By Jillian

Chapter Forty-One

Tanya sang, “Sittin’ on the dock of the bay, Watchin’ the tide roll away, Sittin’ on the dock of the bay, Wastin’ time.” At the moment she sang that last line she happened to look toward the door as her brother walked in the club.

She started whistling the coda melody and as she ended the song she said, “Thanks. I’m gonna take a little break, but I’ll be back in just a few.” Climbing down off the raised stage, she said, “Bobby, what’re you doing here?”

Walking up to her he replied, “Hey little b…sis. Sounds good.” Gesturing toward a table, he led her over where they sat down opposite each other. “I didn’t realize you meant you were doing it quite this fast. Any problems so far?”

“Not other than the manager telling me if he had any complaints he’d fire me.”

“And have there been any?”

“Not that I’m aware of.”

Grinning, Bob commented, “Can’t ask for much more than that.”

“Oh, you could ask,” she countered. “But chances are nobody would listen.”

Laughing, Bob said, “Well, your sense of humor hasn’t changed.”

“What did ya expect? For me to all of a sudden turn into Mary Tyler Moore or something?”

“I think we covered earlier that I don’t have any idea what to expect.”

“Fair enough,” she conceded.

At that moment Connie came over to their table and asked, “You guys need anything?”

“Yeah,” Bob responded. “I’ll take a draught and my sister will have another diet coke.”

“Be right back with those,” she said as she left for the bar.

Tanya then said, “So back to my original question. What are you doing here?”

“Do I need a reason to come see my sister?”

Looking as though the light bulb above her head just turned on Tanya said, “Ah, they told you to go home and get some rest, so of course you come hang out in a bar instead of getting the much needed sleep you’ve been depriving yourself of for the past several weeks.”

“Hey,” Bob complained, “You’re not Mom, so you don’t need to sound like her.”

Tanya laughed so hard at that comment that she found it difficult breathing for a couple of minutes. When she did finally get control of herself once again she said, “I’m not sure whether to be honored or insulted.”

“Take it however you want.”

Connie then returned with their drinks. As she set them on the table she said, “You know, it looks like you’re having a lot more fun up there tonight than you usually do. It’s cool to see.”

“Thanks, Con. I think you could be right.”

Bob added, “From what I heard, I don’t think there’s much question, is there?”

“Not really,” Tanya smiled at her brother.

“Do you need anything else?” Connie asked. “’cuz if not I should probably get back to work.”

Bob chuckled and said, “No, I think we’re fine for now, but thank you.”

“Okay then, I’ll be back to check on you a little later,” she said as she headed back to the bar to tend to her next customer.

As Bob watched her exit intently, Tanya interrupted his thoughts saying, “You know, she has a bit of a crush on you big brother.”

“On me? Naw!” Bob attempted to counter.

“Think about it for a second, will ya?” Tanya continued. “You don’t really think she goes to all the trouble of bringing me my free drinks when she could be tending to paying customers? That only happens when you’re here. She’s hoping you’ll ask her out, I bet ya almost anything.”

Bob sat silently staring at his drink before him. Finally, he said, “You said ALMOST anything.”

“Yeah well, I’m not about to give up being Tanya over a stupid bet, no matter how sure I am.”

Looking at his sister, Bob argued, “I wouldn’t ask you to do that.” Then to add emphasis he added, “Really.”

Tanya flashed her brother a smile that was intended to remove any doubts he may have had about this being right for her. He noticed and returned the smile, then glancing toward Connie as she served drinks to a table of obviously inebriated gentlemen he asked, “Really?”

“Okay, so I’m not a mind reader, but she’s not exactly trying to hide her feelings. You’ve just been too dense to pick up on her signals.”

“So what should I do?”

Laughing Tanya asked, “You’re asking me?”

Laughing as well, Bob responded, “Well yeah. I mean, you seem to know a lot more about how she thinks than I do.”

“That wouldn’t take much, brother dear.”

Blushing, Bob mumbled, “True. So what’s my move here?”

Thinking for a moment, Tanya eventually said, “For you, I’d say direct is best. Just ask her out to dinner, or lunch, or whatever she can manage. I can almost guarantee you’ll get a positive response.”

Looking at her watch, she realized it would soon be time to get back to work. Just as she started to say something to Bobby about that, he noticed Connie heading their way.

Connie handed Tanya another glass of diet coke saying, “I figured you could do with a refill.”

