Fugue, Part One
By Jillian
Chapter One
Tanya had barely entered the reception area of her doctor's office when she heard her name called. After making her way to the front desk she asked, “You called me?”
Looking up from her computer screen, the receptionist replied, “Yes, Miss Taylor. The doctor is ready for you.”
“Thanks,” Tanya responded as she reached for the door knob. After passing through the door and into the hallway she found her way to Dr. Sanchez' office.
She gently knocked a couple of times before gingerly opening the door and entering the office. As quietly as she could, she headed for the sofa where she usually sat for their sessions and then silently watched as the doctor tended to some paperwork.
As soon as she was finished writing some notes in another patient's chart, the doctor joined Tanya, sitting directly across from her in a leather wingback chair that just screamed 'shrink'. As she did so, she took a moment to open her note pad and lay a couple of pens with it, just in case she needed to make any notes for when she would be filling out charts later.
“So, hows the world been treating you?” the doctor asked Tanya, with a smile.
Shifting slightly in her seat, Tanya responded, “If I complained, no one would listen.”
“Why do you say that?”
Thinking for a moment, Tanya said, “Nothing. I was just kidding.”
“Nope,” Dr. Sanchez argued. “Not buying it. What's wrong?”
Sighing, Tanya admitted, “I just feel like I'm not making any headway toward my goal.”
“Of course you are,” Dr. Sanchez argued.
“Okay,” Tanya began her response. “Let me put it this way then. I feel like I'm stuck on a plateau of sorts. I'm not going backwards or anything, but I'm not making much progress either.”
“I don't necessarily think that's the case.”
Tanya took a calming breath before stating, “I'm just tired of not being able to live my life the way I want to.”
“All right,” Dr. Sanchez responded. “Let's look at this from the other side for a moment. What is standing in your way? What's preventing you from reaching your goal?”
After thinking for a moment Tanya replied, “Fear, mainly.”
“How so?”
“I'm afraid of what would happen with my work and I'm particularly afraid of what would happen with my family.”
Dr. Sanchez made a note on her pad then looked directly into Tanya's eyes and calmly said, “Face those fears, then.”
Shaking her head, Tanya responded, “Easier said than done.”
“Let's take them one at a time then.” Dr. Sanchez asked, “Why haven’t you talked to your family about this?”
Looking rather defensive, Tanya asked, “Why? Why do you think?”
“I don't know,” countered Dr. Sanchez. “That's why I asked.”
Tanya stared at the doctor for a moment before finally saying, “Look, I've always know how my father thought about people like me. It's not like he ever hid his prejudices or anything.”
Making another note, Dr. Sanchez asked, “Does he know?”
“I don't think so,” Tanya replied. “At least he's never said anything specifically directed toward me. I just know how he used to gripe about all the 'weirdos' he had to deal with in his job.”
“Well,” she started, “I think my mom would probably be okay with it, but my dad and brother? No way.”
“What makes you say that?”
Pausing for a moment to compose her thoughts, Tanya finally replied, “They’re very much ‘men’s men’, ya know? Bobby’s a police detective and Dad’s an ex-cop too. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve heard them talk bad about ‘those damned trannies’ as they put it.”
“And how does that make you feel?” she asked. “When you hear that kind of talk?”
“Part of me is embarrassed because secretly I'm wondering if they're talking about me. Then I get a little angry, first at them for acting that way, then finally at myself for one, letting them get to me and two, for caring about what they think in the first place.”
“Sounds like you actually have a pretty good handle on that one then. The doctor then let a little grin creep onto her mouth as she continued, “Other than the whole letting your anger get the better of you, that is.”
She took a sip of water before continuing, “Mom sort of knows, I think. I mean, she knows I’ve always been feminine. She even knows I used to dress up in her clothes when I was a kid, but we’ve never, ever talked about it. I’m kind of afraid to broach the subject with them.”
“What is it you’re afraid of? Are you really that scared that they’ll disown you? Become violent?” asked the doctor.
“Yes, I really am. Well, not the violent part, but you know what I mean. I’m seriously afraid that I’d lose my family forever and I don’t think I could stand that.” Taking a moment before continuing, she finally added, “And let’s not even start talking about what would happen with my work.
“I don’t think I’d lose all my gigs, but I’m pretty sure at least some of them would drop me. Some of these places aren’t exactly bastions of forward thinking, if you know what I mean.”
Tanya paused again, waiting to see if the doctor had another question, but when she realized there wasn’t one coming she continued, “I guess I’ll just have to continue with the status quo for the foreseeable future.”
“Is that what you really want to do?”
“No, but I’m afraid of what might happen if I go down that road.”
Making a note on the pad in her lap, Dr. Sanchez said, “But we’ve been down this road before. There’s no way to know what would happen before taking that step.”
Looking at her patient for a moment, Dr. Sanchez eventually said, “You know, you are more passable than most other GID patients.” Deciding to press forward she continued, “It may seem a little out of place for me to be saying this, but I suspect if you’d actually talk to them they might surprise you.”
Feeling a little bit like a child who'd just been chastised, Tanya reluctantly responded, “I know, I know. I’m working on it.”
“So let’s do this,” the doctor said, wrapping up the session. “Try to talk to them. I think if you could do that, then there would be no barriers to you moving on to the next step.”
Staring at the doctor for a moment, Tanya eventually replied, “Okay, I'll try Doc, but...” She let the thought die away uncompleted.
Seeing Tanya's increasing discomfort with the direction of their discussion, Dr. Sanchez decided to shift topics a bit, saying, “I just took a look at your blood work and everything seems fine,” the doctor said as certainly as she could. “Feeling all right? Any problems with mood swings?”
Tanya seemed a bit uncomfortable with the question before finally saying, “No worse than usual, I guess. I mean, at this point I should be used to it, right?”
Grinning, the doctor commented, “Well, HRT does tend to do that. Have you given any more thought to starting your real life test?”
“Every day, really. Unfortunately, I just can’t bring myself to broach the subject with my family and until then…” her voice trailed off, unable to finish the thought.
As both women stood up and started toward the office door, Dr. Sanchez said, “I'll see you next week at our regular time, all right?”
Tanya said, “Thanks.” With that she walked out the door and headed home to get ready for work…
Chapter Two
Charlie was barely inside the door to his apartment before he reached for the answering machine to listen to the message the flashing light told him was waiting.
“...Charlie, this is Carla. Just wanted to check what time you want to pick me up tonight? Call me back, okay?”
He immediately picked up the receiver and after looking at the notepad by the phone to check on the number, returned Carla's call.
On the third ring she answered, “Hey there.”
“Carla? This is Charlie, returning your call.”
“Hey Charlie. Yeah, I was wondering what time you'd like me to be ready and also should I dress up?”
“Dress up? Yes,” he replied. “We have reservations for seven, so how about if I pick you up around six thirty?”
She exuberantly responded, “Absolutely! I'll see you then. Now, I'd probably best get off of here so I can get ready.”
“I'll see you then. Bye,” Charlie said, ending the call. After replacing the receiver he said to himself, “Best get a move on, then.”
On his way back out the door, he looked at his watch and commented, “Three hours.” He then hurried to his car and drove to a nearby thrift store.
Charlie had a myriad of rituals that he always went through when preparing for one of his “dates”. First on the list was a trip to the thrift store, where he bought slacks and a dress shirt that he intended to wear that evening. Once those articles of clothing had been acquired, he would then return to his apartment to begin his preparations for the evening's festivities.
Many of these 'rituals' made perfect sense to anyone who happened to find out about them, like the long shower which included multiple shampoos plus conditioner, or his habit of brushing his teeth twice and using mouthwash both in between rounds and immediately after to make absolutely certain that he had fresh breath. Then again, some seemed a bit more unusual, like his habit of shaving off every hair below his ears followed by using a pumice stone to remove as much dead skin as possible from his body.
Those little eccentricities, while seeming just a bit odd to most people, were in fact born out of his desire to maintain anonymity while pursuing his 'quest'. He reasoned that by minimizing the possibility that he might leave behind physical evidence linking him to his activities, he decreased the chance of being discovered.
He pulled on the clothes he had purchased just a few hours previously. As was often the case, he'd even gone so far as to buy a pair of shoes that could easily be disposed of at the end of the night. So after adding those to his outfit, he stood in front of the mirror fussing with his hair one last time before moving on to the next phase, which consisted of confirming that his vehicle was ready for the evening's activities.
Climbing behind the wheel of his restored Cadillac Coupe de Ville, he began going through his ritual checklist. Under the driver's seat, he first reached down in front to confirm a length of rope then between the seat and the door he felt for his rather large knife. Then above his visor he pulled out the cloth rag he intended to use as a gag, if necessary.
For several minutes he carried on checking on his numerous hiding places to ensure that absolutely everything was ready. When finally satisfied, he set out on his way to pick up his 'companion' for the evening.
As he pulled out of his parking space he said to himself, “This is gonna be great!”
Chapter Three
Bob was sitting at his desk filling out the mountains of paperwork that went along with the job of being a police detective when his shift commander stuck his head out of his office door and called, “Taylor?”
Bob looked up from his work and as he rose from his desk, he replied, “Be right there, Cap.” He made his way into his superior’s office and asked, “What’s up?”
Looking up from his own pile of papers, the captain said, “Just wanted to check in with you on that murder investigation. How’s it going?”
Bob started, “As if there was any doubt before, I think it's safe to assume we're dealing with a serial killer here. Everything has just been too similar.”
“Do we have anything useful yet that might lead us to the killer?”
“So far, the only connection we’ve been able to find between the victims has been the fact they’re all trannies, Cap. I mean, it wasn’t until the third and fourth victims that we knew these were anything other than simple random murders where the victims just happened to be transgendered. And even now we're having some difficulty being able to find anything else that connected them. In each case, the mode of killing was just different enough that it took a while to tie them all together.”
Bob took a moment before continuing with the impromptu briefing. “After going back over all of the evidence we have been able to find DNA evidence at all of the crime scenes, but so far nothing has shown up in any databases linking it with a known perp.”
“Any ideas?”
“Well, the biggest question right now really is how he’s finding his victims. At the moment I'm thinking of staking out establishments that are known to cater to these types of individuals, then I thought I'd check out some of the personals papers and boards to see if maybe that’s how he’s doing it, but…” Bob stopped short of completing that thought, waiting for the captain to add something to the conversation. When nothing proved to be forthcoming Bob added, “If there isn’t anything else, sir, I’d like to get back to it.”
“Yes, of course,” the captain said as Bob turned and left the office, returning to his desk to complete his paperwork.
Chapter Four
Carla was just putting the finishing touches on her makeup when the doorbell rang. She quickly took one last look in the mirror wishing she looked more feminine before heading for the door to greet her gentleman caller.
Opening the door she smiled and said, “You must be Charlie.”
He looked her up and down before responding, “That would be me. And you’re Carla.”
“Would you like to come in for a drink?” she asked as she swung the door open fully and stepped aside to allow him to enter.
Without speaking he smiled and walked into the apartment, handing her a small bouquet of flowers as she closed the door behind him.
“Thank you so much!” she gushed as she sniffed them.
“You’re welcome,” he replied as his smile seemed to morph into something more closely resembling a sneer.
Taking the flowers into her kitchen, she found a vase and ran some water into it before placing the bouquet into it. Carrying them into the living room, she set them down on the coffee table, saying, “Make yourself at home. What can I get for you?”
Sitting down on the couch, he said, “A beer?”
“I’ll be right back,” she stated as she returned to the kitchen to get their drinks.
As he watched her leave the room, Charlie thought, ‘This will be a good night.’ Then before she came back carrying their drinks he made sure to turn back so she wouldn’t know he’d been watching her as she left.
“Here ya go,” she said handing him a glass of beer.
“Thanks,” he said as he took it from her. He took a long draw from the glass, then returned his attention to his date, saying, “I made reservations for seven, so we have a few minutes before we have to head out.”
Sitting down next to him, Carla took a sip of her drink as she watched Charlie take another drink of his. ‘Wow’ she thought not believing her luck in finding a man who appreciated girls like her. She then asked, “So where are we going?”
Finishing off his drink he responded, “Antonio’s, if that’s all right?”
“Great!” she said happily. After taking another sip of her own drink, Carla got up and picked up his empty glass from the table where he’d just set it, saying, “Just let me get my coat.” Taking the glasses back to the kitchen, she placed them in the sink.
Charlie rose from the couch and made his way back to the door as she retrieved her jacket from the coat rack. Helping her on with it, they then left the apartment on their way to the restaurant.
Chapter Five
Since leaving her therapist's office, Tanya had been unable to focus on anything other than what they'd discussed during her session. It certainly wasn't that she didn't want to go down that road. Far from it. In fact, she couldn't think of anything in the world she'd like more than to be able to begin her real life test.
Unfortunately, every time she got anywhere near seriously considering going ahead and doing so a little voice in the back of her head started throwing out all the negative arguments she'd ever thought of on the subject. She'd been over this subject in her head so many times she thought if someone could eavesdrop on her thoughts they'd probably think they'd tapped into a championship level debate, she'd become so familiar with all of the arguments both for and against.
It was in the middle of yet another one of these silent debates that Tanya found herself drifting off into la la land before being rudely interrupted by her phone alarm which told her it was time to start getting ready for work. “Is it really that late?” she asked herself before heading into the bathroom to start getting ready.
Tanya was staring at her image in the mirror as she removed her makeup, thinking, ‘I need to hurry up if I’m going to make it.’ Once satisfied that all traces of her feminine self were removed, she went to the closet and took out her male clothes and quickly got dressed before heading out to work, picking up her guitar case on the way out the door.
Gently placing the case in the back seat of his car, Tom then climbed behind the wheel and began his trek to work.
Chapter Six
Carla began nervously thinking, ‘This isn’t the way to Antonio’s’ as Charlie pulled his car into a secluded alley way and turned off the engine. “What’s…” she started to ask, but before she was able to complete the thought he had his hands around her neck and began choking her.
He sneered at her as he said, “This won’t hurt nearly as much if you don’t fight.” She hit as his arms and tried to kick him, but quickly lost her battle with both her assailant and consciousness.
Continuing to grip her neck until all life had left her body, he then reached across the car and opened the passenger side door as he carelessly pushed the body out into the alley. After pulling the door closed he calmly started the car and drove off, confident that he’d again rid the world of one of ‘those’ people.
Chapter Seven
Tom sat in his car for a few minutes before going inside. Just to be certain, before getting out he flipped down the vanity mirror on the sun visor and checked to ensure there were no little flakes of mascara still hanging around his eyes. Once satisfied, he got out of his car and pulled his acoustic guitar out of the back seat and the small portable PA system out of the trunk before making his way to the club entrance.
He entered the club and felt his heart sink as he saw how few people were there. ‘Ah well,’ he thought as he unpacked his beloved J-200. ‘Maybe a few more will show up later.’ He wasn’t, however, counting on that.
After setting up and making certain the PA was working properly, he made his way to the bar where his drink was waiting for him even before he had reached where the bartender stood. Picking up the glass and taking a sip, Tom said, “Ah, you remembered.”
“Not hard,” replied the bartender. “Not many come in here and drink nothing but diet coke.”
“Fair enough,” Tom added. “Things been this quiet all evening?”
“All week is more like it.”
“Sorry to hear that.”
Wiping at the bar with a bar mop, the bartender responded, “Not your fault. It’s always slow this time of year.”
“Yeah,” commented Tom. “We’ll just have to see if we can do anything to keep the ones that are here interested.”
“Sounds like a plan,” finished the bartender before turning his attention to someone sitting at the other end.
Tom then returned to the stage area where he settled in to begin his first set. He played a couple of tentative notes on his guitar to check the tuning, then without saying anything to the assembled audience began playing his first selection of the night.
As he played the introduction, he couldn’t help but notice that the nearly empty bar seemed even more depressing than usual. It was nights like this when he had to inwardly say ‘to hell with it’ and just play for himself.
He sang the opening lines of his favorite Robben Ford tune, “My, my, my…Baby, you’re my cup of tea…My, my, my…Lovin’ what you’re doin’ to me…” and maybe he was imagining things, but he would swear the old drunks sitting at the bar acted like they actually noticed what he was doing for once.
The idea that someone was actually paying attention pushed him to give that little bit extra; not that he would have just phoned the gig in. As much as anything he had this pride thing going that pushed him to do his best no matter what. That being said, it was always easier to be motivated if others were paying attention.
If only that attention could’ve lasted. Before too long even his mind was wandering, mostly mulling over things he’d been discussing with his therapist earlier in the day.
Chapter Eight
Detective Taylor ducked under the yellow tape marking the crime scene under investigation and made his way toward the other gathered officers. As he approached, he noticed several glancing toward him before returning their attention to the work at hand.
Addressing a uniformed officer with sergeant’s stripes on his arm, Detective Taylor asked, “So what do we have here?”
Looking up, the sergeant replied, “You’re the detective.”
“Gee thanks, Sarge.” Turning his attention to the medical examiner knelt over the body, Detective Taylor asked, “Doc?”
Standing up and turning toward the detective, the medical examiner replied,“Looks like number five, Bob.”
Feeling his stomach churn at that news, he responded, “So she’s…?”
“Packin’ a little somethin’ extra under her skirt? Yeah.”
Bob added sarcastically, “Never would’ve guessed.”
“Yeah well.” Zipping the remains in a body bag, the medical examiner added, “I’ll have a complete report for you after I finish the post mortem, but I’d say the preliminary evidence is pretty conclusive. Any leads yet?”
Bob frowned before saying, “Nothing solid. I mean, so far all we know is that all the victims were trannies. There’s no telling why this guy’s doing this. Maybe he’s a frustrated fruit who’s jealous that he can’t look as good as his victims. Or maybe he’s some zealot who thinks he’s doing God’s work by ridding the world of some perverts. I guess we won’t know until we catch the guy.”
The medical examiner, with Bob’s assistance loaded the body onto a gurney and rolled it over to his van where they loaded it into the back. Once the doors were closed, the doctor said, “I’m going to get a little rest after I drop this one off at the morgue. It’ll probably be afternoon before I have a report for you.”
Bob shook the doctor’s hand and replied, “I’ll stop by your office some time tomorrow afternoon then. Here’s hoping this guy made a mistake and left us more evidence this time.”
“Yeah, here’s hoping,” added the doctor before going around the van and climbing into the driver’s seat. Seconds later he was leaving the scene.
Bob stood there silently for a few seconds watching the van pull away before returning his attention to the sergeant. “Any other evidence?”
The sergeant turned his attention back to the detective and said, “’Fraid not. The crime scene is pretty clean. You won’t get much help here.”
Disappointed, Bob responded sarcastically, “Great.”
Chapter Nine
As Tom wandered into his apartment, the first thing he noticed was the blinking light on the answering machine. After setting down his guitar case he made his way to the machine and hit the playback button: “Hey little bro, we still on for lunch tomorrow? I know it’ll be real late when you get in, so call me when you rejoin the living in the morning, okay?”
“Guess it’s a good thing Bobby called,” Tom said to himself. “I’d forgotten all about lunch tomorrow.” With that he began stripping off his clothes as he wandered toward the bathroom where he started the shower running and got his things together while the water warmed up.
He washed and conditioned his hair and used a lovely smelling moisturizing body wash before getting out of the shower and patting himself dry, then blow drying his rather long hair. Finally, hair pulled up into a ponytail tied up with a scrunchie, Tom…or as she usually preferred, Tanya…slipped into a nightgown and curled up with a book for a few minutes before heading off to bed.
Once in bed, she couldn't help thinking about all of the things she'd discussed with her therapist earlier in the day. Her mind was racing, causing her to have problems getting to sleep so she simply lay there with her mind running at something just short of mach two while she stared at the shadows cast by the tree outside her window onto the ceiling. It was a long time before she finally drifted off to sleep.
Chapter Ten
Cynthia stumbled through her apartment door, kicking off her high heels before the door was even closed. She swayed unsteadily as she made her way to the bathroom, gradually stripping off her club clothes along the way. By the time she was facing the large lavatory mirror a string of overtly sexy clothing was strewn about the small apartment.
“You know,” she began talking to herself as she applied cold cream to her face, “Sometimes I wonder if I'm getting a little old for the club scene?” She then washed the cold cream off before rubbing in her moisturizer and brushing out her hair.
Once her hair was pulled back and loosely braided, she removed the chandelier earrings and returned them to her jewelry box before turning her attention to the least comfortable part of her bedtime preparations. Taking a deep breath, she reached down and quickly yanked off the tape that had been holding her small but clearly defined male genitalia safely tucked away where it could remain undetected through all but the most diligent of searches.
That job done, Cynthia slipped into her favorite sleep shirt and climbed into bed, practically falling asleep before her head hit the pillow...
To Be Continued...
By Jillian
Chapter Eleven
Tanya was roused by the sound of the telephone ringing. She slowly became conscious enough to reach over to her bedside table and answer it, “Hello?”
“Why are you still asleep, bitch?” Cynthia’s sarcastic yet far too cheery voice berated her friend.
Grinning to herself, Tanya answered, “Well I did work last night.”
“Yeah? Well you were supposed to meet me at my place for breakfast, or had you forgotten?”
“Sorry,” She apologetically replied. Then glancing at the clock radio she muttered, “Crap! I really am sorry. Maybe you could come over tonight? I’ll make us a nice dinner.”
Following a brief pause during which Tanya began to worry that she’d hurt her friend’s feelings more than she’d at first realized, Cynthia said, “Okay, I’ll let you off the hook this time...but you’ve got to go shopping with me tomorrow.”
Giggling, Tanya responded, “It’s a date! See ya this evening.” As soon as she was off the phone with Cynthia, Tanya took a moment to find her ‘Tommy’ voice before calling Bobby.
On the second ring he answered, “Detective Taylor.”
Nervously she said, “Bobby, it’s me.”
“Hey little bro,” responded her brother. “Usual place about noon?”
As some of her nervousness abated she managed to answer, “Sure, I’ll see ya then.”
“Okay,” Bobby replied. Continuing, he added, “Later. I have some work I need to get through first.”
Hopefully she asked, “Do you want to reschedule?”
He responded dismissively, “Nah, I’ll be needing a break by then.”
“Noon it is then,” she said, bringing the conversation to a close. “Later.”
Once off the phone, Tanya said to herself, “I have a little over an hour to bring back Tommy for lunch with big brother.” She headed for the bathroom, removing her nightgown along the way.
Chapter Twelve
Bob climbed out of his car and quickly made his way into the police station. Reaching his desk he noticed the medical examiner’s report waiting for his perusal. After thumbing through the documents, he picked up the receiver on his desk phone and dialed the medical examiner’s office.
After two rings someone answered, “Medical Examiner’s office.”
“Yeah, is Doc Andrews available?” he asked.
“One moment please,” the voice on the other end replied.
After sitting on hold for a couple of minutes a click announced he doctor even before he said, “Detective?”
Bob replied, “Yeah, it’s me Doc. Got anything for me yet?”
“I’m afraid not. Whoever this guy is, he sure knows how to leave a clean crime scene.”
Barely containing his frustration, Bob commented, “Why couldn’t he slip up just once and leave us a little something?” Then in a more calm, professional voice he added, “Thanks Doc. If by some stretch you happen upon anything, give me a call asap.”
“Will do.”
Once the doctor had hung up the phone, Bob slowly returned his handset to its cradle. Looking at his watch, he said to no one in particular, “I’d best head out. I’m supposed to meet Tommy in a few.”
Grabbing his suit jacket, the detective left the station en route to his prearranged lunch with his little brother.
Chapter Thirteen
Once parked, Tommy checked his reflection in the vanity mirror as he always did to make sure he hadn’t missed any makeup, feeling silly as he realized he hadn’t put any on that morning. Satisfied, he got out of his car and headed toward the restaurant for his lunch meeting with his brother.
As he entered, he scanned the room and spotted Bobby sitting at a booth toward the back. Making his way in that direction, he saw his brother wave. Tommy smiled and returned the gesture as he crossed the last few yards, joining him in the booth.
He’d barely sat down when a waitress came up and asked, “Can I get you anything to drink?”
Looking up at her he replied, “Just a diet coke, thanks.”
“And what about you? Need a refill yet?” she turned toward Bobby and asked.
“I'm good for now.”
“Be right back with that,” she said before leaving them alone.
Turning his attention to his older brother, Tommy asked, “So how’s things?”
“Busy,” Bobby responded. “I don’t suppose you’ve heard about this serial murder case?”
Briefly looking concerned he replied, “Even I don’t live deep enough in a cave to have missed that. How’s that going?”
Frowning, Bobby answered, “Not great. Unless we get real lucky, it’s going to take a while.” Then changing subjects he asked, “How’s everything with you? I know you’ve been working quite a bit.”
“Yeah,” he replied in as close an approximation of a masculine chuckle as he could manage. “Actually, tonight’s my first free one in about three weeks. After this, I have another two weeks before a night off. ‘Course, I’m not complaining. There are a lot worse ways to make a living.”
“Got that right,” his brother agreed. After a brief pause he asked halfheartedly, “I take it then that you haven’t been seeing anyone?”
Tommy looked at his brother for a moment unsure if he really wanted to breach the subject before finally deciding to deflect the question. “Not really,” he responded uncomfortably. Further conversation was interrupted by the return of the waitress.
“Here are your drinks. Are you ready to order?”
Bobby answered first, “Sirloin steak for me, medium rare, with baked potato and side salad.”
Turning her attention to Tommy she asked, “And you sir?”
“Grilled chicken Caesar salad.”
“I’ll have those for you in just a few minutes,” she said as she left the brothers alone.
“How do you survive on that?” Bobby asked his brother.
Indignantly, Tommy replied, “Hey, there’s meat on it! Besides, you ordered a salad too.”
Smiling because he knew that he’d pushed his brother’s buttons sufficiently Bobby added, “Yeah, but you never seem to eat anything else!”
