Masterful Malice

Kit came back with the requested items and Alice had another thought. "Kit, have you or your Mom ever had a toothache?"

Kit thought for a moment and then said "yeah, last year I was losing this one" she pointed at gap in her baby teeth. "Mom put some drops on it and it barely hurt after that!"

"Do you still have some of that stuff left? The drops?"

Kit rushed off.

"You're a regular MacGyver aren't you?" Kathy said as she held back the pain that was killing her from her knee and Alice's cleaning.

Alice laughed "if you only knew how much I am."

Alice dripped the anbesol on the wound and it numbed it enough that her stitches were barely felt. Using dental floss through the needle had been difficult, the eye had been too small but Alice managed to unravel the dental floss and use only one strand instead of the many. Three stitches on one section and one more for good luck and the wound didn't gape anymore. It didn't ooze blood either too much. Alice had flushed it all out with peroxide and then applied anbesol again before finally stitching the flesh together. She wiped away the dripping blood and applied a bandage to the sutured knee, covering it all up and absorbing the rest of the bleeding, hoping it would stop soon.

She cleaned up the rest of the leg from the dripping blood and dirt and covered it with the blanket Kathy had been holding for modesty. She had noted that Kathy wore French lace high tops and admired them without thinking about it. They fit her ass smoothly and snuggly, very attractively.

"Here you go Kit" she gathered up their supplies "we can put these away now."

"Is Mom going to be okay?" she asked her little girl's voice clearly worried.

"As good as new, she just can't walk around much for a couple of days" Alice reassured her.

"Who is going to take me to school then?" Kit asked.

"Well maybe I will!" Alice smiled and Kit took the emergency kit and other things to put away.

"Are you staying nearby?" Kathy asked.

"How about I stay here? Is that okay?" Alice asked as she looked at Kathy. Kathy was sweating, probably from the shock and pain of her little accident.

Kathy nodded and Alice called "hey Kit, if you've got some aspirin and water your Mom could use both!" and heard an answering yell.

"You've got her wrapped around your little finger" Kathy teased.

Alice laughed "yeah, it's the older ones that are harder."

Alice gave Kathy several aspirin for pain and had her drink plenty of water. She helped her to her bed and then told her to sleep. "I'll look around and see what I can find, I'll sleep on the couch if that's okay with you?" she asked.

Kathy only wanted to sleep but she had a worried look about her, she couldn't protect Kit if she was laid up. Something about Alice though let her take charge, let her take over; she nodded and said "thank you Alice, you're a Godsend."

Alice shook her head "I don't know about that but I do my best."

Alice with Kit's help brought in her two bags and made a bed for her on the couch. She read her bed time stories, made sure she had no homework, but really how many second graders did? Once she was sure that Kit was asleep she checked on Kathy, gave her ibuprofen for the pain since the aspirin wasn't working and assured her everything was okay. Then she unpacked one of her bags.

First she swept the house for bugging devises and found several. One by one she gathered them and put them in a plastic bag and then in the freezer. She double checked and found no more. Then she turned to Kathy's computer and first found a simple key logger on it. Next she used a device that plugged into the computer and wiped it clean. It wouldn't be hard for Kathy to set up her work again on the now clean computer. As she was waiting for her device to work on the computer she found Kathy's cell phones and the house phone and deactivated them. Using another device she took the bugs off of them as well. She found where a cell phone deactivator was located on the outside of the house and smashed it and put it in the trash. Next she checked Kathy's car and found a locator on it, a kind of poor man's GPS but this was not for a poor man, it's was highly sophisticated. She liked how it looked like the head of a bolt, not noticeable to the naked eye and she had nearly missed it the second time she went over the car, sure that a man this desperate to bug Kathy's house and take over her life would have tracking on her car. Finding it she had to whistle at its ingenuity. She went into the house and looked for a piece of cheese in the fridge. She carefully wedged the small button into the cheese and left it on the ground near the back fence near the garbage cans. Any self-respecting rodent would gobble up this treasure and not even chew.

She checked on Kathy again and saw she was sleeping; her opening the door though had the pretty brunette sitting up and looking around in alarm.

"I'm sorry to wake you, I was just checking to see how you were doing?" Alice apologized.

