Meticulous Malice

It was then that she wondered if there had been more film. It was like these two had taken pictures repeatedly in case they missed the first. Many of the pictures were almost time lapse photography and worthless. Then she had another thought, had someone hired Richard who hired the incompetent Bev to follow her? Find out information about her? She packed the printed pictures into her briefcase to look at later in better light. She destroyed the negatives using a chemical she found in the darkroom and washing it in the sink, rendering the negatives absolutely useless before cutting them up with a scissors and throwing them in a trash. The chemical had burned away the images; the scissors made her feel like she had accomplished something.

It was none too soon though as her Latin benefactor stepped into the room "how goes it?" he asked with a smile.

"Oh, I'm done, it was nothing after all" she indicated the destroyed negatives as she went to slip by him into the lighted room.

"All that for nothing?" he asked incredulous but looked around the darkroom suspiciously. She had turned off the machines she had used and cleaned up after herself, he couldn't tell what she had printed and unless he checked stock he couldn't tell she had printed anything.

"Ah well, that happens," she dismissed it. "What did you find on the fingerprint?"

"It's still looking, it may take days at this rate, I don't know why" he shrugged dramatically. "How about you and I go to dinner as it sorts those prints for us."

"I thank you for the offer but I need that information as soon as it comes in. You will be paid for the camera work I just did but not for the prints until you have some information for me. Please call our mutual friend when you have the results okay?"

"So, no dinner eh?" he asked disappointed that his charm hadn't worked.

She laughed endearingly "thank you, no, I'm working..."

He sighed dramatically "ah, perhaps another time eh?"

"Perhaps" she said with another smile and patted his cheek. He looked delighted.

"I will escort you out and I will call our friend when the results come in, I hope this is the start of a beautiful" he stretched out the word beautiful making it sound disgusting "relationship."

Alice smiled in agreement and then allowed him to escort her to the elevator. When he made to get into it with her she said "just one floor up right?"

He nodded.

"I think I can manage, get those results for me okay?"

He looked disappointed but was charmed by the smile she threw him as though he had done something for her.

Alice made her way out with no problem, handing off her visitor's card.

Back in the hotel room nothing about the pictures suggested that she had anything to worry about. Her active imagination though told her that there must be more to it than this, that there were probably more pictures. She called down to the desk "do you have a shredder I may use for some business documents?"

She spent an hour shredding pictures, she hesitated at the ones of her and Sonja, a couple were actually good and made her smile in remembrance of her time with Sonja, but in the end decided it was best to shred them all. Taking the confetti she fed it through a second time until all that was left was a pile of small squares of pictures. She mixed it thoroughly and then began to feed it down the toilet, flushing repeatedly until the entire pile was gone.

Her cell phone rang "Hello?" she answered.

"Ms. Weaver, hello, we have found your luggage, where would you like us to deliver it?" a pleasant voice informed her.

She was relieved. She wanted a change of clothes desperately at this point, it had been a long day and she was tired. She gave them the address of her hotel, reading it off the letterhead on the desk. Sitting on the bed she flipped mindlessly through the cable channels offered by the hotel, the movies sounded intriguing but she simply wasn't in the mood to sit and watch one, she was too restless. When her luggage arrived a few hours later she decided that doing laps in the pool was in order and changed into a swimsuit, shorts, and sandals. She spent a pleasant hour in the pool, ordered room service, ate a late dinner and then watched cable until she felt sleepy enough to go to bed.

Hoping to get the results from the guy in Miami-Dade she spent a couple of days in Miami, waiting, sunning herself, getting a much needed tan. She was restless though, what was taking so long? She had taught herself patience though long ago, a necessary skill. Her evenings she went to good restaurants and a club or two. The scene wasn't that much different from L.A. She enjoyed herself, flirting, chatting, getting to know some people but nothing too involved, too intimate, or anything she would allow herself despite several offers. After a few days though she figured the guy was either incompetent or something had happened and making a call to her contact in L.A. left him a message to that extent. She made a second call to the airline and arranged for a flight back home, she was done hiding out, she had nothing to hide from, and she had done nothing wrong other than to humiliate that incompetent Private Investigator wannabe, Bev.

