. Everyone calls me Benny. I understand that you’re upset, but my men are only doing their job.” She started to snort but just caught herself. “Where do you suppose Mr. Carey went after leaving here? And could you tell me if he had a car or not?”

“
How the hell should I know where he went? As far as a car, he said he borrowed his mother’s and that he had to return it before she got madder at him. Dan said his mother kicked him out. That’s why he was here. He said she had told him that without her free cable he couldn’t live there any longer.” She noticed that he looked at another man before looking back at her. “He killed her, didn’t he?”

“
Mrs. Carey was found dead in her house about an hour before you called. The neighbors called it in. They were suspicious when her son, Daniel Carey, was driving around in her car. Apparently, he wasn’t allowed to use it but had on occasion borrowed it, and she’d call us in to bring it back.” Kala laid the ice pack they’d given her on the table and stood up. “Are you going to be sick?”

Nodding
, she ran to her bathroom and almost didn’t make it. There were so many cops in her place that she had to fight her way in. After throwing up nothing but bile, she sat on the commode and laid her head on the counter. The feeling of warmth settled on her shoulders.

“
He could have killed me.” Crying softly, she thought about all the things that had gone belly up in the past few days. “What am I going to do? Dan is still out there, and he’ll find me. What if he does? Then what? Do I just shoot him and let them take me to jail? I’d at least have a home then.”

The officer
had told her what had happened when she’d been out. Dan had opened the door and slammed him and his partner against the wall as he’d taken off. They had ordered him to halt, but all he did then was turn and fire at them, and his partner had been shot in the leg. She supposed now that was the reason the officer had been so short with her…he’d been worried. But she’d not shot anyone and had a nice sized bruise on her cheek to prove she’d been just as much a victim as he’d been. Standing up, she looked in the mirror.

“
No one will hire you now unless it’s another call center.” Turning her face to get a better look at her face, she felt a wave of dizziness wash over her as she tried to pep herself up. It wasn’t working though. “What am I going to do now?”

Leaving the bathroom after waiting in vain for her reflection to answer her
, she moved back down the hall toward the kitchen. The only person there was the detective, and he was talking on a cell phone. After he hung up, he asked her to have a seat. She sat, too tired and too overwhelmed not to.

“
We’re going to put you into protective custody for a few days. I just heard from my office that this place is due for destruction in a few days. Is that true?” She nodded. “I have a buddy that has a truck, and as you’re already mostly packed up, we’ll put your stuff in storage for you as well. We don’t want you more hurt until we find Carey. And this place you’re going to be staying in is nice. You’ll love it and have all you need to be safe.”

Kala couldn
’t help it; she burst into tears. For the first time in what seemed like months someone was being kind to her. And when she was handed a tissue, she nodded her thanks. Maybe she’d be safe after all. At least she hoped so.

Chapter
6

“She was hurt.” Tholan nodded at Riss for the ninth time. He’d been in his office for the past hour and a half going on about how he couldn’t protect her from the man that had hit her. And all because they had his hands tied. “He hit her in the face with a gun. A gun that he was going to more than likely shoot her with.”

“
But he didn’t.” Riss glared at him, and Tholan sighed. “I’m sorry she was hurt. More than you can know. But I didn’t put this hold on you. You did that all on your own.”

“
She still shouldn’t be hurt.” Tholan looked up when he heard his computer ding at him. He’d put out a message to the protector of Daniel Carey. They needed answers, and this was the only way to get them now. Tholan could help the police a little if they had enough information to send them where he was. It looked as if the guy had finally answered. He read Riss what was sent to him.

“
Robert says that he tried to reason with him before he left his home. He’d been working on the man since he’d killed his mother. He said that it was as if he’d been talking to a wall.” Tholan looked at Riss when he realized that he’d stopped pacing. “Did you know that he’d killed his own mother?”

“
Not until the officer told Kala, I didn’t. He just said that he’d hit her and that she’d upset him about having to move out. Does Robert know how he’d done it?” Tholan typed in the question. The answer came back as soon as he hit enter, so Tholan figured that Robert had been telling them.

“
He said that he cut her throat and she bled out. And that he’d hidden her body in the basement. He’d not even bothered cleaning up the blood everywhere either. Robert said to tell you that he’s so very sorry, but he’d had the neighbors call the police and had hoped that they’d be able to apprehend him before he went any farther.” There was more, but Tholan refrained from telling Riss that Carey had also killed two more people since he’d left Kala’s house. Riss was upset enough. “Riss, I can’t tell the police directly where Daniel is, but perhaps someone will find him before he finds Kala.”

