The Dance Read online

  “What kind of surprise?” His face lit up as a million thoughts of what it could be crowded into his brain.

  “If you can pry yourself away from that bed for a little while, I’ll show you.”

  “Seriously, what is it?”

  “Follow me; if you really want to know.” She turned on her heel and left the room.

  Nina led Kyle out of the bedroom, down the hall and into the living room. She paused long enough to ensure he was right behind her before she picked up a small package from the coffee table. He took the present and opened it eagerly. His brows pursed in confusion as he studied the shiny disc.

  “It’s new music for you to play during the Dance.”

  “But I thought you said that Hindi song was so important.”

  “It’s not Hindi,” she corrected him tersely.

  “Well, Arabic or whatever. It all sounds like a cat with his tail stuck in a fan to me.” He tried not to laugh as he imitated the sounds.

  “It’s Zragration,” she said, clearly perturbed by his comments.

  “I’ve never heard of that before,” he admitted, scratching his chin. “It is middle eastern though, right?”

  “No, the closest thing you would be able to compare it to is a variation of the Enochian dialect.”

  “Whatever it is, I thought it had to be played when we Dance.”

  “Kyle, this will perform the same service and more. You’ll see,” she assured him with a nod. “Besides, I overlaid the music I need, with music that I thought you would like.”

  “How did you do that?”

  “I used your computer.” She pointed at the desk in the corner. “It is a wonderful tool to play with.”

  “I can’t wait to hear it.” He looked down at the disc. “Let’s put it in and see how it turned out.”

  “No!” She gasped, reaching for the disc.

  “Why not?” he asked, playfully keeping it out of her reach.

  “You must only play this new song when you have a living partner in the room,” she warned. “This music is different. Promise me you will only play it when I tell you that it’s safe to do so.”

  “Uh, okay.” He gave her a quizzical look. “Are you sure you don’t want me to arrange for you to have a little visit with Dr. Pearlman?”

  “I’m not crazy,” she insisted, giving him her best ‘go to hell’ look. “I’m just looking out for your best interest, lover. But if you feel so strongly about it, maybe we should put it in and see what happens.”

  “I see. So, you are protecting me from music now?”

  She brushed past him and stomped into the kitchen. He heard the grinding sound of a chair being pulled across the linoleum floor and let out a sigh.

  He wondered why she was getting herself so worked up.

  “There is no need to be like that, baby,” he called out to her in exasperation as he made his way toward the kitchen. “You should know that I, of all people, don’t think you are crazy.”

  “Don’t baby me. I worked so hard on that music.” Her voice quivered. “You have no idea what I’ve done for you.”

  “Yes, I do. I was nothing before I met you. I was adrift, struggling to keep my sanity.” He stopped in the doorway to look at her. “And if you ask Dr. Pearlman, he can tell you that I wasn’t doing a very good job of it.”

  “Then why do you feel the need to torment me constantly?” She was close to tears as she averted her face.

  “Torment?” he asked, approaching her position and massaging her shoulders from behind. “I was just poking a little fun. You know I would never hurt your feelings on purpose.”

  “I know it’s not intentional, but when you joke around all the time, I don’t think you really understand the importance of your work.”

  “I understand how much the Dance means to you, Nina. It’s just that sometimes you say things that sound a little—”

  “Stop talking!” she barked, holding her hand up for emphasis.

  “I’m just—”

  “I said be quiet,” she repeated, softer this time.

  “What’s wrong?” Kyle whispered. He watched her head tilt from side to side as if listening to the air in the room.

  She put her finger in the air again as she stood and looked around the room. Her gaze finally settled on the living room window.

  “You had better go put some pants and a shirt on,” she advised through a smile.

  “Why? What’s out there?” he asked nervously, following her gaze towards the window.

  “You have company and they will be at your door any second now.”

  “Great. I love uninvited guests.”

  “Looks like you might get to hear the new CD after all.”

  “I’ll be right back.” He trotted down the hall to his bedroom. “Don’t start without me.”

  “I wouldn’t dream of it, lover.” Nina looked in the direction of the bedroom. “The Dance is nothing without you.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Tom paced back and forth in Captain Duke’s office. The captain had warned him to leave the judge alone until he had a chance to review the evidence to see if they had proper cause for a warrant, or there would be hell to pay. Tom had a habit of totally ignoring any and all warnings, so the captain insisted they wait in his office.

  “Jesus, Tom,” Jack said wearily. “Will you sit down already? You’re making me antsy just watching you.”

  Tom stopped pacing long enough to give him an evil look, before resuming his shuffle.

  “Seriously Tom, pacing isn’t going to make him work faster,” Captain Colin Duke added. “He’ll call when he is good and damned ready.”

  “This is highly unorthodox and you know it, Captain.” Tom seethed at the thought of being cut out of his own proceedings. “The lead detective on a case presents the evidence to the judge and stays with him while he reviews it.”

  “Not this time.” He shook his head. “The D.A. is presenting in your stead. I don’t need you hounding Mulhaney on this.”

  “What if he has questions?” Tom turned on his heel to glare.

  “Gene was fully briefed before he went in. He can get the job done.”