“Absolutely. Listen, I’ve got to get back up there for my next set, so I guess I’ll see you guys later,” she said as she got up and started toward the stage.

“Connie?” Bob started nervously. “Would it be out of line of me to ask you to dinner sometime?”

She sat down in Tanya’s recently vacated seat and replied, “Not at all. Unfortunately, I work most every night.”

Mentally noting that once again his ‘sister’ had been right, Bob then asked, “What about lunch? Maybe tomorrow?”

Smiling, Connie responded, “I’d like that. Where would you like to meet?”

“I could pick you up,” Bob offered.

“I couldn’t ask you to do that,” she argued.

“You’re not asking. I’m offering,” Bob countered.

“Fair enough,” Connie smiled. Tearing the back page out of her order pad, she wrote something on it and handed it to him saying, “Here’s my address and phone number. What time were you thinking?”

“What if we said I pick you up a little before one? That lets you get some rest after your shift tonight, plus it puts us on the back end of the lunch rush.”

Standing up she replied, “Sounds like a date. Are you sticking around much longer tonight?”

“No,” Bob replied. “I’d best get on home. I mean, I’m supposed to be getting some rest tonight…at least that’s what my Captain told me to do,” he grinned at her. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow then,” she smiled before heading back to work.

Bob gulped down the drink she’d just brought, then got up and headed toward the stage. Catching Tanya’s attention, he smiled and waved before turning toward the door and leaving.

Chapter Forty-Two

Charlie helped Sandra, who between her drinks and the drugs he’d slipped into them was barely staying on her feet, off the elevator and down the hall to his room. Struggling to keep her up while opening the door, he finally managed to get both of them into the room where he deposited her rather unceremoniously on the bed.

Staring at her barely conscious form laying there, he thought about how best to do things. Usually he was rushed, working quickly in the car before dumping the body and taking off as fast as possible without attracting attention. But tonight would be different.

After his close call the night before, Charlie had come to the conclusion that it would be safer if he took care of his business somewhere less public, hence the hotel room. He’d even assembled a collection of ‘toys’ he thought he might try out on tonight’s victim. One thing was certain; he planned on enjoying himself as much as possible.

Opening up his case he took out ropes and tied Sandra to the bed frame, then stuffed a rag in her mouth and tied a kerchief around her head over her mouth to prevent her from spitting the rag out. That done, he went into the bathroom and stripped out of his clothes, replacing them with a change he’d picked up at a thrift store earlier before going back out to the bedroom where he could see his ‘guest’ starting to stir.

He stood over her until it appeared that she’d achieved some level of consciousness, at which point he laughed evilly and told her, “We’re going to have a lot of fun tonight!”

Chapter Forty-Three

“So did he finally ask you out?” Tanya inquired of Connie while waiting for the manager to pay her for the night.

Connie had thought she’d try not to tell Tanya anything about her date the following day with her brother, but when asked directly she found it impossible to hide the smile, accompanied by profuse blushing, that erupted on her face. Seeing this, Tanya deduced, “I take that as a yes.”

Connie’s excitement overflowed as she said, “Tomorrow. It’s just lunch, but since I work evenings that seems like the best option”

“True. Just don’t get too upset if he gets a call from the precinct in the middle of the meal. I swear their Captain must have some way of knowing when there’s food in front of his officers because there’s almost always a call during the meal.”

Nodding in acceptance, Connie asked, “So what exactly is it that Bob does? I mean, is he a uniformed patrolman or…”

Tanya stopped her friend and replied, “He’s a detective with the Homicide division.”

“Wow!” Connie enthused. “That’s…”

Tanya interrupted her saying, “A lot less glamorous than it sounds, believe me. I won’t tell you anything about his current case, but suffice it to say that it’s the reason he found out about me.”

Furrowing her brow, Connie asked, “What happened?”

Taking a deep breath, Tanya replied, “He was on a stakeout at this place a friend of mine dragged me to last night. A few hours later, he’s knocking on my door all pissed off. It took quite a bit of talking to sort things out, but we’re hopefully on our way to an understanding.”

Glancing toward the bar Connie said, “Looks like Harry is just about ready to hand out the ‘alms for the poor’.”

Laughing, Tanya turned to see the bar herself and replied, “About time. If I had to wait much longer then I’d crash on the spot for sure.”

“You and me both, sister,” Connie said while patting Tanya’s shoulder.

