Rialto Fatale Ch. 01

"The key is in the middle of this ice cube, Mark," she instructs me as she places it by my left hand. "When it melts you can free yourself and get back to hunting me."

"You aren't going to kill me now?" I inquire. She looks, blinks, then smiles in appreciation.

"You figured that last one out, didn't you?" she nods.

"Married man, cheating on his wife, and killed with an unidentified sharp object with no one knowing who the other woman was," I related to her.

"You figured all that out yet I didn't kill him in the same way as the others. How?" she wondered.

"What gave it away was, you were too careful and left no clues; identified by lack of evidence, just like the Rialto Fatale," I pointed out.

"Damn it," she shrugged playfully as only someone with a casual disregard for human life could. "Next time I'll remember to set somebody up for a murder-suicide." Seeing the pained expression on my face, she sighed. "I'll try, Mark; for you, I'll try to be good. Of course, if I'm good I won't see you anymore, which I really don't like."

"That isn't going to happen, Artemis," I tell her. "After I tell them what happened, I'm off the case. It's back to DC for me; I'll probably lose my job."

"That's not fair," Artemis pouts.

"I had you in the same room and you escaped," I explain. "Hell, I slept with you after knowing who you were."

"That's not your fault," she complains. "I outsmarted you."

"Which is another reason for me to be put off the case; you are smarter than I am. You fooled me for months," I continue.

"That wasn't my intention," Artemis related. "I genuinely liked your company. I came to love you and I didn't expect that. In a way, you are the best thing to ever happen to me and in a way, you've hurt me worse than anyone has too."

"I apologize for that," I promise her.

"I know, Mark, and I apologize for bringing back memories of you wife," she responds.

"Until tonight I had a great time, Artie."

"Was tonight so bad?" she asks.

"Except learning that my girlfriend was the woman I've been trying to put I jail, having a gun pointed at me, and being handcuffed to your bed, tonight was everything I wanted it to be," I recite bitterly.

"We'll meet again," Artemis insists as she stands up to leave. I don't know if I like that or not.

The second the door closes I grab the ice cube and squeeze with all my might. Despite the pain caused by the cold, I don't let up until my fingernails can pry the key loose, I pop the lock and get to the phone. I move as fast as humanly possible getting every agency I can think of moving on the case.

It isn't enough. It is impossible for me to believe that she hasn't had an exit strategy all along. My bet is on her sneaking out in a boat. It stops being my problem when my initial report crosses my boss's desk. I'm on the next flight to DC with my apology to Greta as I walk out the door. To their credit, most of my former teammates are sympathetic, but then, they all were within spitting distance of Artie as well.

(Two weeks later)

I'm under administrative review, which is that null area between employed and out on my ass. I'm sort of a pariah in my unit; after all, I slept with our unsub, the subject of my hunt.

"Hello?" I say as I answer the phone, sitting alone in my house after a light dinner.

"Hey, Mark," Artemis replies. Somehow I'm not surprised.

"Where are you?" I ask.

"Please don't," she begs. She isn't going to let me do my job.

"How are you doing, Artie?"

"I miss you, Mark, a lot" she sighs.

"I'm sorry about that," I respond.

"You fucked me over good, Mark. You got under my skin and I don't know how you did it," she murmurs. There is a long pause because I feel there is something else she wants to say.

"Are you seeing someone new?" she asks. "Have you moved on?"

"What? Artie, it has been two weeks. It is going to take much longer than that to get you out of my system," I point out.

"Do you want to get me out of your system, Mark?" she says sadly.

"Artie, you are a serial killer and I'm a cop. Our relationship isn't going to work," I explain.

"Oh..." she whispers.

"But I don't think that is what you asked. Yes, Artemis, I still love you and I probably always will, and it is going to kill me to see you put away. I don't see any happy endings for us," I groan.

"Thank you for being honest with me, Mark," she relates before hanging up. I'm in contact with the FBI within ten seconds and they start the process of tracing the call while I start the process of being dragged through the grinder once more, which I have no doubt was her intention all along. I need to figure out why before she strikes again.

The next day I figure it out but they don't believe me. The Rialto Fatale is still a psychopathic killer but her focus has been altered. I should have seen it with victim No. 10 in Seattle. She is no longer cruising bars looking to exact her revenge on the woman who molested her. She's found love and she wants to keep it; she's hunting me.