The flight back was like a million other miles she had traveled. First class of course, she allowed herself a small glass of wine to relax but only once she had an excellent meal to accompany it. She did indeed feel better. Good food, good wine, and no company as the seat next to hers was empty, just the way she liked it when she was in this kind of mood. She thought over the past week of her life and wondered why she hadn't killed the likes of Bev. Perhaps there was no challenge in it. The woman had merely irritated her in her incompetence. She hadn't been worth the kill. Her humiliation might burn for the rest of her useless life but then she shouldn't have been playing with the big kids. Alice played to keep, but she had played with her prey this time and the humiliation had been satisfying. The woman's death would have given her no satisfaction. Some people are born to die. They are born evil. This woman had been born pathetic but then that was just Alice's opinion. The little she had investigated into her did not change her opinion. She had told the truth that she was studying to become a private investigator, it took more than study though, it took a certain something that Alice was certain Bev lacked. She didn't have the gumption. She should have at least attempted to fight back when Alice confronted her, but then to give her credit, Alice had been pretty convincing with her supposed gun. Alice hadn't had anything bigger than a makeup stick in the little purse and had used its hard end to get the woman to comply with her demands. She was pleased in a way that this had worked but wondered if this loose end would come back to annoy her someday.

She had to figure out who this Richard was. She had the fingerprints in her possession or copies of them at least. She wondered if the guy in Miami would be able to do anything with them, he'd had a few days and the delay didn't set well with her. She had to concede that this 'Richard' might not be in the data base, especially if he hadn't any reason to be so. She was of two minds about the idea of a national data base with everyone's fingerprints on file. On one hand it would make identification easier, and on another hand it would make identification way too easy, big brother watching and all that. She was a big proponent of smaller government. The politicians held way too much power and played with way too much money, she had seen how both corrupt the most innocent man or woman. She knew herself that her money made a vast difference in her life. She paid her taxes religiously on the money she knew they might find if she chose to let them, the rest she socked away in ways they would never find it, but it maintained a life style she enjoyed, had worked hard for, and she had paid her dues in a myriad of ways.

"This is the captain speaking, I've put the seatbelt sign on, we are about to begin our descent into Los Angeles International Airport, thank you for flying with us, on behalf of my crew and myself we hope you had a pleasant flight."

The attendants came around to collect cups and glasses of their drinks, dinner had been cleared away earlier. Alice smiled up at the attendant that took her wine glass that had been empty a long time since dinner. She knew it hadn't done much to relax her but the meal sure had and she was grateful for the combination. She hadn't taken off her seatbelt so she just sat up straighter in her seat waiting for them to land.

She didn't need her passport to fly within the United States so she easily walked to collect her bag. She was looking forward to getting home and washing her clothes. She hadn't intended to be gone so long and the few clothes she had brought had been well used. She could have had the hotel staff clean and press them but she liked having them done a certain way, her way. Remembering where her car was parked was no problem since her memory could be like a steal trap and she headed effortlessly with a free flowing stride towards the long term parking garage. It wasn't too late and she was grateful for the time change, it meant she had a couple of hours of daylight left since she had left Miami and sat on the plane for those five hours. The day's June glooms had burned off and it looked like an excellent ending to her day. She was thinking of things she had to do when she got home but it didn't mean she wasn't aware of her surroundings.

"I knew you'd have to come back to your car eventually" a raspy male voice said to her left.

She knew instinctively who owned that voice. She was a highly intelligent individual and could figure such things and a lot more instantly. She stopped where she was, half a car block away from her own Porsche. She slowly let her briefcase slip to the handle of her suitcase that she propped up. The man had chosen a foolish spot to confront her she immediately noted. They weren't that visible and no one was around, but then, he might have thought it ideal. "What do you want?" she asked politely. She examined him closely since they were only a couple of feet away from each other. He was wearing a suit coat and matching slacks, a white shirt, and a tie was tucked in one of the pockets of the coat.

He seemed to consider her question seriously for a moment. "What do I want?" he repeated back to her. "I want answers" he said in his raspy voice.

She wondered briefly at that rasp in his voice, in a dispassionate way it intrigued her. "Answers?" she decided to play along, she was in no hurry and she was certain the man thought he was safe. Her briefcase strap was wrapped around the handle of her suitcase and she took a casual stance with her hands visible next to her belt buckle. She knew putting her hands in her pockets would alarm him and put her at a disadvantage.

"Yes, I have a lot of questions for you, you know who I am?" he asked, a touch of arrogance in his voice.

"I take it your Richard?" she asked instead in a bored 'let's get on with this' voice.