Chapter Forty-Four

Charlie was clearly pleased with himself as he washed himself in the hotel shower. He’d discovered several advantages to using hotel rooms, particularly as he stripped off his bloody clothing before climbing into the aforementioned shower.

But cleaning up afterward wasn’t the only plus he’d found that evening. The privacy offered by the room enabled him to ‘expand’ his horizons, for lack of a better term. Unlike his previous victims, with whom he been rushed because of the threat of discovery hovering over his head at any moment, this time he’d been able to take his time, doing things he’d never tried and thus exploring and indulging his own desires in ways he’d never been able to before.

Once he had everything cleaned up, he climbed back into his suit and exited the bathroom, pausing to admire his work before tossing his room key onto the top of the dress and heading out the door. He put the ‘Do not disturb’ sign on the doorknob and allowed the door to close behind him as he casually headed toward the elevator.

Chapter Forty-Five

“I hope you realize if I didn’t love you so much there’s no way in hell I’d have dragged my butt out of bed this early to come see you,” Tanya said as she entered the ‘cubicle’ area of Cynthia’s ICU bed.

“Hey, bitch,” Cynthia greeted her friend. “You’re just in time. Doctor Hottie just told me I’m being moved to a regular room this morning.”

“Wow, that’s great news. Guess that means you’re gonna survive?” Tanya teased.

“Of course,” Cynthia responded. “If I didn’t, what would happen to you?”

“Well, for starters I could sleep later,” Tanya joked.

Cynthia smirked and then stuck her tongue out at her friend before adopting a somewhat more serious tone as she asked, “How’d last night go?”

“Better than I expected, to tell ya the truth,” she replied. “The only problem I had was from the manager, who said if anybody complained about my ‘new look’ he’d fire me. Nobody complained.”

“Like they would’ve. I’ve always told you you’re a much better looking girl than you could ever be a guy.”

“Yeah, I know. The real shocker was Bobby came by for a while and we talked while I was on break.”

“How rough was that?”

“Not at all. That was the shocker part. I think he may finally be starting to accept me.”

“That’s great, sweetie.”

“Sweetie?” Tanya asked puzzled.

“Yeah,” Cynthia said. Then she began to laugh as she added, “But if you’d prefer I can continue to call you ‘Bitch’ instead.”

“That’s okay,” she replied. “I’m sure this kinder, gentler Cynthia is only a temporary aberration.”

“That’s a safe bet,” Cynthia giggled.

An orderly arrived with a wheelchair saying, “Time to move.” He parked the chair next to the bed before helping Cynthia to her feet. Once she was seated and ready to go, he silently started wheeling her out of the ICU.

Following behind while carrying her friend’s things, Tanya waved goodbye to the nursing staff at the station saying, “Thank you.”

A short elevator ride later, Cynthia was deposited in a semi-private room where Tanya dutifully put her friend’s things in the provided cabinet before taking a seat next to the bed. Joking, she finally said, “Guess you’re moving up in the world.”

“Yeah, but only one floor,” Cynthia responded before dissolving in a fit of giggles that brought on a rather loud, “Ow!”

“I guess laughing is still on your ‘proceed at own risk’ list, huh?”

“Would appear so,” Cynthia yawned.

“Looks like you’re getting kinda tired. Why don’t I get out of here for a while so you can get some rest, okay?”

“Sounds like a good idea.”

“I’ll let Bobby know about your room change so he doesn’t have to bother the staff to find you if he needs anything.”

“I’m surprised. He’s kinda hot.”

“He also may be spoken for quite soon.”

Looking half asleep, Cynthia joked, “Decided he can’t live without me? It’s a common problem.”

“You wish,” Tanya replied. “He’s been dancing around this waitress at one of the clubs where I’ve been working for a while now and last night he finally got around to asking her out. You’da thought she was a pimply teenager being asked out by the captain of the football team or something.”

Cynthia laughed again before grabbing her side and saying, “Ow!”

Making her way to beside the bed, Tanya leaned over and kissed her friend on the cheek while saying, “Get some rest. I’ll see ya later.”

Chapter Forty-Six

Bob pulled up outside Connie’s place and parked his car. Turning off the engine, he sat there in an attempt to defeat the nerves that were threatening to make him run away as fast as he could. “Why am I so nervous?” he asked himself.

Finally getting his nerves under control, he got out of the car and made his way to her apartment, where he knocked on the door.

