Evil Allure (7 page)

But I was forced to give up as my body started to chill from the cold. I stepped back into my apartment and locked the door behind me, still not sure what to think.

He kissed me. There was something between us. But it was more than that. And I didn’t know if it was because of something I did or something he was hiding. As I fell on the couch to try and get some sleep, I wrestled with my feelings for Vaughn for what felt like hours. He was still a puzzle but one that I was intent on solving.

Chapter 7

I didn’t get much sleep last night. I was thinking about him when I finally fell asleep and he was the first thing I thought of when I opened my eyes. After splashing water on my face in front of the mirror that morning, I noticed something was strange. The whites of my eyes were tinted pink. I didn’t think I’d lost so much sleep. I tried to get in a few more hours of rest before I had to get ready for work but even then, I still felt exhausted. The woman in my reflection was barely recognizable.

When I lazily made my way into work later that night, some of the other waitresses noticed.

“Are you okay there, Ariel?” Zoe said to me as I took a seat at the bar.

“I’m okay,” I told her. “I just didn’t get much sleep tonight.”

“No kidding. Look at how red your eyes are.”

“I know. I’ll be fine.”

“Good lord, Ariel,” Frank exclaimed when he looked at me. “What the heck happened to you?”

“Nothing,” I sighed. “I said I’m fine.”

“You’re not doing any drugs are you? You know I can’t have any of my waitresses giving my place of business a bad reputation.”

“Frank.”

“...It’s not contagious, is it?”

The other girls laughed as I rolled my eyes at my boss. I was more tired than I expected to be after staying up so late but when the evening rush was here, I knew that I would be forced to stay on my toes. Until then, the monotony of making sure the bar was clean was a struggle.

But it didn’t work like I was expecting. It was an agonizing fight to stay awake even with so many of the patrons shouting their orders at me. As I made my way over to the bar to put in another drink order, I took the time to gather my strength and rest for a moment.

“Tired?”

I turned and saw Sasha standing there, her lips curled into a modest smile while she stared at me.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with me,” I said to her. “I’m just so exhausted.”

“Just take a break, Ariel.”

“I can’t take a break in the middle of a rush. Frank will kill me.”

“Just for a moment,” she reiterated. “Catch your breath. Close your eyes for a second. Don’t sleep. Just breathe.”

“What are you—”

“Just listen to me, Ariel. Don’t worry. I’ll take care of this drink order.”

Sasha wasn’t one to bark orders around. In fact, she was the complete opposite. I took her words of wisdom to heart and decided it wouldn’t hurt to take her advice so I did what I was told.

I closed my eyes and controlled my breathing, taking in deep breaths through my nostrils and expanding my chest then exhaling them out slowly. I did it over and over and when I opened my eyes, I noticed how relaxed I was.

I was still tired but the feeling of complete exhaustion I had just moments ago was gone. I wanted to thank Sasha but she had already disappeared back into the ruckus of the bar.

Refreshed and renewed, I made my rounds to see if anybody needed tending to. That’s when I noticed a man walking in that stood out from everybody else.

After he stepped into the bar, he stood there and looked around like he was searching for something. His hair was jet black and spiked up over his head but not in an outlandish way. Underneath a long winter coat, I could see a suit framed by a light blue tie. We had a lot of businessmen come in here all of the time but they usually came in groups with the intention of getting drunk. The way this man stood at the doorway made it seem like his motives were much more serious. He stood out like a piece coal in the middle of a field of snow.

As I watched him walk into the bar, he continued to scour over everybody. One of our drunk customers accidentally bumped into him and the man just stood there and looked at him. The drunk started apologizing profusely as he made his way back to the table.

From across the room, he noticed that he had caught my eye. For a second, I could have sworn he flinched when he looked at me. It was like he did a double take. I gulped and turned my head down, looking for some other patrons to attend to. From the corner of my eye, I could see him approaching me. I swallowed nervously again as I leaned over a table and took the drink orders of a small group. When I turned back to the bar, the mysterious man was sitting at a table just next to me. I didn’t turn in his direction but I could feel him watching me, staring at me intently. I had an odd feeling. Something about him, not just the way he looked, didn’t make him seem like an ordinary customer.

Thankfully, Sasha took a seat at his table and started speaking to him. I couldn’t hear what she was saying to him over the noise of the crowd but I didn’t care. I was just grateful that she distracted him long enough for him to stop staring at me.

“How are you doing?”

May greeted me as I leaned up against the bar, once again trying to gather my bearings.

“May, could you do me a favor?” I asked her.

“What’s up?”

“You see that guy sitting at the table over there. Don’t stare at him. He’s speaking with Sasha right now.”

“What about him? He’s kind of cute in a clean-cut, boyish kind of way. You want his number?”

“No. No, it’s not that. Can you ask him what he’s up to?”

“What do you mean? He’s just talking to Sasha right now.”

“I know. But he’s not here for the drinks.”

“You think he wants to fuck Sasha?”

“No! It’s something else. I’m just getting this really weird vibe from him, that’s all.”

May looked at me like I was crazy and maybe she was right. But ever since he walked into the room I couldn’t shake the feeling that had suddenly come over me. I felt uncomfortable just being in the same room with him and my focus was shaky.

“I think that’s just because he wants to sleep with you,” May said to me. “I say you should give him a chance.”

“May!”

I had my head turned toward the bar as I watched May stare at Sasha and the man having their conversation.

“Here’s Sasha,” May said to me. “She can answer your questions.”

“What?”

I turned around as May left me at the bar and I was suddenly greeted by Sasha.

“Um, you see that guy at the table over there?” she said as she glanced over at him. “He’d like to talk to you.”

