She Will Be Mine

Chapter 3

​Des was quiet as she rode down the elevator to the first floor. She knew she would need another cup of coffee if she wanted to survive this day. The TV was on, broadcasting the lovely crime scene before her. The reporter spoke in a nasally tone, describing that this murder was exactly like the 4 others, and that no new clues seemed to be surfacing. The body had already been sent into the PI autopsy department, but the doctors had not said that anything had surfaced. She went on.
​"We all here at the news channel feel very sorry for the family of these poor young girls. I can only hope that the Private Investigators can figure out what is going on, so we can stop this masochist before it gets too late. This is Stacey Lynn reporting, New York News,"
​Des nearly barfed in her mouth. She hated that vile woman. She was too preppy and happy go lucky for what she was reporting.
​Stacey Lynn had always been a happy go lucky woman, and Des had never liked her. She just had a grudge that continued to build every time she saw her.
​It had been in 7th grade, Des thought to herself, where that friendship really bit the dust. Des and Stacey had been best friends before Stacey decided to ruin it all just to boost her own popularity status. Des had just confided in her that her crush, Charlie Michaels, the Charlie Michaels, had said that he would sit with her at lunch the nest day. I had been overjoyed to be even noticed by him then; Des thought to herself as she exited watched the numbers on the elevator go down. And that girl had decided to not only tell the whole middle school, but the high school as well about my little crush. It had been completely mortifying, Des thought as her cheeks grew in redness. She had been teased for weeks, and Charlie didn't even sit with her. Talk about a downer.
​She never spoke to Stacey again, and had no desire to. She just had to see her face every day as it was broadcasted across the whole state of New York.
​Suddenly, the elevator stopped moving. It just stopped.
* * *
​The man smiled at his handiwork. If he merely pulled one switch, he could end the sweet little life that belonged to Desiree Hunt. But that would ruin all of the fun. He turned to the electrical box, the one that controlled the TV. He pulled out his homemade video he had constructed those 10 years before, pushed it in, and hit play. He adjusted the camera recording in the elevator. He would want to see this.
* * *
​Des grabbed the railing in the elevator as it lost power and went dark. She could hear the chords straining above her as it tried to hold up the massive weight. She was the only one in the elevator. Stacey's voice continued on the TV monitor above her, and then began to flicker out. The screen went blank for a nanosecond, and then something else came on.
​It was a muted voice, but the evil of it remained.
​"Hello Darling," it dripped with enthusiasm. "I believe you are doing well. I hope you are sitting down for this one. It might shock you,"
​The screen changed. It showed a hallway. That's my hallway, Des realized with a jolt. That's my parents' house. The camera continued as the man walked down the hallway, and into her parent's room. What Des saw next completely horrified her. She realized that this was a video of their murder. She saw the killer walk over to the headstand and draw out a long machete. She couldn't watch anymore.
​She slithered to the floor as her mother's scream erupted around her, followed by her fathers, and her brother's, and her sister's.
​When it finally ended, Des was laying on the floor of the elevator hands over her ears, rocking herself and crying with everything she had. His voice came back once more.
​"I hope to see you soon Darling," his accent permeated the room, and stayed with her until the elevator began to move again.
* * *
​Charlie was in his office when the power went off and the TV's changed. His first thoughts were of Des, but when the voice came into the TV he seemed to freeze in place. He watched the entire video in utter disbelief. He just hoped that Des had missed it. The chief ran past his open door, beer belly swinging back and forth. "Where is she?!" he yelled in panic, fear showing in his eyes. Charlie remembered.
​"In the elevator!" he was already running past the chief towards the stairs. He had to get to her.
* * *
​The man smiled in satisfaction at Des through the elevator cameras. The video had the exact effect he was going for. He was breaking her, and this was only phase 1.
* * *
​By the time Charlie made it to the first floor, people were already facing the door. The elevator hadn't arrived yet.
* * *
​Des huddled herself in the corner of the elevator, shaking as the elevator moved downwards. She wanted to go home. Sobs escaped her lips as she mourned for her family once more.
* * *
​The man watched as everyone raced for the first floor, towards her. He walked nonchalantly towards the office of the one man that he wanted to see. Charlie's nameplate stood on his neat desk. The man threw a yellow manila envelope onto it and kept walking. He opened the window for the fire escape. The alarm went off, but no one came running. They were too worried about Des. He climbed out, and walked down the stairs towards the street below.
