The First Line 2018 - part 4

Winter:

As she trudged down the alley, Cenessa saw a small doll. It was lying in a pile of snow. She stopped for a second, looked around to see who might have dropped it. Walking ahead of her was a family of three. A mother pushed a stroller and held a man's hand while a small girl jumped around them, hollering and laughing.
      Cenessa picked up the doll and ran up to the family.

      "Might you have dropped this?" Cenessa kneeled in front of the little girl.

      "That's Larissa!" The girl shouted happily.

      "Really." Cenessa looked at the doll. "Hello, Larissa, I'm Cenessa." She looked at the girl. "What's your name?"

      "Michelle!" The girl applauded and reached for the doll.

      "Thank you. That was kind of you." The father put his hand on Cenessa's shoulder as she stood back up, and smiled.

      She watched the family walk away and for a moment forgot what she was on her way to. That's when she remembered she wasn't supposed to tell anyone her real name. Rowan had told her strictly not to. Oh well, she thought, they didn't seem too dangerous.

      She had been cooped up in that place for so long now that she was so happy to be out. She suddenly remembered she had somewhere to be.

      It was her first day of freedom.

      I had finally convinced Rowan to let her go.

      I watched her from a distance. I didn't want to go to close yet. There were too many people around. I didn't know where she was going so I followed her, sneaking around the corners and keeping my distance.

      This was the last thing I had to do before I could go. My new life was all packed in a bag in a car waiting to go to the airport. I have a flight booked in my new name early in the morning. I couldn't wait for the new chapter to begin.

      Last week I set Mike's house on fire. I had sex with him after he gave me my passport and all that, and then I drugged him to make sure he stayed in there. It was harder than I thought to do it that time. And when the house was on fire I felt a tear run down my cheek.

      I must be losing my touch. Only the binder knows how many lives I have ended, I've lost count, and now all of a sudden I start getting emotional. It's a good thing I'm getting out.

      But I had to do this last mission. From what I had gathered there was compelling evidence that would be crucial in a conviction in the case of Cain's shooting. Rowan assured me I would be the first to know as soon as the time came. But until then it was safer if as few as possible knew. Sometimes Rowan would go on trips without me, always with a good excuse and other important tasks for me to do at the station. I trusted Rowan with my life, so I never thought much about it before. But recently I'd started wondering. I felt like he kept something from me. At the same time I refused to believe it.

      About the binder, and my house. I owned the house, it's tiny and not worth a great deal. What do the real estate people say? The house is in need of some love, meaning it's about to fall to the ground. So instead of going though the business of selling it and having to explain that to people I decided to just leave it. And I've laid out all that Rowan and the others have to find. My confessions in the binder. I left the bag of money in the cellar, though. So I just have to swing by and get that before I head to the airport. I think the bag's safer there than in a car on a public parking lot. They are not going to find her for a couple of days, possibly tomorrow, but by then I'm long gone.

      I would have put the money in the bank, but you can't really walk into a bank and say you want to make a deposit of three million dollars, can you? I'll have to figure that out when I get to where I'm going.

      For a second I thought I had lost her and started feeling my heart pound in the chest. But a small crowd of people dissolved and there she was. I drew a sigh of relief.

      I kept following her for at least another hour. She'd go into shops and I would wait outside. Still too many people around. Eventually she seemed to be done shopping and started walking into an area of apartments. The adrenaline was pumping in my body when I followed her into a building. Two flights of stairs and she unlocked a door. She opened the door and that's when I rushed up the last steps and pushed her through the doorway into the apartment. I closed and locked the door, took out a knife from a shoulder bag and kept my eyes on her, all at the same time. She stared at me, strangely calm, I thought to myself as I took a couple of steps closer.

      "Do you know who I am?"

      "Allie. Police. You visited me, that first time Andrew... I mean, detective sergeant Rowan came to see me, at the psych facility."

      "That's right." I nodded. It struck me a tad strange that she called him Andrew, but I couldn't let her see me weaken. "Do you know why I'm here?"

      "You're pointing a knife at me..." She shook her head. "Do you want something from me? I don't have anything! Whatever you want, take it!" She gestured towards the living room.

      "Do you think I'm stupid?!" I heard myself screaming. "You want me to go in there so you can just stroll out the door? Yeah, I don't think so, missy!"

