To Leap From Heaven [A Romantic Thriller]

25.

Kim's parents were rich. Her father had his fingers in every conceivable pie, and had government as well as private contracts, and supplied both with whatever they needed. No one knew his exact line of business because he kept it under wraps, and played his cards close to his chest, but he was making tons of money, and that was all that mattered to him. Her mother was the sole proprietor of a multimedia Media company which added hugely to the family fortune. Kim lacked nothing, and when it was time for her to attend university, she declared that she did not want to share a dorm room, but would like her own apartment off campus. Her parents found, rented, and furnished it luxuriously.

“That is so you won't miss home too much, my angel,” her mother had said.

Kim noticed that the rooms were furnished like hers at home, but she did not mind. In fact she liked it, because the thing she hated most was to shop for curtains and kitchen utensils. She was going to eat out most of the time anyway, but those props gave the apartment a homey feel.
When she heard the news about Catherine she was shocked. She could not reach her friend by phone, nor gain entrance to the mansion, nor the hospital.

Her friend needed her now more than ever, and there was nothing she could do but wait. She had to rely on what she heard on the news, and she was aware that some of the reports were greatly exaggerated. She had a hard time concentrating on her lectures, and stopped attending altogether. She had to know what had become of her friend, and until then she would stay at home, hoping that some good news would reach her sooner or later.

Her apartment was located on the ground floor and therefore easily accessible. Carl had staked out her residence, and knew how to gain access, and with his lockpicking equipment not far from him, gaining access to her apartment would be easy. He made sure she was alone, picked her lock, and made himself comfortable in an armchair facing the bathroom. Kim had decided to go to bed early, and was taking a shower.

Carl sat quietly while listening to the patter of the drops hitting the tiles. He could only imagine what she must look like naked while the hot water caressed her slender body, and the soap suds bubbled and danced laughingly into the drain at her small feet. He shook his head to get rid of the image. He was there to do a job, and the sooner he got it done, and was on his way, the better.

One of her friends might decide to give her an unexpected visit, and by that time he would prefer to be on the other side of the country. He felt the steel of the revolver, and marveled at how such an inanimate object could cause so much damage. But after having killed Matt, he had gotten over his scruples.

The water stopped running, and after a while Kim came out of the shower with a white bath towel wrapped around her body, and another covering her hair. She switched on the lights, and froze.

“Miss, Kim, Miss, Kim, Miss, Kim, or should I rather say, Miss, Whore, because that's exactly what you are.”

She stood looking at him, completely bewildered.

“What's the matter, Miss, Whore? Cat got your tongue? You who always have an opinion about everything. Come on, say something witty, say something sarcastic, or better yet, crack a joke.”

Kim stood as still as a cat caught in the headlights of a speeding vehicle.

“Oh, forgive me my manners, I do tend to forget it when I deal with scum. But do take a seat.” He motioned to an armchair across from where he was seated. Kim couldn't move. She felt paralyzed.

“Sit down! And I am not going to say it again.” His voice had lost its playfulness and it was replaced by an unmistakable threat. Kim's eyes opened wide, and she looked around her with a sense of astonishment and wonder. She found it hard to shake the feeling of surreality and act normal. It seemed like a scene from a movie. This was not her, nor her life. Like a somnambulist she sat down in the chair.

“That's better, Miss Whore. Do you want to know why I call you that? No? It's because you are the one who shamelessly wears miniskirts and waves her tush at all the boys on and off campus. I have lost count of how many boyfriends you have had, not that it's any of my business. My business was Catherine. My Catherine whom you corrupted with your cheap tricks of how to pull in boys.

I know all about it. I have watched you two together, and you wanted to bring her over to your side, the side where she would sleep with anyone, at any time, and whenever she felt like it. That's why she supposedly fell in love with that peacock of a boy. He's not even a real man, and had I known they were having an affair, I would have told her about his past. I know about that too, but now it doesn't matter, because he's dead and she's missing.”

Drops of perspiration had formed on his forehead while he was speaking. Talking about Matt took him to the scene of that fateful evening, and that sends him off the rails.  He wiped his forehead with his free hand.

“She was mine!” he shouted and jumped from his chair, “And he took her as if it was nothing. She was everything to me, and he soiled her with his dirty grubby hands. He made her dirty by sleeping with her. How could he? How could he do that to her? To him, she was one of many, but she was my one and only.”

Carl's eyes were filled with an hysterical madness, but when he realized where he was and whom he was talking to, it subsided, and he burst out laughing, and flopped back into his chair.

Kim sat still, because she was in the presence of a dangerous psycho, and she did not want to say or do something which would push him over the edge. She loved her life, and her eyes followed his every move while thinking of ways to escape and calculating her chances of survival.

“You think I'm crazy, don't you? Don't worry, because you're not the first, and won't be the last. They gave me medication to keep me calm and sane. But as you can see, I'm perfectly normal.”

Carl fell quiet and made himself more comfortable.

“I killed Matt,” he said calmly. “I would have killed her too, but then she fainted, which triggered an excellent idea. I had to work fast because my colleagues were almost on the scene. I only had a few seconds in which to stage it, but I did a great job, and now your little friend is going to die by lethal injection, and that brings me to the reason why I'm here.”

He leaned forward, resting his arms on his thighs , and with his hands hanging limp, he waved the tip of the silencer at the expensive carpet. He looked straight at her.
“Where is she? And before you say, ‘I don't know,’ think again. You two share everything. I know she is somewhere in Johannesburg, but I need her exact location.”

“I honestly don't know. I can't get her on the phone. Her parents are not taking my calls, and,…wait. Did you say she's in Johannesburg?”

“Don't play dumb with me, Missy. You know perfectly well where she is, and if you insist on continuing this charade, I'm going to have to end it swiftly. Don't waste my time  with your stalling tactics. I've already wasted too much time here.” He stood over her with the firearm pointing at her forehead.

By this time Kim had lost all hope of an escape, or of having a chance visitor swing by. She was glad her friend was alive and safe.

“I am telling you the truth, and even if I did, I would not tell you.”

“Wrong answer.” He fired a single shot.

Kim's body slumped back in her chair with her eyes wide open. She was either looking into the depths of a fiery Hell or the well-lit expanses of Heaven. A red circle of blood spread rapidly on the white towel. The blood flowed down her cheek and formed drops on her chin. It slowly dripped onto her naked breast, staining the towel around her body.

Carl left as quietly as he had entered, and drove to the airport. Three hours later he was booked into a cheap motel in the center of town that was ruled by pimps and prostitutes, and where no one would come looking for him. Later that night, and in his hired vehicle he drove around the exclusive neighborhood where he suspected Catherine of hiding.

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