Episode 8: Precious Promise

Episode 8: Precious Promise
by Toni Walker

Zan O'Neill was horrified by her actions tonight. She had never so raunchily come on to a guy in her life... especially a guy she barely knew and had hardly spoken to! She ran as fast as she could toward the closest exit. When she came into the ballroom and saw Avery standing at the bar, her eyes grew wide. Zan couldn't deal with her issues tonight. The glaring red exit sign caught her eye and she made a dash for it. The door led to the side alley close to the parking lot where she had left her ... car. Damn, she hadn't driven tonight. Thom had brought her.


A second thought barely registered when she slammed headlong into a hard, muscular body. All the air left her lungs and she expected to fall backward on her butt, but strong arms closed around her.


"Whoa, there. Where's the emergency?" The voice was deep and male.. And familiar.
"Trent?" She glanced up, hardly aware of the tears streaming down her cheeks. She leaned into him. God, how did he know? He was always there when she needed him.


Trent thumbed the tears from Zan's face. "Are you all right? Is there someone in there I need to pummel?"


He hadn't been expecting to see Suzanne tonight. Hell, he hadn't seen much of her since she returned from her California vacation. But that didn't surprise him any. He knew about the guy she saw on the train, the one she practically fell in love with at first sight. Why did jokers like that always win the good ones?


A choking half-laugh, half-sob escaped her lips. "I'm sorry," she whimpered. ‘I'm just such an idiot."


Trent was close to becoming concerned. What had really happened in there?


"Did someone... hurt you, Zan? If they did, I'll..."


"No, no, nothing like that. I just need to get home." Her words came out in a sporadic hiccup.
He was not going to let her go home alone, especially not in the state she was in. His business would have to wait. It wasn't like he wanted to be here tonight.


"Come on, I'll take you." He spun them around and headed back toward his SUV.


"No, you were going in... have a good time," Zan said, trying to pull away.


"There is nothing in there that can't wait until tomorrow, Zan. Come on, let's get you home." He supported her as she leaned against him.


When they arrived at the SUV, she was nearly asleep. He placed her in the passenger seat and decided that he would take her to his house until she was lucid enough to be home on her own.
"God, what really happened in there, Zan?" he whispered as he pushed the keys into the ignition and drove away.

***

Leo Sutherland paced around the front entrance of Infrared waiting for Trent Hardgrove to show up. The Park Ridge PD detective was surprised he hadn't appeared yet. Trent was known for always being there on time. His cell phone chirped and Leo recognized the number.


"Trent? Where are you, man?" Leo walked out into the gravel hoping for a less signal-static.
"I'm not coming. Something came up."


"Not coming? Man, you're brother is going to pitch a fit."


"I was only coming as a favor anyway, Leo. I'm not a profiler any more. Dean can hire his own profiler, someone who wants the damn job." Trent glanced over at Zan who was fidgeting in her sleep. "Listen, I'll catch up with you tomorrow. There is just something I have to do tonight."


Trent ended the connection and Leo cursed. The commissioner was not going to like this. He was not going to like this at all. He snapped his cell phone closed and rested a hand on a concrete pillar when a stunning blond walked up. She smiled at him a one-hundred mega-watt grin.


"Hello," he said, trying to crack a smile he didn't feel.


"You must be the detective on the Park Ridge PD I'm supposed to meet?" Samantha Ashton was dressed in street clothes, pants and a coat that looked like she lived on a goat farm in New Zealand, definitely not Infrared dance party get up. He could barely tell if she had any make up on, but she didn't need it. The healthy, natural glow definitely fit her.


"You're Sam Ashton?"


She laughed. "Yes, expecting someone more... male?"


Leo blushed. "Actually, I was, but that doesn't matter, does it? You're here now. And the other man who was supposed to also be here has stood us up." He opened the door and she walked through. "I'm sure the team will want to talk to you about your experience with our killer."


Sam stopped short. Killer? "Exactly why did the commissioner call me here tonight, detective?"
"Didn't he tell you? The killer you tracked in Boston six years ago? Well, we think he's back."


A feeling of utter dread filled her breast. She would never have come if she had known she was walking back into that psycho's world. A tear slipped down her cheek for everything she lost back then. She couldn't do this. She couldn't do this again. She turned to leave but a hand grabbed her from behind. She thought it was the detective, but it wasn't. When she looked up her eyes crashed into eyes she'd stared into many times six years earlier.


"Parker?" The expression on her face was shock and denial. He wouldn't bring her back into this mess. He knew what it had done to her the first time.


"Don't leave, Sam, please." Parker begged. "I asked Dean to make you come any way he could. I know it was wrong of me, but ... Dammit, Sam. This psycho's after your sister now!"


Her intake of breath was so quick she nearly fainted. Tears glistened at the corners of her eyes.


"Oh, God, no!" The room began to spin and Samantha Ashton toppled over into Leo's arms.
"What in the hell was that?" Leo barked.


Parker didn't look pleased with himself. He looked haunted.


"She was the one, wasn't she? She was the one he was after the first time? Your old partner?" Leo shook his head as he helped Parker put Sam in one of the nearby chairs. "Buddy, are you insane? The guy nearly killed her the first time."

***

The killer watched from the shadows. "All this fuss about moi?" he thought. It had been a long time since he felt the urge to kill. He wasn't merely a crazy person who did things without reason. He had his motives back then. Now Miss Avery was going to discover his whole new set of grounds for coming back to Park Ridge.


Did she think she could ‘pretend' to be under attack just to get Parker's attention? Did she think he wouldn't come back to make this killing thing a family affair?


He knew how Avery's mind worked. He knew what she wanted, but he was just going to have to make her fantasy a clear-cut reality. After all, she had asked for it.


He could have left it alone if she hadn't interfered. He was content watching Sam every night as she hid away in the mountains thinking she'd escaped him. She could never escape him. He fingered the knife sheathed and ready on his belt buckle.


"Don't worry, precious," he whispered as he fingered the knife blade. "We will have our fun again. And there is no time like the present."