Not wanting the subject to continue, Tommy said dismissively, “I don’t want to pudge up like you, big brother!” To lighten his comment, he quietly chuckled.
They continued talking about little if anything through the remainder of their meal, until they were preparing to leave when Bobby reminded his brother, “Don’t forget to call Mom this weekend. Her birthday is…”
Cutting off his brother, Tommy said, “Sunday, I know. Don’t worry so much, okay? I’m a lot more responsible than you seem to want to give me credit for sometimes.”
“Yeah, I know,” he replied. Sensing that he’d pushed the ‘big brother’ thing beyond the accepted threshold, Bobby said his goodbyes and they parted company.
It wasn't until Tommy was safely back in his car that he allowed himself to take a deep cleansing breath before saying, “We now return to our regularly scheduled life,” followed by a light giggle.
Tommy spent the entire drive home listening intently to Sheryl Crow's “Detours” CD. Always a huge fan of her work, he found this one to be her least accessible recording from a pop perspective, despite what he thought were several outstanding songs. That being said, “Gasoline” from this disc was one of his all time favorite songs of hers.
Arriving back home, he began the process of transforming back into Tanya. Unable to stop thinking about her just completed visit with her brother, she asked herself in frustration, “When am I going to tell him? Life would be so much easier if I didn’t have to do this back and forth thing all the time.” Without an answer to her question, she returned her attention to the task at hand.
Once she was ready she then went to the kitchen and got some salmon out of the freezer to thaw for dinner with her best friend Cynthia. After putting together a quick marinade for the fish, she put it all into a Ziploc bag to let it, as Emeril said on tv, get happy before making up another for the new potatoes. With all that done, she settled in with her book for some much needed relaxation…
Chapter Fourteen
Detective Taylor was seated at his desk going over the M.E.’s report on the latest victim in the vain hope that something would jump out at him that might lead to solving the case. Louder than he intended, he said to no one in particular, “We don’t even know where he’s finding his victims. All we know is that none of them have any priors.”
Continuing his musings as he went and refilled his coffee mug, he noticed a copy of the local ‘alternative’ newspaper lying on the counter. “I wonder…” he muttered as he picked up the paper and started to flip through to the personals section.
Taking it back to his desk, he began scanning the ads until he found several ‘girls’ looking for ‘friends’. He then found the phone number for the publisher and placed a call.
On the second ring someone answered, “'Open Magazine'. How may I direct your call?”
“This is Detective Robert Taylor. I need to speak to someone in classifieds.”
“One moment please…” he then heard a click followed by several seconds of silence.
Eventually there was another click on the line followed by, “James Humphrey. What can I do for you detective?”
Clearing his throat, Bob stated, “I was needing some information about some of the ads in your personals section.”
Pausing for the briefest of moments, James finally said, “Sure. What can I tell you?”
Knowing the information he wanted was going to be difficult to acquire, Bob pressed on getting straight to the matter at hand, “I need names and contact information for the people who’ve placed some ads.”
A longer silence preceded the response this time, “I’ll need to check with my boss before…”
Cutting him off, Bob said, “Then transfer me to your boss, please. This is in reference to an active murder investigation.”
“One moment please…” he was then placed back on hold. While waiting, Bob made note of all the ads he wanted information on.
When the line was picked up Bob heard, “Stanley Grant. How can I help you detective?”
Bluntly, Bob stated, “I need names and contact information for several of the 'personals' in connection with a murder investigation.”
Rattled, Mr. Grant tried to stall, “We don’t generally give out that sort of…”
Again interrupting, Bob said, “I’m well aware of that, but I have a serial killer on the loose and I’m trying to figure out how he’s finding his victims. If any of them have been running ads in your paper…”
Mr. Grant slowly responded, “Understood. Can you fax me the page, circling the ads in question? I’ll pull the info you need and fax it back in a couple of hours.”
With a satisfied grin, Bob said, “That’ll work. What’s the fax number?”
After making note of the number, Bob circled the ads he wanted the information on and then faxed the pages. “Now, we wait,” he said to himself.
Chapter Fifteen
As Cynthia approached the apartment door she wondered whether she should simply let herself in or ring the doorbell like a guest normally would. After all, she’d been given a key to the apartment long ago so she could take care of the plants when Tanya was on the road working.
In the end she decided to ring the doorbell, but after waiting a couple of minutes she came to the conclusion that the hostess must still be getting ready. She then reached into her purse, coming out with the door key, which she used to let herself in.
Before the front door had even closed, Tanya came around the corner to let her guest in only to find that she had let herself in. “Ya know, most guests just wait for their hostess.”
“Why should I do that when I have a key?” asked Cynthia giggling.
Tanya tried to work up a little indignation before responding, “Common courtesy?”
“We both know I’m a rude bitch, so why should I pretend otherwise?”
“Fair enough,” Tanya said humorously, all but defeated. Changing the subject she said, “Dinner’s almost ready. Shall we?”
Cynthia helped Tanya serve the dinner before taking a seat while her friend opened a bottle of wine and poured glasses for them both. As they ate the conversation turned to their plans for later in the evening.
Cynthia first broached the subject saying, “I heard things are supposed to really be hoppin’ at the club tonight.”
“I don’t know if I want to go out tonight,” Tanya unenthusiastically responded. I mean, I’ve been working every night lately and I don’t know that I want to spend my night off at the same kind of place I’ve been working.”
“But this is different. It’ll be fun, you’ll see,” Cynthia practically begged.
After a moment Tanya replied, “Let me think about it for a few, okay?”
Chapter Sixteen
Bob had spent the last half hour going over the information he’d received from the paper, finding that three of the five victims had in fact been running ads looking for dates.
“Okay, but what about the other two?” he asked himself.
Remembering the transgendered club downtown, he thought his next step should probably be to stake it out to see if they might find anything. He called over to Sergeant Parker. “Hey Sarge, wanna pick up some overtime tonight?”
Rubbing at the 5 o'clock shadow on his chin, Parker asked, “What ya got in mind?”
Handing him a camera, Bob replied, “A stakeout.”
“Oh, joy,” Parker chuckled. “You get to call my wife and tell her, ‘cuz I ain’t doin’ it.”
Smirking, Bob countered, “Ah, come on Sarge. We both know she won’t complain about you not being under foot this evening.”
Laughing, the Sergeant conceded, “Fair enough.”
Pausing long enough for the laughter to die down, Bob asked, “So you in?”
“Sure,” answered Parker. “Where and when?”
After arranging the particulars, Bob decided that the next step might be to place a decoy ad in the paper. Picking up the phone, he again called the publisher. When the receptionist answered, he asked for Stanley Grant.
After a moment on hold, the publisher answered, “Stanley Grant. What can I do for you?”
“Detective Taylor here. Turns out that information has been a big help. Thanks again.”
“No problem, detective,” he said, the relief evident in his voice. “You didn’t call just to tell me that, did you?”
“No, I had an idea I wanted to bounce off you,” Bob began tentatively.
With just a trace of uneasiness in his voice, the publisher said, “Fire away.”
Noticing Mr. Grant's discomfort Bob began, “Nothing bad, I promise you. It seems that three of the five victims did indeed have ads running in your paper, so I was thinking we could try placing a decoy ad in next week’s edition to see if we get a bite.”
As the relief washed over him, Mr. Grant responded, “Absolutely. Anything we can do to help. Just fax me the copy for the ad and I’ll make sure it’s in there.”
“Great,” Bob replied. “Thanks for your cooperation.”
After ending the call, Bob put together the copy for the ad and took it to the fax machine. He was then on his way back to his desk when he heard his name being called.
“Detective Taylor?” called the Captain from behind his desk as he saw the officer walk by his door.
Sticking his head in his superior’s office, Bob said, “Yeah Skip, you need me?”
“You got any leads?”
Entering the office Bob replied, “Maybe. Three of the victims were running personals ads in that alternative rag, so I contacted them about placing a decoy ad. I’m not sure what to do if we get a bite, but that seems to be our best bet. I also thought we might stake out that tranny bar downtown and take pictures of everyone going in and out. Who knows, we might get something.”
“Sounds like you made a little progress today then. When you doing the stakeout?”
Bob replied, “Tonight. Sergeant Parker will be going with me. We’ll need one of the unmarked cars.”
“You got it.”
Turning to leave the office, Bob added, “Seems like the closest thing we have to a lead, ya know?”
“Yeah,” the Captain replied. “What time you planning on setting up?”
“I checked out the location earlier and found a spot where we’ll have clear vision of the entrance to the club as well as a fair amount of the surrounding area. I thought I’d have the car parked there before things get busy down there. The Sarge is about the best photographer we’ve got, plus I figured an extra set of eyes couldn’t hurt.”
Looking at the mountain of paperwork on his desk, the Captain said, “Good. Well, I won’t keep you from it then. I expect a full report in the morning.”
“Yes sir,” Bob replied before leaving the Captain’s door.
On his way to his desk he bumped into Sergeant Parker again, saying, “You ready for an exciting night of perv watching, Sarge?”
“I guess so. Hope it’s more interesting than Janet’s pot roast that I’ll be missing,” he replied.
“I hope you aren’t disappointed,” Bob continued. “I’m having a car placed within the hour, then we’ll be dropped off a couple of blocks away by a patrol in a couple of hours. Why don’t you bring the donuts and I’ll get the thermos of coffee?”
“Sounds like a plan.”
Chapter Seventeen
It took some doing, but eventually Cynthia convinced Tanya that her night off would be better spent out having fun, as opposed to lounging around the apartment reading and going to bed early. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that Tanya realized her friend wasn't about to take no for an answer, so she agreed to accompany her if for no other reason than to avoid an argument she knew she had no chance of winning.
As they strolled down the street on their way to a club that catered to ‘special’ girls like themselves, Tanya grumbled all the while, “How do I let you talk me into things? I was just going to relax at home tonight and the next thing I know, you’re dragging me out…” she eventually let the thought go unfinished.
Cynthia replied, “You’ll have fun and you know it.” Seeing the beginnings of a scoff on Tanya’s face she continued, “Besides, maybe one of us will get lucky tonight,” she grinned suggestively.
“Yeah well, have fun with that,” Tanya said in response.
“Spoilsport,” Cynthia said, sticking her tongue out at her friend.
They reached the entrance to the club as their exchange wound down. After waiting in line for a couple of minutes, both girls were promptly ushered into the throbbing mass of humanity that was at that moment frequenting the establishment.
Chapter Eighteen
“Nothin’ so far,” sighed the sergeant as he put down the binoculars.
Raising a camera with a large zoom lens to his eye, Bob commented, “Yeah, but the night is young.” He continued to look through the lens as he took pictures of every person they saw entering the club. After a couple of minutes, he lowered the camera and sat there in stunned silence.
“Something wrong?” asked the Sarge.
Bob turned to look at his companion but couldn’t seem to find his voice to respond. After a moment, he finally said to himself, “Wasn’t expecting that.”
“What?”
Regaining his composure, Bob answered, “Nothing. Really.”
“Sure,” said the Sarge. “I believe that.”
Bob looked at his partner for a moment, trying to decide if he wanted to try convincing the man he was wrong but knowing all along he had hit the nail on the proverbial head. Deciding withdrawal was the more prudent action, he silently returned his attention to the mass of humanity that was descending on 'Slipper'.
Despite his attempts to do otherwise, he couldn't take his mind off of the earlier sight. As soon as he saw her, he knew without a doubt he'd just watched his brother enter the club in drag.
He'd known that Tommy had experimented with cross dressing when they were kids, but had assumed that it was just a phase that he had grown out of. Now he knew for certain that his previous thoughts on the subject were wrong, so he absentmindedly watched the scene across the street while he tried to figure out what he would say to his brother when next they met.
Chapter Nineteen
Tanya was sitting at the bar nursing a glass of wine when Cynthia came bouncing up and asked, “Would you mind going solo for the rest of the night?”
“Found a gentleman friend have you?”
“Yes indeed-y,” Cynthia bubbled.
“Go,” Tanya replied. “Have fun.” After giving her friend a kiss on the cheek, Cynthia floated off toward her new friend, disappearing into the mass of patrons leaving Tanya alone.
Watching her friend wander off with that stranger, Tanya couldn’t shake the feeling something bad was going to happen. Trying to ignore that thought, she looked at the glass of wine in front of her and took another sip. Nursing her drink for several minutes, her thoughts were broken by the sound of a man sitting down next to her.
“Hi,” he said as she turned her attention to him. “Are you alone tonight?”
Smirking at him, she replied, “It would appear so.”
“You know you don’t have to be,” he offered playfully.
Looking back at her glass, she replied, “I don’t think I’d be very good company tonight. Sorry.”
He smiled sadly and said, “Oh well, nothing ventured…”
“Thanks anyway,” she said as she lifted her glass and took a drink. She then watched him get up dejectedly and walk away, in search of someone else.
After finishing her drink, Tanya grabbed her handbag and found her way back outside. Without looking back at the party raging inside the nightclub, she began her trek home.
Chapter Twenty
Still sitting in the car with binoculars trained on the entrance to the club, Bob watched as Tanya exited the building and turned toward home. Bob felt his stomach twist into knots as he followed his ‘brother’s’ progress until ‘he’ could no longer be seen through the darkness of the night.
His attention was returned to the job at hand as his companion said, “Here comes another one, only it’s not alone.”
Catching sight of the couple as they made their way toward a car parked not far from the door, the detective raised his camera to his eye just in time to snap a few pictures of the couple as the gentleman opened the car door for his companion and helped her take a seat. As the man made his way around the car to the driver’s side door, Bob managed to take a couple more pictures of him before the man climbed behind the wheel and drove off.
To Be Continued...
By Jillian
Chapter Twenty-One
Tanya wandered into her apartment unaware of the fact that her secret, which she’d tried so hard to hide from her family over the years, had been discovered. She undressed, removed her makeup and got herself ready for bed, all the while unable to shake the feeling that something wasn't right.
Once in bed she realized that sleep was still some time away, so she picked up a book and tried without much success to read. Each time she started to get into the story, her mind wandered back to Cynthia. The questions swirled around her mind so quickly that they left no room for any other thoughts.
Eventually she was able to stop thinking about Cynthia long enough to finish one page of her book, at which point she gave up on the idea of staying up and reading. As she turned out the light and drifted off to sleep that same momentary sense of concern for her friend she'd had ever since they parted company swept over her yet again, although she didn’t know why. After dismissing that feeling, sleep finally enveloped her.
Chapter Twenty-Two
“What a nice car!” She gently stroked the leather of the seats and practically purred with pleasure.
As they drove away from the club, Cynthia couldn’t help herself as she gushed,
“Like it?” he asked as he drove on.
“What’s not to like?” she replied. After a couple of minutes riding in silence, Cynthia asked, “Where we going?”
Charlie remained silent as he continued to drive on, an evil grin splashed across his face. If Cynthia had been able to see it, she might’ve been concerned. Unfortunately for her she could not, so she simply rode on in blissful ignorance.
They spent the next ten minutes or so chatting about nothing in particular while he calmly drove her further away from the part of town with which she was familiar. Unfortunately for her, it took her some time to realize this.
At one point she looked around as they drove on, trying to figure out where they were. She’d lost her way some time ago and was beginning to feel concerned that she had no idea where they were or where they were going.
Eventually the car pulled into an alley where Charlie parked and turned off the engine. He then turned toward Cynthia and began lightly caressing her cheek. As she began to think that her concerns were for naught, he reached behind her head and roughly grabbed her by the hair and pulled her toward him.
“Ow!” she yelped as he yanked on her hair. “Not so rough!”
Without responding, he began pushing her head down toward his lap while his other hand began the task of unfastening his pants. Cynthia struggled to get away, to no avail.
“Where do you think you’re going?” he growled.
“Away from you!” she shouted back.
He redoubled his efforts to hold her by way of response, which after a moment subdued her struggling. As her mouth drew near his crotch he ordered, “Don’t even think about biting!”
Chapter Twenty-Three
“Looks like last call, boss,” yawned the sergeant as he took pictures of the last of the patrons exiting the nightclub.
“Yeah, I think we can call it a night. If anything’s going to happen tonight, it isn’t gonna be here,” replied Bob. “What do ya say we get out of here and download the pics in the morning?”
“Sounds good to me.”
Bob started the car and drove back to the station, where he dropped off his associate. “Go get some sleep, okay Sarge?”
“Ya don’t have to tell me twice,” chuckled the sergeant. “I think I’m getting a little old for this crap.”
“You and me both,” Bob agreed.
“I’ll see ya at roll call in the morning,” the sergeant said before turning toward his car.
“Good night then,” Bob called to him as he watched his friend.
As he waited for his partner to get in his car and drive off, Bob found his mind immediately wandered back to seeing his brother earlier in the evening. He was somewhat repulsed, but upon reflection he had to admit that he wasn't all that surprised by Tommy's attire.
He remembered the first time he found his brother dressed in their mother's things. Tommy stood there as if there was nothing wrong while Bob freaked out completely. To his credit, rather than beat up his brother or verbally abuse him, he'd simply told him to change out of those things before they got ruined.
Unfortunately for Bob, that wasn't the only time he'd found his brother in attire more appropriate for a sister. As they made their way through their teen years it became a fairly regular occurrence, despite Bob's obvious discomfort with the situation. In truth, it wasn't the clothes that had surprised him as much as the fact that Tommy had actually gone out in public dressed like that.
Once Sergeant Parker was on his way, Bob decided that late or not it was time for a little brother to brother chat.
Chapter Twenty-Four
The patrolman was cruising his usual beat when he happened to see a set of taillights tearing down an alley much too fast. He backed up and turned to go down the alley himself when he happened upon the unmoving body of a young woman lying against a dumpster.
Jumping out of his patrol car, he ran to check on her. Finding that she still had a faint pulse, he immediately called for an ambulance and tried to stabilize her while waiting for the paramedics to arrive.
He rushed back to his car and got a blanket and first aid kit out of the trunk, quickly covering the victim with the blanket in order to hopefully avoid shock. He then took some gauze from the kit and after using some distilled water to moisten the material he gently tried to clean away some of the blood in order to get a better idea of her injuries.
As he did his best to tend to the victim, the ambulance arrived. Once the attendants were on the scene they began working at warp speed trying to stabilize her before loading her into the back of their vehicle for the trip to the hospital.
Chapter Twenty-Five
The pounding on the door woke Tanya, followed by shouts of, “Come on Tommy. Let me in.”
Instantly recognizing the voice of her big brother, she quickly jumped out of bed and pulled on a big, fluffy bathrobe over her nightie. Finding her ‘Tommy’ voice she replied, “Be right there.” By the time he found his way to the door, Bobby was letting himself in with his key.
He was barely inside the door before beginning, “What the hell were you doing at that club dressed like that?”
Tanya ignored the question for a moment asking, “What time is it?”
“A little after three,” Bob responded. “Now answer my question.”
Trying to look and sound as innocent as possible, Tommy responded, “What’re you talking about?”
“Don’t give me that crap, little brother. I saw you all decked out walking into that club with your ‘girlfriend’ earlier tonight. I swear, I thought you'd finally outgrown all that crap. Boy, I was wrong, wasn't I?”
Stunned by the revelation that he’d been found out, Tommy found it difficult to respond at first. When he finally was able to say something, he softly cried, “I never really did a very good job of hiding how I am, at least not from you. Not from Mom and Dad either, really. Apparently you haven't been paying enough attention lately to notice yourself, but I plan to transition. Now you know.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Bob queried as irritation crept into his voice.
As tears rolled down Tommy’s face, he shouted, “What do you think it means?” Then he silently looked directly at his brother as he contemplated the answer to Bob’s question.
Eventually he let out a huge sigh before saying in the smallest voice he’d ever produced, “I’m Transgender. Whether you've wanted to accept it or not, you've always known. I'm going to go all the way. Have the surgery.”
Bob stared at his brother trying to determine just how to respond to what he’d just heard. As the seconds ticked by, the silence became ever more difficult to overcome. Before he’d said anything, the sound of his cell phone shattered the quiet that had enveloped them.
Taking out his phone, Bob flipped it open and said, “Taylor…Another one? At the ER…you mean this one’s still alive?” Looking at his ‘brother’, Bob’s facial expression went from one of disappointment to sadness as he continued his conversation, “You sure? Okay, I’ll see you there ASAP.”
Closing his flip phone, Bob again directed his attention to his sibling standing before him. Despite the knowledge that this was his brother, he had trouble seeing this person as anything other than a woman and that disturbed him.
Finally shaking loose of those thoughts for a moment, he regained a bit of professional detachment and said, “We have another victim, only this one seems to be hanging onto life, albeit by a thread. I have to go, but we’re going to get back to this.”
As Bob turned to leave, Tanya said, “Bobby, believe it or not I’m still the same person I’ve always been.”
Standing with his hand on the doorknob, Bob faced his sibling once again and replied, “That may be, but…” Unable to finish the thought, he just turned and headed out the door.
After staring at the door for a moment as a flood of tears began to fall in a vain attempt to wash away the ache in her heart, Tanya returned to bed even though sleep was not likely to be revisiting her for some time.
She sat there crying until exhaustion forced her to lay down, but still sleep would not return. Sobbing into her pillow, she realized exactly what her course of action should be.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Cynthia was rushed to the operating room where the surgeon scrambled to repair her numerous injuries. Bob arrived at the hospital moments after they took her in and spent the next hour going over the details with the officer who had found her.
It was nearly three hours later when the doctor emerged from surgery. When Bob saw him, he immediately identified himself, “Hey Doc, I’m Detective Taylor. I understand your patient is likely the latest victim in a case I’m working on. What’s the word?”
“There was a lot of internal bleeding from the beating she sustained. We think we’ve repaired most of the damage. Now all we can do is wait to see if she regains consciousness.”
“Do you have an ID?”
“No, she didn’t have any on her. It seems the perpetrator took her purse and any ID documents with it.”
“Can I see him?”
Noticeably irked by the detective’s unwillingness to acknowledge his patient’s obvious gender of choice, the doctor somewhat testily responded, “Not for a couple of hours. Hopefully by then she’ll have come around and then you can ask all the questions you want.”
Once the doctor had returned to his duties, Bob turned to the patrolman who’d found the victim and asked, “Are you going to stick around here or do you need to get back to your beat?”
“I should probably get back to it, sir.”
“All right, have a good rest of shift. Don’t forget to complete your incident reports when you get back to the station. I’ll talk to you in the morning.”
Bob next turned his attention to the duty nurse in post op. Once he had her attention, he asked, “Could you let me know when the patient comes around? I have a few questions that need answers.”
“Yes sir, just let me make a note of your number.”
He handed her a card saying, “Here’s my desk line at the precinct as well as my personal cell number. Please let me know if anything changes?”
After looking at the card for a moment she wrote the contact information in the patient’s chart before moving on to the next patient.
Bob headed home, barely making it inside the door before collapsing from exhaustion on the couch.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
After less than an hour's sleep, Tanya awoke with a feeling of dread pressing down upon her chest. Worried that she'd not heard from Cynthia yet, she grabbed her cell phone and tried calling her friend only to have it roll to voice-mail.
She tried calling Cynthia’s cell phone over and over, hoping against hope yet still getting no answer. There in the middle of the night and knowing from her brother's departure that there had in fact been another attack, she couldn’t help but fear for her friend. Maybe it was irrational, she tried to tell herself, but she couldn’t shake the feeling she’d had earlier that something bad had happened to her dearest friend in the world.
Knowing that there was no way in the world she’d be able to sleep until she knew her friend was all right, Tanya decided to try to read while she waited for Cynthia to return her calls. After staring at the same paragraph for nearly an hour, she eventually nodded off.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Several hours later as the sun came up, Bob, having gone home for some much needed shut eye, was awakened by his cell phone ringing. He fumbled with it trying to open the flip phone as it continued to ring. Finally, he managed to answer it.
Yawning, Bob grumbled, “Yeah, Taylor here…”
The voice on the other end said, “Bob, it’s Parker.”
“Sarge, what’re you doin’ up at this ungodly hour?”
“Looks like the victim is coming around.”
Suddenly feeling much more awake, Bob said, “Oh, really? I’ll be right there.” After closing his phone, he quickly dressed and headed for the hospital.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Charlie was pacing back and forth in the living room of his dingy apartment, mumbling, “Idiot! Idiot!...” repeatedly as he struck his forehead with his hand. “Careless! How could I almost let myself get caught like that?”
As he started to calm down he began thinking out loud, “Have to be more careful. Can’t get caught. The work is too important…”
Once done berating himself for his carelessness, Charlie logged onto his computer and went straight to Open magazine’s online personals section where he browsed the ads to see if there were any new ‘girls’ for him to contact. Spying one new ad, he clicked ‘respond’ and typed a note:
Hey! Just saw your ad and wanted to know if you’d like to get together. If so, call 867-5309.
Later, Charlie
Clicking ‘send’ he then shut down his computer and wandered into his bedroom where he flopped down on the bed without bothering to take off his clothes.
Chapter Thirty
Bob made his way to the ICU nurses’ station just as Sergeant Parker was coming out from beside one of the beds on the ward. Turning his attention to the Sarge, he asked, “Anything?”
“Nah, she just woke up. I haven’t had a chance to ask anything yet.”
Bob followed his colleague to the bed in question and instantly recognized the person lying there, despite the substantial swelling and bruising that was doing its best to disguise her identity. Without even saying a word to the patient, he turned around and went to the waiting room where he took out his phone and dialed his sibling.
After two rings, a groggy voice answered, “Yes?”
Without identifying himself, Bob said, “Tommy, your friend from last night is in the ICU.”
Still not completely awake, Tanya asked, “Bobby?”
“I’m guessing you’ll want to get down here.”
Finally clicking into gear, Tanya replied, “Yeah, I’ll be there as quick as I can.”