"Is Kit all right?" Kathy asked alarmed.

"She's fine, she's sound asleep" Alice assured her.

Kathy lay back against her head board "I'm sure you think I'm being paranoid" she said ashamed.

Alice shook her head as she leaned against the doorframe non-challantly with her arms crossed "not at all, all the bugs I've found in this place would say you're right on target."

"Bugs?" Kathy asked alarmed.

Alice was about to tell her and then her eyes narrowed at the mosaic design above Kathy's headboard, she squinted as she began to stalk across the bedroom and stepped up onto the bed. Kathy squawked as the bed leaned that way and she rolled the other way banging her sore knee. She looked over her shoulder to see what Alice was doing. She picked up the design from off the wall and pulled it abruptly...behind it a cord went off into the wall.

"What's on the other side of this wall?" she asked Kathy angrily.

"A closet" she asked confused wondering what was going on.

"Here, hold this" Alice said as she handed her the wall hanging. She searched for and found the closet door outside in the hall and opening it she looked for and found the other end of the camera device she had been looking for. Looking through the hole carefully drilled through the wall she saw that it had bounced the image off a mirror that Kathy had over her dresser and gave a pretty good view of her bed at all times. She unplugged the device and pocketed it, returning to the bedroom.

"Is this what I think it is?" Kathy asked as she played with the little eye of the camera, the now unattached cord in her hand.

Alice nodded as she put her finger to her mouth; she hadn't gotten all the listening devices after all and cursed herself for not thinking of camera's, after all, she had done something similar not too long ago. Heading to her bag she pulled out a modified stud finder, it was kind of like an electronics finder instead and began running it along the walls of the living room, the kitchen, and then the two bedrooms and the bathroom. Fortunately the house wasn't that large but she found a couple cameras in each room, all carefully arranged to be part of the décor. The ones in Kit's room were actually stuffed animals that were usually used for nanny cams. He now knew that Alice had all his devices and had heard them and seen them removed. She had quite the little collection as she showed them to Kathy and laid them out on the bed.

"My God, he installed all this? When?" she asked alarmed wondering how much he had seen, how much he had on tape probably. She thought about how often she walked around her own bedroom naked, the bathroom, changing clothes, etc and her eyes widened in consternation.

Alice shrugged philosophically "it only takes a moment to install one of these listening devices and to know you will be out at the store or school or something for so long..."

Kathy was appalled "but what he could have seen."

Alice took her hands "look Kathy, he's a perv, you know it, I know it, and he knows it. You have to get out of here. I think I've gotten all these things but I thought that once before and then I found the cameras. You're not safe here, you can't stay here."

"But where will I go? I can't afford to go anywhere" she answered alarmed and defeated.

"But I can and I will" Alice told her firmly.

"I can't impose on you like that, you've already done so much, look how much you've done" Kathy protested her big brown eyes looking like a wounded deer as she spread her hands at the pile of things Alice had found on the bed.

"Yes you can, we're friends aren't we?"

Kathy shook her head and said "you were Connie's sister; we weren't really friends like..."

"Don't you know how much your friendship meant to Connie? To me? She shared it with me like I was one of the four amigos, I didn't have a lot of friends at Harvard, I didn't have time."

Kathy looked at her, the pain in her knee, the fear in her heart and this woman was offering to save her. "You don't really know me..." she began.

"Look Kathy, I can afford to help you. I drove straight up here after your call yesterday, I'm a little beat, I need to sleep. He can't or won't do anything with me here, I'm pretty sure of that. We can plan but I suggest we write it. I think I got all the bugs, all the cameras but I'm not sure, I don't want to take any chances."

Kathy looked alarmed and looked around worrying what else they would find. She wondered if he could see her at this moment, right now he was watching her, watching them. She was very frightened. "I don't know..." she began.

"I do" Alice interrupted as she assured her trying earnestly to convince her "I can take you away from here; you can do your work from anywhere right? You just need a computer right?" she asked and Kathy nodded, she began to whisper "then it's settled, I'll take Kit to school tomorrow and you and I will begin to pack as though you're going away on a vacation. We will take a couple of suitcases and tell Kit you are visiting me down south. It will be safe, it will be like a real vacation and get you away from this nightmare" her arm encompassed not only the room they were in but the house and perhaps all of Portland.

