Chapter 2

He watched her.

Before work, he would follow her to hers, watching as she would walk in to the restaurant. If she were alone, he could see her glancing around, checking cars, searching faces. She was looking for him. The idea sent a little thrill through his system. His prey knew she was hunted, she just didn't know by whom.

He went there for lunch when she worked the mid shift, never sitting in her section. He'd sit close enough to the kitchen, though, to be able to see her. He loved to watch her smile, see the way her eyes lit up. Or to listen to her laugh and hear the crystalline tones of her voice. He could feel his heart speed up whenever she approached. He'd even made eye contact with her once or twice. But never for long, never long enough for her to feel him, not the way he felt her.

He got her name off of her mail, at first guessing which she would be, Ann, Kaylee or Ruth. But then he saw it on her name badge and knew. Kaylee was such a pretty name, almost like the music that was such a big part of his life.

He thought about her while he worked, using his musician's hands to put small receivers together in a plant for eight to ten hours a day. It was mundane, boring work, flipping the same part around and putting in four little screws. He could do it in his sleep. But it gave him plenty of time to think about her, about his Kaylee.

He'd drive by her house at night, watching the lights in the house. He knew the nights when her roommates would be out and she would be alone. He could feel her in that house; feel the nerves, the tension in her body. It called to him, that tension. He could feel it even when he left her, driving to his own lonely home, his cat, Buddha, greeting him at the door.

Buddha would sit and meow until he got his dinner, then go off and do cat things while he worked. He would develop the pictures he took during the day, hanging them to dry while he pinned up the ones from the day before. His wall was full now, Kaylee staring at him from hundreds of faces.

He'd taken down the others, storing them away. He'd put away his keepsakes. He felt it was wrong to have things from another woman sitting around his home when his heart now belonged to one. The girl he'd thought to possess, the girl who'd been next for him, her pictures lay forgotten now, at the bottom of his closet. Kaylee had unknowingly given her a reprieve from the death sentence of being the object of his lust.

He waited for the urge to strike him again; the compulsion to kill that was so overwhelming that it had forced him to take his first life so many years ago in that other place. She'd been messy, screaming for help. She'd clawed and bit him, fueling his rage. He'd beaten her to death and almost ruined his hands in the process, something he'd never let happen again.

Now he had it perfected, his art. His basement was set up just the way he liked it, the room soundproofed so that even from upstairs, he couldn't hear them scream. He had cameras rigged up, recording every move they made, capturing every sound, every prayer that was uttered from lips that were his to kiss, his to control. His video cabinet was full of tapes, all color coded and marked in his own special rating system. The end was always marked in red, red for pain, red for death. He had five red coded tapes.

A cable led from the basement up to his bedroom on the first floor, giving him live feed to his television set in there. He had watched the girls, long into the night as they screamed and cried, prayed and fought, trying to find a way out of their plastic cage. He enjoyed watching them, seeing their reaction after he visited. Their tears and pain fueled his fantasies.

Now he spent part of his evening revamping the cage. It was see through plastic, small holes drilled in the top. In one corner were a toilet and a small sink. He didn't want to deprive them of necessities. A small cot with a tiny pillow was bolted down on one side.

That was all that was necessary for them. He provided everything else. But now, he added to the cage, buying things he thought Kaylee would enjoy. He bought a small chair, taking the time to bolt it also to the cement floor. A small rug would warm her feet and soft cashmere blankets covered the old cot that would be her bed until she became used to him and learned he meant her no harm, not like the other girls. No, she'd learn that he wanted her to be with him forever.

At night, he lay looking at her, seeing her staring back at him from a hundred faces, her eyes sad and happy, tired and smiling all at once. When he closed his eyes, he saw her as she'd been that night, her body highlighted in the soft glow of the lamp, her hair thrown back caressing her skin. He'd get aroused by the memory of her body, nipples hard and erect, pebbled in her excitement, the red satin of her thong damp against her swollen nether lips, snugged in tightly between those perfect globes of her ass.

His hand would stroke over his hard cock as he'd remember the way she'd touched herself, the way her hand had moved under that satin, the look in her eyes as she'd brought herself closer and closer to pleasure. He wished she'd taken off the thong. He wanted to see the rest of her, that place that his grandma had said was dirty but that he knew wasn't.

But that would happen. He only had to be patient.

It was in the morning newspapers, splayed all over the front page in huge letters.

BODIES FOUND IN SECLUDED VALLEY

Kaylee read the first few paragraphs, saddened by the thought. Those girls that had been reported missing, all were found dead. There'd been such uproar for each one, a huge search using dogs and helicopters. No sign of any of them and now they were found. She sent a prayer out to the families of each girl.