"Yes, I'm Richard, I am sure you got Bev to talk. She was incoherent when we freed her. How did you get the maid to find her? I walked in on a very embarrassing situation and had a lot of questions to answer for hotel security, including damages to their lock."

She wanted to laugh at the sight that must have greeted the staff. They would have assumed that the shared room meant that Bev and Richard had played rough. They wouldn't have appreciated the torn sheets or the pulled lamp cords, or the sight that was before them with Bev's dumpy bloated body, but she thought the heart shaped bush was a nice touch. She hoped it had been embarrassing and delayed his return to the States. No sign of her amusement though passed her pretty face. She shrugged with apparent non-challance. "I merely asked for more towels and the bed to be made up in my room." She remembered stopping at the hall phone before entering the elevator to check out.

He nodded as though it confirmed his own suspicions. "You ruined her you know, she was in shock when they took her away to the hospital."

Again the shrug "well, you play with the big dogs you're going to get bit" she answered.

"And you're a big dog aren't you?" he said with a sneer.

Alice wasn't about to stand there and be questioned or insulted. He was holding no gun that she could see, she had been curious enough to stop and perhaps find out some answers herself but she was becoming bored with the whole scenario. "Is there something specific you wanted?" she said with enough derision in her voice that he visibly stiffened.

"Yes, I want answers to my questions" he said indignantly

"Well, I don't have a lot of time for your 'questions' so do make it quick" she answered knowing this would annoy him. She had assessed his character in the few minutes they stood talking. He was impatient for whatever answers he thought he deserved. He hadn't like being embarrassed at the hotel, it made him appear in a bad light. To men such as this how they looked was important.

"Oh, you'll make time for MY questions" he said importantly.

"I will?" she smiled at his assumption "I don't think so" she moved to gather her belongings, one of her hands remaining by her belt buckle but the other reaching for her briefcase.

A gun suddenly appeared and she was not surprised. Something about his stance had triggered warning signals in her mind and she almost smiled at being able to read him so easily. "You will stay and answer my questions" he ordered brusquely.

"I don't think so" she repeated. She knew there was a time for action and reaction. As he reached for her arm from where she had turned slightly away her other hand came up in an arc and her belt buckle sliced across his neck. His hand came up at the pain in his neck, it came away with blood all over his fingers, and he stared in horror at what she had done, the blood dripping from his hand. His other hand dropped the gun he had threatened her with, it clattered on the concrete and she swiped it under a car with her foot. His eyes started to immediately glaze. She knew where she had sliced him and how deep. She watched dispassionately as his lifeblood drained from him down his neck. He sank to his knees and then to the concrete floor.

Alice knew she might only have minutes as she wiped the blade of her belt buckle on him to clean it, deliberately smudging it to make it harder, but not impossible, she thought wryly, to identify. She rifled through his pockets looking to see what she could find. His suit coat had two on the outside and two on the inside. She found his cell and opened it to scan the numbers, those that had been recently called, superficially memorizing them before erasing the history, and then quickly reading through his contacts before wiping her prints from the phone and returning it to his pocket. What she found in the wallet of the one on the inside made the blood drain from her own face. She found an L.A.P.D. Badge. His identification gave his address and his full name. He had a few credit cards and not much else, some loose change in his pants pockets and a wad of cash in a curious little money holder. She was careful that her fingerprints didn't touch but the edges of anything and even then she wiped them using his handkerchief. Who used handkerchiefs in this day and age? She took the money, she hesitated over the badge and then returned it to his pocket, she wasn't a fool and maybe they would assume he had been mugged, robbed for his money. She took the money clip as well.

Minutes after she had sliced him she was walking towards her Porsche. Using her key button she turned off the alarm and opened the trunk putting her suitcase inside. She put her briefcase on the passenger seat and drove away. Stopping at the booth she paid her bill for the extended stay and was on her way down Century Boulevard in no time at all. Stopped at a light she examined her hands for some sign of shock, for some reaction to the fact that she had just killed another human being. No tremble greeted her, not even a quiver. Her heart wasn't racing, her breathing unchanged, there should be some reaction shouldn't there? She used her rearview mirror to check and see if she had any blood on her but her wide handed arc and the way he had been cut had kept it from splattering her as it drained down his chest into his shirt. She returned her mirror back to its position. The light changed and she roared off down the road toward home.

~The End~ K'Anne ;-)~