Page 19

Chapter 18

Eve

Eve awoke to a throbbing pain in her skull and anxious faces surrounding her. Her heart skipped a beat when her damaged brain recognised police uniforms, her first instinct screaming at her this was it, everyone knew about her night hobby - oh hey there guilt .

A blond lady with a paramedic uniform approached her, a blood pressure monitor in hand. An awkward smile on her lips, she silently surrounded Eve’s biceps with the cold plastic.

Once done Eve attempted to stand, her vision still a bit blurry, her headache getting worse, she would rather lie down but the feeling of those unfriendly glances upon her was not promoting relaxation right now. She gave up standing when her head spun, deciding the couch would do just fine, who cares about unfriendly watchers? She muttered something noticing the state of her dress, barely holding her breasts in place, stained by her passionate sex session with Cyrus. Fuck.

She adjusted the fabric as best as she could, and sat down. That’s when she finally understood the reason for the disturbing silence and the mean looks. Her eyes met Cyrus, sitting on her sofa, facing her. She was surprised she hadn’t noticed him earlier, seeing that the giant was taking all the couch by himself. He had a furious look that she was glad she had never seen directed at her. His eyes darker than ever, his jaw clenched, eyebrows furrowed as if he was thinking way too hard for his brain.

Despite his furious look, she couldn't help but giggle when she spotted the handcuffs around his wrists, not to mention the two young policemen surrou nding him, clearly wishing they were somewhere else. Cyrus rolled his eyes at her reaction, and sat back against the couch, indistinct grumbling coming out of his mouth. Despite her headache, Eve couldn’t stop the instant fire growing inside her at the view of her lover. The man was sitting legs wide open, typical Alpha, his fancy shirt rolled up to his elbows, showing off muscular forearms. Gosh she loved forearms. The handcuffs were giving her way too many ideas for later.

“Eve,” a voice on her side distracted her from the handsome giant. Oh shit.

Andy, with Bonnie at his side, didn’t look pleased. “We REALLY need you to tell us what happened.” They were both standing, arms crossed, faces showing how unimpressed they were with her.

Eve shrugged. “A guy was waiting for me in my apartment, he assaulted me, I fainted and… well… here we are… Did you guys search my apartment?” she asked, worried. Her senses had now returned, and she didn't feel comfortable at the thought of all those policemen and her sexy lover invading her killer den.

“And who assaulted you?” Andy asked.

Eve stared at him with an incredulous look. “Do you mean you haven't caught him yet? Man that’s not worth the headache I am getting now. Why did he run away then?”

As far as she could tell, the guy was quite dedicated to getting her, so leaving her behind? Really?

“It's up to you to tell me,” Andy said nodding in Cyrus direction, who looked at Eve with an air far too naughty for her taste, giving her his trademark sexy-eyebrow-raise. Flashbacks of orgasm on the hood of his car assaulted her, but she had the decency to blush. “It… It wasn’t Cyrus.”

“Hallelujah!” Cyrus shook his handcuffs towards Andy. “Your old hag of a neighbour saw me forcing my way into your apartment and had the GREAT idea to call our friends. Who as usual are showing their skills.”

Andy growled in apparent disappointment, motioning for one of the policemen to release Cyrus. Immediately, Cyrus stood and walked towards Eve. He knelt before her, and the police in the room followed suit, which surprised Eve. She widened her eyes and tried to mentally communicate with Cyrus that no, re ally, this was not the right time for such a display. But he remained silent gazing at her, lifting his hand to tenderly place a strand of hair behind her ear.

Screams came from the front door, and Eve couldn’t take the time to appreciate the gesture, which truth be told was quite different to the whole “should I fuck your ass now or later?” stuff he gave her earlier.

Ian and Zorfield busted into her apartment. Ian seemed shaken, while Zorfield was provoking the police attempting to restrain them.

Andy sighed. “Leave them be,” he said with a gest of his hand, as if accepting the inevitable that he would not be able to arrest Cyrus today. “Eve, we'll need to take your statement Monday. For tonight, you should stay home and rest. I'll assign two policemen to be on duty here, seeing that your door is down.”

Cyrus shot Andy a dark glance but returned lost in his contemplation of Eve while she tried to look at her door.

“Why is my door down?” she yelled.