“
I have to protect her.” Tholan nodded, not understanding this entire situation with Riss and Michael concerning the woman. “I’m going to go to Michael and see if he’ll let me stay with her until the time comes for me to leave this world.”

“
I already asked him.” Riss stared at him, and Tholan hated to tell him. “He said that if you show yourself to her again, there will be consequences. I didn’t ask him what they were, but he was not happy that I came to him on your behalf.”

Riss finally sat down.
The man didn’t look good, and, frankly, Tholan was worried for him. He knew that Riss hadn’t been sleeping well, if at all, and all his time was spent on earth with the woman. Protectors needed to have down time. That was why when their charges slept, someone else watched over them until they woke. Even when she was with another, Riss watched over her.

“
She needs me.” Tholan didn’t bother saying anything, feeling that Riss wasn’t talking to him anyway. “What of my child? What will happen to him once she finds out she’s with child? I never thought of anything like this happening when I took her memories of me from her. I only thought to make her forget me. It’ll be hard for her to forget a child. And where will she think it came from? Certainly not from a protector.”

That was all Tholan
thought about actually. The woman was going to have a child by a man she had no memories of. Not to mention the man was a protector, not a human. No matter how many ways he tried to reason it out, she was still going to be a little freaked out when the time came for her to know. He knew that he would if he were in her shoes.

“
I want to go over Michael’s head. There is no way that this can work for anyone.” Tholan had been waiting for Riss to come up with this. But he was no closer to having an answer for him than he’d been before. “What do you think?”

“
I think you should take a deep breath and think about this.” Riss started pacing again. “And for the love of it all, will you please sit down? You’re making me exhausted just watching you.”

Riss sat
, but he didn’t look like he was happy about it. As he sat there, Tholan thought his friend might have aged a bit…not something his kind were able to do. But Riss had, and Tholan was worried about him. When his computer dinged again, signaling that he had another message, he nearly stood up when he saw who it was from.

“
Give him comfort. I will explain all to you when I can.”
The boss of Michael and all of them was aware of what was going on. Not a surprise, but the fact that he’d contacted Tholan was. Answering Him that he would try, he looked at his friend again.

“
Do you suppose that a child will give her comfort in her later years?” As soon as the words left his mouth, Tholan knew he’d messed up. Riss looked ready to explode. “What I mean is, do you think that when you’re gone she’ll have something to remember…no, that won’t work either. She doesn’t know you were there in the first place. What if…no, not going to work either. Who will tell her that she conceived by a protector when he was in a human form?”

“
You’re not helping.”

No kidding
, Tholan thought. He was messing this up more than he could make it right.

But Riss seemed to understand
as he continued. “I’m going to miss everyone, but mostly her. And as I know she’ll do a good job raising my child, I still….”

When he didn
’t answer, Tholan started to prompt him into completing his thought. But the noise from his computer had him pause. He was to simply let his mind flow, it said. Whatever that meant.

“
I would ask that you help me with something. It’s nothing that will get you into trouble, but I’d like to purchase a house. A large one with a yard. Children love yards.” Tholan pulled a sheet of paper toward him and started writing things down. “And a lovely view from the kitchen. My last charge would often say that a view while washing dishes was the best. I’ve no idea what that meant, but she was happy.”

