Chapter 17
No One
Had I thought getting back into Anna’s life would be easy? The more I watched, the more I seethed. I had made the mistake of letting my life overshadow hers. If I would have known the man, Detective Casey, would have been back, I would have put off my life for the chance to take hers. He didn’t leave her side. Not even at night. The two of them were inseparable, and it made me sick. The more days that went by, the more unstable I became.
To watch them so in love…I wanted to tear their blissful visions of a happy future apart. I wanted to splatter it in blood and soak it in what was left of their mutilated corpses. They didn’t deserve the fairytale they were living. Not after what I had learned.
Was it my Anna? I still didn’t know. Getting information on her was like pulling teeth. She had a past. A bible-thumping one. But she had secrets as well. Her youth I couldn’t find. Not that I expected to with her being homeschooled and kept out of the system as much as possible. Medical records were even linked to a religious practice they all began going to when she was ten. The age added up, but actual proof the woman was Annalise Fowler wasn’t there.
I was beginning to have doubts. And regrets. I had missed following her around at the beginning due to my own personal issues with maintaining my presence to the people who knew me. I snuck into her home when I could, but I knew I had missed a window I couldn’t get back—especially now that the damn detective was glued to her side.
I prowled the aisle of the large department store, catching glimpses of Anna as she cuddled the puppy she and the detective were adopting. It pissed me off even more to see them advancing in their relationship at lightning speed. Given the rate they were headed, they’d be married in the next few months. Hell, weeks, if they kept this pathetic shit up.
Maybe I should end this like I had with the married couple. The woman reminded me of my Annalise a little and I enjoyed raping her next to her husband’s dead body. But she’d been too quiet—too afraid to wake her son—so she just took it. This Anna didn’t have kids. She’d scream. She’d scream real good. But I’d never make it close enough to kill the detective. He was too watchful. He’d be one to wake up at the smallest sound. And there was that damn police cruiser that still sat perched down the fucking road. What the hell was that all about?
Cautiously, I moved closer, keeping my head down so the brim of the hat would help guard me. I pretended to look at dog toys, which was ridiculous. I fucking hated animals. Even the smell of this place made me angry. I’d take her and she would probably smell like a hint of her rich perfume laced in puppy food and drool. I’d have to scrub her clean. And not just from the dog—from that bastard detective too. Her skin would burn under the scorching water. And she’d scream.
“I can’t believe he’s ours.”
“Ours. I love the sound of that.” The detective smiled bigger, ruffling the lab mix’s head as it wiggled in Anna’s arms. The puppy was whimpering and they both moved in to hug and pet on it even more. From the way they acted, you would have thought she birthed the damn thing.
“I think that’s it. Here’s the paperwork. Congratulations. Bye, Bullet.”
The dog went even crazier in Anna’s arms as the woman patted against its light blond head.
“Thank you.”
Anna’s smile was dazzling as she let the detective take the dog. He put a red collar around its neck and attached the matching leash. The dog danced around, then immediately took off heading for the door as they followed. For the smallest moment, the man paused, turning to look over his shoulder toward the inside of the store. At Anna looping her arm in his, he went back to chatting with her.
I let them get halfway into the parking lot before heading out of the automatic doors. My car was parked on the far side and I jogged that way, watching them load into an SUV. I knew it was the detective’s. He hardly used his personal vehicle at the beginning, but the last few days, it was all they rode in. And ride, they did. They were all over the damn place. Restaurants, parks, the museum…grocery shopping.
And then there were times they wouldn’t leave at all. Anna would get home from work and he’d be there, waiting. If he wasn’t, her damn mother was—which was starting to happen a lot lately.
Everything was building, driving me to calculate the extreme. I couldn’t wait much longer. The more I watched, the more I was bound to do something I couldn’t risk. The time was coming, and I’d have Anna Monroe if she was the last victim I ever had.