Chapter 19
I’ve just finished working for the day. I try calling Kylie, but there’s no answer. It’s odd because we were fine this morning when I left her, and the only time she has never picked up is the few weeks she wouldn’t talk to me.
I get in the backseat of the Bentley and shut the door. “Did you see Kylie leave work?” I ask Brent while sending a text to her phone.
Me: Where are you?
“No, Boss.” Brent’s eyebrows pull down.
“She’s not answering her text or calls. Take me to her job.” He nods, but doesn’t respond.
He pulls into the department parking lot fifteen minutes later. I see her car sitting there. I get out of mine and head in the front doors. I walk up to the dispatcher’s desk. “Could you tell me if Detective Kylie Sanders is here?”
“I’m sorry, she’s not. She left with her partner and hasn’t returned. Can I get another detective for you?” She’s an older woman with grey hair and glasses. She reminds me of Greta.
“No, thank you, though.” I rush out and get back in the Bentley. “She left with her partner and hasn’t returned. Find him!” I’m worried. I try calling her again, but still no answer.
“I started looking into him after you saw her at lunch with the guy. He made me suspicious, so I put a tracker on his car a few days later.” He starts typing into his phone while I try calling her a few more times. “They’re at the Hilton.” He throws his phone down and squeals out of the parking lot.
“Get there fast!” If he’s hurt her, I will become the monster one more time and shed his blood.
As soon as Brent skids into the valet entrance of the Hilton, I’m out of the car and running inside to the desk clerk. “Hi! Welcome to the Hilton...”
I interrupt. “Did two officers come here?”
“Yes, they came earlier.” Her brows knit together.
“Call the police! The female is in danger and I need a key now!”
She rushes to get me the key and picks up the phone. “They’re in room 517.”
I run to the elevator, take the fifth floor up, and quickly find the room. I get the door open, look down, and there’s a gun. I bend down to pick it up, take the safety off, and walk further into the room.
The guy she had lunch with is pacing back and forth beside the bed. My eyes drift to the bed; Kylie is lying there unconscious. Her arms and legs are hogtied and a line of blood has run down her forehead. I point the gun at him. “Let her fucking go!”
He looks up and smiles ear-to-ear like a fucking lunatic. “Ah, he’s come to save his whore.” He laughs.
I repeat, “Let her go!”
“I can’t do that. She was supposed to be good, but you turned her into one of them. Now I have to get rid of her.” He looks down at Kylie and shakes his head.
“You’re the Call Girl Killer,” I state.
“What a stupid name.” He laughs again, brings the gun up, and points it at Kylie. Without a second thought, I pull the trigger. The bullet hits my target, entering the side of his head. Blood and brain matter splatter the wall on the opposite side of him. He falls to the floor.
I set the gun down and climb on the bed with her. I begin to untie the rope when she starts to stir.
One eye opens. “Jameson?” she asks groggily.
“I’m here.” I continue to untie her.
“Jones—where’s he at? He brought me here and was going to kill me.” She begins to cry.
“Shh. It’s okay. He’s dead.” Finally, I get the rope off and pull her into my lap.
Police officers bust through the door. “Kylie?” one officer asks, shocked.
“Dad!” She cries harder.
“What happened?” He comes over, and she goes into his arms.
“Jones! He’s the Call Girl Killer and he killed those men.” She hugs her dad tighter. “He confessed it all to me, hit me in the head, and while I was unconscious he tied me up. He was going to kill me!” she wails. She covered up what I did and blamed it on him.
Her dad directs his attention to me. “Who are you?”
“Jameson Kincaid. I’m your daughter’s boyfriend. I was looking for her after I got off work and found out she was here. I thought she might be in danger, so I had the desk clerk call you guys and when I got in here she was tied up, unconscious, and he pointed his gun at her. I didn’t think twice before I shot him.” I take a deep breath, thankful that I made it here before it was too late.
Her dad holds his hand out for me to shake. “You saved my daughter’s life. Thank you.”
“No need to thank me. I can’t lose her.” He nods and smiles.
His attention goes to her for a moment. “Didn’t know you had a boyfriend, but I’m glad he got here before we lost you.” He kisses her forehead and passes Kylie over to me while they look around the crime scene. EMTs check Kylie’s head and decide she needs to go to the hospital.