* * *
​Charlie pushed his way through the crowd until he was in front of the elevator doors. When it arrived, before the doors had opened fully, he ran towards Des. She was laying in the corner, tears streaking down her eyes. He effortlessly picked her up and walked her towards the emergency wing. Reporters tried to follow, tipped off by someone about the news. "Keep 'em away!" Charlie could hear the chiefs powerful voice rumble through the level. "Leave the poor girl alone!"
​Charlie was grateful for the fatherly tone the chief had for Des. She needed it right now. Once inside the wing, Charlie found an empty couch and tenderly laid Des down upon it. He found a blanket nearby and covered her. She hadn't said a word, her eyes were completely emotionless. "Do you want to talk about it?" he asked her as he sat down. She was silent, and Charlie just stayed with her.
​Charlie climbed onto the couch and pulled Des onto his lap. He rocked her back and forth while she cried until the tears would no longer come. "I just don't understand," Des sounded like the same little girl she had been when the incident had first happened those 10 years before.
​Charlie shook his head, even though he knew she couldn't see him. "There are just some people in this world that want to cause as much damage as they can before they leave. This person is one of them, but I promise you Des, I will find him," Charlie felt like he was screaming. He wanted to punch a wall to let out all of his anger. Instead, he just sat there with her, until she seemed stable enough to move on.
​"I'm going to go and get you some coffee," he said as he stood up and stretched. Des smiled mildly and shut her eyes.
​When he returned, she was sleeping. Her hair was flying all over the place, and this time Charlie did caress it. He pulled it back off of her face and watched as she escaped the horrors of the day to a dream world where she was in charge.
* * *
When she eventually woke up, her coffee was cold, but she thanked him for it anyways. Charlie didn't know how long they had been in this room, but he didn't care. His one concern was her right now, and it was going to stay that way.
The chief came running in shortly later, mustache askew and face sweating "You OK Sweetheart?" That's what he always called her. He kneeled in front of her and touched her shoulders. "I'm sending you home Hunt. Get some rest," he patted her and stood up, grunting from the effort. "I'm counting on you to get her home safe Michaels," he turned to Charlie, his expression grim. "Can I count on you?"
​Charlie nodded in affirmation. "I will take care of her Chief, you can count on that," Murphy nodded and headed out.
​"Now I just have to figure out what to say to those damn reporters," he pulled his hair off of his forehead. Going bald in all the wrong places, the chief was trying hard to work his comb-over look.
​Charlie focused his attention back on Des. She was slowly drinking her coffee, but the light was still out of her eyes. He knew they should get a move on if they wanted to be prepared for when the body of the woman was returned to her house, but he knew he shouldn't put her. Instead, he just watched her until she was ready to go.
* * *
​The man watched the news the second he got back to his apartment. It was a spotless expensive place, and he had long been preparing it for when he could bring that girl home to it. She will be mine, he thought. She will be.
​He walked over to the balcony that stretched over the street below. He sighed in satisfaction at his day's work. It may only be 11:00 in the morning, but he was ready to be done for the day. As phase 1 was nearly complete, he could take a few days off and guess about what the PI's next move would be. The envelope would definitely make it interesting, but that is what he wanted. He wanted to make them think that they were on his trail, just so he could shoot them down later. It was all a part of the game.
​Leaving his balcony, the man walked over to his fridge, and poured himself a shot of Bourbon. He deserved this one.
​Walking back to the balcony, he admired the city that was his home. Placing the shot glass on the railing, he stretched his arms up to the sky. They will think me a God when I am done with them all. They will never know what him them.
He loved how utterly clueless everyone was in this vast city, and no matter how hard they tried to be in the know they could not find him. This city had made this whole expedition possible, and because of this city Desiree Hunt would someday be his. And he relished in that thought.
​He grabbed his shot glass as he walked over to the living area of the apartment. Downing the thing quickly, he grabbed the bottle and drank from that instead.
Covering most of the outer wall of the apartment was a diagram showing how his phases would work out. With phase 1 nearly over, he could make two choices that would change how this whole operation worked out. He could decide to further torture the lovely Desiree Hunt, or he could end it now and take her.
​Torturing is more fun; he thought to himself, it will make her hate me more in the end. And that was the whole point wasn't it?