      I took a step closer and held up the knife.

      I must really be losing my touch. There was a strange calm around her, as if she wasn't scared. Why isn't she screaming and kicking, trying to get away? I could stick the knife in her any second and she is just standing there.

      "I have some jewelry in the bedroom." She whispered.

      "I thought you said you didn't have anything?" I was close enough to her now to feel her breath against my cheek.

      "I know... I'm sorry. Please... There's a box in the wardrobe... I inherited... gold necklace... diamond ring..."

      "I'm not really here to take things from you." I placed the knife against her chin and let it slide toward her left ear. "But since you want to give them to me, I guess I'll accept. What a sweetheart. Show me!"

      Slowly she turned us around and started walking towards the bedroom.

      Afterwards I realized I should have known.

      It was all planned. A trap. And I walked right into it, and did exactly what they had thought I would do.

      They were waiting in the living room. When we turned towards the bedroom I would follow her, and the living room entrance was behind me, making it very easy for someone to jump and grab me. And as that someone did I dropped the knife.

Looking back - 2006

I decided I needed to be closer to him if I was going to be able to convince him that I was the one for him, and not those women. Distance is what broke us apart. Distance and a blonde naked girl.

      So after becoming a Detective in the end of 2006 I asked to be transferred to Providence Police Department. I found a house close enough to him to be able to easily keep track of him. And still it was far enough so we wouldn't run into each other if this all backfired. But it wasn't going to do that. I loved him, he loved me, and once he saw me again he would realize that.

      It took me a couple of days to get up the nerve to go to see him. It was a sunny, but cold day in January. I had butterflies in my stomach when I rang the doorbell.

      He was surprised to see me. "Of course I remember you," he said. "You were my teen love, I loved you. But we've grown up. I haven't seen you in ten years. You look good though." He smiled and I could see how he got the ladies falling at his feet. That smile and this house. I took a step closer and told him I still loved him, and missed him. I even tried to kiss him. He gently pushed me away and said that I should probably go.

      I tried a couple times more. Went to his house, told him I loved him, that he was the only one for me. Every time he seemed less and less interested to hear me out. The last time was eight years ago.

      Something inside me snapped and I became obsessed with knowing everything about him, what he did, who he saw, especially who he saw.

      I would sit behind some bushes conveniently situated on the empty lot opposite his house. I brought a pen and paper, and wrote down the number plates of the cars coming and going. Later I would do a search at work and see who the cars belonged to. By Christmas last year I had a list of about a million women and I decided this could not go on.

      And that's how he ended up on my list along with the murderers, rapists and drunk drivers.

      And that was that.

Present day

      "When did you figure it out?" I'm looking at Rowan sitting across the table. I had been in the interrogation room so many times, but never on this side.

      "I'm not sure. When I went to see Cenessa again without you she told me she had recognized something about you."

      "So what was the compelling evidence?"

      "A video. She had the sense to make a video on her cell phone when she was hiding outside Cain's door. We didn't see it was you at first. But a couple of weeks ago I saw you wearing the sweater and the baseball cap the person wore in the video. So I pieced it all together. All the questions and you being so persistent to let her go. I decided to try the theory and you fell right into the trap."

      I lean my head in my hands against the table and sigh.

      "And we've found some really interesting things at your house."

      "I won't say anything else without my lawyer." I sit back up and cross my arms in front of my chest.

      "That's probably a very good idea." Rowan gets up out of the chair. "You know. I have loved and trusted you for more than a decade. I have had you over for dinner in my house, with my family, my kids, so many times. I have cried on your shoulder and you've cried on mine."

      I look at him and feel a lump in my throat, and tears rolling down my cheeks. There is something so utterly upsetting and sad about what he just said.

      "But for some reason I always knew you'd let me down in the end." He gazes at me with a surprisingly contented look on his face.

      He walks towards the door, opens it and turns around and throw a final glance at me. He smiles.

      "You know what? I'm finally going on that vacation that I've been talking about. I've taken six months off work. Betty, the kids and I are travelling around the world. We're leaving next week."

      "Haha!" I laugh. "How are you going to pay for that? You're always complaining about not earning enough."

      "Guess?" He winks at me and walks out the door. Instead of closing it he pops his head back in. "Like I said, I found some interesting things in your house. Actually about three million of them..."

THE END