By the time the two of them had filled two pages of things to purchase, Tholan could see a difference in Riss
, and Tholan felt better as well. He was going to contact someone that worked for them on earth and have them look for a suitable house for Kala and her unborn child. There were school districts to consider, as well as neighborhoods. Who knew there was so many things to think of when buying a home? Within an hour of Riss going back to Kala, Tholan not only had three houses for him to look at, but had set up the checking account needed to procure what they needed. Tholan was whistling for the first time in decades and felt very good about all of this.

~~~

Kala sat on the couch and looked around the place she’d been hidden away in. It was nicer than her apartment and a good deal bigger, just as Benny had told her it would be. Even the furniture was lovely, and the couch she was sitting on was as comfy as her old bed. Better maybe.

“
You have enough food in the fridge for a few days. Don’t open the door for anyone, and don’t call anyone unless it’s one of us.” She nodded at Detective Anderson. “Someone will be at the front desk that works for me, and another will be down the hall at all times. When someone comes to see you, or asks to see you, you’ll be instructed as to what to do then via phones, okay?”

“
You really think all this is necessary?” He smiled at her and nodded. “I don’t. Why would he care now that I no longer live there? He’ll just find someone else to live with.”

“
No. Not….” He sat down across from her, and she had a feeling that he didn’t want to tell her this part but was only because it was necessary. “We had a chance to go through his room at his mother’s home. There were things there…pictures of you and him together, ones that I’m sure after talking to you that you never posed for. Carey had taken a few pictures of you and adjusted them to depict you and him together.” She looked at him, confused. “He’s taken some pictures and made this entire life of the two of you together as a couple. Carey had them hanging all over his walls, from floor to ceiling, some of them nearly poster size. There were other things there as well, things that we’re sure that he stole from you. Clothing, too, which we’re sure that he didn’t purchase. A scarf and a sweater…are you missing those items?”

She had to think.
“Yes. About a year ago my sweater came up missing that I’d hung on my chair. Maybe he just…I don’t know, kept it for some reason. Perhaps he was just cold and felt badly about taking it.”

“
He didn’t use it for its intended purpose, Miss Marrow. We found semen on it as well as the scarf. Carey has been obsessed with you for years, it seems. I would say since he started working at the cable office with you.” She started shaking her head, and Benny nodded. “There’s more that I won’t go into, but Carey has been stalking you for a very long time. From what we can piece together, his mother knew about it as well and had said something to the neighbors about his behavior. It was their understanding that the two of them, Carey and his mother, fought about it often.”

“
But that’s been years. I mean, surely he hasn’t been taking my things since then?” Anderson nodded. “Like, what else besides the sweater and scarf? If you want me to believe this, then I want more information.”

“
There were several used tea cups, the paper variety. We had them tested and they were yours. They were in bags on a shelf. Some of them dated from about ten years ago, with the tea bags still in most of them. Each of them were labeled with the date and where he’d gotten it. Then there were the notes he’d put in frames. Some of them sticky notes that simply had a smiley face on them. These too were marked and dated. He’d kept everything that ever came from you. And some things that he stole to make up stories about the two of you. He had his own little world where you’re concerned.” Kala tried to think where he would have gotten things like the sticky notes, and remembered something from not long ago.

“
I would put one on his computer when he’d called off sick. I wanted him to know that someone was thinking about him.” Benny nodded at her. “I never meant any harm in it. I was simply trying to make him feel better. You think that he would have killed me?”

“
Not unless you didn’t do what he wanted. I’m assuming he wanted to make the relationship between the two of you real?” She nodded at his question. “We’re only piecing this together now, but it looks like he’d spent a few years in a mental hospital for killing small animals as a child. Those records are sealed, of course, but the neighbors are being very helpful. Apparently Mrs. Carey told them everything. Carey also hit her on occasion. She didn’t toss him out on his ass, because she needed his help with bills at first. Then she was too frightened of him to do anything. We have also found that he had another woman, besides you, that he did the same thing too. That one didn’t end well.”

Kala shivered. The nice and cozy room now felt as if it were full of dark
, shadowy places and that Dan was going to pop out of one of them and get to her. She looked at Benny when he said her name.

“
We’ll get him.” She nodded, not really believing him. “I swear to you we’ll get him and you’ll be safe.”

“
Why should I feel any different now than I have my entire life about being safe?” She looked around the room when he didn’t answer her. “I have no job and no place to live. My life has taken on a surreal sort of tone to it, and I’m never going to feel safe again. At least when it comes to making friends at the workplace. If there ever is a workplace again.”

After they left her alone
, she went into the kitchen. The cabinets were indeed full, but she wasn’t hungry. There were all sorts of drinks and things in the refrigerator, but none of it appealed to her either. The fruit in the bowl on the counter didn’t even spark her appetite, and she sat down at the small table and pulled the small pad of paper toward her. She began writing down all the things she needed to do after she was let go.

Job headed the list.
And then a place to live. There were other things to consider in both those lists, too, so she made sub lists. Under job she put several things, one of which was benefits.

The list under apartment was a bit longer.
She would need furniture. The things that she had at the other place were now, as far as she was concerned, contaminated. Dan had touched them. She knew it was stupid to think that way when she had no money to really buy things with, but the thought of sitting on anything he’d touched made her skin crawl. She added disinfectant to her list of needs.

By the time she was finished
, she’d filled three pages of things she needed to do. First, she had to find a place to open an account to put her checks. She’d checked twice to make sure she had them in her bag before she was able to finish up. The money was going to be the only thing that helped her out of this, she knew. She headed toward the bedroom when she felt a small touch of something along her arm. Looking around the room, she started talking. Just repeating the way to reprogram a remote at first, then how to find a pay-per-view movie.

Kala smiled when she thought of how she might look to someone
, talking to herself and even going so far as to answer. But it had kept her from quitting her job most of the times she’d been upset. And she’d worked through a great many problems as a child by being able to reason with herself. Even as a child, life hadn’t been a bed of roses.