“M-me? W-what does he want to talk to me for?”

I started to panic for some reason. I was more than nervous. I had this irrational fear shooting through my body. It felt like he wanted to do something to me and when I stared at him, I grew more and more uncomfortable.

“He just wants to talk to you, that’s all,” Sasha explained to me.

“B-But what if—”

“He’s not going to do anything to you. He wouldn’t try that in the middle of the bar. Just go talk to him.”

I looked at Sasha and she tried to comfort me. I didn’t know why I was feeling this way. It was completely out of character for me. He was just another customer but for some reason my body wanted to jump out of itself. When I turned back to him, he put up one of his hands and waved to me with a polite smile on his face.

Reluctantly, I made my way over to him and took a seat across the table. He looked young. His face was clean-shaven and the wear and tear on his soft and light complexion was nowhere to be found. He had these light brown eyes that almost seemed out of place. They stared at me like two targets in the middle of a firing range.

“Hello, Ariel,” he said. “I didn’t mean to alarm you. I’m sorry for being so forward but I had to ask your friend Sasha if I could speak to you since you seemed unwilling when I first walked in here.”

“Who are you?”

“Oh, forgive my rudeness, Miss…”

“Everhart.”

“Ms. Everhart. My name is Irvine Gold. I’m a detective for the city police department currently on an investigation and I’m wondering—”

“Where’s your proof? How do I know you work for the police? You have identification or something?”

“Of course. Where are my manners?”

He reached into the pocket of his jacket and placed a badge down onto the table. Next to it was his ID. His picture and name matched just as he said it did. Even though it seemed like he was telling the truth, I still didn’t rest any easier.

“Is that okay with you, Ms. Everhart?”

I nodded my head and he placed his belongings back into his jacket.

“I’m doing an investigation about the recent string of murders, Ms. Everhart. Brutal killings taking place in the middle of abandoned buildings and warehouses throughout the city. Are you aware of them?”

I started to panic even more. I thought about everything that happened a couple of nights ago. He must have known that I was there at the last crime scene. My underwear. The knife. My fingerprints were there. I swallowed nervously as I tried to hide my discomfort.

“Yeah, so?” I said. “What does that have to do with me? I… I didn’t do anything…”

He didn’t say a word. He just sat there and stared silently at me for a second. It was loud inside of the bar. There was music coming from the band and every person around me was drunk. But it wasn’t enough to distract me from the tension building in front of me. As I stared back at him, I found myself having trouble keeping focus on the hazels of his eyes. My body was shaking and my eyes shifted.

“Did you have a long night last night, Ms. Everhart?”

“What?”

“Your eyes,” he said. “It looks like you didn’t get much sleep last night.”

“Yeah… Yeah, I didn’t get to sleep until late last night. I’ve been working a lot of hours here and haven’t had much time to rest.”

“You should get some rest, Ms. Everhart. Bad things happen to people who stay up past their bedtime.”

I gulped, wondering what he was talking about. Could he sense how nervous I was? Did he actually think I was a suspect? Why wasn’t he questioning me?

“Ms. Everhart, I fully intend to catch the people responsible for these murders. And I know that you would provide me with the information to find these individuals, would you not?”

“If I knew who it was, I would tell you.”

“If you knew who it was. Of course. Here.”

He placed down a card in front of me. There was nothing on it except for a name and phone number.

“If something happens, call me,” he said.

“I don’t know anything about your investigation,” I said. “I don’t know anything at all.”

“I never said you did, Ms. Everhart. I’m simply giving you access in case you do learn anything, since you want me to catch the individuals so proper justice can be served. Right?”

“Y-yeah, of course, Mr. Gold.”

“Please, call me, Irvine.”

He stood up out of his chair just as Sasha arrived with his drink. She placed the drink down on the table and Irvine reached into his pocket and threw a wad of bills next to the drink.

“Thank you for your time, Ms. Everhart. Oh, and one more thing… I just want to let you know that these murders will come to an end. I will find the individuals responsible, with or without your help. But if you can help me, I certainly would appreciate it.”

He nodded his head politely to me then looked over at Sasha and winked at her. As he exited the bar, I turned around and watched him. The stride in his steps was perfect and straight. It was like the other patrons were dancing around him. When he finally left, I felt the uneasiness I was feeling suddenly disappear. It was like it had washed over me completely.

“Are you okay, Ariel?” Sasha said as she looked down at me.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” I told her.

“He must have given you his card for a reason. What was that all about?”

“I still don’t know,” I said. “He just said he was a police detective and wanted me to let him know if anything suspicious happened.”

“It never hurts to have the personal phone number of a detective.”

“No. No, it doesn’t.”

I looked down at the plain card in front of me. There was more to it than that. He was the second guy in less than a week that wanted to speak to me directly. This wasn’t just about guys wanting to sleep with me. There was more to it than that and there were more than enough waitresses to fulfill the desires of every drunk guy in here if that was the case.

No, this was different. Irvine asked me for a reason.

“What did he say to you?” I asked Sasha. “Why did he ask for me specifically?”

“I don’t know,” she shrugged her shoulders. “I just took his drink order and he said he wanted to talk to you.”

I didn’t do anything wrong that night I was nearly raped. I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. And now I feared that being there was going to put me in a spot that I didn’t want to be in.

I had spent nearly the entire night thinking about Vaughn so much that I lost a morning’s worth of sleep. Out of all of the women at the bar, I was suddenly being pulled into the middle of a murder investigation.

“Ariel!”

Frank’s voice woke me from the daze I was in as I bent Irvine’s card between my fingers.

“Get back to work! What are you doing just sitting there?”