“I kicked it down to open it,” Cyrus mumbled. “I didn’t know it was so weak.”

Eve glanced at him.

“Really? Weak? You are so paying for it.”

Cyrus rolled his eyes but nodded.

Andy snapped his fingers. “Eve. Focus. We suspect it’s our lady killer. It’s not safe here.”

Eve nodded, it seemed obvious to her that it was indeed her freaking nemesis of a killer, looked like he found her before she even had the slightest idea about where to find him. Which truth be told, didn’t look good at all.

“And you Cyrus,” Andy continued, “we're going to LOVE taking your statement at the station on Monday and figuring out how you ended up in the wrong place, at the wrong time, with the wrong person.”

“You mean the right time, in the right place?” Ian interjected. “Cyrus arrived in time to save Eve, don't waste your time with him Andy.”

“He still needs to give a statement,” Andy replied firmly. His newborn respect for the redhead seemed to have vanished.

“And he'll be there, with his favourite lawyer. Me,” Ian said with a smile. A lawyer? Was there anything this guy couldn’t do?

And y growled again and beckoned the troops to leave.

Cyrus finally stood up. “Don't bother leaving your guys here. Eve won't be sleeping in her apartment tonight.”

Andy turned to him. “Then where does Eve plan to sleep?” Hands on his hips, he gave Eve a look that expressed all of his not-impressed-with-you-right-now feels.

Eve sighed. “Eve is a grown woman who decides where she wants to spend the night, Andy. I'm not going to sleep here. And I don't need the police to watch me.”

She would be much safer in Cyrus's arms away from the serial killer.

A few minutes later the horde of police and paramedics finally left, Andy and Bonnie reluctantly walking through the door. Andy turned. “Do I call Erik or do you do it?”

At Eve's cold stare, he left the apartment without further ado. Eve tried to rise from the couch, feeling that all of this would not end well. Cyrus remained silent, standing by the window. Numerous questions swirled in her mind, making her feel a bit queasy.

Ian, who had been sneaking around the flat, to Eve’s distress, broke the silence. “He's a policeman.” Eve looked at him questioningly. “The killer. I think he's a policeman.”

“The fact that they spend their time trying to put your best friend in jail is not proof Ian,” Eve said, rubbing her tired eyes.

“Explain it to her.” Cyrus crossed his arms.

Ian sighed. “Okay, it’s still a theory, but I went back to the start of the crimes and looked at everything.”

“Oh right, those files,” Cyrus interjected sarcastically. “You know, the ones you secretly gave to my best friend.”

Eve shot him an angry look. “You mean the confidential files I entrusted to your best friend, the profiler who's been denied showcasing his talents to the world because of his association with you? There's a psychopathic killer on the loose, Cyrus.”

He smirked. “More than one.”

“ That's not the point here,” Ian sighed turning to Cyrus. “Besides, you could have easily found out what I was doing. Erik and Eve were right to request confidentiality towards you, or else my findings would be relentlessly challenged by a bunch of asshole lawyers. Even YOU know that Cyrus.”

Cyrus turned, a mischievous grin on his face. “Unless they can't get their hands on the killer. Accidents happen so quickly. No body no crime.”

Though Eve agreed with his point, she wasn't going to say it, settling for watching Cyrus and Zorfield give each other a high five. She pouted, the killer was her target, and she wasn't going to let Cyrus steal her prey. Next time I’ll be ready.

Ian sighed. “The killer started a little haphazardly. Bonnie was right, the prostitute was the first, I’m sure of it. He just had no idea what he liked to do, he might not have planned to kill her at first, he was probably just looking for some hardcore sex, then things went wild.”

Ian took a break, Eve knew he was thinking about how exactly “things went wild,” and it was not pretty, they both saw the pictures.

“First thing I spotted, which honestly could mean nothing without any other proof, were the physical features of the ladies. He started choosing pretty little Irish girls. Both the prostitute and the July crime are blond, clear eyes, luscious bodies.” Ian shook his head. “Not the last three. All September murders are different, it has to mean something. He chooses them thinner, browner, with darker eyes, a more ‘warm look.’ We have an evolution of the body he is aiming for. Which made me think something changed, something caught his attention.” Ian showed pictures of the young women in their lifetime.

