Re-Runners First Life: A Time Travel Suspense Series (3 page)

Chapter 2

1976

The flashing lights of the fire department trucks and paramedic van cast a surreal glow over the faces of neighbors in night gowns and track pants, who lined the opposite path behind the police tape. The fire-fighters continued to douse the dying embers of the fire that had destroyed the Turner home.

The fire chief squatted down beside Christian as he sat at the rear of the rescue services truck with a blanket over his shoulders. The paramedic continued to wind gauze around his burnt hands.

The chief lightly touched Christian’s shoulder. ‘Son, the ambulance is here. They want to get you to the hospital.’

‘No,’ Christian pleaded. ‘I have to stay. I have to be sure.’

The chief rubbed his eyes. ‘There’s nothing left, son. I’m so ... so sorry.’

Christian turned anguished eyes to the man. Tears streaked ribbons of moisture down his soot blackened face. ‘No, no,’ he sobbed. ‘It can’t be.’

‘It was a brave thing you did, trying to save your parents like that, but I’m afraid it was impossible. You nearly lost your own life.’

Christian buried his head in crossed arms and continued to softly cry. Inside he was singing,
This is so easy. They are so pathetically simple.

‘Come on now. Let me help you.’ The chief put his arm around the boy’s heaving shoulders and signaled to the ambulance officers standing by, as they helped settle Christian on the gurney.

On the trip to the hospital Christian closed his eyes and thought about his future. He made a conscious effort not to smile but it was difficult. Everything had gone according to plan. Drugging his parents hadn’t been challenging. Doris made it easy with her steady supply of sleeping pills. He didn’t want to use any kind of accelerant that could be identified by the arson squad, but his father’s habit of taking work to bed was well known to his colleagues. Stacking the bedroom with piles of paperwork and folders was an ideal fire loving fuel and Albert was a chain smoker. Everyone knew that too.

Suffocating them both as they lay in their drug induced slumber had given him a powerful rush of endorphins. The thrill of taking a human life was more than he had bargained for. He’d thought it would be exciting, but he didn’t expect the overwhelming ecstasy of it. The only thing missing was the blood, but he couldn’t draw attention to himself. It was important he wasn’t suspected of anything. His life and his inheritance depended on it.

He’d played the hero in attempting to rescue his parents and now he would play the grieving son. At eighteen years of age he was old enough to collect the insurance payout on his parent’s lives and their home. Then there was the cabin near Sullivan Canyon Park and the considerable financial estate left to him by his ever-loving parents. Christian was set for life...

and what a life it would be.

Chapter 3

1984

Los Angeles, USA

The decor of the small but popular Italian restaurant hadn’t changed in twenty years and that was exactly why their regular customers liked it. To step inside
lo Mangio
was to step into Italy in Beverley Hills.

It wasn’t far from Christian’s former home in Brentwood, but that was not what drew him to this authentic taste of Europe. Glorious Italy was in Christian’s future. In a couple of years, he planned to live there. Not forever, but long enough to immerse himself in the flavors and history of that beautiful country. But not yet. He had more to do here.

He looked up and saw Sally approaching. Dr Sally Watkins was an attractive woman. Even during high school, she had never been one to enhance her natural attributes, but it was her intellect that had always attracted Christian. Sally was one of the few people he could stand being in the same room with for more than thirty minutes and the fact she had adored him for nearly ten years was ... convenient.

He stood and reached for her hand before giving her a quick kiss on the cheek and pulling out the chair for her to sit. Sally’s gaze swept the room, taking in the sturdy provincial tables and chairs, heavy oak beams set in the low ceiling, red checked tablecloths and subdued lighting.

‘This place never changes, does it?’ she sighed.

‘And aren’t we happy it doesn’t,’ replied Christian as he signaled for the waiter before turning his full attention to her. ‘I read about you recently in the American Journal of Psychiatry.’ His pale but intense eyes were full of admiration. ‘Very impressive, Sally. The state’s youngest ever recipient of the Willard Prize in Psychiatry.’

Sally blushed at the compliment. ‘You read that?’

‘Naturally,’ he said. ‘I’m interested in everything you do.’

ooooo

She smiled at him, as his compliment sent a suffusion of warmth and delight through her. After all these years, he never ceased to confuse and intrigue her. He was brilliant, she’d always known that, but it was his ability to alternately charm and rebuff her that held her in his web. He was her drug and she, the addict. She was admired by her peers as a young and brilliant psychiatrist; and one who recognized her own dependency on Christian. It was a dependency she’d had since high school and she had neither the power nor desire to sever it.