"You drove all the way through?" Kathy asked hesitantly and Alice nodded. No one had ever done anything like this for her and as she thought about what Alice had already done her glance looked at the bugs and camera's, she couldn't accept defeat, she had felt defenseless before, Alice had done so much so quickly. "How did you know...?" she began and Alice shushed her by putting her finger on her mouth.

"We will discuss all this when we are alone" she said meaningfully as she glanced at the devices on Alice's bed. She gathered them up and put the bugs back in the freezer, it would screw up their circuitry. The cameras she looked at thoughtfully and then dropped them in the garbage beside the refrigerator, the cheap bastard couldn't even buy decent cameras she thought angrily.

"Alice?" she heard Kathy call and returned to the bedroom. "Could you help me to the bathroom?" she asked as soon as she came around the corner.

Alice grinned, she didn't mind, she actually didn't, something about Kathy's plight struck a chord in her chest, almost atonement for something she had done at some point previously in her life.

She propped her up and helped her onto the toilet but Kathy sat down and wiggled out of her underwear as she left the room, she heard her tinkling into the bowl and nearly laughed at the absurdity of it all. She helped her back to the bedroom and asked "do you want some more pain killers?"

"No, I've had two, I can't have more this soon can I?" Kathy asked.

"Actually you can have up to 2400 milligrams a day without hurting your liver, each pill is 200 milligrams, so here, don't be brave, take some more" she handed her the bottle and then a glass of water that was on the night table.

"What would I have done without you Alice" Kathy asked as she shook out three pills and swallowed them.

Alice smiled self depreciatingly as she put the water and pills on the night table again. "Come on, you'd have thought of something else" she said as she helped tuck Kathy in.

Something in Kathy's eyes though told her how desperate she had become. "I don't know what Alice, I'd have killed him if he touched Kit and tonight he almost did." She told Alice how he had approached them at McDonalds and about the car following them. Alice asked a few questions and before they knew it was getting late and Kathy was yawning which translated to Alice who was exhausted from the trip, yawns being contagious and all.

"Alice, can I ask another favor?" Kathy asked hesitantly.

Alice nodded wondering if she needed more water or something.

"Could you sleep in here with me?" she looked everywhere but at Alice.

Alice gazed at her for a moment before she said quietly "I'll go get my things and make sure everything is locked up."

As they drove south they encountered a little snow. Alice expertly drove her Pathfinder through it and Kathy relaxed once they were beyond it. In fact the further they got from Portland the more she relaxed. It was dark and she was getting hungry but she didn't want to suggest they stop as she didn't want to impose on Alice any more than they had already. She had done so much for them.

Kathy had woken with Alice beside her on the bed wrapped in the extra blankets she had made her bed with in the living room; she had refused to crawl under the covers with Kathy but hadn't explained why. Kathy had given half of the queen sized bed gladly but still she kept strictly to her side. She looked down on the blonde gazing in rapt fascination but some sixth sense or something had woken Alice and she looked up at her with her strange yellow gold eyes.

"Is something wrong?" she asked huskily, her mouth still dry from sleep.

Kathy shook her head, a strange look on her face. "I'll get up and get Kit ready for school" she went to get out of the bed and then winced at the pain emanating from her knee.

"Stay there, I bet Kit can get herself going and will be happy to help me" Alice said as she watched Kathy and got herself out of bed.

"I'm going to have to get up eventually" Kathy answered.

"Yeah, but I'm here to help, let me" she answered as she got out of bed and headed for the second bedroom.

Kathy watched her go, she was dressed in jeans and t-shirt, almost as though she were ready for something, anything. She was an odd woman, prepared for almost anything it seemed. She had those gadgets that had found the bugs and she just knew things...Kathy had had a lot to think about since last night.

Kit was thrilled to help Alice help her get ready for school delighting in telling an adult what needed to be done. When Alice prepared a tray to take into her mother and helped her to the door letting her take it the last five feet to her mom on the bed she was so proud. Kathy smiled indulgently asking Kit if she had enough to eat and Kit kept up a constant stream of chatter as Kathy ate her cereal.