Bob then flipped his phone closed without even saying goodbye and then returned to the patient just as she was beginning to respond to the nurse’s attempts to communicate. “Any chance we can talk to him?”
The nurse testily barked back, “Give me a few minutes with HER, then maybe.” She then returned her attention to her patient, checking her vitals and noting them on the chart.
Then she asked her patient, “Do you feel like talking to the police?”
Cynthia croaked, “Yeah, I think so.”
“Here's your call button if you need anything,” the nurse told her as she pointed to a panel built into the bed's side rail. “I'll be back in a bit to see how you're doing.”
Not even addressing the detective, the nurse then left Cynthia’s bedside and returned to the nurse’s station. Bob watched the nurse leave before turning to Sarge and shooting him a ‘What the…’ look.
He then faced Cynthia and asked, “Can you tell us what happened?”
She tried to sit up so she could face the officers, but the pain prevented her from doing so. After exhaling a breath she didn’t know she was holding, she said, “Well, I met this guy last night at the ‘Slipper’ and we really seemed to hit it off. Eventually he asked me if I wanted to go to his place, which I was all for at the time.”
She paused a moment so she could lay back down and said as she began to close her eyes, “Can we continue in a little bit?”
Sergeant Parker replied, “Sure. We’ll be back in a while.”
Before the officers had turned to leave, the doctor entered the room and said, “I think you should come back later so my patient can get some rest.”
Bob responded, “We were just leaving. Do you have any more information for us?”
“Come with me,” said the doctor as he left the room.
“I should probably get back to the precinct,” said the Sarge.
“Yeah, I’ll stick around here to see if I can find anything else out,” replied Bob as he watched his colleague leave. He then followed the doctor to the nurse’s station where he asked, “Do we know anything more?”
The doctor looked in the chart and said, “Her name is Cynthia Henderson, she’s…”
Bob interrupted him asking, “But what’s his real name?”
Looking sternly at the officer the doctor continued, “That is her real, legal name. She’s 24 years old and has been undergoing treatment for gender dysphoria for the last six years.”
Appearing somewhat chastised, Bob responded, “Okay, sorry. Can you tell me anything new about the attack?”
“Not really. While it seems the attacker’s ultimate intent was to kill her, he appears to have been interrupted by the patrolman who found her before he could finish the job.”
“Has she said anything about being able to identify him?”
“Not as of yet,” the doctor replied. “She’s been in and out of it ever since she was brought in. He beat her up pretty thoroughly, what with the internal bleeding we had to go in to stop, plus the broken ribs, fractured cheekbone and nose, not to mention the severe bruising around her neck where he was choking her.”
Somewhat disappointed, Bob said, “Well, thanks, doc. If you don’t mind, I’d like to come back when she wakes up again so I can ask a few questions.”
“Not a problem,” said the doctor as he turned his attention to another patient.
Bob then headed toward the elevators on his way back to the precinct to look through the photos from the previous night’s stakeout.
To Be Continued...
By Jillian
Chapter Thirty-One
Tanya exited the elevator and started toward the ICU nurse’s station, her heels seeming incredibly loud in the otherwise quiet area. Reaching the desk, she asked the first person she saw, “Do you have a Cynthia Henderson here?”
Looking up from the chart she’d been studying, the nurse asked, “Are you a relative?”
With some irritation she said, “About as close as you’re likely to find. She was disowned by her family years ago.”
Sighing, the nurse replied as she pointed toward the bed behind the curtain, “Yes, right over there.”
“Thank you,” Tanya said as she headed toward her friend. Pulling back the curtain, she found Cynthia lying there bandaged and bruised. Her first thought was, ‘I was afraid something like this might happen.’
Approaching the bed, Tanya took in the full extent of Cynthia’s injuries. Tears welled up in her eyes as she looked down upon her friend sleeping. Pulling a chair next to the bed, she sat down and took Cynthia’s hand in hers as she quietly cried.
Tanya was brought back to reality by the sound of her friend’s voice saying, “Hey bitch. What’s up?”
“You’re awake? You’re awake!” she said as she wiped tears from her cheeks.
“You might want to do something about the raccoon eyes thing,” Cynthia joked.
It really doesn’t do a thing for you.”
A nurse entered, responding to the voices coming from the bed. “Oh good, you’re awake. I’ll go tell the doctor.” She then left as quickly as she’d arrived.
“So what happened?” Tanya asked as she gripped her friend’s hand tightly.
“I guess maybe that wasn’t one of my better choices,” she replied. “He seemed like such a nice guy at the bar, but…”
Discussion was interrupted by the arrival of the doctor, who directing his attention to Tanya asked, “Could you give me a few minutes with my patient?”
“Oh sure,” she said as she stood up to head for the waiting room.
“You can come back in a bit. I just need to check a few things.”
“Sure Doctor,” Tanya said as she exited the area.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Bob had been staring at the photographs for well over an hour. Granted, some of that time had been wasted looking at the one's of his sibling, but most of it had been spent trying to get a clear close up of the man who’d left the club with Cynthia the previous evening.
Sitting back in his chair, he put his forefinger and thumb on either side of his nose as he closed his eyes trying to relieve some of the tension that had built up in him over the past few hours. First, he’d discovered things about his ‘brother’ that he never wanted to know and then there was the potential for the first real lead in his case. As much as the latter should’ve energized him, he found that the former was making it impossible for him to feel good about anything.
As had been the case all morning, he found his thoughts wandering back to his discussion with Tommy earlier. What on Earth could make someone think like that? No matter how many times he tried to go through it, he simply couldn’t come up with an answer that made sense to him.
His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Sergeant Parker’s voice asking, “What’s this?” as he picked up the pictures he had laying on his desk. Looking at them more closely the Sarge recognized one of them as their suspect, but then he looked at the other photo and said, “Who’s this?”
“What?” Bob said defensively.
“This one,” Parker said holding out the photo of Tanya. “I remember, last night when we saw this one walking into the club you got all rattled. What’s the deal? You know her or something?” he asked, chuckling.
Finally, Bob replied, “You might say that. You could say we grew up together.”
“Interesting,” commented the Sarge. “Care to elaborate?”
“Not really,” Bob deflected.
Sitting down on the edge of the desk, the sergeant said, “’Fraid not, ol’ buddy. This one’s got you rattled pretty good, and I want to know why...”
Taking a deep breath and letting out a long sigh, Bob eventually replied, “You gotta keep this just between you and me.” Pausing for a moment, he then quietly said, “That’s my little brother.”
“Ouch,” Parker replied.
“Yeah, tell me about it.”
“So, did you know about this before?” he asked before adding, “I mean, he looks pretty good.”
“Hey!” Bob chastised his friend and partner. Further conversation was interrupted by the ringing of Bob’s cell phone. “Taylor here.”
On the other end, the doctor replied, “Yes detective, this is Dr. Sanders at the hospital. I thought you’d like to know that our patient seems to be awake. If you have any more questions, you might want to head over.”
“Great,” Bob enthused. “I’m on my way.”
Chapter Thirty-Three
“Okay, no arguments,” Tanya stated. “You are never leaving a bar with someone you just met ever again. Understood?”
Looking at her friend, Cynthia replied, “Yes mom.” Then looking toward the curtain being pulled open, she called out, “Hey Detective.”
As Bob walked up to the bedside, Tanya looked at him and said to her friend, “I see you’ve met my brother.”
Looking back at Tanya, Cynthia said, “No shit? Your brother?”
“Afraid so,” said Bob. Handing a photo to her, he asked, “Is this the man who did this to you?”
She looked at the photo for a moment and shuddered before saying, “Yes. Have you caught him?”
“No. This is a surveillance picture taken last night as you were leaving with him.”
Tanya took the picture from her friend and looked at it before adding, “That’s the guy I saw you leaving with last night all right.” Then directed toward her brother she asked, “How’d you get this? Oh wait, that’s right. You said you were there last night.”
As she was saying this, Sergeant asked Bob, “So you weren’t kidding me earlier, were you?”
Looking at him, Tanya asked, “What?”
“He had a picture we’d taken of you last night on his desk and when I asked him who you were, well…”
Bob then said, “I shouldn’t have said anything.”
“Bobby, I know you’re ashamed of me and all,” Tanya said to her brother. “But really.”
“Can we talk about this later?” Bob asked his ‘brother’.
“Sure,” she replied.
Directing his attention again toward Cynthia, he asked, “And you’re sure this is the man?”
“Absolutely.”
“By any chance can you remember the car?”
“I won’t forget that one any time soon. It was an early ‘70s Cadillac Coupe Deville. Black, fully restored.”
“Excellent,” he said. Bob then took the photo back and handed it to the Sarge saying, “Let’s put out an APB on this guy and his car.”
“I’m on it,” he said, taking the photo and leaving the bedside.
Once Parker was gone, Bob directed his attention back toward Tanya and asked, “Can we talk for a minute?”
“Just a sec,” she replied. Then to Cynthia she said, “Sweetie, I know you could use some rest and I really need to get some sleep before work tonight, so I should probably be going, okay?”
“Okay,” she responded.
Returning her attention to her brother, Tanya asked, “What do you want to talk about?”
“Not here,” he said. “Come down to the cafeteria with me for a minute, okay?”
Chapter Thirty-Four
Charlie crawled out of bed, noticing the flashing light on his answering machine. Hitting the play button, he listened to the message, “Hey Charlie. It’s Sandra. I got your message. Sure I’d like to go out with you. Are ya busy tonight? Call me back.”
He looked up her number where he’d written it down the day before and picking up the phone, he dialed. On the third ring, she answered, “Hey.”
“Sandra? It’s Charlie.”
“Charlie!” she enthused. “I’m glad you called.”
“Listen, tonight would be great. What say we meet at the bar at the Hilton around 8?”
“Awesome!” she said happily. “See ya there!”
Hanging up the phone, he thought, ‘Excellent! Another one.”
Chapter Thirty-Five
Bob and Tanya sat across from each other drinking coffee in silence for several minutes before Tanya said, “You wanted to talk?”
Putting his cup down, he nodded saying, “Yeah.” Taking a second to compose his thoughts, he asked, “What’s the deal here?”
“What do you mean?”
Gesturing toward the way she was dressed, he said, “With this.”
“I think you know by now.”
“Yeah, but why?”
“Why?” she repeated his question. “Well, my doctor says that most likely when I was still in utero my brain got hit with estrogen at some point when it should’ve gotten testosterone, which feminized my brain patterns.”
“Oh, come on. You expect me to believe that?”
“I don’t care if you believe it or not, Bobby,” she hissed.
After pausing for a moment to let tempers calm back down, Bob asked, “So what do you call yourself?”
“Tanya,” she replied.
Pointing towards her chest he asked, “Are those real?”
“I can’t believe you’re asking me that, but yes they’re real.”
Furrowing his brow, Bob then asked, “So how do you…?”
“How do I what?”
“You know,” he gestured to his own chest. “Hide them?”
Grinning, she replied, “Very painfully. It involves Ace bandages and heavy clothes. Not pleasant and I don’t plan on doing it much longer.”
“What does that mean?”
Taking a deep breath, Tanya said, “I’m going to start my real life test soon.”
“Again, what does that mean?”
“It means, big brother,” she started, “That I’m going to start living full time as a woman.”
“As in all the time?”
“As in all the time. I know this is probably freaking you out, Bobby. Sorry.”
Looking at his new ‘sister’, Bob said, “It’s just that the only thing I know about this stuff is from the streetwalkers and drag queens we’ve picked up. It’s all kinda weirding me out a little.”
She looked at him sadly and said, “Yeah, I know.”
“So what about work?”
“What about it?”
Bob took a second to word his question better, “What’s going to happen with the clubs you’ve been playing when you...you know...change?”
“It’s entirely possible I could lose work, but I won’t know until I try.”
“Heavy,” Bob finally responded.
Tanya then added, “I’d been thinking about maybe making the change at the clubs gradually, but then again maybe it’d be better to do it all at once. What I’m wearing now would probably be okay ... as long as I go light on the eye shadow,” she grinned.
After thinking for a second, Bob said, “Just let me know if you have any problems.”
Taken aback, Tanya smiled wanly as she responded, “I didn’t figure you’d approve.”
“Who says I do,” Bob replied. “But this is family. If they mess with you, they’re messing with me too.”
She looked at her brother with a new-found fondness in her eyes as she started to cry and said, “Thanks Bobby.”
He reached out his hand and took hold of hers across the table. After sitting in silence for a while as she got control of her tears he asked, “So do Mom and Dad know?”
“Dad, no. Mom, sort of. She knows I’ve always been different, but I don’t think she knows completely.”
“Are you going to tell them?”
“Sunday,” she admitted.
“At Mom’s Birthday? That sounds like a disaster in the making.” After taking a drink from his by now cold coffee, a sly grin found its way onto his face as he asked, “So does this mean I have to call you ‘little sister’ now?”
Looking into his eyes, Tanya replied, “I’d like it if you did.”
Thinking about it for a moment, Bob finally responded, “I don’t know about this.”
Tanya sadly said, “That’s what I figured.”
Bob then continued, “But I’ll try.”
The smile that suddenly appeared on Tanya’s face lit up the room.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Bob walked into the ‘Slipper’ as the staff was setting up for the evening. Heading directly to the bar, he took out his badge and placed it next to the photo directly in front of the bartender. “This guy look familiar?”
Picking up the photo, the bartender said, “I don’t know, let me take a look.” After staring at the picture for a few seconds he responded, “Not really, but that doesn’t mean anything. It’s not like I memorize the face of every guy that wanders in here.”
“Can we check with the other staff? Especially anyone who was working last night?”
“Sure,” the bartender replied. “Why don’t I get you the manager and he can put you in touch with anyone who worked last night.”
“Great,” said Bob.
The bartender walked around the bar and headed into the office with Bob following closely behind. Opening the door, he announced, “Jimmy, there’s a Detective Taylor here to see you.”
Before looking up Jimmy loudly muttered, “What do the cops want?” Then noticing that the aforementioned officer was already in the room, he said more loudly, “What can I do for you Detective?”
Walking up to the desk, Bob held out the photo and said, “I’d like to speak to your staff to see if any of them recognize this man? You know, like is he a regular? If there’s a particular day of the week he comes by most often, that sort of thing.”
“Sure, whatever you need,” Jimmy said as he handed the photo back to the detective. Directing his attention to the bartender he then said, “John, make sure the detective has a chance to speak with everyone on staff. Anyone who isn’t here tonight let me know and I’ll get him numbers and addresses so he can contact them.”
John the bartender led Bob back out into the bar where he began introducing the officer to everyone on staff.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Tanya tried to take a nap, but with so many different thoughts racing around her head she eventually gave up on that as a bad idea. Instead, she found herself deeply engrossed in her book. Loosing track of time, she was startled back into reality by the alarm she’d set going off to tell her it was time to start getting ready for work.
Wandering into the bathroom, she looked at herself in the mirror and decided that she was going to fully commit to her transition and begin her real life test. So after examining the outfit she’d worn to the hospital she decided that it would be the perfect way to make the change without shocking too many people. After all, she reasoned, the jeans and camp shirt weren’t all that different from what she’d normally have worn as Tommy.
Of course, that’s not to say there wasn’t anything different about her current look. One only had to go so far as notice that her small but noticeable breasts were prominently displayed to know that. Add to that the bolero jacket, heeled ankle boots and far more feminine than usual jewelry, not to mention the expertly applied makeup, and the whole image screamed ‘girl’.
Satisfied that her appearance made her gender clear to all without being overly frilly, she gave her hair a cursory brush and touched up her makeup, saying to herself, “Here goes nothing,” before grabbing her guitar case and heading out the door.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
As Bob left the club ‘Slipper’ his cell phone rang. Flipping it open he answered, “Taylor.”
“Find anything?” asked the Captain.
“Hey Cap. Some of the wait staff recognized our guy from the photo, but other than tell me that he was a regular nobody knew anything. Sounds like this might be a good place to keep an eye out for him.”
“Good work. I’ll send over an unmarked car and have a couple of guys man the stakeout tonight.”
Bob offered, “I don’t mind taking tonight.”
“No, Bob,” the Captain countered. “You’ve been at it for several days without much sleep. I’d rather you get some rest tonight. We know who we’re looking for now, so let somebody else sit in a cold car this evening.”
“Come on, Skip. This is my case. Do you really think I want somebody else making the arrest?”
“Listen Bob,” the Captain ordered. “Our guy knows he had a close call last night, so I’d be surprised if he tries the same spot again for a few days. The stakeout is just in case.”
Slowly Bob relented, “Okay, you’re the boss.”
“Nice to see you finally remembered that,” the Captain joked.
“Let me know if anything happens.”
“Will do,” the Captain replied. “Now go get some rest.”
Bob closed his phone and headed for his car.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
As Tanya parked her car, out of habit she flipped down the visor and looked in the vanity mirror. She checked her makeup and fluffed her hair, flipping the visor back into position as she got out of the car. Getting her guitar out of the back, she then wrestled her small portable PA system out of the trunk and headed inside.
Before she reached for the handle to open the door she took a deep cleansing breath and said to herself, “Here goes.” Once inside, she hauled her equipment directly to the stage area and began the process of setting up.
Her progress was delayed by the approach of one of the waitresses, who after looking at her closely addressed Tanya, “Hey there. You changed. Do you have a new name to go with the new look?”
Reaching out a hand she replied, “Tanya. Tanya Taylor.”
“Cool. Nice to meet you Tanya,” Connie responded. “Need anything?”
“Thanks, but I’m fine for now. I’ll come up to the bar to get my soda once I’m done here.”
“Okay,” the waitress said as she returned to her duties. “I’ll talk to you later.”
“Great,” Tanya replied as she returned her attention to hooking up the PA system.
Once everything was ready, Tanya made her way to the bar where they already had her Diet Coke waiting for her. “Thanks,” she said to the bartender as she picked up the glass and took a sip.
Then the manager came out of his office and headed straight for Tanya. ‘Uh-oh,’ she thought.
“Got a second?” he asked her as he directed toward his office.
Tentatively she responded, “Sure.”
Following him into the office, she watched him sit behind his desk and stood there uncomfortably for a moment while he looked at her warily. When the silence became too oppressive, she asked, “What’s up?”
“You,” he replied. “What’s with the new ‘look’?”
“Is there a problem?”
“I don’t know,” he stated. “Can’t say I’m thrilled with this change, but I’ll leave it be as long as I don’t get any complaints.”
“I can’t imagine there being any. In the past I’ve gone pretty much unnoticed and the few that have spoken to me thought I was a girl before.”
He clasped his hands together with index fingers raised and pressed them to his lips for a moment before asking, “What do you mean?”
“Well,” she began, “For example, Connie just asked me if I’d finally gotten tired of my ‘tomboy’ look.”
“Okay,” he finally responded. “But if there’s any problems,” he said barely disguising his discomfort with the situation, “you’re outta here, got it?”
“Got it,” she replied before turning and exiting the office. Once back in the bar proper, she headed directly to the stage where she was met by Connie, the waitress from before.
“What did he want?” she asked.
“Guess I’ve been put on notice,” Tanya said. “If anyone complains about me, I get fired.”
“Wow, really?” she asked.
Pausing for a moment, Tanya finally replied, “Can’t say I’m shocked. I knew there’d be some fallout from this.”
“What prompted the change?”
Gesturing to a nearby table, Tanya led Connie over and took a seat where she then responded, “This isn’t something new. I’ve been on hormones for several months now. The only thing that’s changed is that my brother found out about me, so now I don’t really have any reason to hide who I really am.”
“You mean your brother, the cop?”
“The one and only.”
“How’d he take it?”
“Hard to tell just yet,” Tanya answered. “But at least I think he’s willing to try, which is more than I expected.”
“Cool,” Connie enthused. “He seems like a nice guy, from when he’s come in to see you.”
“He is. He’s just kind of conservative, I guess you’d say.”
Getting up to go back to work, Connie offered, “Well good luck. And have a good show.”
“That’s the plan,” Tanya said as her friend walked back toward her customers, leaving her to stew for a few minutes in her thoughts.
Chapter Forty
Charlie entered the lobby of the hotel and first made his way to the front desk. Once he had the clerk’s attention he asked, “Any chance of booking a room for the night?”
“Certainly, sir. Will that be cash or credit card?”
Pulling out his wallet from which he removed two hundred dollar bills, he placed the money on the counter and said, “I seem to have forgotten my ID.”
Smiling conspiratorially the clerk said, “That’s not a problem sir,” as he took the money and handed Charlie a key.
Charlie then smiled as he took the key, turned and headed toward the bar where he was supposed to meet his ‘date’. Walking in, he scanned the room for the ‘girl’ who’d sent him her picture earlier to make finding her easier.
Spotting her sitting alone in a booth, he headed straight toward her and slid into the other side of the booth saying, “So I take it you’re Sandra?”
Holding out her hand in a gesture of friendship, she replied, “That’s me. And you must be Charlie?”
“Must be,” he joked as he took her hand and gently kissed the back of it.
“Such a gentleman,” she cooed.
Seeing that she already had a drink in front of her, he turned toward the bartender and asked, “A beer, please?”
“So Charlie,” Sandra started, “Have you lived around here long?”
“Just a couple of months. Before that I was back East.” The bartender brought a glass of beer over and placed it in front of Charlie. He looked up at the man and said, “Thanks.”
After taking a long draw on his drink, Charlie asked, “What about you?”
“Oh, I’ve lived here for a few years now,” she replied. Grinning she added, “Can’t imagine going back to that little town I grew up in at this point.”
Sandra finished her drink and instantly Charlie was signaling for the bartender to bring her another. Joking, she asked him, “Are you trying to get me drunk?”
Smugly he looked into her eyes and replied, “Maybe. Would that be so bad?”
“Only if you expect me to drive home tonight,” she countered.
“Not a problem,” he said. Pulling his room key out of his pocket he added, “I mean, this is a hotel after all. Last I heard they were in the business of providing lodging.”
“Looks like you planned ahead.”
“Always, my dear,” he offered, still holding out the room key.
To Be Continued...
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...
First, I'd like to apologize for the delay in posting this part. Real life has kind of dominated my time of late, so the next part may be slow in arriving as well. Thanks to all those of you who have stuck with the story thus far.
I'd like to take a moment to thank Angharad, Karen Taylor and PB for their support and proofing skills.
Fugue, Part 6
by Jillian
Chapter Fifty-One
When Tanya returned home after spending the day with Cynthia in the hospital, she found herself at a loss about how to spend her evening. As it happened, her entire weekend's worth of work had canceled so there she was at home on a Friday evening for the first time in longer than she could remember.
She popped a plate of leftovers in the microwave and took a peek at the answering machine to see if any more jobs had canceled. Thankfully there were no messages, so after retrieving her dinner she took a seat at the dining table and ate her meal, all the while thinking about her parents and the fact that she needed to talk to them about her change in status.
Once her plate was rinsed and placed in the dishwasher along with the silverware she'd used, Tanya grabbed her cell phone and took a seat in the living room on the couch. After staring at her phone for nearly fifteen minutes, she flipped it open and pressed one of the speed dial numbers.
On the second ring someone picked up on the other end saying, “Hello?”
Taking a deep breath, Tanya responded, “Hi Mom.”
Concerned she asked, “Tommy? Are you all right?”
“Yes, I'm fine,” Tanya dismissed. “Do you have a few minutes to talk?”
“You don't sound fine, but yes, of course dear,” her mother replied. “What seems to be the matter?”
After another deep breath followed by a sigh, Tanya answered, “I sort of need to talk to you about some personal things that will have an impact on you and Dad.”
“Whatever are you talking about?” her mother asked, concern dripping from her voice.
“You know how I've never exactly been the manliest of guys, right?”
An almost audible smile in her voice, Mom responded, “I've sometimes felt that was one of your best qualities, dear.”
With audible trepidation Tanya got to the point saying, “You know I've been struggling with things.”
“Is this about your dressing up?” Mom asked.
“Wow,” Tanya started. “Yeah, I suppose you could say that. I've been seeing a therapist who specializes in gender issues for a few years now.”
Jumping in, Mom asked, “So, is my daughter finally going to introduce herself to me?”
With a nervous giggle, Tanya responded, “I suppose I should've known you'd know. You always did.”
“Well, yes,” Mom laughed.
“You've probably noticed some changes over the past year or so? Well, some of those have been because I've been taking hormones.”
“I suspected as much,” Mom interjected.
After a brief pause Tanya continued, “My doctor and I have decided it's time to start what they call the real life test. That means living full time as a girl.”
“Are you ready for that?” Mom asked.
“Yes, very much so,” Tanya replied. “Really, my biggest concern is how Dad will take the news.”
“I can see that,” Mom responded in a much more serious tone.
After another deep breath, Tanya asked, “Does he know?”
“About you? No, not really.”
Sighing Tanya asked, “How do you think he'll respond? I'm trying to figure out if I can come Sunday or not?”
“You'd better come,” her mother scolded. “I only get to have my whole family together on rare occasions and I'm looking forward to Sunday.”
“I'm just afraid of how Dad will...” Tanya started.
Cutting her off, Mom stated, “Don't worry about him dear. He may bluster, but in the end he's really a lovely man.”
Tentatively, Tanya responded, “I hope you're right, Mom. I hope you're right.”
“So, we'll see you Sunday afternoon then?”
“Absolutely,” Tanya replied. “I just hope you're...”
Again cutting off the younger woman, Mom stated, “Trust me, sweetheart.”
“I'm trying, Mom,” Tanya stated. “I'll see you Sunday. Love you,” she said then hung up without even waiting for a reply.
To herself, Tanya said, “Hope this isn't a big mistake.”
Following several cleansing breaths, she got up and made her way to the bedroom thinking she might like to do some reading before bedtime.
