Black Dahlia (9 page)

Ron quickly interjected, “We will try to get this over and done with as soon as possible. Mercedes you know you are one of our most prized employees.” Mercedes looked at Ron. He appeared sincere, but she knew this was over his head.

“Could I lose my job over this?” Mercedes asked Superintendent Walters.

Walters avoided eye contact and Mercedes had her answer. “We are hoping it does not come to that,” she responded.

Mercedes sat through the rest of the meeting in a daze. She was livid, but felt powerless because she had no idea who could be behind this. It’d been two weeks and they were still no closer to finding out who could be stalking her. Mercedes felt as if she were having some sort of out of body experience as she watched Superintendent Walters’ lips move, and sound come out, but the words weren’t registering. Mercedes was too busy trying to piece together when this stalker had time to record her and send the DVDs out. There was no timestamp on the tape, but Mercedes remembered she last performed that set back in May. From the angle of the tape, it looked as if the person was standing somewhere in the back audience. That narrowed the list down to hundreds of people. Anyone could buy a ticket to a performance and have a seat in the audience. While cameras and filming weren’t allowed in the Black Kitty, it wouldn’t be too difficult to sneak a camera in and film a performance. Mercedes tried to focus on what Superintendent Walters and Ron were saying, but her brain was too clogged with the different possibilities. Whoever this was had access to her in a place she had come to feel the safest. The Black Kitty had become a sanctuary to her, of sorts, and now she felt violated. First her home and now this. When the meeting finally ended, Ron promised he would keep in touch and update Mercedes on everything that was going on. Mercedes mumbled a response to Ron, shook hands with the superintendent and hurried to her car. 

Once in her car, Mercedes didn’t know what to do. She wanted to call Devyn and vent to her but Devyn was in South America with her husband and children. She didn’t want to interrupt her vacation. Mercedes thought about going back to Raul’s place, but did not want to be alone. She felt open and exposed and vulnerable, which was a feeling she worked hard never to feel. Part of the reason she’d started burlesque so long ago was to overcome her fear of being exposed or vulnerable, by facing what most people deemed their greatest fear—being naked in front of an audience. Mercedes believed that if she could let go of that fear, she wouldn’t feel so weak when it came to emotions and relationships. But now, here she was feeling vulnerable and, admittedly a little fearful. Whoever this was knew her movements, when she was out of town, and when she performed. Mercedes couldn’t believe that just this morning she was starting to think this nightmare was over and that whoever this was had forgotten about her. It seems she was not that lucky. Mercedes contemplated what to do. Devyn was away, Raul was working, and most of her other friends were either out of town or at work. It was the middle of the day and she didn’t know where to go. The decision was made for her when her phone began ringing.

“Mercedes, where are you?” Raul’s voice boomed through her car speakers. She’d programmed her phone to ring and be answered through the car speakers to allow for hands free conversation while driving. She heard an odd note she’d never heard in Raul’s voice before. He almost seemed worried? Or maybe afraid?

“I, uh, I’m in my car right now,” she responded feeling a little apprehensive to tell him she’d left the house without informing him.

“In your car where?” Raul asked immediately, not missing a beat.

Mercedes sighed. She knew he was not going to like her response. “I had a meeting with my school principal and superintendent,” she stopped just short of telling him what the meeting was about.

“School's out for the summer. What was your meeting about?” Mercedes found herself perturbed that he would question her about her whereabouts, she was a grown woman, not some invalid who needed to be taken care of twenty-four seven. She was already angry after what happened in the meeting she’d just been in, and now Raul’s tone was making her feel even more irritated.

“So what, I can’t even go to my job without having to check-in with you? Is that what you’re saying?” As soon as the words left her mouth, she felt a pang of guilt. Raul had unselfishly opened up his home to her to keep her safe, and now she was acting like an adolescent who couldn’t get her way.

“That’s exactly what the hell I’m saying. Or have you forgotten there is someone out there who means you real harm?” Mercedes was taken aback by the commanding tone she heard in Raul’s voice. Apparently she wasn’t the only one who was angry. 

“I haven’t forgotten. I couldn’t even if I wanted to,” she said dejectedly.

“What happened?” he asked as if he knew the reason she’d been summoned to her school had something to do with her stalker. Maybe he could hear it in her voice. He had a way of reading her that unnerved and comforted her at the same time. 

She sighed, “My principal, superintendent and some parents were sent a video of one of my performances. I was placed on administrative leave,” as the words fell from her lips, Mercedes felt her anger begin to rise again.     

“Come to my office. Now,” he requested.

There it was again--the serious, take-no-prisoners, Raul Santiago. This was the side of Raul she knew had been forged at West Point and in the military. The side that made him so good at his job as a security specialist. It was also, unfortunately, a side that endeared him to her a little more. 

“I’m about twenty minutes away from your office,” Mercedes told him.

“I know. I will see you in twenty minutes,” Raul responded, before hanging up. Mercedes sat stunned, for the second time that day. He knew? How could he possibly know how far she was from his office? He knew where her school was, but she didn’t actually say she was still in the school’s parking lot. After a few minutes to compose her thoughts, Mercedes went to program Raul’s office address into her GPS and saw it was already set. She tried to recall if she’d put his address in, but remembered that Raul had driven her car when they picked it up from the dealer after her tires were fixed. She assumed he input his office address in her GPS and possibly a tracker, and that was how he knew where she was. A little part of her felt safer just knowing he was keeping track of her, but she would definitely ask him about it. Twenty-five minutes later, Mercedes was pulling up into the parking lot of the building that housed Raul’s offices. He was already outside waiting for her. She pulled into the closest parking space, and before she could even finish turning the ignition off, he was opening her car door.