He was her first and only lover and she believed she was his. They had continued to see each other for nearly ten years, but always on his terms and in his time. Two or three times a year they would share a meal, spend a wonderful night together and then she wouldn’t see him again for several months. This had become their routine and she knew better than to expect anything else. She loved him with all her being. Did he love her? She doubted it, but she was certain she was the closest he had ever come to caring for a woman, any woman.

He was an unusual man; aloof, yet charming. Their lovemaking was intense and passionate, but immediately following, he was coldly detached. He always left before morning and she wouldn’t hear from him again, except for the customary single yellow rose, which always arrived at her home the next day.

The money Christian had received following the horrific death of his parents appeared to sustain him in a comfortable lifestyle. She knew he spent his days studying and travelling.

‘What subject is keeping you engrossed at the moment?’ Sally asked.

‘I’m continuing with forensics,’ he answered her and then changed the topic. ‘Would you like me to order for you?’

‘Yes I would,’ she nodded. ‘You always introduce me to something new. Whoever thought Italian food was just pasta and pizza was so wrong.’

The waiter approached on Christian’s signal. He ordered food and wine for both of them in Italian, but with a Sicilian twist in deference to the waiter who had recently arrived from Sicily and appreciated the gesture.

Sally was also fluent in Italian and recognized what he had done. ‘He will look after us better than anyone else in this restaurant tonight,’ she laughed.

Christian shrugged. ‘It’s a small thing, but he is grateful. I believe people should be more grateful for the blessings they are given. As am I for you, dear Sally.’

She blushed. His every word plucked at her heartstrings. She was obsessed with him and she knew it. But she also knew they had to play by his rules or she would never see him again and that was something she couldn’t bear. She lived for these moments with him, as few as they were. She excelled in her profession, but she also excelled in most things that involved Christian. She had studied Italian because he spoke the language and now she knew she would investigate forensics.

He always took note of her achievements, even when they were apart from one another. She wanted to make sure he never found another partner more intellectually stimulating than she.

‘Do you still have plans to go to Italy in a year or two?’ Sally had asked this question before, but he never answered to her satisfaction. He only told her he wanted to immerse himself in the culture of the country and when he went, he didn’t expect to return to the US for several years. She was waiting and hoping he would invite her to visit him.

He wouldn’t stop seeing me. Would he?
The pain around Sally’s heart increased as the thought hit her. She couldn’t imagine life without him, but she knew he could manage quite well without her.

As though he had read her thoughts, he answered her. ‘Yes. I hope you will visit me on occasion.’

The air sighed from her lungs. The tightness around her heart eased and all was right in her world again. ‘Of course Christian, I’d love to.’

ooooo

Christian could see the affect his words had on Sally. He knew she had been waiting for this since he had first told her of his plans to live overseas. That he had made her wait until now to receive the answer she was hoping for was how he kept her enthralled. Sally wasn’t necessary to his life, but it pleased him to keep her. He acknowledged her as his only friend, ‘friend’ being the closest word he could find to describe their relationship. The sex was interesting, but it certainly didn’t give him the release that killing did. No, it was their conversations he enjoyed. Their intellectual sparring and brainstorming was more than satisfying and he looked forward to it.

His life when he wasn’t with her was taken up with study and planning and of course, killing. He had watched with interest the approaching use of DNA matching to solve crimes. It wasn’t here yet, but it was close and Christian had always been aware of its potential. His ‘killing fields’ were usually the homes of his victims, but he always sanitized the scenes scrupulously understanding what the future held with DNA capability. While he admired the intelligence and promise of the technology, he was determined never to fall victim to it.

The body of his latest Lovely was being released to her family this week for burial. She had been beautiful to look at, but not very bright. He had followed his customary pattern of an accidental meeting followed by several days of wooing, until he was at last invited to her home. The tediousness of her conversation bored him, but the inevitable ecstasy of carving her body was unmatched. Christian chuckled to himself.

‘What are you thinking about?’ Sally laughed with him.

‘Shocking business these murders. Not really a laughing matter,’ Christian began. ‘But the name the papers have given the killer;
le Segador
, the Reaper. It’s quite creative, don’t you think?’

‘I have to admit I haven’t taken a lot of notice,’ she said. ‘He would certainly be an interesting study in my field.’

‘Leave him to the profilers, my dear. You have a busy enough practice as it is.’ He smiled and held her hand. ‘And we have better things to do tonight.’

Sally’s nerve endings fired in lustful anticipation as she swallowed and nodded. ‘Yes, we do.’

Chapter 4