Chapter Fifty-Two
Charlie was still riding the high he'd gotten from his exploits the night before, but it was beginning to occur to him that he'd taken a major step that would be hard to take back. Always before he'd simply taken his 'dates' into some dark alley where privacy was for the most part non-existent and therefore had always needed to work quickly in achieving his goals.
Those time constraints had dictated what he could and couldn't do, but this last time he realized how much more satisfying it was to have some privacy and more or less unlimited time to do what he wished. The only real downside he could see was the expense involved in acquiring the room where he could conduct his games in private, but the more he reflected on the advantages of renting a room for his activities the more he realized that he'd just have to find a way.
With that in mind, he started up his computer and went directly to 'Open Magazine's website. Clicking his way to the personals section he began browsing, hoping he might luck out and find his next 'date'.
Spotting a new listing that looked like an excellent choice, he quickly rattled off an email reply to the ad. By the time he hit send, he could barely contain his excitement over what he planned to do with 'her'.
“Now,” he said to himself, “All I have to do is find the right place.”
Chapter Fifty-Three
Bob had spent the last few hours trying to get caught up on paperwork, losing track of time along the way. When he 'came up for air' he was startled to see that the afternoon had already given way to evening.
“Well,” he said to himself, “Maybe I should pack it in for the night?”
“What's that?” Sergeant Parker asked as he walked past Bob's desk.
Looking up at his friend, Bob replied, “I think I need a break.”
“Does the word 'duh' mean anything to you?” Parker joked. “Seriously, why don't you head on home for a while? I can almost guarantee the world won't fall apart just because you take a little time for yourself.”
After thinking for a moment, Bob stated, “You may be right, but if you tell anyone I said that I'll deny it vehemently. I'm out of here for a while.”
“Good,” Parker chuckled. “I'll see you in the morning.” He then went on about his way leaving Bob alone.
Standing up from his desk, Bob grabbed his suit jacket off the back of his desk chair and after putting it on he headed toward the exit, saying good night to his fellow officers as he passed them on the way to the door. On his way out the door he thought about the fact that he was going to be off duty for the evening and knew exactly where he wanted to spend the hard earned spoils of his week. He wanted to see Connie.
Once in his car he headed directly toward the club where Connie worked, wondering exactly what he would say to her when he got there. Unfortunately, the closer he got to the club the more muddled his thoughts became.
No matter what he tried to think about, Tanya kept coming back to the front of his thoughts. He wondered if this was going to really be permanent and if that meant anything had to change in their relationship, not realizing that by simply accepting that his sibling was a girl rather than a boy it had already changed.
Of course, that wasn't the only thing swirling around in his head. He found himself flitting back and forth between his new found sister and his new friendship with Connie. The easy part was admitting that he liked her. The hard part was figuring out just how much.
Ever since they'd met the previous evening, he actually had trouble thinking about anything other than her. She'd monopolized his dreams both sleeping and waking and he was starting to think of her as something more than just a friend. The question that then remained was whether or not she felt similarly.
What if she didn't? It had been a long time since he'd opened up to someone like that, mostly out of fear of rejection and he wasn't all that certain he'd be sturdy enough emotionally to handle that. This would lead him back to thinking about Tanya and the circle would start all over again.
His thoughts kept spinning around like that all the way to the club. It got so bad that once he'd parked in their lot he found that he was so consumed by fear of her rejecting him that he couldn't open his car door for several long minutes.
“This is stupid,” he said to himself after sitting there for some time. “I'll just go in and see her, maybe get to talk to her for a few minutes when she's on break.”
When he finally got out of the car he headed into the club to see Connie. Spotting a corner table that was in the process of being vacated he crossed the room and sat down even before Connie had a chance to clear and wipe it.
When she turned around from another table she'd been serving, the first thing she noticed was Bob. A wide smile erupted on her face as she said, “Hey Bobby. You know Tanya isn't playing here tonight, right?”
With a smile that mirrored hers, he responded, “I know. I came to see you.”
The look in Connie's eyes said everything that needed to be said. Before she had a chance to voice a response, Bob said, “I know you're busy tonight, but you do get a break don't you?”
Finally speaking, Connie answered, “Of course.”
Jumping in before she had a chance to say anything else Bob asked, “Come see me when you go on break?”
Smiling even wider she replied, “I don't have to stay away until then do I? I'll go get you a beer to tide you over.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Bob said, then watched her go back to the bar to get his drink.
Chapter Fifty-Four
Cynthia was feeling restless just laying there in her hospital bed. This was really the first night since the attack that she felt 'normal' and not being able to be out and about was driving her crazy, to put it mildly. Unfortunately, her strength was still sorely lacking limiting her activity level to a large extent.
She had already tried getting up to take a stroll around the ward, barely making it back to her bed after one circuit. While her head would like nothing better than to repeat her walk over and again, she knew that her physical strength was still lacking far too much to actually do it.
That's why she found herself in deep thought this evening. She usually tried to avoid such activities, but without her usual physical activity to distract her mind she couldn't help but take a look at her life. To say she didn't care for some of what she found would be a monumental understatement.
Thinking objectively about her life prompted her to seriously want to make some changes, but knowing how to actually go about that was in many ways a mystery to Cynthia. That said, there were a few things that were obvious even to her.
The first thing that came to mind was the whole club scene. Even without the introspection that was currently being thrust upon her, Cynthia had for some time been seriously thinking about walking away from the life of a party girl. Maybe this would finally prompt that change.
Deep thought time was interrupted by the arrival of a nurse who said as he entered the room, “Good evening. I'm Terry and I'll be looking after you tonight.”
Smiling, Cynthia responded, “Hey there. Need me to do anything in particular?”
Returning her smile, Terry said, “Not at the moment. I just need to check your vitals for now.” He then looked at the machines she was still attached to and made some notes in the chart he was carrying.
“Everything looks good,” he commented as he finished his task. He looked her in the eye for a moment, then turned to leave.
Thinking he wouldn't hear her, she whispered, “I know you can't be including me in that.”
He stopped before he got to the door and turned back toward her. “Sure I can, and I am,” he returned, smiling broadly at her.
It was difficult telling which was brighter, the glare from Cynthia's smile or the glow from her reddening cheeks.
Chapter Fifty-Five
Bob smiled broadly as he watched Connie make her way toward his table again. That smile grew even bigger when she set two drinks down on the table and pulled out a chair to sit opposite him.
“I've got fifteen minutes or so,” she said as she picked up her glass and made a toasting motion in Bob's direction.
“Cool,” he replied as he picked up his drink and copied her motion. After taking a sip, he set his glass back down and said, “I'm sorry if I caught you off guard or anything. I actually had trouble thinking about anything other than you all afternoon and thought that maybe seeing you tonight might help. I'm sorry to say, all it's done is make me think about you even more,” he grinned at her.
“Well,” she started, “If you really think that's something that you need to apologize about...”
Jumping in, Bob hurriedly said, “Not at all.” He then got a more serious look on his face and added, “If you find any of this gets uncomfortable for you, please...”
“Hey,” she interjected. Smiling widely she continued, “Trust me, you don't have anything to worry about.”
“You'd best be careful, before I go and fall in love with you or something,” he responded.
Both of them raised their glasses in toast and smiled at one another before taking drinks, never taking their eyes off of each other.
Chapter Fifty-Six
Tanya had tried everything she could think of to get to sleep, all to no avail. She'd read for a while, even switching to an old college textbook in the hope that it would be boring enough to put her to sleep. Unfortunately, all that managed to do was frustrate her. She'd tried warm milk, a glass of wine and even taken a dose of Benadryl hoping one or all of them would relax her enough to let her get to sleep. Unfortunately, as 2am rolled past she found herself still wide awake and staring at the clock on her nightstand.
Of course, it wasn't as if this bout of insomnia wasn't well earned, what with all of the upheaval in her life of late. Starting her RLT, coming out to her family and employers, seeing her best friend nearly lose her life and have to spend a fair amount of time in the hospital...any of these could easily have caused her to have trouble sleeping, but not content to simply have one reason, she had to pile all of them on top of each other.
Having resigned herself to the fact that sleep was not intending to make it's presence known anytime soon, she turned on the television and found an old movie she hadn't seen in ages. That settled, she sat back and tried to lose herself in the film.
She was finally drifting off to sleep when there was a knock at the door. Returning to a wakened state, she made her way to the entryway and peeked through the peep hole. Recognizing her brother, Tanya quickly opened the door and let him in.
“Sorry,” Bob said as he crossed the threshold. “I was hoping we could talk.”
Closing the door after her brother had made his way past her, Tanya said, “Why not? I haven't been able to get to sleep all night. What's on your mind?”
He looked at her for a moment before responding, “Connie.”
Grinning, she commented, “Really? So you finally noticed, huh?”
“What do you mean, 'finally'?” he asked.
“Oh come on,” she replied in an exasperated tone of voice, despite the huge grin she couldn't get rid of, “You can't tell me you didn't know before. She's been practically throwing herself at you for over a year!”
He studied her for a moment before responding, “What? You've been a girl for like ten minutes and you think you're entitled to do the whole 'duh' thing?” He then started to grin as he continued, “I suppose you could say I've been a little preoccupied.”
Any further comment was delayed as he noticed Tanya giggling at him, to which he responded by trying to give her an annoyed look while failing miserably. When she was finally able to get herself back under control she tried to adopt an indignant stance as she said, “Okay, I've been a woman my whole life, not ten minutes. Just because you and Dad never acknowledged that fact...”
Cutting her off he responded, “Hey!”
Before he could form more of a comment she retorted, “Never mind, that's not important any more. Why'd you come to me?”
Uncomfortably he said, “Like you said, you're a girl so I thought maybe you could help me get a handle on things.”
Smiling, Tanya looked at her brother with a pride she hadn't felt for him since she was much younger and wanted more than anything in the world to be just like her big brother. Without thinking, she walked up to him and hugged him.
While he was obviously uncomfortable with the embrace, he made every effort not to react negatively. Despite his efforts to disguise his reaction, she eventually came to the realization that she was making him uncomfortable.
Releasing him from the hug, she stepped away and mumbled, “Sorry Bobby, I didn't mean...” As her embarrassment grew she found it increasingly difficult to complete her thought.
Holding up his hand and smiling nervously he responded, “No need. I mean, I'll freely admit that I'm having some trouble getting used to things, but we are family, after all. I love ya even if I think you're making a mistake.”
Looking her brother in the eyes, she responded, “You have no idea what it means to me to hear you say that.” She stepped up to him and took him in a tender hug, realizing in that moment that her family might just be able to accept her after all. Resting her head on his shoulder she found herself both smiling widely and on the verge of tears at the same time, thinking her life was falling into place at last.
Chapter Fifty-Seven
Charlie rolled out of bed and found his way to his computer. After turning it on, he wandered into the kitchen to get a cup of coffee while it started up. By the time he returned it had just about finished, so he took a seat and a sip of his drink as the start up process finished.
Once ready, the first thing he did was open up his email program, checking for new messages. He sat there impatiently as it downloaded new messages, hoping that at least one would be in response to one of his messages from the previous night. Unfortunately, he had no such luck as the only things he had received involved penis growth, which he promptly disposed of before then getting up from his seat to go in search of breakfast.
Following several minutes of fruitless searching, he gave up on the idea of finding something better and retrieved a package of pop tarts from the cabinet, which he took with him as he returned to the computer. After settling back in he started his browser and pulled up one of his favorite 'personals' websites in search of new 'friends'.
Chapter Fifty-Eight
Bob couldn't stop yawning as he made his way into the precinct building. Each co-worker he passed greeted him with a 'morning' or 'hey Bob', but he could manage little more than a grunt in acknowledgment.
“What the hell was I thinking staying up all night?” he asked himself as he sat at his desk to begin pouring through the reports on overnight activity. While reading those reports, he reached over to his desktop workstation and turned it on.
When the antiquated computer finally finished it's boot up process he first opened his email client to check for any new messages, then moved on to his browser to check each of the now three different newspaper websites where he'd placed bait ads.
The last stop on his internet journey was 'Open' magazine. He logged into the account that had been set up for him in order to check for reply messages and was rewarded by a promising response.
Printing off a copy of the message to put into the case file, he mused absentmindedly, “Now what?”
Chapter Fifty-Nine
Cynthia looked up from her breakfast upon hearing the door to her room open just as Tanya entered. Smiling at the sight of her best friend, Cynthia commented, “A little early for you, isn't it?”
As she made her way to Cynthia's bedside, Tanya responded, “I suppose it is, but then my best friend went and got herself stuck in the hospital, so in order to be a good friend I have to stop by every day until she gets out in an effort to prevent her from losing her mind and going postal on the nursing staff.”
“Wow,” Cynthia replied, “You really think I'd do something like that?” She did her best to look hurt as she then continued, “Thou dost wound me. I'm a civilized young lady.”
Laughing, Tanya retorted, “I'm not even sure where to begin responding to that.”
“Hey!” Cynthia responded indignantly. For a moment they looked at each other silently, but eventually neither one could hold it in any longer and they broke out laughing hysterically.
As the laughter finally began to fade, Bob came walking into the room. Tanya was the first to notice his arrival saying, “Bobby. Didn't expect to see you this morning.”
“I could say the same of you, dear sister,” he quipped.
Unable to keep out of things, Cynthia interjected, “I see relations have improved since last we all met.”
Returning her attention to her friend, Tanya replied, “I guess you could say that.” Then once again looking toward her brother she continued, “We've worked a few things out, haven't we dear brother?”
Smiling he responded, “Yes ma'am.”
A brief silence was broken by Cynthia asking, “So what brings you by this morning, detective? Other than the opportunity to spend time with a pair of stunning ladies?”
“I guess you could say I wanted to let you know that we haven't let this case fall to the wayside,” he tried to reassure them. “Fact is, I have one case and one case only and I'm going to keep going until it's done.”
“I do appreciate that,” Cynthia responded.
Tanya interjected, “Is there anything we can do to help?”
Looking at his sister for a moment, he replied, “I don't know.”
“Well,” Tanya stated, “If you think of anything please let me know. I want to see this creep caught.”
“I know,” Bob tried to reassure them. “Me too, believe me.”
At that moment an orderly entered the room with a wheelchair saying, “MRI express.”
Looking first at the orderly, then at her guests Cynthia said, “Looks like that's my cue.”
Tanya replied, “We'll head out for now, but I'll be back later. Can you think of anything you need?”
“Not unless you have a cute hunk hidden somewhere you'd be willing to share,” Cynthia quipped.
“No,” Tanya started, “But if that changes I'll let you know.”
The orderly lowered the bed rails and helped Cynthia out of bed and into the wheelchair, taking her on her way toward the imaging department. Bob and Tanya watched as Cynthia was wheeled out of the room before turning their attention to each other.
Bob found his voice first, tentatively asking, “How serious is your offer of help with the investigation?”
Looking him in the eye, she responded, “I'd be willing to serve as bait, if you're thinking along those lines.”
“I won't deny that the subject is being considered, but I wouldn't ask that of you,” he said. “Besides, Mom would kill me if I let anything happen to you.”
“I'm offering, you're not asking. Besides, she doesn't need to know, does she?” Tanya asked.
“I doubt we could keep it from her,” he replied.
She then continued, “So don't say anything about work tomorrow when we're home.”
Mildly surprised, Bob asked, “So, you've talked to her?”
“Last night,” she answered. “Not that there was much in the conversation that surprised her. Of course, Dad's response should be entertaining.”
“That's one way of putting it,” he sniped.
After a moment, Bob then said, “I can't let you take the risk, you know.”
Looking intensely at her brother Tanya said, “Bobby, I want to help. I really do. You and Dad have spent your lives taking risks trying to catch bad guys, but I've never felt like I made a difference like that. If I can help catch this monster, maybe...” she allowed the thought to fade unfinished.
“Let me think about it, okay?” Bob finally replied.
Chapter Sixty
After leaving the hospital, Bob returned to the office where he once again reviewed the ad responses trying to figure out which one, if any, had come from his suspect. In truth, he devoted most of his afternoon to that very pursuit.
Toward the end of his shift, his thoughts were interrupted by Sergeant Parker, who asked, “Any progress?”
“Not as such, no,” he replied. “Got a few possibles, but nothing concrete. I've got the geeks trying to track down physical locations for all the responses, but they haven't found anything for me quite yet.”
“Sounds like that might take a while,” Parker commented.
“It will, but hopefully not too long,” Bob responded. “Maybe if we...” he stopped mid thought.
Sensing his associate's uncertainty, Sergeant Parker asked, “What?”
Thinking for a moment, Bob finally decided to confide in his friend saying, “My sister wants to help with the investigation by serving as the bait for our guy.”
“Well, that's good,” Parker said.
“Is it?” Bob replied. “That would mean risking her life and I'm not sure I can do that.”
“We are talking about the same one we saw on that stakeout, right?”
“Yeah. She wants to make a difference or something like that.”
“Pretty noble for a weirdo,” Parker commented.
Suddenly looking at him with a bit of anger, Bob countered, “That's my family you're talking about.”
Feeling chastised, Parker said, “Sorry. Didn't mean anything by it.”
“I know.”
To Be Continued...
by Jillian
Chapter Sixty-one
Tanya had barely stepped into the room when Cynthia practically shouted, “Hey bitch!”
“I take it you're feeling a little better?” Tanya asked as she approached her friend's bedside.
“What makes you think that?”
Smiling, Tanya answered, “The return of your sparkling personality.”
“Maybe I just like you,” Cynthia countered. “Or maybe I'm just a wonderful, loving person.”
“Yeah, right,” Tanya smirked.
“Anyway, what prompted this? I mean, two visits in one day and all.” Grinning, Cynthia then continued, “They said I might get out of here in the next couple of days.”
“That is good news,” Tanya commented. Sitting down on the edge of the bed she continued, “Do you want to come stay with me for a couple of days after they send you home? I mean, chances are they aren't going to want you staying alone for the first few days.”
Looking uncharacteristically meek she answered, “They did say something about that.”
“I figured as much,” Tanya giggled. “So what do you think?”
“I'd hate to be a bother,” she responded.
“Nonsense!”
“Well,” Cynthia smirked, “If you insist.”
Tanya could only hold in the laughter for a few seconds before it erupted from her, joined immediately by her friend. It took a few minutes, but eventually they began to calm down.
Once they had more or less returned to normal, Cynthia adopted a more serious look and said, “Thanks.”
Smiling, Tanya responded, “What are friends for?”
“Now,” Cynthia then changed the subject, “What the Hell are you thinking offering to be bait for the police?”
“I'm thinking somebody has to do it, so why not me?”
“It sounds way too dangerous,” Cynthia countered.
“I'll have Bobby watching my back the whole time,” Tanya responded. “This is my chance to 'save the world'.”
“I still don't like it.”
“Listen,” Tanya countered, “This guy hurt you and is still out there hurting others. He's targeting our...family...and somebody has to do something.”
“But why you?”
“Because it's important that this guy is stopped and I'm in a position to be able to do something about that.”
Tears began to form in Cynthia's eyes as she started, “No!”
Interrupting her friend Tanya countered, “He hurt you! He's killed too many of our sisters and if he's not stopped he'll keep killing us. I don't want that blood on my hands.”
“But Tanya!”
“Listen, all this concern for my well being is touching, but it's a bit out of character for you, don't you think?”
Cynthia attempted to give her friend an angry look, but after only a second or two found she couldn't hold it and could only smirk.
Chapter Sixty-two
Bob sat listening to his cell phone as the other end of the connection rang and rang, then just as he was about to break the connection the ringing was interrupted by a female voice asking, “Bobby?”
“Hey Connie. I was wondering if you'd be interested in having an early dinner before you have to go to work?”
“Interested yes,” she replied. “Unfortunately I have to be at work early tonight, as in like about an hour.”
“Oh,” he said dejectedly. “Would it be all right if I came by tonight and hung out? Maybe keep you company when you're on breaks?”
“That is without a doubt the best offer I've had in hours,” she said with a grin so big Bob could hear it in her voice.
“Do you need a lift?”
“I don't need one, but I'd like one,” she replied, still audibly grinning.
“I'll see ya in a bit,” Bob said just before they broke the connection.
Ten minutes later he pulled up in front of Connie's place where he parked and jumped out of the car, making his way to her door. He rang the doorbell, but barely had to wait five seconds before she answered it, coming out and kissing Bob on the cheek before continuing toward his car, quietly giggling all along the way.
Running up behind her, Bob caught up just as she came to a stop by the passenger door which he opened. “Allow me,” he said in what he hoped was his most charming voice.
“Of course, kind sir,” she replied. He held the door open for Connie as she got in, closing it once she was settled in her seat.
Once he'd circled around the car and had climbed into the driver's seat he said, “Thanks.”
“What for?” she countered. “You're the one doing me the favor.”
“Not the way I see it,” he replied. “Any time you're willing to spend with me is...”
She cut him off saying, “Oh, come on!”
He grinned at her and said, “Seriously.”
Despite her attempts not to do so, she broke out in a huge grin.
Chapter Sixty-three
Charlie wandered into 'Slippers' having parked his car far enough away from the club that he felt there was little likelihood of being seen by the police, who no doubt were closely watching the club. Inside the door, he made his way toward the dance floor so he could get a look at the early evening crowd before finding his way to the seating area.
Once he'd found an unoccupied table he was quickly approached by a member of the wait staff who asked, “Can I get you anything?”
“Your name, for starters?”
She smirked at him and said, “Linda. Now, would you care to order?”
Looking at the 'lady', he smiled and responded, “A beer would be great, Linda.” Then after the briefest of pauses he continued, “And maybe your phone number.”
Laughing, she said, “I'll be right back with that beer.”
He leered at her retreating form as she made her way to the bar to fill his order, mumbling to himself, “This could be a fun night.”
While she was at the bar, he strained to listen in on the conversation she was having with one of the other waitresses. As far as he could make out it seemed she was without transportation home thanks to her old car's water pump. With that in mind he began to formulate an approach he hoped would work.
By the time she returned with his drink, he'd managed to put together in his mind how he was going to approach hooking up with her, so going for broke he asked as she set down his drink in front of him, “So what would it take to convince you to spend some time with me after your shift tonight?”
She looked at him and laughed, “I suppose that depends on what you have in mind.”
Smiling he responded, “Just getting to know one another in a quieter setting.”
Unsure why exactly she was considering his offer, she conceded, “Let me think about it. I've still got a couple of hours before I can get out of here, and by then I'm probably going to be ready to fall into bed for a good night's sleep.”
His smile widened as he said, “I couldn't ask for much more than that, could I? I'll stick around until you make up your mind. Hopefully, you'd decide to take me up on my offer.”
Chapter Sixty-four
Tanya had the look of someone overwhelmed by frustration as she stared at her open bedroom closet. She was trying to decide what to wear the next day for her return home, but was having a great deal of difficulty picking something.
Holding up two skirts, she lifted the one in her left hand as she said to no one in particular, “This one's really cute, but my father would kill me if I walked into his house in it.” She then lowered that one and raised the one in her right as she commented, “Maybe a skirt isn't the best idea after all. Jeans. That's what I'll wear, jeans.”
A look of concern descended across her face as she next began, “But...” She looked at both skirts again before taking them back to the closet and roughly hanging them up before stalking over to her bed and flopping down on it.
As she stared at the ceiling, she mused, “I suppose I could just go as Tommy. Dad would like that.” After a moment of silence, she then let out her frustration shouting, “Aaargh!”
After a moment or two, she sat back up and again stared into her closet as a somewhat glassy-eyed expression overtook her face.
Chapter Sixty-five
Bob looked up to see Connie setting two drinks down, “Break time?”
She grinned as she sat down opposite him and said, “Finally.”
“Rough night?”
Connie took a sip of her drink and responded, “Just busy.” Concentration flashed across her face as she then asked, “Are you too bored? I could find a ride home if you wanted to...”
Interrupting her he said, “Nonsense!”
“I know you're not a heavy drinker or anything. And this guy playing tonight isn't nearly as good as your sister,” she said with a smirk on her face.
“I'll grant you that,” he replied. “No, I'm just kind of relaxing here. It's actually been kinda nice having a little time to just shut down.” He then picked up his bottle of beer and took a long swig.
“Well,” she laughed, “I'm glad you've been able to make good use of your time.”
He started laughing and couldn't help but snort beer out of his nose. That only made it worse as they both found themselves laughing uncontrollably.
Chapter Sixty-six
“Last call!” came the voice of the bartender over the house PA system. Charlie looked toward his waitress and raised his hand in a sort of wave which carried the message, “I'd like another” while also saying, “I'm waiting for you.” She acknowledged him and headed for the bar to get his last drink.
When she returned he asked as she set down his drink, “So where would you like to go after you get off?”
Laughing she replied, “I don't even recall agreeing to go with you.”
“You hadn't yet,” he quipped, “But you were just about to.”
“Pretty sure of yourself, aren't ya?” she responded.
Smiling he offered, “I get that it's late and you're probably exhausted. I also happened to overhear when you were telling someone that your car is broken down. How about if I just offer to drive you home?”
“How did you...?” she began before pausing and breaking out in a smile. “Oh, never mind. Thank you for the offer, but really...”
Cutting her off he said, “I know you have to stick around to close. Believe me, I don't mind waiting.”
“You're sweet,” she responded.
“Not at all,” he said. After a brief pause he continued, “Go. Get your work done.”
As he watched his latest conquest's retreating form he grinned and said to himself, “This will be fun.” With each passing moment the things he'd like to do with her played through his head like scenes from a movie as his grin slowly grew larger.
Chapter Sixty-seven
Bob watched as the staff herded the evening's patrons toward the door so they could close for the night, but soon found his mind wandering in unexpected directions. First he caught sight of Connie as she led a thoroughly intoxicated gentleman to the door and even helped him out the door. As she left his field of vision he began wondering where things were headed between the two of them.