Alice handed her a pad of paper and a pen and said in an undertone so Kit wouldn't hear "write the school a note to let them know you're going away and that Kit won't be in school this next week."

Kathy nodded and began to write as Alice took the dishes into the kitchen and Kit directed how they were put into the dishwasher. The kid was a riot and Alice was really enjoying her. Kit grabbed her backpack and Alice the note and they went off to school together, Alice carefully locking the door behind her as they went out to her truck. The truck she had needed to buy...

Kit got in the Pathfinder with awe "is this new?" she asked in wonderment as she buckled into the backseat, Alice had insisted as she didn't have any idea the laws of this state in regards to child seats.

"Yes it is, do you like it?" she asked the precocious little girl.

"Ours is ancient" she said repeating what she had heard her mother say time and again.

Alice watched the mustard colored car that was parked down the street watching Kathy's house. She drove down the street and Kit directed her to the school.

"Oh no, we forgot to pack me a lunch! Mom always packs me a lunch!" Kit said when they pulled up into the line in front of the school.

"Have you ever had hot lunch?" Alice asked as she reached into her pocket.

Kit's eyes shone when she answered "no, Mom says it's better for me to eat what she makes."

'Probably cheaper too' thought Alice as she replied "well I'm sure she won't mind this one time" Alice said to her as she handed her a five-dollar bill knowing that was way too much for hot lunch but she wasn't sure how much it would be. "Make sure you get me the change okay?" she informed the youngster.

Kit nodded earnestly as she put the money carefully in a zippered pocket of her backpack.

Alice handed her the note her mother had written and instructed her "you have to turn this into your teacher first thing okay, don't stop to play on the playground, go straight to your teacher and if she isn't there you turn it into the office okay?"

Kit nodded again solemnly, a note from her mom to the teacher was a big deal, and she didn't want to mess that up.

They inched their way up the line car by car and finally they were in front where three cars disgorged their students at once. "Bye Kit, I'll see you after school here with your Mom, now don't forget, I'll be here with your Mom and no one else, okay?" she tried to say in a way that wouldn't frighten the little girl but stressed the importance of what she was telling her.

"Okay Alice" Alice had given her permission to call her by her first name "I'll see you later" she said flippantly secretly thrilled to know she would be picking her up after school. She waved as she left and headed for the front of the school and the front door. Alice waited until she went inside before she left much to the annoyance of several drivers behind her but she ignored them as she made her way quickly away from the school and back towards Kathy's.

The mustard car had moved but the man was still inside when she returned. She backed into Kathy's driveway and parked so the back of the Pathfinder was near her back door. She got out, pressed the security button on the keychain and locked it up. She made her way to the front door and checked the string she had put across the door, it was unbroken. She had had to be quick so Kit wouldn't notice what she had done; it was subtle, but effective. No one as far as she could tell had been through this door since she left. She unlocked the door and went in.

"Kathy?" she called as she glanced around suspiciously not trusting just a string.

"Yeah?" she heard from the master bedroom. She headed in there as she looked in each room on her way.

"Everything okay?" she asked as she looked in the bedroom.

Kathy nodded as she grimaced, she was trying to walk and her stiff knee wasn't helping things.

"Here, let me help you" Alice said as she saw her try to grasp the blanket across her legs. She put Kathy's arm across her shoulder and let her hobble against her in her underwear as she helped her to the bathroom.

She let her sit there and do her business as she went to the closet she had found the first camera. Opening it she retrieved the suitcases she had seen stored there and put one in each bedroom as well as a couple of duffels in Kit's room.

"Okay, I'm done" Kathy called as the toilet flushed and water began to flow in the sink.

Alice opened the door and watched as Kathy tottered on one leg to dry her hands. She grinned at the sight and helped her hobble back to the bedroom. "Sit down for a minute while I check your dressing" she ordered.

Kathy watched Alice's bent head as she examined the bandage carefully before gently pulling it back. Some blood kept it plastered against her knee and she couldn't help but wince at the pain that caused. It didn't look pretty; it was swollen and discolored from the bruising but not painfully colored red as it would if it was infected.