  “What… did Mulhaney say he didn’t want me in on this?”

  “I can’t imagine why,” Jack muttered under his breath.

  “What’d you say?” Tom’s voice dripped with acid as he turned his head slowly towards his partner.

  Jack threw his hands up in the air. “Look at the way you’re acting. All we would need is for him to ask a question that sets you off and—”

  “Set me off? I’m a goddamned professional. Do you think I don’t know how to act in the presence of a judge?” He poked himself in the chest with a thumb repeatedly.

  Jack and Captain Duke just exchanged glances, causing Tom to turn away from them in disgust. Suddenly, the phone rang and Tom reached for it before the first ring died away.

  “Have you lost your ever-loving mind?” The Captain snapped, before yanking the receiver out of his hand.

  “Sorry, Captain.”

  “Not as sorry as you’re going to be if you ever try a stunt like that again,” he warned, before answering the call.

  Captain Duke nodded as if the person on the other end of the phone could see him. “Uh huh, I see. All right, they’ll be right there.”

  Tom was at the door before the phone was back on the hook. He paused with his hand on the knob when Captain Duke cleared his throat.

  “Wait right there,” he instructed. He stood and grabbed his jacket.

  “What are you doing?” Tom watched him fasten his buttons.

  “What does it look like I’m doing? I’m going with you.” He grinned. “I already notified S.W.A.T., they’re ready to roll when I give the command.”

  “But this is my collar. Are you seriously going to swoop in and take over when all the leg work is done?”

  “It’s still your collar, Tom. I just want to be there when this guy goes down.”

  “Then
why’d you call in S.W.A.T.? I had a crew already set up for this.”

  “Because I didn’t want to risk letting this scumbag slip between our fingers, that’s why.” He pulled his pistol from the desk and checked the clip before holstering it.

  “I want to capture him, not blow him to smithereens. S.W.A.T. is anything but subtle.”

  “I don’t care how he goes down as long as he’s off my streets.”

  “But don’t you want to question him, find out what’s going on in that twisted mind of his?” Tom asked.

  “And run the risk of losing him in the system on some technicality,” Jack added.

  Captain Duke shook his head. “Look, it’s too late to call the dogs back now. They’re already on the hunt. Now let’s go get this scumbag.”

  They had the warrant in hand and were on the road in less than ten minutes. Tom radioed the officer, which he had stationed outside the house, for a report. There had been movement from inside the house all morning and he wanted to make sure The Puppeteer hadn’t left.

  “Charlie 4, this is Alpha 7, over.”

  “This is Charlie 4, over.”

  “We’re in route to your location. Is all as it should be out there, over?”

  “Yeah, he’s still inside, but for the life of me, I can’t figure out what the hell he’s up to in there,” the officer reported.

  “Say again, over.”

  “He just seems to be pacing back and forth between the living room and kitchen, over.”

  “Have you seen anyone else in the house, over?”

  “No, he’s the only one I’ve seen so far, over.”

  “Sit tight, we will be there in five, out.”

  Why is he pacing? Does he know we’re coming for him? Maybe he spotted the car out front, but why doesn’t he just run? Tom’s thoughts roamed as they sped through the city.

  They followed the S.W.A.T. van closely as it entered the neighborhood. The van turned on a road a couple of blocks away from the house and moved to the street behind it. As it came to a halt, a dozen heavily armed police officers poured out of the van, wearing the black combat uniforms that marked their unit as a special task force. Tom signaled for them to wait until he was in position and maneuvered the car around them. He parked across from the front door and waited until the team surrounded the house before he stepped out.

  His heart threatened to beat out of his chest as he walked up the front porch. He could see a shadow move behind the window. This is it, he thought bracing himself for the inevitable. He knocked on the door. No one answered. He knocked again, harder. Still no one came to the door.

  “Open up, this is the police. We have a warrant,” he shouted. “We know you’re in there.”

  He placed his ear to the door, but all he could hear was the soft sound of a radio playing. He stepped over to the window and peered inside. Just then, the shadow moved across it again. He jumped back, pointed his weapon at the window, but the shadow was already gone.

  “Take him down!” he shouted into his radio.

  The sound of shattering wood and glass filled the air as the team stormed the house. Tom kicked open the door, rolled inside. He nearly succumbed to a coughing fit as the overpowering smell of lime accosted his nostrils. Even as pungent as it was, it wasn’t quite enough to stifle the smell of death.

  “What the hell is all this about?” He gagged again as he looked around the living room.

  “Sweet mother of God,” Jack added, entering the room behind him.

  “This asshole’s been busy.” Captain Duke covered his face with a handkerchief.

  The ceiling and walls were rigged with a series of pulleys connected to a small motor mounted in the center of the ceiling. They weaved in and out of the house, forming a twisted track to simulate movement. The corpse of a young man hung from a butcher’s hook, making his ghastly rounds at a leisurely pace. Fishing line, threaded through his arms and legs, pulled him along. A young woman was poised with a teacup in her hand, sitting in a high-backed chair. She bore the same nylon suspension the other guests shared. There were bodies positioned throughout the house in various, seemingly mundane tasks, a mockery of life or at least the life this freak show wanted. They found eight bodies in all, but there was no sign that the killer had been there in weeks.

