Kissing Trouble (40 page)

“Shaun?” Julie pulled her aching frame up, never taking her eyes off him.

Luis twisted away, coughing. Julie watched him push to all four before heaving himself up. Like Shaun, like her, he was bathed in shadows that obscured his features. So she couldn’t tell what he was thinking when he swooped down and snatched the knife up.

“Are you okay, Julie?”

Despite nearly being skewered, Luis sounded ... calm. Slightly breathless, but not nearly as shaken as he should have been.

“Yeah...”

He moved around Shaun’s curled figure and stood over her, the knife glinting at his side. Julie told herself to stop being ridiculous. This was Luis. She trusted Luis. Nevertheless, she flinched when he reached for her.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” he said as he locked his fingers around her arm and hauled her up.

Shaking him off, she looked down at Shaun. “What do we do with him?”

Luis left her side and circled back around Shaun. “Get inside,” he said. “I’ll bring him.”

“Don’t you need help carrying—?”

“No, no, I got him.”

Shivering, Julie staggered her way back up the porch and into the house. Her mind was spinning. There were too many questions and none of it added up.

Shaun wasn’t the killer. He couldn’t be. She had known him for too long and if he’d spent the last five years running from Dr. Nixon, she would have known. So what the hell was wrong with him? Why would he attack Luis? Why would he kidnap Mason? Why was he chasing them? Julie felt like she was missing a very large piece of the puzzle.

When the floorboards behind her creaked, she turned, half expecting Luis to be staggering under Shaun’s massive weight. Instead, he was alone.

“Do you need help?” she asked, her voice small.

She saw him shake his head as he closed the doors behind him. “No.”

Something cracked in her chest. “Where’s Shaun?”

The locks clicked into place. He turned to her. “He won’t be joining us.”

Julie fell back a step, then two. “What?”

He rapped something against the side of his thigh. It was too dark to see, but she knew what it was.

“Luis, what—?”

“He came at me. I had to defend myself.”

A choked gasp escaped her as the implication of his words hit her square in the gut.

“I didn’t have a choice,” he went on in a tone that was much too gruff, too ... husky.

“You killed Shaun?”

He spread his arms open. “He was going to kill us. I had to do something.”

“Oh my God!”

“Julie...”

He took a step towards her and she jerked back, putting her hands up between them.

“Don’t!”

He halted. He sighed and his head cocked to the side. “I was trying to protect you.”

“You killed Shaun!”

“He had it coming, you know that.”

She rocked her head wildly from side to side. “I can’t believe you...”

“Julie.” There was impatience coloring his tone now. “You need to calm down.”

She took another retreating step back. Luis didn’t seem to notice, or he didn’t care. She was almost at the kitchen. If she could distract him a little longer, she could run for the terrace doors.

“Go ahead,” he taunted. “Run. I haven’t had a runner in two years and I miss it.”

“What...?” It was apparently all she was capable of saying.

He advanced on her, his strides slow and even. “You ruined things for me, Julie. I can’t tell you how disappointed I am in you.”

Julie said nothing. Her sneakers squeaked against hardwood in her haste to keep five steps between them. Her back struck the doorframe and she stumbled into the kitchen.

Luis followed.

“Do you have any idea how hard it is to gain someone’s trust?” he asked her in an admonishing tone that suggested he was simply toying with her. “It’s hard! It takes years, but I was patient. I bided my time. I played nice ... well, most of the time.”

His grin flashed a blinding white in the explosion of lightening that crashed just outside the patio doors. It illuminated his brown eyes, the blood smearing his face, and the knife, dripping with Shaun’s blood, clutched in his hand.

“Even the most patient man occasionally slips,” he went on. “But the trick is to fight it, stave back that hunger until the perfect moment.”

“You’re Jimmy,” she whispered.

His chuckle grated against the length of her spine like razorblades. “I’m Luis,” he corrected. “I haven’t been Jimmy in a very long time. Dr. Nixon will be so upset. I think he really liked Jimmy.”

“He said you weren’t aware of your other—”

“My other what?” he challenged. “My other
personalities
?” He laughed, cold and brittle. “There is no other personality. This is it. This is me. Jimmy was a means to an end.” He paused. When he spoke again, his voice was sharp. “I should have killed that meddlesome fool when I had the chance. That’s what you get when you become sentimental.” 

