Chapter Three
A man stepped out into the light, although until he had materialized Jada hadn’t thought there were enough shadows to hide in.
He was dark-haired and handsome, with bright blue eyes that caught the light instantly. There was something about him, though, that made all the hair on the back of her neck stand on end – and it wasn’t just the fact that he had broken into her apartment.
“Who the fuck are you?” Jada burst out, snatching up the knife from where it lay on the counter in front of her. She held it up and pointed it towards him, but even she could see how badly her hands were shaking.
The man held his arms up immediately, stopping in his tracks. “Whoa, whoa, whoa,” he said, his voice soft. “I’m not the bad guy here. Look at my arms.”
He turned them around slowly so that she could see both sides. Although they were white, Jada could see that there were no scratches on him. Nothing that would mark him as the man who had snuck in the night before.
“Even if you’re not him,” Jada hissed, holding the knife up stronger, “You’ve still broken into my apartment.”
“Fair point,” the man nodded. He raised one eyebrow, a gesture that was instantly enticing. “I don’t want you to be afraid. I came here to check that you were alright. I know that he broke in here last night, and I know you scared him off.”
“Who is he?” Jada asked, more nervous about never finding out than she was about hearing the answer.
“He’s my brother,” the man said, dropping his arms casually by his sides. He did not try to walk closer to her. “My own brother. He’s the one behind all of the attacks, and I’ve been one step behind. I’m trying to stop him.”
“So, why are you here now?” Jada demanded. She was still holding the knife towards him, but she was feeling her resolve waver. Despite it all, he actually sounded reasonable.
“I thought he might come back and try again,” the man said, casting an eye around the room. “Actually, I think he’s coming back tonight. I needed to warn you.”
Jada let the hand holding the knife drop to her side. “I should call the police,” she said, reaching for her phone.
“No, wait,” the man said, stepping forward.
Jada turned back towards him, alarm flaring. She could feel all of the bells inside her head ringing.
He stopped when she turned and seemed to sag a little. “Please,” he said. “I need to deal with this. I promise I’ll protect you, but you have to leave the police out of this.”
“He’s attacked other women,” Jada said, angrily. The news reports flashed through her head. The thought of those women, afraid and vulnerable, their whole lives changed, made her feel more furious than she was scared. “He can’t get away with that.”
“He won’t. I mean that,” the man said. He ran a hand back over his head to push some longer strands of hair out of his face. “My name is Garrett. Trust me. I’m the only one that can deal with him, and I will deal with him.”
“How are you going to do that?” Jada asked, shaking her head. “By using me as bait? And what happens if you’re too late in getting here?”
“I’ll stay the night,” Garrett fired back instantly. “I’ll be right here to protect you.”
Something about the way he had the answer on hand already made her hair stand on end again. Something about this wasn’t right. “No,” she said. “I think you’d better get out now.”
“Jada, please -” he began, and that was the last straw.
Jada began dialing 911 with one hand, pointing the knife at him again with the other. “You know my name. You need to get out, right now.”
“Wait,” he said, looking pained.
“Right... Now,” Jada repeated, giving him the kind of glare that would kill if it was weaponized.
“You don't want to do that,” Garrett said, and something in his manner had suddenly become very, very different.
She glanced down at her phone to find the call button, and at that moment, he was upon her. The knife dropped out of her hand as he pushed her up against the kitchen wall, grabbing her by the shoulders and physically moving her. Jada had a small frame, and he was able to overpower her easily. The impact of one elbow hitting the wall knocked the phone free from her other hand.
She tried to struggle, but he was far stronger. He started to force his hand inside her collar, to snake it down the front of her shirt, and she felt herself beginning to cry.
That’s when she kneed him in the groin and punched him in the face, and he started to buckle up in pain. She pushed him away from her hard and watched him hit the ground.
Jada scrambled for her phone and grabbed it, quickly pressing the call button.
“Operator, what’s your emergency?”
Jada spun around, ready to ask for the police, but she faltered. Garrett was gone.
And so was the knife.
She walked forward a few paces, to look down the hall. The front door of her apartment was closed. She could see from where she stood that the lock was still in place, as was the chain.
“Someone broke into my apartment to attack me,” she said, quickly. She was almost amazed at how little her voice shook. “Please, send someone quick. I think he’s still in here with me.”
Chapter Four
The police found nothing. The knife was gone; even the little drop of blood on the floor was gone, probably smudged away during their struggle. They looked around and verified that there was no one in the apartment and treated Jada much the same as Maya had. They thought she had been dreaming.
So, she put it out of her head and tried to focus on work. It was the only thing she could do. Besides, she was late coming in after everything, and she had to make up the time somehow.
She walked home from work a few days later with her mind on a project that needed to be wrapped up soon. At least it was the weekend. She could take a break from it all, get some rest, and spend some time with friends.
There was a man outside the apartment block, and something about him set off a red flag in her mind as soon as she caught sight of him. She watched him carefully. It looked as though he was trying to get in by pressing buttons on the keypad and fiddling with the door, but he didn’t have a key in his hand.
He had something familiar about him, though she couldn’t place it. He had blond hair, a strong build, and was wearing a grey athletic shirt. She didn’t know him from work, that was for sure, but had she met him somewhere else?
As she approached closer, he looked up, and he had startlingly blue eyes that almost stopped her in her tracks.
They reminded her of the blue eyes she had seen only a few days ago.
“I’ve locked myself out,” he said, sheepishly. He must have seen the key in her hand and known she was a resident. “I came out for a quick walk and forgot to pick up my key.”
“You didn’t lock your apartment door when you came out?” Jada asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Uh, well,” the man hesitated, looking over his shoulder at the door. “I guess I forgot that too.”
Jada glanced down as he turned and noticed a light scratch on one of his arms. Her blood ran cold.
“I know who you are,” she said, quietly. “You need to leave. Right now.”
He looked back at her, met her eyes, and saw that there was no point in denying it. He paused again and held up his hands in a calming gesture. “No, you don’t understand. I’m not him, okay? Please, I just – I know you fought him off. Twice now. That was so brave of you. But you don’t know my brother. He’s going to come back for you until he finishes the job.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Jada asked, fishing in her handbag for her phone. She was ready to call the police again, even if they did think she was crazy.
“I know what he told you, but he twisted it,” the man said. “Garrett is… really persuasive. He told the truth, just changed it around. I came to your apartment to stop him. He’s the one that has been attacking all of those other girls. Please, can we talk about this? I’d like to explain everything.”
“I think I’ve heard enough,” Jada snapped, dialing three numbers on her phone and holding it up to her ear.
The blond man stuttered for a moment, holding up his hands to try and placate her, but she was already listening to the voice in her ear instead. “I need the police,” she said, fixing him with her eyes so that he could see how serious she was.
He seemed to give up, under the power of that gaze; he stopped protesting, and simply hung his head for a moment. He listened while Jada gave the details of her location, and he even flinched slightly when she told them that she was being followed by a crazy attacker.
The dispatcher reassured her that someone was on the way, and Jada half-smiled. It was a crooked kind of victory smile, the kind that said she hadn’t let him beat her.
She turned to glance out into the street, to the cars passing by, although she knew realistically that the police wouldn’t arrive this quickly. Then she turned back, and –
He was gone.