  “The house is all clear, sir,” the team leader confirmed.

  “He’s definitely going to know we’re onto him now,” Tom stated the obvious.

  “No shit. What’s the next step then?”

  “We put out an APB on this guy,” Tom replied. “I want his name and picture posted on every corner in this city.”

  “I’m on it.” Jack picked up his radio.

  “I want a list of all of the patients he has seen in the last year.” Tom rubbed his chin as he brainstormed.

  “Patients?” The S.W.A.T. team leader looked at Tom strangely. “This whacko is a Doctor?”

  “He’s a shrink. He has a PhD in Psychiatry.”

  “You’d think he would have seen this coming.”

  “The attempted arrest?” Tom was confused.

  “No, the loss of his ever-loving mind. This guy is seriously fucked up in the head.”

  “Yeah, well his time is almost up. Brian Pearlman is about to be in the spotlight.” Tom frowned. “There won’t be a place in the city where he can hide when I plaster his face everywhere.”

  “This sucks. I just knew we had him this time,” Jack said with a heavy voice. “At least we’re getting closer.”

  “Not close enough,” Captain Duke added. “Look at how this sick fuck treats his victims. All these people would still be alive if we’d done a better job investigating him the first time around.”

  “He will kill again, before we can bring him in.” Jack said.

  “Yeah, I’m afraid you’re right.” Tom gripped his partner’s shoulder. “You can’t let it eat at you, man. We are doing everything we can do to put an end to this asshole’s reign. We’re going to find him. I won’t stop until we do, not this time.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  “What?” Nina called out, still sitting at the kitchen table.

  “I said I’ll be right there!” Kyle yelled from his bedroom while he slipped on a pair of jeans.

  The doorbell chimed throughout the house just as he pulled a white T-shirt over his head.

  “You had better hurry or you are going to miss them.”

  “I guess it would be too much to ask for you to get the door,” he said sarcastically, walking by the kitchen on his way to the door.

  “I don’t think we are to that point in our relationship yet.” She laughed, spinning the CD she held through the hole with her thumb and index finger.

  Kyle looked through the peephole at two young men who were smiling at the door, though he had yet to open it. I guess they are just happy to be here, he laughed to himself. They were both dressed nicely. One of them was wearing a charcoal colored three-piece suit that complimented his pale skin. The other had removed his suit jacket, had it slung over his shoulder. The young man closest to the door glanced back at his partner, shrugged and rang the doorbell again.

  “Can I help you?” Kyle swung the door open, startling both men.

  “Uh… yes. My name is Harold and this is Kyle.”

  “Hey, that’s my name,” Kyle exclaimed, his eyes widening in surprise.

  “Well, it’s nice to meet you Harold—”

  “No, my name is Kyle, but it is still nice to meet you none the less.”

  “Well…uh…uh—,” Harold stammered, clearly confused by the turn the conversation was taking.

  “Spit it out, son. I am a busy man after all.”

  “What my colleague is trying to say is—”

  “Look I am letting bugs in the house, standing here with the door open like this.” Kyle swatted at a moth that flew too close to his face. “It sounds like you have a lot on your mind. Would you care to come in and talk about it?”

  “Uh… sure.” Harold
shrugged at his friend.

  Kyle led them into the living room and motioned for them to have a seat on the couch.

  “Can I offer you something to drink?” Kyle pointed at the kitchen.

  “Oh, no thank you. I appreciate your time. If we could just get down to business, you will be able to—”

  “Are you sure I can’t get you anything?” Kyle waited for them to nod before flopping into his recliner. “Okay, let’s hear what you have to say.”

  “Kyle, I am sure you are aware that the world is in horrible shape right now. You can’t turn on the TV without seeing a story about war or terrorists.”

  “Or murder and just about any other crime imaginable,” Harold added, nodding his head for emphasis.

  “Yeah, there seems to be a lot going on in the world right now,” Kyle agreed, letting out a sigh.

  “Well, with all of this turmoil surrounding us everyday, it is easy to lose focus on what’s really important.”

  “And what’s that?” Kyle’s eyebrow arched.

  “Your relationship with God. There should be nothing more important in this world than that,” Harold explained.

  “Kyle, have you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and savior?” the other Kyle asked.

  “There is no God,” Kyle said indifferently, causing both men to stare at each other in disbelief.

  “Beg pardon?” Harold finally managed.

  “There. Is. No. God. I know, I found it hard to believe, at first anyway, but Nina showed me the light.”

  “Who’s Nina? Is that who you worship now?” Other Kyle stared, eyes wide.

  “Have you forsaken Jesus for a pagan goddess?” Harold was near flabbergasted.

  “Are you a pagan goddess?” Kyle turned to look into the kitchen.

  “You tell me,” Nina said, smiling back at him without moving from her chair. “I’ve been called worse.”

  Harold craned his neck to peer into the kitchen. “Would you invite your friend in here to join us? Perhaps she could discuss some of her ideas with us.”

  “Oh, I am sure she will join us shortly,” he agreed with a chuckle. “You have no idea how happy it will make her to visit with the two of you.”