By the time she had returned to help with closing, he'd begun to explore the idea of letting their relationship progress toward something more serious and as he did so he began to realize just how much he liked the idea. Somehow that led to him thinking about his family, and more specifically Tanya's situation.
He'd begun to accept that he now had a sister, as odd as it seemed to him, and he was wondering what he could do to help their father accept Tommy's change. Unfortunately, no matter how he looked at things he couldn't see any way they could influence their Dad's views on the subject of transgendered people. After all, he'd been a beat cop when trans people simply weren't accepted into general society and that was his point of view as well.
He was suddenly brought out of deep thought as Connie came up beside him and asked, “Are you about ready to get out of here?”
Looking up he smiled and responded, “I figured that you'd have to close up shop. You all done?”
“I finished up my stuff and don't need to help with anything else tonight, seeing as I have such a special guest with me this evening.”
“Well,” Bob said as he stood up from his seat and grabbed his jacket off of the back of his chair. “In that case, your chariot awaits.”
Connie slipped her arm through his offered elbow and replied, “Thank you, kind sir.” They both then chuckled as they headed toward the door.
A comfortable silence settled about them as they made their way to Bob's car. When they reached his vehicle Bob first went to the passenger side and without saying anything opened the door and held it for Connie, whose smile over his chivalrous action nearly overshadowed her obvious exhaustion.
After ensuring she was settled, Bob closed the car door and made his way around to the driver's side. He climbed in and started the engine, looking over at his passenger.
Before putting the car in gear he asked, “So would you prefer your place, or mine?”
Smirking, Connie replied, “Feeling rather sure of yourself tonight, aren't you?”
“Not at all,” Bob countered, “If you want to spend some time together, I thought we could go to my house. If you would rather just go home and get some sleep, then...”
Interrupting him Connie argued, “That's not what you said.”
Laughing, Bob said, “Maybe not, but it seems to have woke you up.”
Shaking her head as she tried not to laugh herself, Connie responded, “Oh, shut up and take us to your house already.”
Chapter Sixty-eight
Charlie pulled up in front of Linda's apartment building, then turning to look at her he said, “Looks like we're here.”
“Yes, it does,” she replied. “Thanks again.”
“No problem,” he started, “Now, about this getting to know one another thing...”
She smiled saying, “Care to come in? I could make us some coffee or something.”
“I'd love to,” he responded perhaps a little too quickly. If she'd remembered the pictures the police had been showing around the club earlier, or been more observant of the way he constantly looked at her as if she were the first meal he'd had in weeks, she might have been more leery of offering that invitation. Then again, she probably wouldn't have accepted the ride in the first place, had those been the case.
As Linda began to get out of the car, Charlie jumped out of the driver's seat and quickly ran around to the passenger door, grabbing hold of it as she stepped out of the way so he could close it. He then offered his elbow for her, which she accepted by slipping her hand through the opening so he could escort her to her door.
When they reached her front door, Charlie quietly stood beside her while she dug in her purse for her house key. Once she found it she looked at him and said, “Thanks so much for the ride. I'd invite you in but...”
Cutting her off he jumped in, “Sounds great. Don't mind if I do.”
“No,” she started, “I really need to get to bed.”
Charlie quickly responded, “Best offer I've had in a long time.” He then grinned at her, hoping she would give in so he wouldn't have to force his way in.
She looked at him and sighed saying, “I'm really exhausted. Is there any way I could give you a rain check?”
He forced a grin and said, “Sure. No problem.” After the shortest of pauses he then asked, “Any chance I could use your restroom before I go?”
Linda appeared to relax a little as she replied, “Certainly, come on in.” Once she had the door open she stepped inside followed by her guest, saying, “Down the hall. First door on the right.”
“Great, thanks,” he responded before heading in the specified direction.
While he was in the bathroom, Linda closed the front door before making her way into the kitchen where she reached into the cabinet for a glass, then after a moment got out a second. “What am I thinking?” she asked herself before taking the glasses to the ice maker and filling them both with cubes.
Charlie emerged from the restroom and found Linda in the kitchen rummaging through her liquor cabinet. He asked, “What's this?”
Turning to see him she replied, “Well I can't very well send you on your way without a proper thank you for the ride, can I?”
Laughing, Charlie responded, “Who am I to argue? Got any Scotch?”
“Of course,” she said before fishing a bottle of Scotch out of the cabinet and pouring some in each glass. She then handed one glass to her guest and picked up the other for herself.
Raising her glass in toast she said, “Thank you kind sir for gallantly providing me with assistance in my time of need.”
Touching his glass to hers he countered, “It was my pleasure.” The two of them stood there drinking from their glasses for a moment, looking intently at each other as they did so.
Charlie finished his first and set his glass down on the counter before moving in close to Linda, who was clearly surprised by his forwardness. She started to protest, but before she could actually say anything he had placed one hand to her mouth to silence her objections while his other reached around and pulled her close.
“Now,” he started, “Why would you want to fight?” He then began to guide her toward the bedroom as she struggled in vain against him.
As they entered the bedroom, he said, “Stop fighting and this will go much easier for you.”
“Oh yes,” she retorted, “Not fighting will make it so much easier for you to kill me.” She then kicked at his knees several times in the hope that she might be able to get away from him.
“Ouch!” he shouted before striking her hard across the face, then throwing her onto the bed. Climbing on top of her, he commented, “This will be fun.”
Before she knew what was happening, he had slipped a portion of electric cord around her neck and was tightening it as he kneed her repeatedly in the groin, knocking what little fight she had left out of her. As her resistance faded, he continued to tighten the cord cutting off her ability to breathe.
Once the life had left her body, Charlie returned to the kitchen to grab a knife which he then brought back to the bedroom and started by cutting the clothes off of his victim. Next he proceeded to mutilate her body but cutting off her genitals. “There's a nice present for you,” he snarled as he finished his 'surgery'.
As he stepped away from the body and went to the bathroom to begin cleaning up, he couldn't help but feel somehow unsatisfied. The more he thought about it, the more he felt he needed more. He just wasn't sure what would fulfill that need.
After cleaning the blood off oh his hands and removing the outer clothes he'd worn to keep from being stained when he left, he took one last look at Linda's body. “I let it happen to fast this time,” he mumbled. “I need to make it last longer.”
On his way to the front door, he remembered the glass he'd set down on the counter in the kitchen and returned there to retrieve the glass so he wouldn't need to worry about the possibility of leaving fingerprints somewhere that might lead the police back to him. Once done he headed out the door and made his way home to plan his next conquest.
Chapter Sixty-nine
Bob woke up to find the other side of the bed empty. He smiled as he first smelled coffee brewing, then heard pans clanging together telling him that Connie was in the kitchen. That thought made his smile grow bigger as he allowed himself to consider the possibility of waking up to her every morning.
He got out of bed and pulled on a bathrobe as he wandered into the kitchen where Connie was putting the finishing touches on their breakfast. When he saw her he couldn't help but say, “I need to wake to this more often.”
Smiling Connie responded, “Play your cards right and we'll see what we can do about that.”
Bob came up beside her and reached into the pan on the stove, picking up a bit of scrambled egg which he popped into his mouth. After swallowing he told her, “Good stuff.”
“Thank you, kind sir,” she replied.
Bob got out two plates from the cabinet and handed one to Connie before dishing some of the eggs on his plate. While Connie did the same, he got forks out of the silverware drawer, then got coffee cups out and handed one of each to her before pouring a cup for himself. Once they'd finished dishing up their food and drink, the two of them carried their breakfasts with them to the small kitchen table where they each took a seat and began consuming their meals.
In between bites, Connie asked, “So, what do you have planned for today? Do you have to work?”
“Only if something happens on one of my cases. No, today is my Mom's birthday and we're supposed to be getting together at my folks' house.”
“Will Tanya be there?”
Bob took a sip of his coffee before responding, “I suppose so, although it's liable to be a bit exciting.”
“Why's that?”
“Well, my folks have yet to meet my sister as it were and I'm not exactly sure how things are going to go.” After a brief pause he continued, “If you're looking for some excitement you could come along.”
“To tell ya the truth, I wish I could,” she replied. “Unfortunately, I'm supposed to work this afternoon.”
“On a Sunday?” Bob asked.
“Yeah,” she answered. “I'm kind of managing the club today. Not that I get any extra money for it, but...”
“Well, after the excitement is over maybe I could come by and fill you in on all the gory details.”
Smiling she said, “I'd like that a lot.”
Chapter Seventy
Tanya sat in her car looking down the street at the house that had been her childhood home as she tried to summon the courage to actually go inside and face her parents as her true self for the very first time. She'd been doing just that for nearly twenty minutes and knew that soon they'd be wondering where she was, possibly even going so far as to come looking for her.
She nervously took one last look at herself in the rear view mirror before finally working up the courage to face her fate. “All or nothing,” she said to herself as she opened the car door and climbed out.
After straightening her skirt, she began walking up the driveway toward her first face to face encounter with her parents as Tanya. With each step her apprehension grew at the same rate as the perceived weight of her high heeled boot encased feet until she finally found herself facing the front door to her childhood home.
She took a deep breath and muttered, “Here goes,” as she raised her hand to the doorbell and pressed the button. Fighting the urge to run, she stood anxiously waiting for a sign from inside. After a few seconds she could clearly hear someone walking across hardwood floors toward the front door, each step echoing louder than the previous in her head.
Nerves obviously had taken their toll as she held her breath while the door slowly swung open, revealing Tanya's mother looking nearly as anxious as her daughter. Neither one seemed able to make a sound as they stood there looking at each other for what seemed hours, but more likely was mere seconds.
Finding her voice first, Tanya's mother tentatively asked, “Tanya?” as she continued to stare at her new daughter.
Finally able to respond, Tanya replied, “Hi Mom. Happy Birthday.”
After the briefest of hesitations, Tanya's mother opened her arms and stepped forward toward her daughter saying, “Welcome home, sweetheart.” She enfolded her daughter in a tender embrace before leading her inside as she added, “It's so good to finally see you.”
Blushing, she smiled and said, “You too, Mom.”
As they started to release their embrace, her Mom held Tanya at arms length and added, “Now, your father has promised me he won't make a scene, but as you probably knew already he's having some issues with these changes.”
“I expected that,” Tanya responded. “Would it be better if I didn't stay?”
“No,” she replied emphatically. “My day, my rules and I want my daughter to be here.”
“Okay, but if things get too bad I'll leave.”
Cutting off her daughter she interjected, “You will not!”
At that moment their greeting was interrupted by the approach of an older man coming into the living room from the kitchen. As he drew nearer he looked at Tanya and making no effort to disguise his disappointment, said, “Ah, you're here. Wasn't sure you'd make it.”
“Yes, I'm here Dad. Thank you for allowing me to come today,” Tanya offered in her most conciliatory tone.
“Don't thank me,” he grunted before turning to leave the room.
After watching her father walk away, Tanya looked back at her mother and said, “I suppose that could've gone worse.”
“Doesn't mean I approve of his behavior,” her Mom responded. “I think I need to read him the riot act for treating our daughter this way.”
Trying to calm her mother, Tanya said, “No Mom! This is a lot for him to have to take in. It's bound to take time for him to get used to the idea.”
“Only because he never paid attention when you were growing up.”
“Mom,” she started, “Thank you so much. Let him have a little time, okay?”
“Okay,” her Mom relented.
Bob came in the front door and as soon as he saw Tanya he asked, “I take it things didn't go all that well?”
Turning her attention to her brother she replied, “Could've been worse, I suppose.”
Mom asked, “I take it you're acquainted with your sister?”
“We've talked a bit.”
“Well, I'm glad you two are working at getting along. That means a lot to me, son.”
“I know Mom and I promise you I'm trying.”
Mom gave Bob a hug and said, “I know and thank you.”
“Mom,” Tanya interjected, “Bobby's been great about things. I actually think in time we might get along better than we ever did before.”
“That's wonderful, sweetheart.” Mom then continued, “Now what are we going to do about your father?”
“I really didn't expect him to accept me,” Tanya stated.
“Well I did,” Mom countered.
“He go out there?” Bob asked as he pointed toward the back door.
Their Mom answered, “Yes and could you go talk to him?”
Tanya interjected, “Maybe I should just go.”
“No!” Mom stated vehemently. “You will not! This is my first chance to spend time with my daughter and I won't let him take that away from me.”
“I'll see what I can do,” Bob offered. He then headed out the back door to talk to their father.
Watching her son as he made his way out the door their Mom said to Tanya, “Looks like you two are getting along all right.”
“I've been very happily surprised,” Tanya commented. “When he first found out, I fully expected him to react exactly the same way Dad has. Then somehow he managed to prove me wrong. He's really trying very hard. I can honestly say I know for certain that he really does love me. Not his little brother playing dress up, but me.”
by Jillian
Chapter Seventy-one
Bob looked out the back door toward the old shed where he saw his father sitting on the family's rather old riding lawn mower. He went out the door and as he started walking toward the shed he asked, “You okay, Pop?”
Looking up, his father replied, “Guess that depends on what you call okay.”
“Listen,” Bob started, “I know it's weird. Trust me, I know. The thing is, now that I've kinda gotten to know her...”
Pop interrupted, “Her? That's my son in there!”
“I know where you're coming from, really I do,” he responded. “The thing is, we've had some time to get to know one another and I kinda understand a lot of things about her that I didn't before.”
“Again with the her!”
Trying to calm his father, Bob said, “Yeah, well, I have to think that she and her makes a lot more sense than he and him does anymore.”
“But,” he countered, “You're born one or the other. There's no switching sides.”
“Sorry Pop, but I think this time you may be wrong.”
Looking at his son with a part perturbed, part confused expression, he stated, “Listen Bobby, in all these years I've yet to meet anybody who could convince me that these gender bender types are anything other than koo-koo for Cocoa Puffs.”
“I don't know Pop,” Bob countered. “Until recently I woulda agreed with you 100 percent, but now I've spent some time tryin' to understand all this and I gotta say...”
Interrupting his son he asked, “What? You goin' soft on me here, boy?”
“No, course not,” Bob replied. “I'm just kinda startin' to understand a little about why some folks might believe the way they do.”
“You better not let the FOP guys hear ya talkin' like that. They'd have your shield for sure.”
“You may be right about that, Pop. However, that doesn't mean I'm not starting to accept the idea that I might have a little sister instead of a brother.”
Looking at his son while shaking his head, Pop responded, “Well, I will not accept any such ideas.”
“Pop!” Bob chastised his father. “You know as well as I do that Tommy always had something different about him. We've even known what it was that was different.”
“Doesn't matter,” Pop argued.
“But it does. You were willing to accept Tommy even though he was 'different', so what's so different about Tanya?”
“What's got into you?”
Bob took a deep breath and let out a low sigh before responding, “Listen, whether we like it or not that's still the same person and the sooner you and I accept that, the better things will be.”
“Son,” Pop countered, “This is just too odd. People aren't supposed to change teams like that!”
“That's just it, Pop,” Bob responded. “I don't think there's any 'changing teams' going on here at all. She's always been a girl. We just didn't know it until now.”
“This is too weird.”
“Believe me, I know exactly where you're comin' from. I've just started to realize how gutsy is is for her to do this.”
With an obviously confused look on his face Pop asked, “What're you talkin' about?”
“Think about it,” Bob began, “Despite knowing exactly what our reaction was going to be, she came here today like this. She spent hours trying to explain things to me even though we both knew I was never going to really understand. That took a lot of guts. You gotta at least acknowledge that.”
Pop shrugged before finally saying, “I don't know. Maybe.”
“Pop, I don't approve any more than you do, but I have to think it's our place to support her whether we think it's right or not.”
Looking skeptically at his son, Pop asked, “What else is goin' on here?”
Bob returned his father's stare for a moment before replying, “It has to do with this case I've been working on. You know about about the tranny killings, right?”
“I read about them in the paper, yeah.”
“Well, we're having some difficulty getting many leads and Tanya's volunteered to serve as bait for us.”
A sudden look of concern crossed Pop's face as he digested what Bob had just told him. After a few moments, he said, “I'm surprised. I never thought he had it in him.”
“Yeah well,” Bob started, “Fact is we both underestimated her for a long time.”
“What's with this 'her' stuff?” Pop asked.
Bob said, “That's one of the things I came out here to talk to you about.”
“What is it?”
“Listen, we don't have to agree with what she's doing, but it's only right to at least respect her choice by using her girl name or female pronouns.”
Pop looked intently at his son before saying, “That's goin' to be easier said than done.”
“Yeah, I know,” Bob answered. “But she deserves that much, I think.”
Chapter Seventy-two
Candy knocked on Linda's door for the third time, mumbling to herself, “Where the Hell are you? Surely you didn't forget about shopping.”
When there was still no response from inside, Candy dug around in her purse for her keys. Once she'd located the key ring, she picked through them until she found the spare key Linda had given her a few months before so she could get in to water the plants while Linda had been out of town.
She let herself in the apartment and called, “Linda?” Unsure why there was still no response, she wandered into the kitchen where she found one half empty glass sitting out on the counter. Picking it up, she could easily see that it had been Linda's thanks to the shade of lipstick stain on the rim.
Setting it back down she quietly asked, “Why would this still be out on the counter? She never leaves dirty dishes out like that.” After a moment, she headed down the hallway hoping to figure out what was going on.
As she passed Linda's bedroom, she got her first sight of the body sprawled out on the bed. The incredible amount of blood all over the bed had dripped onto the floor where it appeared to have been pooling for quite some time.
Startled by the scene she was witnessing, Candy let out a sudden scream as she uneasily backed away from the bedroom door until she was once again standing in the living room. Clearly shaken by what she'd just seen, it took a few minutes for her to regain her composure and have the presence of mind to call the police.
Following several deep breaths, she reached into her purse and pulled out her cell phone, which she immediately opened and dialed 911.
After barely a single ring the call was answered, “911, what is your emergency?”
Candy stammered for a second before blurting out, “My friend is dead. In her apartment. I just found her. What do I do?”
“What is your location?”
She eventually managed to tell the operator where she was so the appropriate services could be dispatched. Once her call to 911 was complete, she found her way to the sofa where she allowed herself to break down and began to cry uncontrollably.
Chapter Seventy-three
Tanya sat at the kitchen table with her mother, drinking iced tea and chatting. “What if he never comes around, Mom?”
“He will, sweetheart,” Mom countered. “Just give him time.”
“I'll try,” Tanya responded. “But what if he...”
Mom cut off her new daughter, saying, “You can't think like that. I know that sometimes you think of him as some horrible ogre, but he's really not like that at all.”
“You could have fooled me,” Tanya mumbled.
“Now,” Mom chastised. “Don't be that way.”
“Then how do you want me to be, Mom?” she asked agitatedly. “I mean, did he or didn't he run out the back door the moment I came in?”
Slowly, Mom responded, “I guess you could say that, but...”
“But nothing,” Tanya interrupted. “It's not like I expected anything different. Maybe I should just go.”
“No!” Mom Countered. “It's my birthday and I want you here.”
The conversation was halted by the sound of the back door opening and closing once again. Both ladies looked toward the sound, holding their breath while they waited. After a few seconds, Pop followed by Bob re-entered the kitchen.
“Boys,” Mom greeted them.
Pop fidgeted for a moment before saying, “Listen, I know I kinda overreacted.”
Mom piped up, “I'll say.”
“Mom!” Tanya chided. Directed toward Pop she said, “It's okay. I do understand.”
“I know you do,” Pop responded. “I'm sorry.”
“Apology accepted.”
Bob interjected, “Pop and I had a long talk.”
Tanya interrupted, “I do understand that you don't necessarily approve of what I'm doing.”
Pop responded, “And I appreciate that. You're right, I don't approve, but that's not what's important here.”
Mom picked up the thought saying, “What is important is that we support you in this despite whether or not we approve.”
Smiling, Tanya answered, “That's all I could ask.”
“I've done my best to convey that to Pop,” Bob commented. “He just needed a little time to absorb things. Not unlike someone else we know.”
Tanya responded, “You know how much I appreciate the fact that you're willing to respect my choice. It's more than a simple 'thank you' could possibly cover.”
Mom smiled and said, “Now, how about we have a little dinner?”
Chapter Seventy-four
“No, we were supposed to go shopping this afternoon. I hadn't heard anything from her which was kind of odd, so I decided to come over and check on her,” Candy stated, visibly shaken as she sat answering the police officer's questions.
The officer made some notes on a small pad of paper before looking back at the witness and offering, “I'm sorry to have taken so much of your time. We have your contact information, so if the detectives need anything else they'll be in touch.”
Candy looked blankly at him for a moment before the officer said, “I can't think of anything else we might need from you at the moment, but as I said, the detectives may have more questions later on. Again, I'm sorry for your loss.” He extended his hand as they stood up, adding, “If we need anything else, we'll be in touch.”
After escorting the witness to the door, the officer turned to one of his colleagues and said, “Looks like we'll be interrupting Detective Taylor's day off.”
“Well, you can make the call, 'cause I sure as Hell ain't doin' it.”
Chapter Seventy-five
Bob's cell phone rang as he took a last bite from his dinner plate. He pulled it out of his pocket, flipping it open, and said, “Taylor.”
From the other end he heard, “Detective, it looks like we have another victim in your case.”
Bob's face fell as he listened to his telephone before responding, “Can you text me the address? I'll be there ASAP.” After flipping his phone closed, he turned his attention to his mother and said, “I'm sorry Mom. It looks like I'm going to have to go back to work.”
Tanya interjected, “Everything all right?”
He responded to his sister as he rose from the dinner table, “Looks like we have another victim.”
Tanya's face fell as she listened to her brother. She also rose from the table and followed him to the front door, where she said, “Be careful, okay?”
“I will,” he responded. He opened the door, continuing, “I'll talk to you later. We need to catch this guy before...”
“I know,” she interrupted. “Talk to ya later.”
She watched as her brother headed out the door and down the driveway to his car. She didn't close the front door until she'd seen him climb into his car, after which she herself turned around and returned to the dining table.
Surprisingly, when she'd gotten back to the dining room she found her father sitting at the table alone looking intently at her. “Where's Mom?” she asked nervously.
“She had something to take care of,” he replied. “Can we talk for a minute?”
“Sure, Pop,” she answered. As she returned to her seat at the table she asked, “What's up?”
He stared at her for a moment before clearing his throat and saying, “Listen, you know there's no way you were going to come here today and not have a serious sit down with me, so it's either now or later.”
Tanya took a sip from her iced tea sitting in front of her before responding, “I know. I just don't feel like listening to you try to talk me into changing my mind.”
“I know that,” Pop began, “and believe it or not, I can respect that.”
She stared at him, unable to respond for a moment. When she finally found her voice again, all she could manage to ask was, “Huh?”
“It's like when you told us you wanted to try to make a living as a musician,” Pop started. “I believed you were making a mistake, but I had to respect your right to make that choice.”
“And you did,” she responded. “I've always appreciated that and I hope I've been able to communicate that.”
“You have,” he replied. “Now as for...this,” he indicated Tanya's appearance, “I think you're making a huge mistake.”
She looked at him on the verge of tears running down her cheeks. After trying for a moment to verbalize a response, she simply swallowed and let the tears flow.
Pop took in her nonverbal response for a moment before continuing, “Over the years, I saw a lot of 'girls' like you and not a one of 'em had any kind of success in life. Not at work, not in relationships...” He paused for a second before concluding, “They all had really hard lives and I just hate to see you go down that same road.”
After wiping the tears off her cheeks, Tanya said, “Pop, I tried for a long time to be the person you wanted me to be. I really did.” The tears, which had never really stopped since they'd begun the conversation, increased until she was barely able to squeak out the last part, “I just couldn't do it anymore.”
Pop looked at his new 'daughter' for several seconds, debating how best to respond to what he'd just heard. Eventually he decided to offer something of an olive branch and soothed, “I know that, sweetheart. I didn't say I wouldn't respect your choice. I will, but I'm still going to tell you what I think, and I think you're making a mistake. Okay?”
As she slowly brought her crying back under control she smiled and responded, “Okay.”
She eventually got up from her chair, circled around the table and gave Pop a hug saying, “I love you.”
“Love you too,” he answered as he too began to cry.
Chapter Seventy-six
Charlie continued to mentally beat himself up over his lack of restraint the previous night, mumbling to himself, “How could I let things get out of hand like that? I had a plan.” He looked at the knife and glass which he'd brought home with him, wondering if he should dispose of them.
Eventually he decided that the best course of action was to destroy the evidence, so he took both items and rinsed them off before putting them in the dishwasher. After closing the machine and starting it he stated, “Now there's no way they could possibly connect them with last night, even if someone found them.” That tended to, he began to relax a bit and made his way to the bathroom to take a shower.
As the hot water pelted his body Charlie began to think about what might happen if he were to ever get caught. Oddly though, it wasn't thoughts of how he might be treated in police custody that preoccupied him. Rather, he wondered if there would be anyone else to come along to carry on his 'important work'.
“Surely,” he rationalized, “I can't be the only one who believes that what I'm doing is important. God's work even.”
He continued to allow his thoughts to swirl through his twisted logic until it occurred to him that the water was getting cold. Following a quick rinse to ensure he had removed all traces of soap he turned off the shower and climbed out, grabbing a towel and beginning to dry off in the process. Despite getting repeatedly lost in his thoughts, Charlie eventually managed to get himself ready for his day.
Chapter Seventy-seven
As Bob entered the apartment one of the uniformed officers greeted him, “Hey detective. Sorry to interrupt your day off.”
“I don't think it was your fault. If I find out it was...” he allowed the statement to trail off before grinning at the young officer. Everyone who overheard their exchange chuckled for a moment before Bob asked, “So where's the victim?”
Pointing in the direction of the bedroom, the officer said, “Through there in the bedroom.”
“Thanks,” he said as he headed in the direction the other man had indicated. When he entered the room, he quickly noticed that the scene was different from previous victims.