“Just a minute,” he faintly heard from inside before he was greeted by the sounds of movement from within. As the door finally opened, Connie said, “Heya. You’re a little early.” Opening the door, she gestured, “Come on in.”

“Sorry,” Bob offered as he followed her into the living room. “I have a habit of being early. It drives some people crazy.”

“I’ll survive,” she responded cheerfully. “Have a seat. I’ll be a couple more minutes and then we can head out.”

“No hurry,” he replied as he sat down on the couch…

Arriving home, Tanya noticed the flashing light on the answering machine and immediately pressed ‘play’. The first message was from one of the clubs she regularly played, “Hey, it’s Jake from ‘Brewhaus’. Listen, there’s no easy way to say this, so…I’ve heard some things and, well, I’m gonna have to cancel your gigs here. I just don’t think our crowd is going to be very tolerant of someone with your new ‘lifestyle’. Sorry.”

The next three messages were just like the first, from more of the places Tanya had been playing. By the end of the last one, she’d lost two regular nights each week as well as three weekends’ bookings. Surprisingly, the previous night’s club was not among the cancellations.

As she sat on the couch she sighed, “That was quick.” The longer she thought about what had just happened, the worse she felt until tears started streaming down her cheeks and her body became wracked with sobs…

Bob held Connie’s chair for her to sit before going around to the other side of the table and taking his place. The waiter then handed them menus and asked, “May I get you anything to drink?”

Looking at Connie in a gesture that said ‘ladies first’, she took the hint and looked up at the waiter saying, “Diet Coke, please.”

Then Bob said, “Dr. Pepper.”

“Would you like a few minutes to look over the menu?” asked the waiter.

“Yes, I think so,” replied Bob.

Once the waiter was out of earshot, Connie asked, “So do you prefer Bob or Bobby?”

Grinning, he replied, “Tom…I mean Tanya is the only one who calls me Bobby, but I’m not too bothered either way.”

Looking intently at him for a moment, Connie then said, “Bob seems so serious and Robert is just way too formal. I may have to join you sister in calling you Bobby, if ya don’t mind.”

“Not at all,” he responded, smiling all the while.

“Speaking of your sister,” Connie continued, “She mentioned that you’re a detective?”

“Yeah,” he replied. “But trust me, it’s nothing like on TV.”

“Still,” she countered, “It’s gotta be more interesting than being a cocktail waitress.”

“I don’t know about that, but it has its moments.”

Looking more closely at the menu, Connie asked, “So what’s good here?”

Bob embarrassedly admitted, “I rarely get beyond steaks anywhere I go, but I’ve heard the pastas are pretty good.”

“Okay,” Connie said. “So how’s the steak?” she grinned.

Chapter Forty-Seven

The cleaning crew had passed by the door several times throughout the morning, but now that it was past checkout time they had little choice but to ignore the ‘do not disturb’ sign and go on in. Using the pass key, one of the ladies opened the door and barely got three steps inside the room before they saw the mutilated body tied down to the bed frame.

When she realized what she was seeing she screamed and ran from the room eventually huddling into a ball in the hallway sobbing hysterically. Another crew member looked into the room then using the two way radio they used to communicate with the front desk told them, “Call the police. We have a dead body in room 348.”

Chapter Forty-Eight

“Bobby,” Connie said as she cut a bite of steak on her plate, “You still haven’t told me anything about what you do.” She took her bite and slowly chewed it while awaiting an answer.

“Mostly,” Bob began, “I sift through mountains of information in search of that one little bit of evidence that might mean something to whatever case I might be working on at that moment.”

“Just as an example,” she asked, “What kinds of evidence have you gone through this week that might be relevant to your current case?”

“Okay,” Bob lowered his voice to barely above a whisper, “For example, I'm working on what we're assuming is a serial murderer. Before this week we had pretty much nothing to go on, but after digging around for what seems like forever, I found out that one of the methods the killer is using to track down victims involves the Personals section of an alternative newspaper called ‘Open’.”

“That sounds like it could be a huge breakthrough,” she gushed.

“I hope so,” he responded. His cell phone chose that moment to ring, so he took it out of his pocket and looking at the caller ID said, “Figures.”

“Work?” Connie asked.

He nodded his head as he flipped the phone open and said into it, “Taylor.”

On the other end, Sergeant Parker replied, “Bob, looks like another one. But it’s a little different this time.”

“Different how?”

“This time we found it in a hotel room. Our guy took advantage of the privacy to have more fun with this one.”