A pinch plagued Eve’s heart when she saw all the beautiful women who had their lives ahead of them before crossing paths with this guy. Ian was right, he had moved on to a more South-European style. And she thought she knew where he was going with that.

“Are you telling me I'm in his new category?” That was not something she was excited about.

“I think you're the one he wants, but he couldn't have you and had to refer to others to satisfy his urge to hurt and to kill. Hence the violence.”

Eve shook her head. “No Ian, it's too crazy and too easy. Just because he chooses long, dark, messy hair, doesn't mean…”

“I looked at the dates Eve, they don't lie…”

He opened the notebook in his hand, showing Eve and his two acolytes who had come closer a diagram.

Cyrus sat next to Eve, more tense than usual, cracking his fingers in an annoying manner.

“Ok. First murder: June 27, the prostitute. Second murder: July 18, one of Cyrus’s playthings.”

Cyrus coughed and received a dark look from Eve.

“Then the type of prey changes. September 3rd: third murder, more violence compared to the last ones, another of Cyrus’s… friend,” Ian amended under the frenetic look from Cyrus. “Next one, found on Tuesday September 25th, but everything leads to her kidnapping a few days earlier on the 21 st . Couldn’t point anything to Cyrus this time, which is good. And the next one, found on Monday the 1st, disappeared on Saturday the 29th, the most violent to this date.”

Eve was still waiting to find out how she could have a role to play in all of this, this was exactly the reason why she was leaving the detective part to someone else. Can we get to the slash-slash-kill-kill part?

“When did you arrive in Ireland, Eve?”

“Hum… August 31. I started work on the 2nd.”

“And where were you on the evening of Friday, September 21st?”

Eve frowned, she certainly didn't remember everything she did, especially since some of her evenings were usually a little special.

Cyrus replied for her, brooding at her side. “You were with me. Our first date”

“Oh right, probably why I'd rather not remember it.”

“That’s not what you were saying in the lift.”

Cyrus swiftly moved out of the way when a pink cushion flew close to his head.

“What about Saturday, September 29th?” Ian interrupted them.

“ The Gala!” Eve announced in a victorious voice, happy to be able to remember something in her life.

“And what did you do at that Gala and during the weekend?” Ian asked, giving her a mischievous look.

Eve blushed, while Cyrus sneered. She elbowed him.

“What's your point?” she asked.

“You were ‘busy’ the two nights the other two young women were abducted. You were with another man, a man who is certainly hated by the killer too.”

Cyrus began to protest, but Eve cut him off. “But why would he be part of the police force? Just because I work there?”

“He must have met you somewhere, and you spend all your time working.”

And killing .

“Just kidding,” Ian laughed. “There’s also the fact that the victims were all abducted from their flat, with no sign of a break in. You only let people enter if you trust them. And there were no signs of the victims having a power provider or such. But if someone came, a police officer uniform and all, anyone would open the door.” Eve had a lot to say about trusting the police but decided it was not the time.

She sighed. “I mean… It could have been anywhere on the street as well. Cyrus met me on the street!”

Cyrus laughed but had the decency to apologise when Eve glanced furiously at him.

Ian hesitated. “Of course nothing is certain but…”

“But what? …”

“I'm often right.”

Eve almost laughed when she saw Cyrus and Zorfied vividly nodding.

Could be anyone with a badge . But she was not going to contradict him, after all, he was the one who was supposed to be a genius, and this could clearly help her find the killer.

Ian was looking at his notebook, hesitation showing on his face. “The last victim, I think I recognised her, I think she was working at the Gala …”

Now that was something new, which indeed didn’t bode well for the police.

“What do you mean?” Eve was bad with faces, especially women.

“ I think she was one of the waitresses, but I still need confirmation.” He nodded toward Zorf.

“I’m on it!”

Cyrus sighed. “What are the next steps?”

“We must prepare your statement on Monday. You too, Eve.” Ian smiled. “Let's go home, you'll be safer.”

Eve grimaced. She was tempted to say no and wait for the killer to come back. This time with knives tied to each of her limbs and traps set all around the flat. She wondered if he had followed her every move. If he had, it meant he had a little idea of her nocturnal expeditions, and that was of no help to Eve. So she was now officially competing with the police and Cyrus to find this killer.

Cyrus looked furious, and she was certain he would now put all his energy into finding him.

I’ve got to find him before my whole life goes to hell .