Looking up from the bed, the medical examiner noticed him entering and said, “Hey Bob. This one's different.”
“Different how? Not one of the 'girls'?”
“No she's a t-girl,” he answered. “What's different is the way the murder took place.”
“How so? I know this isn't the first one he's done with a knife.”
The medical examiner replied, “It's like he was rushed or something. Usually there's a lot of buildup before the climax, but not this time.”
“So do you think someone interrupted him and he rushed the act, or what?”
“I'm not sure, other than to say that the evidence indicates nowhere near as much of his usual buildup.”
Thinking for a moment, Bob asked, “Any chance this isn't the same guy?”
“It's hard to say really, but I'm inclined to think it's the same guy as before because of how little evidence was left behind. Just something caused him to finish her off before he'd intended.”
Looking first at the body lying on the bed, then at the doctor Bob responded, “Okay. Just make sure to get lots of pictures for the file.”
As he left the room, he mulled over what the doctor had said. 'If he was somehow rushed then chances are he's feeling frustrated. I'd be willing to bet he's going to go out looking for another victim tonight.'
Pulling out his phone, he called the precinct. When his call was answered he said, “This is Detective Taylor. I need to speak with the watch commander.”
“One moment sir,” he heard before the line went silent for a moment.
There was a click followed by the voice of the captain, “Johnson here. What can I do for you Detective?”
Getting right to the point Bob said, “I'd like authorization to set up a stakeout at that tranny bar tonight.”
The Captain responded, “Kinda late notice. Any reason?”
Following the briefest of pauses Bob replied, “Call it a hunch. I've got a feeling our guy's going to be hunting tonight.”
“What's the plan?” asked the Captain.
Bob cleared his throat before answering, “I'd like to place two teams outside ready to apprehend the perp, should he show himself.”
After a moment during which he was obviously deciding if he was going to authorize Bob's request, he said, “You got it. Is there anything else you need?”
“Not really, no. Other than maybe a wire with recording. I have someone who will go inside and try to ID our guy in the bar.”
“I know you don't have any officers playing dress up,” the Captain commented.
Bob hesitated before responding, “No, I have one of the regulars who's willing to help us out.”
“Does he know what he's getting into?”
“She does.”
“Okay,” the captain said. “You've got whatever you need. Good hunting.”
The line went silent then disconnected, so Bob dialed another number.
This time as soon as the call was answered he stated, “Tanya, I'm going to need you to go in tonight.”
Chapter Seventy-eight
As Tanya hung up the phone, her mother asked, “What was that about, sweetheart?”
Startled by the unexpected question, Tanya said, “Mom! Don't sneak up on people like that.”
Laughing, her mom said, “I don't sneak! So?”
Giving her Mom a mock glare, Tanya asked, “So what?”
Following an exasperated sigh, her mom replied, “So what was the call about?”
Feeling flustered, Tanya lied, “Nothing. It was just a friend wanting to chat. I told her I'd call her back later.”
Staring knowingly at Tanya, Mom commented, “I don't think so.”
Trying to change the subject Tanya said, “I'm sorry if I ruined your birthday.”
Mom smiled as she responded, “No sweetheart, you haven't done anything of the sort. In fact, having you here has been the best present I could've asked for.”
Staring at her on the verge of tears, Tanya said, “Well, I don't really believe you, but thanks.”
Changing the subject Mom asked, “So how'd your talk with your father go?”
“Well,” she said trying to keep her voice as neutral as possible. After a moment she couldn't hold it in any longer and smiled as she said, “Better than I expected, to tell the truth.”
Mom returned her smile as she asked, “Then I take it you two are at least on speaking terms?”
“Yes...at least,” she said as she began to giggle. Before long they were both convulsed in a fit of laughter.
“He does love you, you know,” Mom offered as the giggling subsided.
“I know,” Tanya replied. “I just hope he can be as non-judgmental in practice as he seems in theory.”
“I don't think you have anything to worry about.”
Tanya paused for a moment before responding, “I hope you're right.”
Chapter Seventy-nine
As Bob climbed the steps and entered the precinct he was approached by Sergeant Parker who said, “Taylor, I have the detail arranged and everyone's waiting in the call room.”
“Good,” Bob responded, “I'll be there in a minute. Did you include Tanya's picture in the packet?”
Looking less than thrilled, the Sergeant replied, “Yeah I did. Is this the only way?”
“It's our best chance to catch this guy. The fact that you have a problem with the kind of people he's been killing shouldn't change anything and the same can be said of Tanya, because she volunteered to help us get him. Besides, she's...yes I said she...my sister so don't let your personal feelings get in the way of doing your job.”
Looking down the sarge said, “Yes boss.” With that he turned and walked away.
As Bob watched him leave he said to himself, “I hope he doesn't let his feelings mess up the whole operation.” As he continued toward his desk, he continued to mull over his friend and his distaste for his sister and everyone like her.
Opening the file which held copies of all the documents that had been handed out to the task force waiting for him downstairs, he made some notes about what he wanted to include in his instructions. When he was done, he picked up his notes along with the file and headed for the stairs so he could address the troops.
At the bottom of the steps he peered into the room and made mental notes about the team members he was familiar with, as well as those he didn't know so he could be sure to look up their service records before the operation. Taking a deep breath, he entered the room and headed directly for the podium at the front of the room.
“Tonight we catch this guy,” Bob said as he stood up in front of the room full of officers who'd been assigned to the evening's detail. “We're sending in someone who won't stand out as out of place to act as bait and our top priority after catching our suspect is to keep her safe. I know the Sarge has already gone over individual assignments, so I won't waste any more of your time on that right now. Any questions?”
A younger looking officer raised his hand as asked, “How will we know which one is the decoy sir?”
“Her picture is included in the packet you've all been given concerning tonight's operation,” Bob responded. He paused and after clearing his throat he continued, “This isn't some cop we're putting in harm's way here. It's my sister who's volunteered to help us catch this guy, so I'd appreciate it if we could do everything possible to ensure her safety. Anything else?”
The room was silent for a moment while Bob waited to see if there were any more questions. Once he was certain there were none he concluded the meeting by saying, “That's all. You've got a few hours before we need to get everyone in position for tonight, so go have a good meal, get some sleep...whatever you need to do to make sure you're on top of your game tonight. Dismissed.”
As those in attendance started filing out of the room Sergeant Parker came up to the front of the room and commented, “Interesting how you left out the part about your 'sister' being your brother.”
Glaring at the sergeant Bob responded, “Not relevant, Sarge. Now leave it alone.”
Defensively the sergeant said, “Okay, okay.”
Softening his stare Bob asked, “Are you going to be able to do your job without letting your personal feelings get in the way?”
“Of course,” Sarge replied a little indignantly. “I'm a professional.”
“Okay,” Bob responded as he watched his friend turn and leave the room.
Chapter Eighty
“Where've you been?” Cynthia whined as she watched her friend walk into her hospital room.
As she strode toward the bed Tanya replied, “My Mom's birthday, remember?”
“So you actually went? Like that?” Cynthia asked.
When she reached her friend's bedside, Tanya pulled a chair over by the bed and took a seat, responding, “Well yeah. I talked to my Dad and everything.”
“And you lived to tell about it.”
Tanya smiled as she said, “Believe it or don't.”
Cynthia gave her friend a penetrating stare as she asked, “I assume since you aren't balling your eyes out that he was a lot more sympathetic than you thought he'd be?”
Grinning Tanya replied, “Oh, he made it clear he thinks I'm making a huge mistake, but at the same time he promised to respect my right to choose how I live my life. I actually think in his own way that's a ringing endorsement.”
They both dissolved in a fit of giggles before eventually Cynthia got herself back under control, at which point she asked, “So what's next?”
“Well,” she said somewhat guiltily, “I'm meeting up with Bobby later.”
“If I didn't know better I'd think he was starting to accept you.”
“That'll be the day.”
“So how'd he talk you into helping him with his case?”
Feigning shock Tanya responded, “I don't know what you mean.”
“I know you, remember?” Cynthia started. “You have this look in your eye that tells me you're trying to hide something from me.”
In response to her friend's comment, Tanya blushed bright red as she tried not to smile.
To Be Continued...
by Jillian
Chapter Eighty-one
“Where are you?” Bob practically shouted into his cell phone as he left yet another voicemail message on Tanya's phone. After disconnecting the line, he directed his attention toward Sergeant Parker sitting next to him in their unmarked car and asked, “What time is it?”
The sergeant looked at his watch and replied, “A few minutes til eight.”
Staring out the front window Bob muttered, “Where are you, little sister?” The words had barely left his lips when his cell phone range. He flipped it open before it had completed one time through the ringtone and said, “Tanya, where the hell are you?”
She replied, “I'm in my car on my way to the club. I should be there in a couple of minutes.”
“You're late,” Bob commented.
“Like I said, I'm almost there.”
Forcing himself to calm his tone he said, “Meet me around the corner from the club so I can get you ready to go in.”
Tanya responded, “I'll be there as soon as I find a parking space.”
Bob flipped his phone closed and turned his attention back to the sarge and said, “I'll be back after I get her ready to go in.”
“See ya in a few,” the Sarge replied.
Bob climbed out of the car and crossed the street, going around the corner of the building where he'd planned to meet up with his sister. He had stood there in the shadows trying to be invisible for a moment until Tanya came walking by.
Sticking his head out of the shadows he hissed, “Over here.”
Startled, Tanya nearly jumped upon hearing the unexpected voice. Quickly regaining her composure, she replied, “Don't do that to me!”
“Sorry, I was just trying to avoid being seen,” he replied. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a small quarter sized device and hands it to her, saying, “This will let us know your location at all times, so even if we were to lose visual contact we can find you easily.”
Taking the device from her brother, Tanya said, “I'm not sure I like the idea of you losing visual contact.”
Softening from his usual 'professional' demeanor, Bob commented, “I understand, but if we stay too close we may spook him before we have a chance to get him. Hide that somewhere on your person, like maybe in your bra or something.”
“It doesn't look like it would be very comfortable stuffed in there,” she commented.
He looked at her kind of funny and asked, “Isn't that just padding in there?”
She became indignant and said, “Not that it's any of your business, but no, it's not just padding. That's all me and they're kind of sensitive.”
“Sorry,” he mumbled before clearing his throat and saying more 'officially', “Just hide it in your clothes somewhere.”
“I'll figure something out,” she replied before reaching inside the top of her dress and hiding the device in the side of her bra. Once that task was done she looked at her brother and asked, “Are we ready to do this?”
“Yeah, everyone is in place,” Bob responded. “I’ll be right over there,” he said as he pointed toward the unmarked car parked across the street from the alley they were in. “We’ll stick as close as we can without being noticed.”
Handing her a photo of their suspect he continued, “Our best bet is if you can get this guy to leave the club with you. We'll be able to grab him more easily that way than if we were trying to do it inside with so many civilians in such close proximity.”
Tanya looked intently at the photo as if committing it to memory. “Bring him outside,” she said, confirming her instructions. “I'll see what I can do.” After handing the photo back to her brother she ran her hands down her dress to smooth it out and asked, “Do I look all right?”
Bob rolled his eyes and said, “Geez, you've been a woman for what, a week? And you've already started with those trick questions?”
“Bobby, I've always been a woman,” she replied indignantly. “You just didn't know it before.”
Holding up his hands in a sign of surrender he said, “Okay, okay. How about we get things going?”
“Okay,” she responded. “I'm guessing we don't want to both leave this alley at the same time.”
“That would be correct. You go on in and I'll give it a minute or so before I head back to my post,” he said. As he watched her walk away and turn toward the entrance he quietly said, “Good luck.”
Chapter Eighty-two
As Charlie prepared to head out for the evening, he asked himself, “What am I doing? No way should I be doing this.” Despite his acknowledgment, he continued getting ready to go out.
Before he left his apartment, he picked up a bag he'd placed by the door and looked inside to confirm that he had everything he anticipated needing for the evening. Once certain, he exited and climbed into his car.
As he drove toward 'Slipper' the anticipation which had been building up in him since the previous night grew to the point that it was nearly visible in his every action. By the time he reached his destination, he was actually shaking.
“Get yourself under control,” he murmured as he parked the car. Before getting out of it he sat there for a minute taking slow, deep breaths to try to calm himself. Once he had managed to calm himself he climbed out of the car and started toward the club entrance.
As he entered the club, the excitement he'd tried so hard to control again bubbled up to the surface. Even before he'd made it through the door he began scanning the bar for potential 'companions'.
He approached the bar and said to the bartender, “I'll have a beer, thanks.”
The bartender reached into the cooler for a glass and asked, “Tap or bottle?”
“Bottle,” he responded. “Just whatever kind you grab first.”
“You got it,” the bartender said as he again reached into the cooler and first replaced the glass, then pulled out a bottle which he handed to Charlie saying, “Here ya go.”
Charlie took the bottle and said, “Thanks.” Taking a sip, he resumed looking around the room for someone with whom he could satisfy his desires.
Chapter Eighty-three
Bob took a drink from the thermos lid cup and said, “I see you still suck at making coffee.”
Parker looked at him and smirked as he replied, “Next time you can make your own then.”
“I never said I could do any better,” Bob admitted.
“I've tasted your coffee,” Parker retorted. “Trust me, you can't.”
“You know,” Bob teased, “I could run you for insubordination.”
Parker smirked, “No you can't.”
Bob gave his associate a hard stare for a moment hoping to make the Sarge question whether he was right or not. After a minute, he gave up on his halfhearted attempt at intimidation. Trying to redirect things back to the business at hand, Bob asked, “How's the tracking signal?”
Parker looked at the receiver before replying, “Good strong signal. The techno-geeks said the location should be accurate to within ten yards and it says she's inside the building.”
Bob smiled and commented, “Thanks for saying she. I know you have some problems with all this. Hell, so do I but it's important for us to respect the life choices of someone who is risking their own life to help us out here.”
Parker dismissively responded, “Just don't make a big deal about it, okay?”
Again smiling, Bob said, “You got it, Sarge.”
Chapter Eighty-four
Tanya had been in the club for nearly an hour as she looked around the bar yet again from the vantage point of her table located on a raised platform that overlooked the dance floor and bar area. She was trying to find the man whose picture she had memorized while attempting to not be too obvious about her search.
She scanned the club yet again and nearly missed seeing her quarry, but just managed to catch a glimpse of him standing at the bar nursing a drink. Her first instinct was to head straight for him, but thought better of that idea and decided to just keep an eye on his movements for a moment before approaching him.
As she watched him she couldn’t help indulging the contradictory thoughts that raced around her head. On the one hand she had to admit that she understood why so many girls had been willing to go with him. After all, he wasn’t exactly repulsive looking. However, she found that thanks to the information she had been given prior to the evening it took every ounce of will power she could muster to not run as far away from him as she possibly could. In the end, she pushed her personal feelings, both good and bad, aside and returned to the next step in her mission.
It didn’t take long to determine that he hadn’t ‘hooked up’ with anyone yet, so she made her way over to his location at the end of the bar. She stepped up to the bar and waited for the bartender’s attention while stealing glances at her target. Whether he noticed her looking at him was unimportant, as he was quite obviously interested in her.
As the bartender turned her attention to the end of the bar, Tanya spoke up, “I’d like a glass of white wine please.”
Charlie jumped into the conversation saying, “Put that on my tab.” He then held his hand out and introduced himself, “I’m Charlie.”
Tanya took his offered hand and responded, “Tanya.”
He flashed her his best smile and said, “Pleasure to meet you, Tanya.”
Fighting her nearly uncontrollable desire to throw up, she forced herself to smile back before asking, “Are you here with someone?”
“No, I’m on my own…for now at least,” he said as his eyes flashed a predatory look in Tanya’s direction. After a brief pause, he asked, “What about you? Are you spoken for this evening?”
Doing her best to make him think she was interested she replied, “All by my lonesome. Join me?”
“Thought you’d never ask,” he grinned as he took a sip of his drink. Looking around for a moment he spots a table and says, “There’s one. Come on.”
While Charlie led Tanya toward the table he intended to commandeer, she thought, ‘That was easier than I expected.’
When they reached the table he pulled out a chair for her and said in a laughable English accent, “Milady.”
She took the offered seat and watched as he took his place opposite. After a brief couple of seconds during which they each settled in to their places, Tanya started, “So Charlie, what do you have in mind now?”
“Well,” he started, “I thought we’d have a few drinks, dance a bit and see where that takes us.” The bartender returned with the previously ordered drink, placing it in front of Tanya.
Picking up the glass in a ‘toast’ gesture, she commented, “You seem to have a good handle on things.” Looking him in the eye, she smiled as she took a sip of her drink.
Chapter Eighty-Five
“You’re kinda antsy tonight,” Parker commented as Bob shifted in his seat yet again.
“I am not!” Bob snapped.
Parker stared at him for a moment before his lips began to curl into a smile and a chuckle rumbled up from his belly. “You wanna rethink that?” he asked in between chuckles.
Frowning, Bob said, “You mean you’re not worried about someone we just sent in there as bait for a lunatic who’s killed who knows how many times?”
“He’s not gonna do anything in the bar, is he?”
“That’s just it,” Bob replied, “He’s been changing his M.O. lately. We don’t know what to expect since he’s upped the ante.”
The sergeant watched his friend and colleague without responding for a couple of minutes. Just before he was about to say something to break the silence, he heard Bob clear his throat.
“I wish we could’ve set her up with the audio wire,” Bob complained for the umpteenth time as he sat in the car waiting.
Looking at his friend, Parker replied, “No need, is there? I mean there isn’t really anything he could say that would incriminate him more than his actions, true?”
“Yeah, but…” Bob started before allowing his thought to go unfinished.
“Careful there, boss,” the Sarge teased. “You’re gonna make everybody think you care or something.”
Bob stared daggers at his partner, saying nothing for a few moments. When he did speak, all he said was, “Family.”
In a conciliatory tone Parker responded, “Fair enough.”
Chapter Eighty-six
Tanya excused herself from Charlie’s company to make a visit to the restroom, where she slipped into the first available stall closing the door behind her. Pulling her cell phone out of her purse, she typed a quick text message and sent it to her brother saying, ‘Contact made. All well, T’.
“There,” she said to herself as she returned the phone to her purse. Straightening her dress, she opened the stall door and continued, “What next?”
Stepping out of the stall, she went to the mirror and checked her hair and makeup. Opening her purse again, she pulled out her lipstick and did a quick touch up before returning it to her bag.
Her attention was suddenly drawn to another ‘girl’ who was also touching up her makeup when she asked Tanya, “Who’s that guy you’re with tonight? He looks like quite the catch.”
Tanya looked at the other occupant and replied, “He’s all right, but we did just meet. His name’s Charlie.”
Cattily her new friend commented, “Well, if you’re not that into him maybe you should step aside and let someone who is have a chance.”
“I don’t think so,” Tanya replied.
“Hmph,” her companion huffed as she turned to leave the restroom.
Once she was alone, Tanya said to no one in particular, “Trust me, you’ll thank me later.” When she was finally satisfied everything was as it should be, she exited the ladies room.
On her way back to their table, she mused, “Brother mine, I hope to high heaven you’ve got my back.”
As she approached from behind Charlie, she could see he was lustfully watching all the girls in the general vicinity of their table. For a brief moment, she thought about blowing up at him for drooling over other girls when they were supposedly together for the evening, but didn’t as she feared it might jeopardize the mission.
She slid back into her chair asking, “So what do you have planned for me now?”
Chapter Eighty-seven
Bob was startled by the text notification from his phone, saying, “Geez,” as he pulled it out of his pocket. He quickly read the message from Tanya and smiled as he put his phone away again.
“Important?” Parker asked.
“You could say that,” Bob replied. “She’s made contact.”
“Good,” Parker responded. “Maybe we can actually finish this thing tonight.”
“That’s the plan.” Bob raised the camera with telephoto lens to his eye and stared at the club entrance, hoping that the end to this case would come very soon. After a few minutes of staring through the lens he sighed and lowered the camera to his lap.
Parker broke the silence saying, “Ya know, staring at the door isn’t gonna make them come out any sooner.”
“And your point is?” He asked as he briefly looked toward Sergeant Parker. After a moment,
Chapter Eighty-eight
“So what do you think? Ready to get out of here?” Charlie asked as he finished off his beer.
Tanya took a sip of her drink, they giving him a sly smile replied, “What do you have in mind?”
“Well,” he started, “How about my place?”
Forcing herself to grin she responded, “Sounds like a plan.”
Charlie got up from the table and held his hand out to Tanya, who took hold and stood up herself. Well aware that there would be no way to hear each other amidst the throngs pulsating throughout the club, they continued to hold hands as they began winding their way through the crowd toward the entrance.
When they finally emerged into the relative quiet of the city night, Tanya breathed a sigh of relief saying, “The noise in there was rather intense.”
“It can get that way,” Charlie agreed. Pointing down the street he added, “I’m parked down here.”
Plastering what she hoped was a convincing smile onto her face she said, “Lead on.”
He pulled her close and forcefully kissed her, then with his arm around her waist started walking toward the corner where they turned toward his car.
Chapter Eighty-nine
“Heads up. Somebody’s coming out,” said Parker, directing Bob’s attention toward the club entrance.
Bob raised the camera and started snapping pictures as he said, “That’s them.” He quickly put down the camera and picked up the radio mic saying, “All units, suspect on the move. Stay sharp.”
He resumed watching through the camera lens just as Tanya looked briefly at the undercover car before following the guy she’d left the club with up the street. Again keying the mic he instructed the officers on his detail, “Stay close without being seen. We need to be able to control the situation at a moment’s notice.”
When the couple rounded a corner and started down the side street, Bob told his partner, “Follow, but try to stay out of sight.”
“Yeah, I know how to do it,” Parker grumbled. “As memory serves, I taught you.”
Laughing Bob replied, “You did at that. Sorry, I’m just a little on edge.”
“I’ll let it slide this once,” Parker allowed as he pulled the car out of its parking space and slowly drove in the direction their quarry had gone. As they approached the street the two of them had turned onto he questioned, “Follow close?”
Bob, who was dividing his attention between the street and the display screen which indicated Tanya’s location, said, “No, go past and circle around. That should give them time to get on the road. We’ll track them to his destination, then swoop in. We don’t really have a lot of evidence just yet. Don’t want to spook the guy too soon.”
“Right,” the sarge replied. Then he asked, “Got a good signal on the tracker?”
“Yup,” Bob responded. He then keyed the mic on and ordered, “Stand by to move.”
At the next intersection they turned the opposite way and circled around the block, coming back around to where they’d started. When they got there, Parker looked over at Bob, who simply nodded indicating they should turn the other way this time.
As they turned in the direction the couple had gone Bob added, “Don’t let them get too far ahead, but try to stay far enough back to avoid getting noticed.”
Parker simply smirked as he looked at his partner, eventually saying, “You got it boss.”
They slowly cruised up behind the couple as they neared the suspect’s vehicle. When he saw that they were just getting into the car, Bob ordered, “Circle again. That should give them time to get on the move.”
Parker calmly drove them past the couple and turned when they arrived at the next intersection. Once he’d completed the turn he looked toward Bob, who appeared to be deep in thought worrying about his sister.
Chapter Ninety
Charlie opened the passenger door to his nicely restored Cadillac and said, “Milady?”
Tanya couldn’t help but giggle as she replied, “Thank you kind sir.”
As she stepped toward the car door she glanced at the street just long enough to see a car passing. Looking more closely, she caught sight of her brother. Momentarily locking eyes with Bob, she quickly turned back toward Charlie and forced a smile before she sat in the car and swung her legs in, struggling to hide her anxiety as she thought about Cynthia sitting in this very spot before he attacked her. Fortunately for her, he showed no signs of noticing her discomfort.
After closing the door, Charlie circled around the car to the driver’s side door. As he opened it he quietly said to himself, “Let the games begin.” He smiled at Tanya as he climbed in and started the engine.
Putting the car in gear, he looked at her and asked, “Ready?”
She forced a smile and responded, “Absolutely.”
He pulled out of the parking space and began their journey toward his selected location for Tanya’s demise. Once they had taken their place in the flow of traffic, he began periodically glancing at his companion as he visualized all of the things he planned to do to her. With each passing moment he allowed his thoughts to show in the form of a growing evil grin which he made no attempt whatsoever to disguise.
Of course, his grin didn’t go unnoticed by Tanya. Despite her anxiety, she did her best to remain calm so as not to tip off Charlie about what would soon be happening, just as he was attempting to disguise his ulterior motives. Instead, she tried to give the impression that she wasn’t paying all that much attention to the goings on around her.
She nonchalantly asked, “Where are we going, by the way?”
He again grinned evilly and replied, “I have a place not far from here.”
“Great,” she smiled at him before returning her attention to the sidewalk as she silently prayed that this would be over before the night was up. Realizing her omission, she then hoped as an addendum that she’d come out of the evening safe and sound.
As they continued to cruise down the road her anxiety continued to rise, nearing a fever pitch she was certain Charlie would notice. In an effort to disguise her nervousness, Tanya looked toward her companion and offered a stiff smile.
To be continued…
Fugue, Part 10
By Jillian
Chapter Ninety-one
Bob picked up the radio mic, keyed it on and said, “Suspect turning north on Oak. Units take parallel positions and await further instructions.” Returning the mic to its cradle, he looked toward Sergeant Parker and asked, “What do ya think, Sarge?”
Without taking his eyes off of the road Parker queried, “About?”
Bob clarified, “Our chances?”
The sarge briefly stared at the dark street thinking. Eventually, he cleared his throat and replied, “This ends tonight. Whether he leaves in cuffs or a body bag is up to him.”
For a moment Bob thought about his partner’s statement before responding, “I hope it doesn’t come to that, but…” He drifted into thought before silently turning back toward the road staring into the darkness. After a few seconds he shook his head and returned his attention to the computer screen displaying the tracking signal. While studying the screen he mumbled, “What was I thinking asking my own blood to do this?”
