Night Hunter (52 page)

An instant before the door came crashing open, Regina threw the jar of moisturizer at the overhead light, smashing the bulb and plunging the room into total darkness.

The door slammed into the opposite wall.

She heard her name. Biting down on her lower lip, she crouched into a tight ball, trying not to breathe.

“
Regina, damnit, where are you?” Glass crunched underfoot. “Regina?”

She cried out with relief, lunging forward into John’s arms.

They clung to each other, Regina crying, John hushing her as he planted kisses on her tear-drenched face.

“
Where is he?” she managed to gasp out.

“
Gone.”

“
Are you sure?”

“
Yes. He went out a bedroom window and dropped to the ground below. Don’t move, there’s glass on the floor.” John swept her into his arms and carried her into her bedroom, where he placed her on the bed.

“
What happened?” he asked.

“
He was in the closet. Waiting.”

“
Jesus Christ.”

“
He jumped out ... and I ran into the bathroom. And then, thank God, you came.”

“
I heard banging. I came up, knocked, and when I heard you call out to me, I had to run back down and get the pass key from Aunt Anna. Was it Corde?”

“
I don’t know. He was wearing a stocking over his face. His features were distorted. It could’ve been anyone.”

“
Size?”

“
Average. Five-ten or eleven, a hundred and seventy pounds.”

“
Could it have been Corde?”

“
Possibly.” She was trembling.

John picked up the phone and began to dial.

“
Who are you calling?” she asked.

“
The police.”

“
Wait.” She grabbed his hand.

He stared at her.

“
Not the police. I don’t want the police,” she said.

“
Why not, for God’s sake.”

“
Even if we know for certain who it is, we don’t have any proof. Do you know what they’ll say when we accuse a superior judge.”

“
We won’t tell them who we suspect.”

“
Then why call them? John, you might have to go with them.”

“
Regina--”

“
Right now you’re probably the number one suspect. You said so yourself.”

“
Yes, but--”

“
If they took you in for questioning, I’d be alone and he’d come back for me.” She realized she sounded paranoid, but she couldn’t help it.

“
That’s why we have to call them. You need protection. More than I can give you.”

“
They won’t protect me. John, Lillard practically accused me of fabricating a killer to boost ratings for ‘City Gallery’. I don’t want them called,” she said, her nails digging into his arms.

“
Regina, I don’t know what to do.”

“
Don’t leave me.” She clung to him, crying. “Just don’t leave me.”

He brushed the hair from her face and kissed her. “First thing in the morning I’m calling Wilma.”

“
Okay. Okay, good,” she said absently. She folded back the covers. “Stay with me tonight.”

He bent, lifted her in his arms and deposited her under the covers. He touched a spot on her back and she jerked with pain. He looked at her back. Without a word, he went into the bathroom. A moment later he was back with absorbent cotton and hydrogen peroxide. He cleaned the welts carefully, gently. Then he undressed and slid in beside her.

His fingers plucked at a raw edge of the nightgown. “Your nightgown’s on inside out.”

Regina looked down. Not only was it inside out, it was backwards as well. She thought back to when, in the bathroom, she had frantically crawled into it because she didn’t want to die naked. And then she began to laugh. The sexy, melodious quality was still there, but woven in, unmistakably, was an underlying note of hysteria.

When it got to this point he sometimes lost it; lost the control. Things got messy. Perhaps it was just as well the attempt was aborted.

He forced himself to breathe deeply, to regain a degree of discipline.

He had ruined his chance to do what he had gone there to do. He’d had several opportunities to toss the acid, but had hesitated, waiting for the perfect chance. It had come when she stood just inches from him, on the other side of the closet door, her body gleaming with moisture from her shower. He had decided, then and there, with lust barely in check, to have this one before splashing her.

And then she had bolted like a frightened doe.

Now, sitting in his car on a dark street several miles away, he thought about what he would do to her next time, how the acid would look as it ate into her pretty flesh. He smiled, imagining it would be much like the dying snails, only better.

It had begun with the snails. Disgusting creatures. As a child he had delighted in pouring salt on the viscous undersides to watch the slimy bodies foam, wither and dissolve before his eyes. Next to feel his wrath were the small animals, neighborhood pets, then anything or anyone who dared give him trouble.

Of the five finalists, this one, Regina, had given him the most trouble. He was an orderly person and she was throwing everything off. She would pay twofold. Unlike Odett and Lake, Van Raven would have no opportunity to reach water and dilute the acid. Before dousing her face with acid, he would render her immobile. At long last he would have his chance to witness, firsthand, the ravishing effects of the chemical.