Julie came up against the table. It skidded an inch under her weight. “I don’t understand...”

It didn’t make sense. None of it. How could Luis be Jimmy? How could Luis be the killer? Luis, shy, thoughtful ... adorable Luis. Part of her wondered if this was some kind of sick joke everyone was in on, except her. Any minute, she expected Mason and Shaun to come bursting through the doors, laughing and teasing her for falling for it.

But the doorway remained empty. Luis continued to standing before her, colored in shadows, wielding a blood stained knife.

“It’s hard to understand,” he agreed with a hint of regret in his tone. “But then again, you weren’t supposed to be here, so really, it’s your own fault.”

Julie could only shake her head soundlessly.

“I was,” he continued, “a little concerned when you brought along the children.” He paused. “I’ve never killed children. I wasn’t sure how I would feel about it, which is why I suggested the camping trip, to save them from meeting the same fate, unfortunately, I’d been careless. Got a little blood on the door handle...” He hissed through his teeth. “Nevertheless, you made it simple again by having the children sent off so...”

He said it with such casual disregard, as though they were discussing a pizza flavor he hadn’t tried that Julie gagged.

“Don’t be like that,” he huffed, offended. “It’s not something I can help you know,” he explained. “I just ... I have to. It’s kind of like when you’re really thirsty, but there’s nothing to drink. You start craving it. Needing it. It becomes so strong that you can’t breathe or think. Then, when you finally put the rim of that cool glass to your lip...” He sucked in a sharp, lusty breath. “It’s beautiful. The high is incredible.”

“You killed that girl ... Bethany Row,” Julie croaked.

Luis hissed through his teeth. “I did,” he confessed. “I feel absolutely horrible about it, too. I haven’t lost control like that in a very long time. But again, your fault.”

“How—”

“This week was supposed to be my honeymoon!” he exclaimed, cutting her off. “Killing that girl ... it felt so ... dirty. Kind of like having meaningless sex with a stranger. Shaun and Mason, however ... I’ve been working on them for years. Teasing myself. Coming so close only to pull away...” He moaned and the sound sent a chill down her spine. “I was finally going to cut into them. I was going to take my time, bleed them out slowly in their beds. Then you showed up. You ruined everything, Julie. You forced me to rush my work. I got a little carried away with the kittens, I’ll admit, but I was pissed.”

“We trusted you!”

Luis laughed with heady delight. “I know! Oh my God! I know.” He exhaled elatedly. “Just when I thought my plans were ruined ... I saw it in your eyes. I saw the trust. It was so disgustingly easy!” He hissed through his teeth with a relish of someone getting steak after being starved for weeks. “There is something uniquely special about killing someone when they don’t expect it, someone who trusts you and watching the confusion and betrayal in their eyes as they realize what’s happening. Some just lie there. Some cry and beg me not to kill them. But it’s the ones that scream...” He moaned thickly. “It’s like experiencing the ultimate orgasm.”

“How many have there been?” she wondered sickly.

“That the police have actually found, or in total?” There was a gruesome sort of amusement in his question. “Not nearly as many as I would have liked,” he said. “Building that level of trust ... it takes time and patience like slow, careful foreplay. I may not have hit the hundred mark, but it’s not in the numbers. It’s about the process. The careful planning and research.”

“Who’s Luis?”

She saw his shoulders bunch high in a shrug. “Some kid from Wyoming. Met him in a bar one night. Two beers in, a friendly face and an understanding ear and he was spilling his whole life story to me. Raised by an uncaring grandmother, ran away first chance he got, and had high dreams of becoming a doctor. We hung out a few times, I learned all I could about him before he had an unfortunate accident and was never seen again. The rest was pretty simple, slipping into Luis’s life, becoming him. I even called his grandmother a few times, just for a thrill. She never knew the difference. Between you and me, I think she might have preferred the new Luis to the old one. I even contemplated paying old grandma a visit, but then I met Mason and Shaun. Mason I can almost say I liked, but Shaun ... the fucking douchebag. I wanted to kill him on sight. But I knew that the payout in the end would be much more rewarding if I made him think I was his friend, that I was trustworthy, someone he could sleep down the hall from without worry. All the while, I dreamt of the day I would run my blade across his throat and watch as he struggled to breathe.”