Parker knew his partner’s question wasn’t intended for his ears, but couldn’t help responding anyway saying, “You’re a cop. Your father was a cop. Your grandfather was a cop. It’s in your blood. And in,” he paused momentarily before continuing, “Hers too.”
“Thanks,” Bob responded. “I understand how difficult it is to refer to her like that, believe me. But that doesn’t make me feel any less guilty about risking her life.”
“I think I can understand that,” Parker said.
“Oh,” Bob interrupted as he returned his attention to the tracking receiver. “They’re turning again.” He then picked up the microphone and after opening the line stated, “Heading west on Eleventh. Maintain distance and stand by.”
“Not much longer now…I hope,” Parker commented as he turned onto Eleventh Street.
Chapter Ninety-two
Tanya blankly stared ahead trying to keep her rapidly expanding anxiety from pushing her into a full blown panic attack. As she calmed herself, her thoughts went to the tracking device she had concealed in the side of her bra, thinking, ’Not the most comfortable thing in the world, but I hope it’s at least working.’
Her thoughts were interrupted when Charlie said, “Almost there. We’re gonna have a lot of fun.” He then let out an eerie chuckle that sent chills down Tanya’s spine.
Doing her best to disguise her discomfort she asked, “What do you have in mind?”
“Oh, that’s a surprise,” he replied through what struck Tanya as an incredibly evil grin. He then reached around and pulled her closer to him as he came to a stop at a traffic light. At first he just rubbed her shoulder trying to get her to relax, but before the light had turned green his hand had migrated down to her side where he happened to touch the tracking device she had hidden in the side of her bra.
“Speaking of surprises,” he said as he traced the device inside her bra. “What’s that?”
“I…I don’t know,” she stammered nervously.
A honk from behind alerted Charlie to the fact that the light had once again turned green, so he drove through the intersection ordering, “Get that thing out!”
She tried to play innocent asking, “What thing?”
As anger overtook him, he roughly pulled her tight to him and hissed, “This was going to be fun, but now I’m too mad to enjoy it!”
Shoving her angrily into the passenger door, he growled before turning his attention to the road. “Just wait,” he murmured cryptically.
As he pulled to a stop at the next light he once again grabbed her roughly and pulled her tight to his body. Once he had her firmly in place he brought his hand around her front where he gruffly reached down the front of her dress and inside her bra where he grabbed hold of the device and pulled it out. Holding it up in front of her face, he barked, “This thing!”
She looked at it wide eyed as her mouth opened and closed a couple of times without any sound coming out. Charlie looked at the device for a moment before raising his voice asking, “It’s not a microphone, so what is it? Some sort of tracking device?”
Before she managed to respond, he shouted, “Well?” When she didn’t respond he cracked his window open and tossed the tracker out onto the street. To press his point further, he struck her across her mouth causing her to yelp. She raised her hand to her lips and when she pulled her fingers away saw the blood on them.
Tears began to well up and streak down her cheeks as the severity of her situation became clearer to her. She began to sob, but through the tears she managed to ask, “Why?”
The moment the light turned green he stomped on the accelerator, causing the tires to squeal as he pulled away from the light. Speeding down the street he snarled, “By the time they figure out where we’re going, it’ll be too late for you, bitch!”
Chapter Ninety-three
Bob tapped the screen on the tracking receiver and said, “Crap! He must’ve found the tracker.”
“What?” Parker asked.
“The signal’s stopped moving,” Bob responded. “In fact, we’ll be coming up on the location in just a second.”
“So you think he found the device?” Parker asked as he slowed the car down.
Bob replied by asking, “Can you think of a better explanation?”
The Sarge thought for a moment before saying, “Not really, but what do we do now?”
Bob glanced at the screen again and said, “Stop!” When they were stopped he jumped out and ran around the car, starting to look at the pavement with the small Maglite he pulled out of his jacket pocket. After a moment, he bent down, picked the unit up off the ground and ran back to the passenger side of the car.
Once he was again sitting in the car, he picked up the radio mic and keyed it open saying, “All units, suspect’s last known location near Central heading westbound on Eleventh. Suspect driving a black early 1970’s Cadillac Coupe De Ville. Pursue and apprehend.”
Replacing the microphone, he turned his attention to Parker and mused, “This becomes the highway further on, doesn’t it?”
Parker didn’t say anything, so Bob took his partner’s silence as agreement and eventually ordered, “Hit it. Let’s see if we can catch up to this guy.”
“You got it, boss,” the sergeant said as he put the car back in gear and stomped on the accelerator.
Chapter Ninety-four
Tanya looked at Charlie, terrified as he drove into the night. They sped along, approaching the edge of town before she managed to find her voice and asked, “What are you going to do with me?”
He laughed as he responded, “You wouldn’t want me to spoil the surprise.”
Courage began to swell within her as she defiantly said, “I don’t really like surprises.”
He continued to hold onto her tightly as he laughed heartily before replying, “That’s rich coming from a goddamned tranny who’s working with the cops.”
She struggled trying to free herself from his grasp, but he held on too tightly. Snarling she countered, “They know what you look like. They know your car too. You can’t get away with this.”
“Oh, really?” he mused as he turned off the main drag they’d been on and started down a barely noticeable country dirt path. “And what makes you think that?”
“They’ll be coming,” she responded with far more certainty than she actually felt.
He cut her off yelling, “They won’t find you until it’s too late! And they won’t find me at all! Once I’m done with you, I’ll be disappearing.”
“It’ll never work, you know,” she argued, hoping to delay his plans.
“Keep telling yourself that,” he commented as he continued to drive along the dark country road.
The road became more difficult to traverse and while her captor’s attention was drawn away from her Tanya discreetly reached into her purse and found her cell phone. Quietly she flipped it open, knowing that she had left the text messaging app open when she had put the phone away earlier. From memory of the keypad she typed ‘GPS’ and hit send, assuming that her brother would understand the somewhat cryptic message.
Chapter Ninety-five
Sargent Parker slowed the vehicle as they drew near the city limits. Turning toward Detective Taylor he asked, “What’s the next move, boss?”
Before he could respond, Bob’s cell phone signaled the arrival of a new text message. He looked at the screen and after reading and then re-reading the message he slapped his forehead and muttered, “Of course.”
Hearing something but unsure what had been said, Sgt. Parker asked, “What you say?”
Rather than responding to his partner’s question, Bob took the radio mic in hand and after keying it on spoke into it saying, “Dispatch, car 213. Track location for cell phone number 645-329-7015 and let me know ASAP.”
The dispatcher’s voice came over the radio in response saying, “10-4 car 213.”
“What was that about?” an obviously confused Parker asked.
Holding up his own cell phone, Bob stated, “GPS. She still has her phone on her.”
Parker responded, “Oh yeah, cell phone location tracking for 911 calls.”
“Exactly,” Bob answered as he put his phone away.
“Think it’ll work?” asked Parker.
“It has to,” Bob replied.
Noticing his partner’s concern, Parker offered, “We’ll get there in time.”
Bob looked back at his friend and said with far more conviction than he thought, “I know.”
Following a brief silence Sarge started, “You know, I’m almost afraid to admit this, but your brother…”
Cutting off his friend, Bob interjected, “Sister.”
“Okay, sister,” Parker responded. “Anyway, I was just gonna say I’m impressed. She’s got some guts.”
Indignantly Bob asked, “What did you expect?”
Sarge hemmed and hawed for a moment before finally responding, “I don’t know what I expected, to tell you the truth.”
“Yeah, well…” Bob said before his thought faded to nothing. Eventually, he managed to say, “Listen, thanks.”
“No problem,” Parker responded somewhat shyly.
At that moment the radio came to life as the dispatcher’s voice came through the speaker saying, “Car 213, the requested number is on Morton School Road approximately 2 miles east of highway 32.”
Bob once again grabbed the microphone and responded, “10-4 dispatch. Car 213 in route.” He reached out to replace the microphone and looked toward Sarge, who was putting the car back in gear.
They sped along for several minutes until they reached Morton School Road, where Sergeant Parker turned off the highway without slowing down, nearly winding up in the ditch before he regained control of the vehicle.
Bob looked at his partner and croaked, “In one piece, if ya don’t mind?”
“Yes boss,” Parker replied.
Chapter Ninety-six
Charlie turned off the dirt road and pulled up beside an obviously abandoned farmhouse, turning toward Tanya and growling, “Don’t even think about trying to get away.” He quickly grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her across the seat as he climbed out of the car.
Stumbling as she tried to get to her feet as he dragged her out of the vehicle, she struggled to ask, “What are you going to do?”
He chuckled as he replied, “If I told you, it wouldn’t be a surprise.” Once he had her on her feet, he began pulling her toward the house.
Struggling against his grip, Tanya argued, “You don’t have to do this!”
“What,” Charlie countered, “You think I can let you go now? Not a chance.” Again he began dragging her toward the house while she struggled to escape his grasp.
“No!” she argued as she tried to pull away yet again. Despite her efforts, the harder she struggled to free herself, the tighter his grip became.
As they drew near the front porch he snickered, “You might even enjoy this!” He quickly mounted the steps and wrangled his captive toward the door.
“Somehow I doubt that,” she responded as they reached the door. Making yet another effort to fight against her captor, Tanya tried to grab hold of the door frame to prevent being dragged inside. Unfortunately, her efforts proved to be for naught as with one final tug he pulled her inside and slammed the door closed behind them.
Throwing his captive to the floor, he began to chuckle evilly as he loomed over her. She looked up at him with terror in her eyes as she waited for whatever was to come next.
As he removed a switchblade knife from his pocket and clicked it open he said, “Now the fun begins.” Tanya began trying to back away from her captor to no avail as he closed in on her while brandishing the knife.
Chapter Ninety-seven
As they neared Tanya’s last known location, Parker began to slow the vehicle so they could scan the area hoping to see a clue as to her location. After a few minutes Bob pointed to their left at an old abandoned farmhouse and asked, “Is that car the same one?”
Parker looked in that direction and replied, “Could be. Should we call for backup?”
The question hadn’t even been completed before Bob grabbed the radio mic and said, “Dispatch, car 213 requesting backup approximately 2 and a half miles east of Highway 32 on Morton School road.”
The radio squawked, “10-4 car 213.”
Bob replaced the mic as the Sarge pulled the car to a stop behind the Cadillac in question. Once they’d come to a halt, Bob ordered, “You take the back, I’ve got the front.”
“Aren’t we gonna wait for the backup?” Parker asked as they both exited the vehicle.
“That might be too late,” Bob replied. They both removed their weapons and chambered rounds as they approached the house as stealthily as possible.
Bob quietly ascended the stairs and tiptoed across the porch as he approached the front door. He paused for a moment at the door to allow his partner a chance to get to the back door before kicking the front open and leveling his weapon into the room.
The sight that greeted him was that of their suspect kneeling over Tanya, one hand lifting her skirt while the other held a knife to her throat. Without even taking a moment to identify himself as a police officer, he took aim and fired a round into the side of the man’s head. His body fell to the floor, the knife clattering onto the hardwood.
As she moved away from the body as quickly as she could, Tanya cried, “Bobby!”
“Are you all right?” he asked as he approached her.
She jumped to her feet and flung her arms around his neck as she replied, “Yes! You got here just in time!” As the words left her mouth, she dissolved into tears.
Parker came rushing into the room from the back, trained his weapon as the suspect before realizing the man was dead. He looked toward his partner and asked, “Everything okay?”
Bob looked at the sergeant and replied, “Yup. Thanks, Sarge.” Both men then holstered their weapons while Bob continued to hug his sister.
The moment was disturbed by the sound of approaching sirens, prompting Parker to say, “I’ll give them a heads up and request a meat wagon.” Without a comment in reply, the sergeant went out the front door to meet the new arrivals.
Once Tanya was able to regain some control over her emotions she loosened her grip on Bob’s neck and said, “Thank you, Bobby.”
“I think I should be thanking you,” he replied. “Are you sure you’re all right? He didn’t hurt you, did he?”
“A bruise here and there, but nothing worth mentioning,” she answered.
“Still,” Bob responded, “I think we should get you checked out at the hospital anyway.”
The sergeant returned with several other officers in tow, saying, “M.E.’s on the way, along with an ambulance.”
Tanya looked at the new arrivals and said, “I don’t need an ambulance.”
Bob responded, “That’s not open to debate.”
Parker added, “You go with her. I’ll take care of things here.”
“Thanks, Sarge,” Bob said as he began leading his sister out of the house.
When they reached his car, Bob commented, “I’m proud of you, sis.” In response, Tanya again flung herself at her brother and began crying anew.
A few moments later the ambulance arrived followed closely by the captain, who immediately made his way to Bob’s side.
“Hey Cap,” Bob greeted his commanding officer.
“Taylor,” he responded, “I’ll need to see you in the morning, but for now take our hero here in and get her checked out.”
“Yes sir,” Bob smiled. He turned to Tanya and asked, “Ready?”
“I told you,” she argued, “It’s not necessary.”
“You heard my boss,” Bob responded. He cracked a smile as he continued, “I don’t have a choice in the matter.”
They started toward the ambulance, but Tanya pulled up short and said, “My purse! I left it in his car.”
“I’ll get it,” Bob offered as he quickly headed toward the old Cadillac. Opening the passenger door, he reached in and picked up her bag from the floorboard then ran back to his sister’s side and presented it to her saying, “Here ya go.”
As she assumed possession of her purse she reached out and gave her brother another hug, offering, “Thanks, Bobby.”
“Don’t mention it,” he replied before leading her toward the back of the ambulance, saying, “Up you go,” when they arrived at the door as he offered his hand to help her up into the back of the vehicle.
Once they were seated in the back, Tanya turned toward her brother and said, “Thank you, Bobby. If you hadn’t got there when you did…” allowing her voice to trail off without completing her thought.
“I should be thanking you,” he countered, “But I’m glad I got there in time too.” As he again grinned he continued, “Otherwise Mom would’ve killed me.”
She slapped his upper arm as the ambulance attendant closed the door in preparation for heading out.
Chapter Ninety-eight
The peace of the night was broken by the ringing of a telephone, which was joined a few seconds later by a bedside lamp being turned on before the phone was answered, “Hello?”
“Hey Mom,” Bob’s voice came through the receiver. “ I know it’s late, but figured you’d want to hear that Tanya’s fine but on her way to the hospital to be sure.”
“Oh my god!” Mom wailed. “What happened?”
Bob replied, “She got a little beat up while on the undercover, but we got the guy and I just wanted her to get checked out to make sure there’s nothing wrong.”
“I’ll be there in less than a half hour,” she responded.
“You don’t have to,” he argued.
“Are you serious? My baby is on her way to the hospital? There’s no way I’m not coming,” she stated.
Reluctantly Bob joked, “Okay, but if she gets mad it’s your fault.”
“See you there. Thank you for calling Bobby,” she ended the call.
Rolling over to look at his wife, Pop sleepily asked, “What?”
“We need to get to the hospital,” she answered.
“Why?” he asked. “What’s wrong?”
“Bobby’s taking Tanya to the hospital,” she replied. “He says she’s fine, but we need to be there.”
“Okay,” he grumbled as he crawled out of bed.
As he made his way to the closet she continued, “Don’t take too long.”
He opened the door and started pulling items of clothing out, then stopped and turned back toward his wife and replied, “Gotcha.”
She then joined him at the closet and pulled out something for herself to wear. As they both started pulling clothes on she added, “And please try to be nice to your daughter.”
He grumbled under his breath, “Whatever,” but then a little louder he replied, “Yes ma’am.”
Chapter Ninety-nine
Bob led Tanya into the emergency room, heading directly toward the sign in desk. The young lady behind the desk looked up at them and asked, “May I help you?”
Bob spoke first replying, “My sister needs to be checked out.”
“And what seems to be the problem?” the girl asked.
Tanya jumped in saying, “Nothing.”
Before she could continue Bob pulled out his identification and showed it to the nurse as he interjected, “She was involved in an incident this evening and needs to be looked at to make sure there’s nothing wrong.”
Handing Tanya a clipboard, the girl said, “Please fill this out and return it to me, then we’ll get you in to see a doctor.”
As Tanya took it from her, Bob responded, “Thank you.”
When the girl turned her attention back to her computer screen Bob led his sister toward the waiting room chairs where they took seats and Tanya began filling out the paperwork. After filling in the basic contact information she paused with the pen hovering over the paper.
Bob looked at her and noticing her hesitation asked, “What’s wrong?”
Looking up from the clipboard she replied, “No insurance.”
“Oh,” he started. “Don’t worry about tonight’s visit. The PD should pick up the bill. After all, this visit is directly related to your work assisting us.”
Slowly she responded, “I wasn’t expecting anything like that.”
“I know,” Bob said. “Even if the department wasn’t picking up the tab tonight, you wouldn’t need to worry about it. I’d pay it out of my own pocket before I let your wallet take the hit.”
A grin began to appear on her face as she said, “Careful, people might start to think you cared or something.”
“Well, you are my sister,” he replied.
Putting down the clipboard in a chair beside her, Tanya reached out and gently hugged her brother saying, “Thank you.” Once she had released him she returned to the papers she was working on filling out and filled out the rest of the forms.
After completing the paperwork, she returned the clipboard to the nurse behind the desk, commenting, “Probably takes longer to fill out the papers than it does for the rest of the visit.”
Glancing at the papers, the nurse joked, “You may have a point there.” More seriously she continued, “The doctor will be with you in a few minutes.”
Returning to her seat, Tanya asked, “When they take me back, could you go up and tell Cynthia that we got the guy?”
“Why don’t we go up together after the doctor checks you out,” he countered. “I bet your friend would rather hear it from you.”
“Uh huh,” she responded skeptically. “I think you’re just afraid to go see her on your own.”
“Not afraid,” he countered. “Just not all that comfortable.”
Appearing hurt Tanya asked, “Why?”
“Well,” he started, “She’s…well…you know…”
“Bobby, I thought we were past this,” she whined.
Indignantly he responded, “Past what? It’s just that…”
Cutting him off she asked, “Like me?”
Defensively he said, “No!” More calmly he continued, “You’re different.”
“Different how?” she probed.
“You’re my sister. That’s how,” he responded.
Smiling at him she said, “Thank you Bobby, but really there’s no difference between me and her.”
He stared at her for a moment before pointing to his head and saying, “Maybe up here.” Moving his hand to point toward his heart he continued, “But here?”
Looking him in the eye she asked, “Small steps?”
Nodding he replied, “Something like that.”
Their conversation was interrupted by the nurse calling, “Tanya Taylor?”
Standing up, Tanya stepped toward the desk and asked, “Yes?”
Walking around the desk toward the door leading to the exam rooms, the nurse offered, “Come this way.”
Bob stood up and asked, “Do you want me to come back with you?”
Waving him back to his seat she responded, “That’s not necessary.”
He returned to his seat as he watched his sister go through the door. Even before the door had closed behind her, the entrance opened and in rushed their parents.
“Is she okay?” Mom asked as they made their way to the waiting area.
“Yeah,” he answered. “They just took her back for the doctor to check her out.”
Sitting down on either side of their son, Mom asked, “What happened?”
Taking a deep breath he responded, “She went in as the ‘bait’ in a sting operation. Our target took the bait and we were tracking them, but somehow he found the tracking device and disposed of it en route.”
Anxiously she asked, “Then how…?”
“We used her cell phone to track their location,” Bob started. “It took a little while to find them, but we got there before anything happened.”
Smacking his arm, Mom said, “How could you risk your sister’s life like that?”
Dad jumped into the conversation saying, “Now Mary, don’t be too hard on the boy. He was just doing his job, plus this is the first time Tommy’s ever shown any real guts.”
She barked, “Tanya. She’s your daughter now. Don’t forget it.”
Feeling chastised, he replied, “Yes ma’am.”
Turning her attention to the nurse Mary asked, “Is there any chance I can go back and see my daughter?”
“Certainly ma’am,” she replied as she moved toward the door. Opening it she directed, “Straight ahead, third room on the left.”
“Thank you dear,” Mary responded as she walked through the door.
After watching his mom go back to check on Tanya, Bob turned his attention toward his father and said, “Pop, are you gonna be able to deal with Tanya’s change?”
“You mean Tommy?” he asked.
“Pop,” Bob responded, “Whether you approve or not, I don’t think you’re gonna have much choice other than to accept this. And for the record, I’m not so sure this is a bad idea after all.”
“What?” Pop countered. “You can’t tell me you’re okay with all this turning into a girl stuff?”
“I didn’t say that,” Bob answered. “However…and this is a big one here…my little brother never showed any real courage or backbone his entire life.”
“That’s not true!” Pop argued.
“Yes it is and you know it,” Bob said. “The difference is, she just risked her life to catch a really bad guy and she did so voluntarily. She practically begged me to let her do it.” He paused for a moment before continuing, “I gotta admit that maybe this isn’t such a bad thing.”
“Well, I can’t agree with that at all,” Pop replied.
Bob’s face fell as he said, “Obviously nobody can force you to think differently, but I really think it would be a good idea if you at least remembered to respect her right to pursue the life she wants whether you agree with that choice or not.”
“I’m trying, son,” he responded.
Chapter One Hundred
Tanya had been playing with her cell phone when she heard the door open, prompting her to look up just in time to see her mother entering the exam room. Surprised she asked, “Mom? What are you doing here? I mean, I knew Bobby called to let you know what was going on, but…”
“You didn’t really think I would allow you to go through this alone,” she replied.
Dismissively Tanya said, “It’s nothing, Mom. A couple of bruises, that’s all.”
“I never should’ve let you volunteer to do this.”
“It’s not like you had a choice,” Tanya countered. “This was my choice and for the first time in my life I’ve managed to do something that Bobby respects.”
“It’s not the first time,” Mom started, “But I know what you mean. Your father is proud of you for this as well.”
Anxiously she asked, “Did he say so?”
Mom responded, “You know him better than that. He’s very old school; keeps his feelings to himself. But I can tell.”
“Well, I hope you’re not just saying that, but…” Tanya’s thought faded as she found herself unable to voice it.
“I’m not just saying that,” Mom responded. “Give him some time, sweetheart.”
A knock on the exam room door brought their conversation to a halt as it opened and in walked a young man wearing scrubs and a lab coat. Approaching the exam table he introduced himself, “Hello, I’m Dr. Hamel.” Looking down at the file he held in his hand he asked, “And you’re Tanya Taylor?”
“Yes doctor,” she shyly replied.
“Are you sure you’re old enough to be a doctor?” Mom blurted out before realizing she’d actually said it out loud. She quickly retracted her question, offering, “Sorry.”
Grinning, the doctor responded, “I swear to you, I am old enough, but thank you ma’am. Are you her mother?”
Offering her hand Mom said, “Yes, Mary Taylor.”
He shook her hand before returning his attention to his patient, asking, “What seems to be the problem?”
Without allowing Tanya a chance to respond, her mom started, “She was attacked…”
Tanya cut her off, chastising, “Mom!” Redirecting her attention to the young physician, she responded, “I was in a little incident earlier and my family insisted I come get checked out to make sure there’s nothing big wrong.”
“If you don’t mind me asking,” the doctor started, “What kind of incident?”
“I was helping my brother,” she stated. “He’s a police detective and had asked me to assist him with an investigation.”
“Sounds intriguing,” the doctor chuckled.
“Yeah well, I was the bait in a sort of sting operation,” Tanya attempted to downplay.
Again Mom interrupted, stating proudly, “They caught a serial killer.”
“Mom!” Tanya whined. Returning to her attempt to understate things she continued, “I was in a bit of a tussle when we caught him. Picked up a few bruises here and there, nothing serious, but my brother and his commanding officer wanted me to be checked out to make sure, that’s all.”
“So, a bona fide heroine,” the doctor said, seeming impressed.
“Not really,” Tanya said humbly.
“Well,” the doctor began, “Let’s have a look at you so we can get you home to get some rest, shall we?”
As he started looking at the bruises on her forearms, Tanya said, “I should probably tell you, I’m transgendered.”
“Really?” the doctor asked, seeming surprised.
“Yes,” she replied. “I hope that doesn’t change the way you treat me, but I figured I might as well be up front about it.”
“Well, as your physician it makes no difference to me,” he offered. As he continued his examination he asked, “So what do you do for a living?”
“I’m a musician,” she replied.
“Cool,” he responded. As he finished looking at the marks on her arms and legs he asked, “Now, are there any areas of soreness other than your arms and legs?”
“No,” she started. “They got him before he had a chance to do anything more than wrestle with me a little.”
“Well good,” he stated. “If you find you’re stiff or sore, I’d suggest taking some ibuprofen. I don’t think you’ll need anything stronger than that.”
“Thank you doctor,” Tanya said as she shook his hand once the exam was over.
“Yes,” Mom added. “Thank you very much.”
“It was my pleasure,” he responded as he then shook hands with Mom.
They watched as he left the room before Tanya stood up from her seat on the exam table. Before she’d managed to even take a step toward the door, her mom stated, “He was cute.”
Giggling, Tanya replied, “Yes he was. Now, can we get out of here?”
To be Continued…
By Jillian
Chapter One Hundred-one
Bob’s attention was drawn to the sound of the door opening and heels clicking on the tile. When he looked in that direction he saw Tanya and their mother returning from the exam rooms. He nudged his Dad, who then also looked in their direction.
Standing up, Bob asked, “Everything all right?”
Tanya grinned and said, “Nothing a little Motrin won’t cure.”
“Good,” he added as he nudged his Dad to say something.
“I’m glad you’re all right,” Dad reluctantly offered.
Tanya smiled at his words and quickly ran up to him, throwing her arms around him in a tight hug. After a moment, she whispered, “Thank you Daddy.”
After a moment, Dad pulled back and held her at arm’s length studying her appearance for a second. Pursing his lips he asked, “Do you plan on dressing like this all of the time?”