"Did you see this?" she asked Ruth when she got up, enticed by the smell of the coffee that Kaylee had made. "All five of them are dead, strangled."

"It was on the news last night," the petite blonde Ruth said. "Almost all they talked about. I feel so bad for their families. Think about it. Your sister or daughter killed by some unknown creep. It would be awful having to think of how they died, probably scared beyond all thought while some stranger chokes you to death."

Kaylee barely managed to hide the shiver that wanted to snake through her system. Her hands went to her own throat as she thought of how those girls had been strangled. "Just be careful, okay, Ruthie. I don't want to be calling your parents and telling them that you're missing."

"Kaylee, honey, you missed something." She took the paper away from Kaylee and turned it back to where the story was continued on the next page. It had pictures of all five girls. "Look at the girls, Kaylee. I think you have more to worry about then I do."

All the girls were pretty, slim, and smiling in the pictures. And all five had long dark hair.

"Maybe we should bleach your hair?" Ruthie asked jokingly.

"Oh, you are so funny." She tugged on a lock of her hair. "Maybe I should cut it?"

Ruthie leaned over and gave her a hug. "Just be careful. Don't take any chances. Have someone walk you out of the restaurant at night. Not forever," she added as she saw the look on her friend's face, "just until they catch this psycho."

"Yeah," Annie said, walking in on the end of the conversation. "I was going to mention that to you myself. Besides, you said how they found a piece of ribbon outside? You remember my friend, Mitch, he's a cop? He told me last night that all the girls were wearing the same type of red silk ribbon in their hair."

Kaylee felt a chill creep through her system, a shiver of fear that she couldn't shake off. "Maybe I should call that Officer James? See if he thinks I should worry. I mean, ever since that night..."

Annie got down a cup, stretching on her toes, her night shirt climbing up the back of her legs. "You've been spooked, Kaylee. Both Ruth and I have seen it. We've been worried about leaving you alone here at night." The cup clattered on the counter and she filled it with the dark blend that Kaylee had made, stirring in sugar before coming back to the table. "I thought about getting a dog, you know, some extra protection. I just didn't think the three of us were around here enough to take care of a dog."

"No dogs," Ruth said. "You know what a mess they are?"

"Just like I said," Ann replied. "We aren't around enough to take care of a dog. Sheesh, try listening before you jump at me, Ruthie."

Kaylee got up, she was working the breakfast shift and she was going to be late.

"I think I'll call the detectives in charge of the case. My weirdo could be the same guy as their killer. They'd want to know, right?"

Homicide detective Gabriel Hampton was thinking the same thing. He'd spent the past two days out on the side of a hill, picking up bones and bodies, searching for clues. He was filthy, tired and sore from slipping down the side of the hill. He wanted to go home, take a shower and grab some coffee and catch an hour's sleep before he'd have to come back in and start his day.

Instead, he was sitting in his office, reaming out a couple of uniforms for not doing their jobs.

"And why didn't you do a house by house to see if anyone had noticed anything?"

"It was a peeper, dammit." John James stood in front of Gabe's desk pissed off. "A house search wasn't going to do anything."

"And you know this how, officer? Are you clairvoyant?" Gabe watched as James fumed, his face turning red at being talked down to by someone not his superior. He knew what the man was thinking; he could see it in his eyes. He was trying to come up with an excuse.

Gabe hated excuses. "Stop," he said, holding up a hand. "Just shut up. Instead of arguing with me, just go out and do your job now. It's been a week but maybe someone will remember something." He rubbed his eyes tiredly as they left his office. He should flag the man's jacket, write up an official complaint for his file. And he would, when he had the energy left to look up the right paperwork.

"Gabe? You got a call," one of the guys out in the bull pen hollered in to his office.

"Message, asshole," Gabe said to himself. "Don't any of you know how to take a message?" He picked up the handset and hit the flashing button on the front of the phone. "Detective Hampton."

"Are you in charge of the dead girls they found out on Hill Road?"

The voice on the other end of the phone was soft, slightly hesitant and very female. Gabe found himself sitting a little straighter in his chair as he answered. "Yeah, what can I do for you?"

"My name is Kaylee Cranston, detective. I reported a peeping Tom last week. They found some red ribbon out where he'd been standing." She hesitated, waiting for the detective to jump in, to say something about the ribbon, but he was strangely silent. "Sir, do you think it could be the same guy who killed those other girls?"

Gabe was silently fuming. They'd kept the ribbon out of the newspaper and hushed for a reason. Somehow they had a leak. A leak in a case was never a good thing but one this early in the case spelled disaster.

"Ms. Cranston? May I ask how you came by this information?"