“Okay, where?”

“Downtown Hilton, room 348.”

“I’ll be there quick as I can. If the CSI guys get there before me, just put ‘em to work, okay?”

“You got it.”

Bob flipped his phone closed and said, “Duty calls.”

Connie responded, “If you need to get over there, I can get a ride home. No problem.”

“Not exactly the best end to a first date,” Bob said dejectedly.

“Don’t worry about it, okay?” she said. “Now go catch some bad guys. And if you get a chance tonight, swing by the club and see me.”

“Count on it.”

Bob stood up quickly followed by Connie, who before he had a chance to turn for the door had moved in closer and placed a kiss on his cheek saying, “That’s all you get for now.”

Bob smiled widely and said, “I’ll see you later.” He then headed toward the door, leaving Connie standing in the middle of the restaurant.

Chapter Forty-Nine

Entering the hospital room, Tanya asked, “So how do you like your new accommodations?”

Cynthia replied, “Better than where I was before, but they still suck.”

“Sorry.”

“No you’re not,” Cynthia countered.

Sitting on the end of the bed, Tanya pouted, “I am too.”

“Okay, okay.”

Turning more serious, Tanya asked, “So are you feeling any better?”

Becoming indignant, Cynthia replied, “Better than what? Than yesterday? Yeah, but then that wouldn’t take much. Anything more than that? Well, then you might be being a little too optimistic.”

Feeling chastised, Tanya relented, “Okay, point taken.”

After a moment or two, Cynthia asked, “Anything else new in your world?”

Beginning to grin, Tanya said, “You could say that. I officially started RLT yesterday.”

Pleasantly shocked, Cynthia gasped, “Really? Kewl!”

Losing some of the joy she’d exuded mere seconds before, Tanya countered, “Yes and no, but since Bobby knows I decided there really wasn’t any reason to not do it. There’s already been some backlash from it. I lost two of my weeknight gigs plus three recurring weekends. I just have this fear that this isn’t the last of the troubles over this.”

“Well, I hope you’re proven wrong,” Cynthia said while feeling like she was sitting on pins and needles.

Chapter Fifty

Bob pulled up at the front entrance to the Hilton and ran in heading straight to the elevators. Boarding the first available, he pushed ‘3’ and waited to arrive.

When he got to the third floor, Bob saw immediately which one was the room in question as the hallway around it was jammed full of officers, all looking for that one little shred of evidence that would tell them who was responsible for this series of gruesome acts. He slowly made his way to the room, stopping along the way to check with each of his men to see if any of them had found something useful.

When he finally entered the room he couldn’t help but think that the injuries and indignities suffered by the previous victims were in fact mild by comparison to those inflicted upon this latest victim. Whereas most of them up to that point had been strangled and in some cases beaten rather badly, the poor soul he saw lying on top of the bed before him would no doubt have considered herself lucky if that had been all that had happened to her.

While she too had been beaten and strangled, before getting to that point she had been tied and gagged, raped and cut just deep enough to draw blood repeatedly for an unknown period of time that no doubt felt like an eternity. Really the only thing they knew for certain was that her death had come as a welcome relief from everything that preceded it.

Spotting Sergeant Parker talking to someone from the medical examiner’s office, Bob headed directly toward his friend and partner. When he was finally close enough to speak without being overheard by everyone in the building he commented, “Looks like our guy’s decided to up his game.”

“That’s one way of putting it,” Parker responded. “Before, I thought we might be dealing with some religious wacko who just thought these people were evil or something, but after this I don’t think there’s any doubt just how sick this puppy is.”

“Got that right,” he agreed. Then addressing the medical examiner Bob asked, “How long do you think it’ll take to get a full workup on the body? Including if you can find some DNA evidence with the rape kit?”

As he zipped the body bag closed, he replied, “Give us until at least tomorrow afternoon. There’s a lot of stuff to go through here.”

“Sure thing,” said Bob as the medical examiner gathered up his tools and specimen bottles. Then the M.E. loaded the bag onto a gurney and wheeled it out of the room toward the elevators.

Gradually the officers vacated the room until only Bob and Sergeant Parker were left alone. They began methodically going back over the room, looking for anything that might have been missed before.

As he got up from the floor where he’d been looking under the bed, Parker concluded, “Looks like we got it all. Not even a dust bunny left under there.”

“All right then,” Bob responded. “Let’s head out.”

To Be Continued...