CHAPTER 3
0

Regina slept fitfully. Only when John held her tightly in his arms did she doze.

At seven o’clock she awoke in the circle of those secure arms. Turning her head to look into his face, she saw his eyes were open, watching her. She smiled tentatively. He returned the smile, pulling her closer.

She ran her hand down his side to his hip and then around to his taut belly. His full erection flexed against her hand when she touched it.

She silently rose to her knees and pulled the short gown up her torso and over her head. John rose to his knees facing her. His fingertips moved over her warm, sensitive flesh, caressing. He took her into his arms and kissed her. Within minutes she was lost in an intense pleasure that dulled her awareness of the problems past, present, and future, lost to all but the quiet scream of feelings at the core of her being.

Afterward, lying quietly in each other’s arms, Regina finally spoke.

“
John, what did you and Corinne fight about that night? The night she was attacked with the acid?”

“
She was angry. Accused me of abandoning her on the most important night of her life. The day of the crowning I got a call that my mother was in trouble. My stepfather was a mean drunk, and when he got tanked up, he took it out on the family. I went to San Jose to bring my mother and sister back to my aunt and uncle’s, then rushed back to the city. I arrived at the hotel just as the ambulance was pulling away.”

Regina said nothing.

“
I’ve lived with guilt all these years, blaming myself. If I’d been there, at the coronation, maybe I could have prevented what happened to Corinne.”

“
Oh, John, there’s no way you could have known about something like that.”

John rose up on an elbow and stared knowingly at her. “I’ve finally come to realize that,” he said. “Now it’s time for you to do the same.”

She stared at him. Then she nodded, smiling.

At eight o’clock John swept up the glass on the bathroom floor. Then they showered together, soaping, caressing, bringing each other to a breathless climax with nothing beyond an erotic touch.

Back in the kitchen, as Regina poured two mugs of coffee, the phone rang. It was Kristy.

“
Did you have a good time?” Regina asked. “Where are you?”

“
At Sonya’s. We just rolled in. I’ll be home in a bit.”

“
Honey, listen. Can you stay with the Newmans another night or two?”

“
Yeah, I guess. Why?”

“
Someone broke into the apartment last night.”

“
What’d they take? Did they get my Walkman?”

“
It wasn’t that kind of break-in.”

Silence.

“
We think it was the same person who attacked Donna.”

“
Are you all right, Mom?”

“
Yes. John chased him off.” Regina looked up at John. Their eyes met,

“
Did the police come?”

“
No. We didn’t call them. Look, Kris--”

“
Is John there with you now?”

“
Yes.”

“
Will he stay with you tonight?”

“
Yes, he’ll stay the night.”

A pause. “Okay. Cool.”

“
Yeah, cool.” She smiled at John, raised her eyebrows. “If you need to come home for clothes or anything, make sure I’m here. I don’t want you in this apartment alone. You hear?”

“
I hear. I won’t need anything for a couple’ days. I can borrow from Sonya, and I have all my makeup and stuff with me.”

“
Good.”

“
You sure you’re okay, Mom?”

“
Honest, honey, I’m fine. Are you working tomorrow?”

“
All day.”

“
I’ll come down and explain everything. And I think we should discuss your going to San Diego to stay with Grandma and Grandpa.”

“
Oh, Mom, I can’t. The pageant awards are this Friday night. Have you forgotten?”

She had. And in remembering, she felt a knot in the pit of her stomach. “We’ll talk about it tomorrow. Bye, Kris.” Regina lowered the receiver.

Looking out the window, she said, “I’m sorry she entered that damn contest. I have a bad feeling about it.”

“
If it
is
judge Corde, why would he do it?” Regina asked John. But before he could answer, she added, “I mean I see a motive for attacking Corinne —to put Amelia closer to the crown —but why Donna, Tammy and me?”

They sipped coffee, facing each other over the breakfast counter.

“
Rejection?”

“
Twenty years later? It doesn’t make sense.”

“
It’s possible something happened to trigger the latest attacks,” John surmised.

“
What?”

“
It’s hard to believe someone could attack a woman with acid and then go on to lead an exemplary life for twenty years and—”

“
Maybe it wasn’t so exemplary,” John cut in.

Regina stared at him. “You think he’s attacked other women within those years?”

“
Why not?”