"Why? Is it true?" She waited for a second and when he didn't answer, Kaylee gave the phone a glare. "Listen, Detective Hampton, I had some guy watching me and now, I feel like someone is following me, watching my every move. It's scaring me, Detective, badly. I can't sleep and now I get told that some psycho is putting ribbons in girls' hair, the same kind that was found outside of my house the night that pervert was watching me. Can you understand why I'm calling you?"

"Yes ma'am. I can understand your fears. I've already sent out some officers to your neighborhood to talk to your neighbors. Have you seen anyone following you?"

"No," Kaylee admitted. "But I feel it. I feel eyes watching me during the day, sometimes at night if I go out."

"I'd like to speak with you more, later today. Maybe get a police sketch artist to work with you, see if you can recall any details of his face."

"I'm late for work now," Kaylee hedged. "My shift ends at four."

"Perfect," Gabe said. He took down the name of the restaurant and the time in his notebook and hung up.

Kaylee left for work. She changed into her uniform in the employee locker room, throwing her purse and clothes into a locker and locking it securely. Grabbing her order pad, she hurried out onto the floor.

"You're late," hissed Tina as she hurried past with a full tray of food for one of the tables. "Devon's looking for you."

"Great, just what I need today on top of everything else." She plastered on a smile and headed towards her tables.

She managed to avoid her manager, Devon Basset, for half of the morning, but she couldn't avoid the main topic of conversation that everyone was buzzing about. The dead girls. By the time the lunch rush had stopped, she heard so much gossip, each story more absurd than the one before as embellishments were added.

And most of her customers took in her long dark hair, pulled up in a bun for work, and told her to be careful.

Devon cornered her just as she was coming off of break.

Kaylee let her words go in one ear and out the other, trying not to be embarrassed over the fact that she was being harangued in front of her co-workers and anyone sitting close enough to the kitchen to hear. She glanced over and saw one man, sitting in the booth closest to the prep area, his eyes trained on Devon.

There was a look in his pale blue eyes, a kind of internal rage that sent a shiver through Kaylee.

"Are you listening to me?" Devon asked, her voice pitched a little shriller at the thought that she might be ignored.

"Yes, Devon," Kaylee said, turning back to her manager. "I heard every word you said." She glanced back over at the table and the man was gone leaving Kaylee to wonder if she'd actually saw what she'd thought she had.

The rest of the afternoon passed slowly until just before four when the afternoon hostess, Barbie an older woman with a heart of gold and a soft spot for Kaylee, seated a single in her section. He was tall, dark hair shot through with highlights of gold and silver and the most mesmerizing blue eyes that Kaylee had ever seen.

Tina nudged her as they passed each other. "Tall, dark and scrumptious at table twelve. Want me to take him for you?"

Kaylee shifted the tray of burgers and fries she was hauling out to the floor. "Not on your life," she said, smiling sweetly. She delivered the food, brought out extra ketchup and saved a glass of ice water from being knocked over. Then she made her way to table twelve.

"Hi," she said, all smiles. "My name's Kaylee. Can I get you something to drink or are you ready to order?"

Gabe flipped out his badge, leaving it flat on the table so that it wasn't obvious. "Ms. Cranston?" he asked, even though he knew this had to be Kaylee Cranston. She looked just like the killer's type. Young, pretty with long dark hair and a figure that he'd had problems taking his eyes off of since he had spotted her.

"Detective Hampton," Kaylee sighed, her luck, gorgeous and a cop on a case. Someone up there hated her. "I have another ten minutes left on my shift. Can I get you some coffee while you wait? Maybe tempt you with something to eat?"

He ordered dinner, coffee and a burger. It would probably be the last chance he had to grab anything until he went off shift. And there was no telling when that was. He watched her work while he waited, she was pretty, but there was also something about her that made her sparkle, a quality that he couldn't put his finger on right away. He could see her being the killer's type, very easily. And it made him nervous.

She was also very easy on the eyes in a short black skirt with black nylons showing off long legs. A white blouse was tucked in, showing off her flat stomach and nicely rounded breasts, with the open buttons at the throat hinting at deep cleavage. He felt a stir in his groin as he watched her bend slightly to pick something up, her skirt riding a few inches up the back of her smooth thighs.

She slid his food in front of him and then slid into the bench seat across from him with a sigh. "Sorry, sore feet, it's been a long day."

"That's okay." He got out his notebook and pen and then looked at the burger.

"Go ahead. I've got time, Detective. And you look hungry."

Gabe gave her a grateful grin. "Thanks, it's been a long time since breakfast," he looked at is watch, "yesterday." He picked up the burger and took a bite, making Kaylee laugh at the groan of pleasure that he made at the taste of the food. "I've never eaten here before. Foods not bad," he said after he swallowed.