“You mean in women’s clothes? Yes,” she replied with a confused look on her face.
“No, that’s not what I mean,” he stated. Gesturing to her skin tight mini-dress and heels, he continued, “I mean like this. I ask because if you expect me to attempt to accept you as a daughter, I expect you to dress and behave like a lady. Not some common tramp.”
Bob jumped to his sister’s defense saying, “These clothes were part of her cover tonight Dad.”
Tanya thought for a moment before adding, “That’s true, Daddy. I can guarantee I know how to be a lady and frankly prefer dressing and acting in that fashion.”
Dad let her words sink in for a moment before responding, “Good. I expect you to dress and behave properly when you come to dinner again tonight.”
“Yes Daddy,” she beamed. Turning so she could once again address the others she continued, “Now, I need to go visit a friend who’s upstairs. Bobby, can you come with me?”
He looked at his watch before replying, “I’m afraid not. I need to get to the precinct for a meeting with the captain. Sorry, I know I’d said I’d try to go with you.”
“That’s okay,” she stated. “Mama, when do you need me there to help get dinner together?”
“Nonsense,” Mom responded. “You may be my daughter now, but you’re still a disaster in the kitchen. Just be there by six for dinner.”
“Yes ma’am,” she said before turning toward the elevators and leaving her family.
Directing her attention toward her son, she stated, “And you, young man, need to bring your lady friend with you this evening.”
“Lady friend?” Bob asked innocently.
“Yes,” Mom started, “You know, the young lady you spent the night with this week?”
Stunned, Bob blurted out, “Wait, how did you…?”
Smiling, Mom said, “I thought so. Bring her with you so we can meet her. Six o’clock.”
“Yes ma’am,” he replied.
Dad interjected, asking, “Do you need a ride anywhere?”
“No, thanks Pop,” he replied. “My partner is supposed to be bringing my car by. Besides, I’m going to have to give Tanya a ride back to her car once she’s done here.”
“Okay,” Dad said. “Well, I guess we’ll see you this evening.”
Chapter One Hundred-two
Cynthia was lying in bed dozing when she was disturbed by the sound of the door to her room opening. Looking in that direction she caught sight of Tanya entering and chirped, “Hey, Bitch!”
Smiling, Tanya responded, “Hey Cyn. How’re you feeling?”
“Lots better, really,” she said. “In fact I think they’re gonna let me out of here tomorrow.”
Taking her friend’s hand, Tanya beamed, “That’s great! Need me to come pick you up?”
“Well, duh,” she replied.
“Oh, I have great news,” Tanya offered. “You don’t have to ever worry about that creep again. They caught him last night.”
“So you were able to help them catch the guy?” she asked.
Tanya symbolically buffed her nails and stated, “Yup.”
Sitting up Cynthia asked, “So what happened?”
Joining her friend by sitting on the edge of the bed she responded, “Well, I can’t really talk about it, but I can tell you he’ll never hurt anyone again.”
“So you mean, he’s dead?” she asked.
Suddenly looking sad Tanya involuntarily shuddered as she replied, “Yes.”
Cynthia took her friend’s hand in hers and looked into her eyes with concern as she asked, “Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” she stated. “Maybe a little shook up, but I’ll be fine.”
“Well, don’t try to be tough about it, all right?” Cynthia begged. “Talk to someone if you need to. If nothing else, talk to me, okay?”
“Okay,” Tanya replied. Looking at the room’s clock, she suddenly jumped up off of the bed and said, “I’ve got to get going, before my family decides to abandon me here.”
“Go,” Cynthia encouraged. “I’ll see you later, okay?”
“Okay,” Tanya said before starting toward the door. Before opening it to leave, she turned back toward her friend and said, “Love ya, Cyn. I’ll see ya later.”
Opening the door, she exited the room and headed down the corridor toward the elevator.
Chapter One Hundred-three
Tanya exited the elevator and made her way back to the emergency waiting room, where she found her brother sitting waiting, playing a game on his smartphone. As she approached him, she asked, “Don’t you have to be in your boss’s office in a couple of hours?”
“And yet I wait here patiently for you to come back downstairs so I can give you a ride to where you parked your car,” he smugly retorted.
“Okay, okay,” she responded. “Let’s get going then.”
He got up from his seat and started toward the exit, Tanya following. As they passed through the door he asked, “So how’s your friend?”
“Great,” she replied. “It looks like she’ll be getting out later today.”
“That’s good,” he commented as they walked toward his car.
“Yeah,” she stated. “I’ll be coming back as soon as I can run home and get changed.”
“Change?” he asked. “Why change?” When they got to his car he used his key fob to unlock it and opened the drivers’ door.
Opening the passenger side, Tanya said, “Aside from the fact I got the evil eye from Dad for this outfit? It’s impractical, uncomfortable and inappropriate as daywear goes.”
“You’re such a girl,” Bob said as he climbed into the car.
Tanya followed him getting into the vehicle, commenting, “Thank you for noticing.”
Joking he said, “You’re welcome.”
As they backed out of their parking space, Tanya asked, “Now, do you remember where I parked?”
Chapter One Hundred-four
After dropping off his sister at her car, Bob steered his vehicle toward the precinct house. Stewing over what was about to happen left him so distracted that he didn’t notice much of the trip, leaving him surprised when he realized he’d just pulled into his assigned parking space.
“I wonder how much trouble I’m gonna be in?” he asked himself as he climbed out of his vehicle. With some trepidation, he walked into the building and found his way to his desk where he took a seat to await his appointment with the captain. While waiting, he pulled out his cell phone and dialed Connie.
On the third ring she answered groggily, “Hello?”
“Sorry, I didn’t realize how early it was,” he responded.
“Bobby?”
“Got it in one,” he chuckled.
Stifling a yawn she asked, “What’s going on? Is something wrong?”
“No, nothing wrong,” he replied. “I was actually calling to see if you were available for an early dinner this evening?”
Yawning again, she said, “Yeah, I’m actually off tonight. What did you have in mind?”
“Well,” he started, “My Mom has requested our presence at six for a family dinner.”
“Our?” she asked, suddenly seeming much more awake. “But…” she stopped, not certain what to say.
“It’ll be fine,” he reassured her. “I’ll pick you up at 5:30, okay?”
Again finding her voice, she asked, “But what should I wear?”
“Nothing fancy, it’s just dinner at their house,” he stated. “So, 5:30?”
“Just dinner at their house? There’s no such thing as ‘just’ dinner at the parents’ house,” she whined. Thinking for a moment, she sighed before continuing, “5:30.”
“Great!” he enthused. “I’ll see ya then.”
“Okay,” she admitted. “Just remember that you owe me for this one. I can’t believe you roped me into dinner with your parents.”
“Taylor!” the captain shouted from his office door, interrupting Bob’s phone call.
Bob held up his hand to signal his commander that he was on his way as he said into the phone, “Listen, I have to go, but I’ll see you later, okay?”
“5:30,” she stated. “I’ll see you then.”
The line went dead, so Bob returned his cell phone to his pocket as he stood up and made his way to the captain’s office. Once at the door, he knocked twice to announce his presence.
The captain looked up from his desk and ordered, “Come in.”
Bob reluctantly entered the office and stood beside the chair facing the desk, waiting for permission to be seated. Finally, the captain stated, “Take a seat.” Bob sat down and nervously awaited what he feared was about to be a serious dressing down.
“So fill me in,” the captain began.
Bob cleared his throat and stated, “We tracked the suspect to an old farmhouse and signaled for backup, but knew there was no way they’d get there in time to prevent the attack. So I ordered Sergeant Parker to go in through the back while I took the front. When I got to the door, I kicked it open and saw the suspect over his victim.
“Eyeing a clear shot, I aimed and fired, striking the suspect in the temple,” he paused briefly. “He then fell off to the side, dropping the knife he had been holding to his victim’s neck.”
The captain stated, “So you kicked open the door, announced yourself as a police officer and seeing that the suspect wasn’t relenting, you aimed and discharged your weapon, fatally wounding the suspect.”
After a brief moment of silence, Bob responded, “I don’t honestly remember…”
Cutting him off, the captain ordered, “No, you announced yourself as a police officer.”
“But…” Bob began.
“No buts,” the captain interrupted. “It was a clean shoot, so no admin leave called for. If you didn’t identify yourself as an officer, then there would be an extended IA investigation. So…” he held out the last word for a second, trying to lead Bob into saying what he wanted.
Catching on, Bob responded, “Yes, I identified myself as a police officer and ordered the suspect to move away from the victim. When he didn’t respond, I fired killing the suspect.”
“Good,” the captain said. “It’s a clean shoot, so after you take a couple of days off you’ll start back in.”
“Yes sir,” Bob replied.
“Oh, one more thing,” the captain continued, “I’m permanently assigning Sergeant Parker as your partner.”
Smiling, Bob said, “Thank you sir. Will there be anything else?”
“No,” he began, “Get the hell out of here and relax for a couple of days.”
“Yes sir,” Bob stated as he saluted his commander. “Oh!” he exclaimed suddenly, “I meant to ask. Is there any way to add my sister to my medical plan?”
“I don’t know,” the captain replied. “Let me check on that and get back to you, all right?”
“Thank you sir,” He stated before he turned and left the office, heading directly toward the exit.
Chapter One Hundred-five
Tanya pulled her car into the driveway and shifted it into park before shutting off the engine. Flipping down the vanity mirror, she checked her makeup before exiting the vehicle and walking toward the front door.
The door swung open as she stepped up onto the porch and her mother stepped out to greet her with a hug, saying, “Sweetheart! You look lovely.”
“Thanks, Mama,” Tanya replied as they entered the house. Once inside, she removed her coat and hung it on the rack by the door before turning back to her mother and asking, “Is Bobby here yet?”
“No, but he should be here any minute,” she responded.
“Where’s Daddy?”
“Oh, he’s in the living room watching television, I think,” Mom answered. “Would you like to give me a hand in the kitchen?”
“I thought I was a disaster in there?” she teased.
“You are,” her mother laughed, “But I still hope to someday correct that problem.”
Thinking for a moment, Tanya said, “Let me go say hi to Daddy first.”
“Good luck, dear,” Mom stated before heading toward the kitchen.
Tentatively, she walked toward the living room, where she saw her father half dozing while watching TV. When he didn’t notice her at first, she cleared her throat before saying, “Hi Daddy.”
Looking up, he noticed her standing in the doorway and commented, “That’s more like I would expect a daughter of mine to dress.” Standing up, he walked toward her and she toward him until the lightly embraced.
“I love you, Daddy,” she whispered into his ear.
“I love you too,” he replied, “Even if I do have serious reservations about some of your life choices.”
She stepped back from the embrace and looked him in the eye for a moment before a sly grin graced both of their faces. She stated, “Well, you might as well get used to it, because this is what ya got from here on out.”
“That’s kind of what I thought,” he responded dejectedly.
“Tanya!” Mom shouted from the kitchen.
“Oh!” Tanya started, “I told Mama I’d help her in the kitchen.”
“You’d best get in there then,” Dad said more brightly. “Because I’m getting hungry and want my dinner sometime soon.”
“Yes sir,” she replied before exiting toward the kitchen. Once she made it there she asked, “What would you like me to do?”
Handing her a bag of carrots and a peeler, Mom said, “Peel these if you will.”
“Sure,” she responded. Taking the proffered items, she found her way to the trash can and started her task
The monotony of her task was interrupted when the front door burst open and in wandered Bob and Connie. Mom, who was the first to respond to the new arrivals said, “Bobby! I’m so glad you could make it.”
Turning her attention to the young woman by his side, she asked, “And who might this be?”
Tanya interrupted, saying, “Connie!”
“Hey Tanya,” Connie responded.
Laughing, Mom said, “I take it you’re Connie then?”
“Yes ma’am,” she replied.
“So, how did you two meet?” Mom asked.
Connie responded, “I work at Spencer’s Bar and Grill, where Tanya plays sometimes, and one night Bobby came by to hear her play and we sort of hit it off.”
Bob jumped in saying, “I’m going to go on through to see Pop.”
“Good idea, dear,” Mom said before watching him leave the ladies to join his father in the living room. Turning her attention back toward Connie, she asked, “So tell me, how is your employer dealing with Tanya’s recent changes?”
Connie looked toward Tanya before replying, “Well, my boss says that as long as there aren’t any complaints and business doesn’t fall off, he doesn’t have a problem with how anybody dresses.”
“Well that’s good,” Mom offered.
“Yes,” Connie continued. “It’s just a pity most of the clubs around town aren’t quite so open-minded.”
Mom stated, “Tanya had told me that a few of her regular bookings had cancelled her.”
Tanya interjected, “Mom! Do we really have to talk about this right now?”
“What?” she asked. “I’m worried about you, that’s all.”
“Well don’t,” Tanya stated. “I’ll be fine. I just need to get back out and hustle some more bookings. I’ve been in this position before and probably will be again. It’s no big deal.”
“No big deal?” Mom questioned. “Just how do you plan to pay your bills without a full schedule of jobs? Not to mention things like medical bills?”
“I have a little saved up,” she replied. “Plus, I plan to fill my calendar back up fairly quickly. As for the medical bills…” she allowed the thought to go unfinished.
Connie interjected, “Actually, I…” she stopped herself when she realized she wasn’t supposed to mention what she was about to say.
“What?” Both Tanya and her Mom asked simultaneously.
Trying to dismiss her faux pas, she said, “Nothing. I had a brain fart.” All three ladies burst out in a fit of giggles
In an attempt to regain some control, Mom said, “Girls, why don’t you come give me a hand finishing up this dinner?”
Connie responded, “Yes ma’am.”
As the three of them settled into various tasks preparing the meal, Mom commented to Connie, “So I gather my Bobby is quite taken with you.”
“Why would you say that?” Connie asked, surprised by the statement.
Smiling, Mom replied, “He hasn’t brought a girl home for a family dinner in years. Bringing you here today is like declaring you a part of the family.”
Stunned, Connie couldn’t speak for a moment. When she was finally able to respond she smiled and said, “Well, he is a pretty special fella.”
Toward Tanya, Mom commented, “Looks like he’s not the only one who’s smitten.”
Tanya responded, “You may have a point there, Mama.”
“Now all we have to do is find you someone,” Mom mused.
“Mom!” Tanya protested.
Once everything was ready, Mom instructed the girls to carry all the serving dishes through to the dining room while she went to the living room to call the boys in to eat. Sticking her head through the doorway, she called, “Gentlemen, dinner is served.”
Rather than waste time responding, the men jumped up from their seats and practically ran to the dining room, barely avoiding knocking Mom over in the process. By the time she had recovered from her near miss with the herd of wildebeest, they were already seated and waiting impatiently for her to tell them they could start loading their plates.
Taking her own seat, she called out to the younger girls, “Come have a seat so we can start dinner before these two start to waste away like little Ethiopian children.” Giggling at that description, Tanya and Connie made one last trip from the kitchen and after setting down their final loads took their seats.
While the girls filled their plates, the boys began devouring what they’d already piled onto their own and quickly the room descended into near silence as everyone was too busy eating to speak.
Chapter One Hundred-six
“Miss Taylor,” called the receptionist as she stepped through the door into the waiting room. Tanya closed the magazine she’d been thumbing through, stood up and followed her into Dr. Sanchez’s office.
The doctor looked up from the file she’d been perusing and smiling, said, “Tanya! It’s good to see you. How have you been?”
Tanya crossed to the chair she usually occupied during her sessions with the doctor and as she sat down she replied, “Busy is probably the best short answer.”
Dr. Sanchez got up from behind her desk and circled around to the chair facing her patient. Sitting down, she asked, “So what’s been going on?”
Tanya took a deep breath before replying, “Well, let’s see. I introduced my parents to the real me, played several gigs, helped my brother catch a serial killer…”
The doctor interrupted her, asking, “Wait…what was that?”
“Oh,” she started, “I helped my brother catch a serial killer.”
“I thought that’s what you said,” she stated. “How exactly did you do that?”
“I was the bait,” Tanya said in a matter of fact like tone.
“Wasn’t that rather dangerous?” the doctor asked in a stunned tone of voice.
Pondering her question, Tanya responded, “I suppose it was, but it wasn’t just about me. This guy was attacking the TG community…including one of my best friends…and I was in a position to be able to help capture him. On top of that, it was a chance to do something the men in my family could respect. I couldn’t not do it.”
“On the subject of your family,” she started, “How did it go when you came out to them?”
“I’ve had more enjoyable root canals,” Tanya joked. “Mom was fine with it, I think, but then again she probably had a pretty good idea what was coming. As I’ve said before, I suspect she knew all along.”
Pausing for a second before continuing, she then said, “My brother walked in on me in my nightgown when he came by my apartment in the middle of the night and that’s when I finally decided to just introduce ‘Tanya’ to my parents.”
“Why did that prompt you?” she asked.
“Well,” she began, “I was afraid of what Bobby would think. When he discovered me, we had a long talk and even though he wasn’t entirely comfortable with my changes, he was at least open minded enough not to judge me too harshly. At that point I realized that there was no reason to continue putting it off.”
“That’s a rather interesting line of reasoning,” she commented. “I find it fascinating that you were more afraid of your brother’s reaction than you were of your parents, though.”
Tanya opened her mouth and closed it a couple of times before she was able to begin speaking, “Bobby’s always been a fairly big part of my day to day life; even more so than my parents. I think I was afraid of losing him. Once I knew he wouldn’t abandon me, I, ah…” her voice trailed off.
“Yes?” Dr. Sanchez probed.
Pausing a brief moment to collect her thoughts, Tanya continued, “I knew I at least had my brother in my corner,” she stated. “I didn’t feel quite as alone, I guess.”
Shifting topics, the doctor asked, “How exactly did you become involved in helping your brother?”
Smiling, Tanya responded, “Bobby was trying to catch this guy…you know, that guy who had been going around attacking girls in the T community? Well, that was his case and he wanted to send someone into the club scene who might catch their suspect’s eye. There wasn’t anyone on the police force that could believably pull off being Trans.
“I knew he was trying to catch the guy that attacked my best friend Cynthia,” Tanya continued. “When he told me what he was planning to do, I volunteered to act as the ‘bait’. I felt like it was the least I could do for my brother, not to mention the community.”
“That’s a rather selfless position,” she stated. “Probably more than most would’ve been willing to do.”
Thinking about that, Tanya smiled and said, “Maybe you can blame my family for that. I mean, my brother’s a cop, my dad was a cop, my grandfather was a cop…you get the idea.”
“So you think this was maybe your way of following in your family’s footsteps?” she asked.
She thought about that question for a moment formulating her response before she said, “Maybe?”
It was the doctor’s turn to smile as she asked, “Did your work with your brother have an influence on how your father sees you?”
“Definitely,” she stated. “At least I think so. I think I earned some respect in both my father’s and brother’s eyes.”
“So what happened that night?”Dr. Sanchez probed.
Taking a deep breath and sighing, Tanya responded, “They believed that their prime suspect had been finding some of his victims at ‘Slipper’s’. In fact, they had surveillance photos of the man they believed to be responsible, so before I went in they showed me those pictures to help me find him.”
Frowning, the doctor asked, “Rather dangerous, don’t you think?”
“I suppose it could have been,” she said. Deciding not to let the doctor know just how dangerous it had actually been, she continued, “In the end they were able to get him. That’s all that matters, as far as I’m concerned.”
“I would think you would’ve been worried for your safety,” the doctor stated.
Tanya admitted, “I was, but I also knew that Bobby wouldn’t let anything bad happen to me.”
“Why are you trying to downplay what happened?” she probed.
Looking guilty, Tanya meekly asked, “What makes you think that?”
“Aside from all of the non-verbal cues you’re giving off?”
Tanya looked at the doctor trying to decide how much detail it would take to satisfy her. In the end, she opted to go with the truth. “Okay, you asked. I went in hoping I’d find him and get him to try something so Bobby would have something concrete to go after him with.
“I lucked out,” she continued. “I found him and managed to control my emotions well enough to convince him I wanted to go with him. We left the club and he was going to take me somewhere planning to kill me.”
“I would imagine you were terrified,” Dr. Sanchez interjected.
“I knew we wouldn’t get too far away from the police who were tracking us, but then he found the tracking device and tossed it out the window,” she finally managed to say.
Shocked, the doctor said, “You must’ve been terrified.”
Nervous laughter escaped from Tanya’s mouth as she responded, “You could say that.”
Probing further, the doctor asked, “So what happened next? You’re here, so I know your brother got there in time to save you.”
“Well,” Tanya started, “This guy got rid of the tracker, but didn’t think to get rid of my cell phone. You know how they all have GPS built in to aid 911 responders? Bobby ran a trace on my number and used the signal to find out where he took me.”
“I know that he took you to an old farm house outside of town,” the doctor stated. She then asked, “What happened?”
Taking a deep breath, she responded, “I will admit that at this point, I was terrified. He had me sprawled on the floor with him over me, holding a knife to my throat when Bobby broke down the door, came in the room and shot him in the head.”
“Oh my God!” Dr. Sanchez exclaimed. Then more calmly she asked, “And how are you doing in the aftermath of all this?”
Smiling once again, Tanya responded, “Better than I might’ve expected really. Maybe a couple of nightmares, but nothing too bad. I’m not losing any sleep or jumping hysterically at every odd sound, so overall I’d say I’m doing pretty well.”
“I’d have to say I agree,” commented the doctor. Glancing at her watch, she exclaimed, “Oh! We’ve run over.”
“I’m so sorry,” Tanya responded.
Standing up, Dr. Sanchez said, “Don’t worry about it. We made a lot of progress today.” Walking over to her desk, she continued, “So I’ll see you next Monday at our usual time?”
Smiling as she stood up, Tanya replied, “Absolutely.”
Chapter One Hundred-seven
The ringing of the telephone interrupted Connie’s thoughts. She reached for the receiver, lifted it to her ear and spoke into it, “Hello?”
“Hey, Con,” came Bob’s voice from the handset, “How ya doin’?”
She couldn’t help the smile that broke out across her face as she replied, “Pretty good. Yourself?”
He chuckled as he said, “I’m going a little stir crazy. I guess I never should’ve taken the captain up on that time off.”
“Well,” she responded seductively, “If you’d come over here I could help alleviate your boredom for a while.”
“Of that there can be no doubt,” he commented. “Actually, the reason I called was to see if you were free for dinner tonight?”
“That kind of depends on when this evening you were thinking,” she responded. Continuing, she stated, “I have to be at work this evening by seven.”
He paused to make her believe he had to think about when they could go out. When he thought he’d waited long enough he asked, “How about now?”
“Now?” she asked. “You mean like heading this way now to pick me up?”
“No, I mean now,” he replied. “Come look out the front door.”
A smirk began growing on her face as she walked to the door, opened it and looked outside. When she saw him standing beside his car, looking directly at her house waving with his free hand she whined, “Bobby!”
He closed his phone and started walking up the sidewalk toward the front of her house. As he approached, Connie said, “Stinker!”
When he reached her front door he asked, “Do you want to go?”
Giggling, she answered, “Sure.” Reaching her arms around his neck, she pulled his face down closer to her own and slowly kissed him gently.
Chapter One Hundred-eight
Tanya pulled her car into a parking space, put it in park and shut off the engine. Reaching up, she pulled down the vanity mirror and checked her makeup, deciding to touch up her lipstick before going into the club.
She climbed out of the car and opened the back door, reaching in and picking up her guitar case. Locking up the car, she made her way inside the nightclub.
As she stepped inside, she looked toward the bar and upon spotting Connie, she gave a little finger wave as she headed toward the stage. Once there, she unpacked her guitar and after checking to see it was in tune, placed it on its stand and flipped on the power on the PA system. Those tasks completed, she made her way over to the bar.
Connie looked up from where she was working behind the bar and greeted her friend, “Hey Tanya. All ready?”
“Absolutely,” she responded. “How’ve things been around here?”
Connie took out a large drink glass, scooped some ice into it and added diet coke before placing it in front of Tanya. Once done, she replied, “Fairly busy, actually.”
Taking a sip from her glass, Tanya asked, “So how do you like working behind the bar instead of waiting tables?”
Laughing, Connie said, “I don’t know about it being instead of since I still have to serve tables part of the time, but I like it a lot actually. And not just because I can wear athletic shoes to work in instead of those damn heels.”
Tanya added her own laughter to Connie’s for a moment before asking, “Will you and Bobby be at Mom and Dad’s for dinner tomorrow?”
“Well, duh,” she answered, then added, “Like your Mom would take no for an answer.”
Giggling, Tanya nodded her head in agreement before asking, “Just when is that idiot brother of mine going to get around to making an honest woman of you?”
“What makes you think I’d say yes?” Connie countered.
She stared at her friend seriously for a moment before losing control and laughing loudly. It took her quite some time to calm down, but once she did she replied, “Maybe because you continue to see the lummox despite his substantial short fallings?”
Smiling, Connie responded, “Okay, I guess you’ve got me there.”
Glancing at the clock, Tanya said, “Looks like it’s about time to start.”
Connie reached over and refilled her glass before adding, “Oh, the boss wants to talk to you in between sets about adding another night each week.”
Picking up her glass, Tanya replied, “Cool. I’ll talk to ya later.” She turned away and began her trek toward the stage. After climbing onto stage, she sat on the stool she’d placed center stage and picked up her J-200, double checking that it was in tune.
Looking up at the assembled crowd, she leaned into the microphone and said, “Good evening. Welcome to Spencer’s. I’m Tanya Taylor and I’ll be playing until two o’clock this evening. If you have any requests, please let me know. If I don’t know the specific song you want, I’ll try to come up with something suitable.”
Without any further words she began playing an instrumental arrangement of “Something.” She couldn’t suppress the smile that erupted on her face as she looked upon the crowd and reflected on how much her life and changed as she continued playing.
The End