“Are you all right?” he asked staring intently into her eyes, trying to discern her mood. He gripped both of her arms.

Mercedes nodded, “Yes, I’m fine.”

Raul stared at her for another heartbeat, as if he thought she wasn’t being completely forthcoming. “Come with me,” he said as he closed her car door. He placed his hand at the small of her back and quickly strode to the elevators that would take them to his office.

Once they made it to his office, Raul pulled Mercedes down the hall, past his assistant’s desk. Mercedes was barely given time to say a quick hello to the older woman, before she found herself in what she presumed was Raul’s office. His large corner office was decorated in dark earthy colors, with a few plants placed around the room, which gave it an inviting feel. There was a large cherry wood desk in the center of the room, and a dark leather couch off to the side, at the back of the office. Mercedes heard a
click
as the office door closed. For some reason this small sound, instead of a loud slam caused Mercedes even more worry. She knew Raul was angry at her for leaving and not telling him.

“Tell me what happened,” he said gruffly, once she was seated.

“Well, hello to you to,” she said, defiantly. He wasn’t the only one who could be angry. Hell, she was the one who had just been placed on administrative leave.

Raul leaned against this desk, and crossed his legs at the ankles in front of him, as he waited for Mercedes to explain.

“Tell me what happened,” he ordered again.

She felt like a child being scolded, which she hated. To place them on equal footing, she stood and took a few steps back to give herself some breathing room. The intensity of his gaze on her made her feel the need to put some distance between them.

“I got a call from the principal of my school, Ron Sherman, a couple hours after you left,” she finally began, “he said he needed to see me as soon as possible. He didn’t tell me what for. When I got there the superintendent of schools was there,” Mercedes paused to catch her breath. She looked at Raul and saw she held his full attention. The way he was looking at her rattled her for many reasons.

“They sat me down and told me that they’d been sent a video of me. It was a video of one of my performances at the Black Kitty.” She saw Raul’s gaze grow even more intense.

“The video had also been sent to parents at the school. Some complained and now they’re doing an investigation of me to see if my performing violated any code of ethics. I’m on administrative leave until further notice,” she stopped taking in a deep breath before looking over at him.

“Mierda!” she heard him say as he slammed his palm onto his desk. Drawing himself up to his full height, Raul approached Mercedes.

“And you weren’t going to say anything about this to me?”

Mercedes could see he was pissed. “It just happened right before you called. I was going to tell you,” she defended.

“You were going to tell me? And when was that? Next week? Next month? Let’s get something straight, I am the first phone call you make when shit like this happens. I am the one you call first-no scratch that, I’m who you call
before
you leave the house. I’m not playing games. This isn’t a joke. Someone is out there and they mean to do you real harm.”

“Do you have a copy of the video?” he asked, his tone sharp. Mercedes could do nothing but nod in response to his question.

Raul stuck out his hand, “Let me have it. I can have it analyzed to help us figure out whoever is behind this.” Mercedes pulled the DVD from out of her purse and handed it to him. Ron had given her a copy of the DVD that was sent to him.

“Was this all that was sent?” he asked.

“No, there was also a note,” she said pulling out the note that had been sent with the video.

Raul examined the note, and Mercedes could see his nostrils slightly flare. He was angry.

“Who else has touched this?

“I’m not sure. Me, Ron, my superintendent. Aside from that I don’t know. Why?” she asked quietly, still reeling from being chastised by him.

“I want to have it dusted for fingerprints. It’s unlikely, but whoever sent it may have slipped up and touched it with their bare hands.” Raul knew that was a long shot. Whoever was behind this was methodical enough to record Mercedes undetected, get personal information of her employers and parents at her school. They were surely intelligent enough to wear gloves when handling the letter or DVD. Still, it wouldn’t hurt to dust for fingerprints.

“Since, you work with children, yours, your principal’s and superintendent's fingerprints are already in the FBI’s database. So, we can weed yours out from there, and if we find anyone else’s maybe we can match them in our system. It’s a longshot though.”

Mercedes nodded. She understood that whoever was doing this, probably was cautious enough not to leave fingerprints behind. She sighed in frustration. At hearing her sigh, Raul’s gaze on her softened. He had been pissed hearing she went out and didn’t even think of calling him. He was slowly realizing this part of his anger was due to fear. He was afraid of something happening to her. She was beginning to mean a lot to him in such a short period of time. Raul called in Lorenzo, to take both the DVD and letter for fingerprint analysis. He then turned the chair Mercedes had been sitting in and gestured for her to sit down.

“Now, let’s talk about you leaving the house without my knowledge.”

Mercedes’ eyebrow shot up at the recrimination she heard in his voice. “I already told you I thought I was just going for a short meeting. I didn’t think whoever was stalking me was behind this. I-”

“No, you didn’t think, because for some reason you thought this person just up and decided to leave you alone. The same reason you were thinking it was safe to go back to your apartment and get back to your normal routine, right?” Mercedes looked shock at the accuracy of his words. She had been thinking of a way to tell him just that before she got the phone call from Ron.

How did he know what she was thinking?

“Don’t look so shocked. I could tell this morning, on the plane, what you were thinking. You were distancing yourself from me.”

Mercedes couldn’t deny his words. She had been more quiet and contemplative on their plane ride back to Atlanta. She could admit to herself that it wasn’t only about thinking the stalker had left her alone, but her growing closeness with Raul. The past weekend in New York, and the week before she spent living in his home, showed him to be much more than the hot Brazilian playboy she pegged him for. Not only was he a badass security expert with a ripped body, but he was kind and compassionate, and she sometimes felt he could look right down into her soul. That unsettled her almost as much as the knowledge of someone was out there trying to sabotage her life.