“You’re insane!” The words flew from her mouth before she could stop them.

“I’m sick,” he corrected. “Didn’t you hear Dr. Nixon? I am a poor, unstable young man with so much potential. I should have killed him.” The lightness left his voice. “He almost ruined everything! Do you have any idea how many people I could have killed by now if he hadn’t sent my picture to every fucking pig with a badge? Not that I was worried. I am expert at reinventing myself. My own mother wouldn’t recognize me if I didn’t want her to. I mean, if I hadn’t killed her and my father.”

“The police will find you,” she said with far more bravery than she felt. “You gave them your handprint.”

Luis burst out laughing, a high, shrill sound that made her cringe. “Do you think I’m stupid, Julie? I’ve been doing this for a very long time and I have killed so many people. I only got caught with my parents because I didn’t know better. I was a child. But I’m wiser now. I’m careful.” He paused. She saw his head cock to the side as if listening to something in the distance. “I’m smoke,” he decided, sounding in awe of his own awesomeness. “I cannot be caught.”

“But you can’t fake your fingerprints,” she argued. “I saw you—”

“You saw what I wanted you to see.” He raised his arms. She couldn’t see him very well, but she had a feeling he was holding out his palms to her. “I have been coating my hands with liquid latex ever since I got here. You will not find a single one of my fingerprints anywhere in this house.”

She remembered his room, so immaculate. Everything carefully in its place. She thought how he never really left his room, unless it was to eat. Even when he watched TV, he let Shaun pick the shows.

“The sheriff knows what you look like,” she tried again, hoping to stall for time. “He’s getting a sketch done of your face. As soon as he sees it, he’ll know—”

“I’ll be long gone before then,” he replied coolly. “You’re the last thread, Julie. After I kill you, I disappear and become someone else. Do you see now?” he asked delicately when she said nothing. “I have been preparing for this week for a very long time. And even with the unexpected turn of events, mainly you, I am prepared. After I kill you, I will bury your body somewhere deep in the woods. No one will find you. Oh they will look of course, but, eventually, they will give up. They will bury you in an empty casket, throw in some dirt, cry, and then they will all move on and you will become a mere memory. Sweet, beautiful Julie, gone forever. She will be missed. I promise to send flowers.”

“Where’s Mason?” Her voice quivered, revealing the numbing terror rooting her to the floor. “Did you kill him?”

“Let’s put it this way,” he took a step forward, “if you scream, and I hope you do, no one will hear you.”

S
he didn’t scream. He gave her no chance to when he lunged. Julie spun on her heels and bolted through the kitchen with him in pursuit. The terrace window loomed ahead, urging her to push harder. Her heart pumped fast and hard in her chest, she’d almost reached the doors when she was grabbed from behind and shoved. Her feet slid out from under her and she slammed into the ground on her injured arm. Her chin bounced off the hardwood and the tang of blood pooled in her mouth. Her cry of pain was swallowed by a whimper when her hair was fisted and her neck was forced back.

“Killing you,” Luis growled into the side of her face. “Won’t bring me much pleasure, but I will make do.”

The steel curve of the knife, still slick with Shaun’s blood, bit into the soft tissues of her esophagus. A fine trickle of blood ran hot down into the hollow of her collarbone. It took all her willpower not to swallow. All her training, everything she had spent years learning in order to defend herself flew out the window, and, for the first time in her life, she felt powerless. She could do nothing but lie there with her eyes squeezed shut and wait for the sharp edge to tear open her flesh and for her blood to gush across the hardwood.

She was saying her prayers when the room exploded. The deafening crash ripped the knife wielding hand away with only a thin nick marring her skin. Shards of glass rained over her, cutting her arms when they flew up to shield her face. Something heavy hit the floor and shattered. Thundering feet pummeled the hardwood. Then there was a hard punch of air above her and more thumps, followed by grunts and snarls.

Julie rolled onto her back, ignoring the sharp slivers that burrowed into her palms and cut her clothes to get at her flesh. She scrambled upright and squinted at the two silhouettes writhing a mere few feet away.