While they are putting Kylie on the stretcher, I step into the hallway to call Brent. “He was the Call Girl Killer.”
“I figured as much. The guy was sketchy when he kept going to hotels. I couldn’t be sure, though, without seeing the scenes for myself after he was in the rooms.”
I pace the hallway. “He was about to kill her, so I shot him first. Luckily, she only has a gash on her head, but she has to be taken to the hospital. I’m going to ride in the ambulance with her; you can follow us.”
“I’m glad she’s going to be okay, Boss.”
“Me too.” I hang up and follow the EMTs out to the ambulance.
After we arrived at the hospital, the doctor decided that Kylie needed to stay overnight for observation due to having a concussion. She’s lying in her hospital bed resting as the IV administers fluids into her. I’m sitting in the chair next to her, watching her instead of whatever show is playing on the television.
I don’t know what I would have done if I’d have lost her. If I would have been too late I can’t bear to think about it. Kylie completes me, makes me whole, and I never want to picture my life without her. I was a broken man before her, but she was the glue that pieced me together and forever I will be whole as long as I have her.
She slowly opens her eyes. “Hey!”
“Hey, beautiful.” I smile, take her hand in mine, and kiss her palm.
“Thank you.” Tears shine in her eyes.
“Don’t thank me, Kylie. I love you and don’t know what I would have done if I lost you.” I rapidly blink, trying to push my own tears back.
“Let’s not think about the what ifs. I’m here and that’s all that matters. I’m not going anywhere.” She squeezes my hand tighter.
“I’ve been doing a lot of thinking while you were sleeping. I want to take you home with me tomorrow when you get out of here.”
She shrugs. “Okay.”
I chuckle, remembering back to our first text messages. “What I mean is I want to take you home to stay.”
Her eyes widen. “Are you asking me to move in with you?”
“Yes. What do you say?” I anxiously wait for her reply.
She looks at the ceiling for a minute then brings her eyes back to mine. “I say…yes, sir.” Her smile is bright, and it fills my heart that I’m still able to see it. What almost happened to Kylie has made me put things in perspective. I don’t want to spend another moment without her. I want her in my arms every night and every morning, and I want to spend the rest of my life putting that smile on her beautiful face.
Kylie’s been in and out of sleep the last few hours, but she’s woken up once again. There’s a knock on her hospital room door. “Come in.” An older man dressed in a suit comes into the room. “Hey, lieutenant.” Kylie greets him and slowly sits up in her bed.
“Hello, Detective Sanders. I wanted to come by to check on you.” He walks to the side of her bed, and stands next to the chair I am sitting in.
She gives him a half-smile. “I’m doing okay.”
“I’m so sorry I sent you with Jones. He had us all fooled.” Regret plays on his face and in his eyes.
Kylie looks down, sniffles, and meets his regretful gaze once again. “It wasn’t your fault. I worked beside him for five years and never had a clue he was a crazy serial killer.” She is hurting, and I want to help her through it, but I’m not so sure I can. I reach out and squeeze her hand, giving her whatever comfort and support I can.
“I also wanted to let you know we have closed both cases. And for what it’s worth, good job, Detective.”
She nods. “Thank you.” There’s no excitement in her tone.
“Excuse me.” I chime in and hold my hand out. “I’m Jameson Kincaid.” He shakes my hand. “Kylie will be taking paid time off.” I stare at him, daring him to argue.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Lieutenant Don Bellows. You’re the one that saved her,” he says, more as a statement than a question. I nod. “She can take all the time she needs. I’ll leave you two alone now.”
“Bye, Lieutenant,” Kylie says as he walks out the door. She turns her eyes to mine. “Thank you for being here.”
“There’s nowhere else I’d rather be.” Kylie starts to close her eyes and she scoots herself back down in the bed.
As I watch her fall fast asleep, a feeling punches me right in the heart. I let her in like no one else and showed her every side of me. I broke every rule I had when it came to her, I was easy with her unlike anyone else, and I love her more than I ever thought possible. “I’m going to make you Mrs. Jameson Kincaid.”