Chapter Eleven #2
A knock fell on her door and quickened her heartbeat.
Was it Daniel? Had there been a break in the case?
Why else would he be here on a Thursday when they’d agreed to Saturday night check-ins?
She jumped up off the sofa and hurried to answer the door.
She paused before opening it. Normally Daniel yelled out to her that it was him.
She grabbed her knife. “Who is it?” she called out.
“Angelique, it’s Desiree,” the feminine voice answered.
Desiree? Angelique put her knife back on the end table and then opened the door.
“Desiree,” she said, surprised to see the tall, beautiful woman there.
“Hi, Angelique. I was wondering if I could come in and have a quick chat with you,” Desiree said with a smile.
“Of course.” Angelique opened her door wider to allow her entry. What on earth could George’s girlfriend need to talk about with her?
“Please, have a seat.” Angelique gestured toward the sofa. “Can I get you anything to drink?”
“No thanks, I’m good.” Desiree sat on the sofa and Angelique sat in a chair facing her.
“What’s going on?” she asked curiously.
“I wanted to talk to you about George,” Desiree said.
“George? What about him?”
Desiree leaned forward. “You know his birthday is coming up real soon and I’m planning a surprise party for him.”
“Oh, I’m sure he’ll love that,” Angelique replied.
“I was just wondering if maybe you could help me with a guest list,” Desiree said.
“I’ll certainly try, although I imagine you know more of George’s friends than I do. George and I haven’t exactly stayed in touch.”
Desiree leaned forward even more. “I am so in love with that man.” Her dark eyes blazed with emotion. “George is the man I want in my life forever.”
“From what I’ve seen, George appears to be deeply in love with you, too,” Angelique replied. What did any of this have to do with her? Why was Desiree really here? Desiree didn’t need Angelique to help with any guest list for a birthday party. So, what was really going on here?
“Yes, I believe George loves me, but he won’t completely be mine until you’re out of the way.”
Angelique’s heart stepped up its rhythm. “I don’t understand,” she replied. “George and I don’t have any kind of a relationship.”
“That may be true, but you aren’t out of his head. Every time your name comes up, he talks about how beautiful you are, how smart and what a wonderful woman you are. Angelique this and Angelique that… I have to listen to him talking about your virtues all the damned time.”
“I… I’m sorry to hear that.” Angelique wasn’t sure what else to say.
“I truly believe he won’t completely be over you until you’re gone for good.” She rose from the sofa and pulled a wicked-looking knife from her pocket. “So, I’m here to make sure that happens.”
Angelique jumped to her feet and grabbed at her own knife. She stared at Desiree in horror. “So, it was you…you broke in here before.”
“I did. I went to a lot of trouble that night to get to you, but you won that round. I thought about trying to break into your back door, and then I realized I could just knock on the door and come right in. Nobody will even know I was here.” She laughed, the wicked sound causing a chill to walk up Angelique’s spine.
“Desiree, it doesn’t have to be this way.” She couldn’t help but notice that the knife Desiree held in her hand was twice the size of Angelique’s.
“It does have to be this way. Once you’re dead, then George won’t be talking about you anymore. His heart will finally be free to completely love me and me only.”
With a sudden swift movement, Desiree came at Angelique, stabbing out with her knife. Angelique managed to evade the thrusts as she stumbled backward. If she could just get to the potbelly stove like she had last time then she could pull the poker once again.
Instead, Desiree moved so that her back was to the stove and there was no way for Angelique to get to the poker. “You don’t get to win this time,” she said.
“Desiree, you don’t want to do this,” Angelique cried out. “You aren’t a killer.”
“Oh, but I am,” Desiree replied, her eyes burning with hatred…with pure evil. “I will kill so I have George all to myself. It will give me great pleasure to kill you.” Once again, she leaped out at Angelique, and the knifepoint managed to pierce Angelique in her arm.
Pain instantly filled her at the point of contact and she jabbed back in an effort to move Desiree back from her. Terror sliced through her as she recognized this was a fight for her very life.
Somehow, someway, she needed to get the knife away from Desiree. Otherwise, with Desiree’s longer arms and her bigger knife, eventually she would be able to complete a killing stab.
Angelique kicked out, in an effort to keep distance between herself and Desiree. “Did you kill my mother?” she managed to gasp out.
Desiree’s eyes widened slightly. “No. I wouldn’t mess with the voodoo queen.” She jabbed out again. “And I wouldn’t have come at you with her still alive.”
Angelique remembered the note left on her door, indicating that the person who was after her had been afraid of her mother. So, Desiree wasn’t her mother’s murderer, but she intended to murder Angelique. “Did you leave the note on my door?” Angelique asked.
“I did. I wanted you to feel fear.”
Jab…weave…dodge. The two women performed a macabre dance of impending death. Angelique managed to cut Desiree’s arm and Desiree sliced across Angelique’s shoulder. Both women were bloody as they continued to fight.
Angelique managed to gain some distance from her attacker and remembering the note left on her door, she raised her arms up in the air and began chanting some gibberish.
“What are you doing?” Desiree asked, the words coming out of her on gasps from their exertions. “What’s that you’re saying?”
“I am my mother’s daughter, born on the seventh night of the seventh month beneath a black moon and I am putting a curse on you,” Angelique said and then continued mouthing more gibberish. “I am the new voodoo queen in town.”
“Stop it,” Desiree said frantically. “Stop it right now.” She stood still, horror on her features and at that moment Angelique kicked out. She connected with Desiree’s hand and her knife went flying through the air and landed some feet away from her.
Desiree scrambled across the floor like a fast-moving lizard. She grabbed the knife once again and then leaped at Angelique. Desiree hit her midsection and knocked her down.
Angelique fell back, her breath exploding out of her as she crashed the back of her head against the floor.
At the same time Desiree jumped on top of her and drove her knife into Angelique’s chest. Pain seared through her and a deep sob escaped her.
Oh God, she was going to die. Desiree was really going to kill her.
“Die, bitch, die!” Desiree screamed as she raised the knife for another killing blow.
At that moment the front door slammed open and Daniel strode in. He instantly pulled his gun. “Drop the knife, Desiree,” he yelled. “Drop it now, or I’ll shoot you.”
Desiree hesitated for a long moment, and then she finally tossed the knife to the side and rolled off Angelique and to her feet.
“She tried to kill me, Chief. I just stopped by to have a friendly chat with her about George’s birthday party, and all of a sudden, she went totally nuts on me. I stabbed her in self-defense.”
Daniel wasted no time. He quickly handcuffed Desiree and sat her on the sofa. “Don’t move,” he commanded, and then he rushed to Angelique’s side. The pain in her chest nearly stole all her breath away.
His gaze was dark as it lingered on her. He crouched down next to her. “Angelique…honey. Don’t try to move,” he said to her. He grabbed his radio and called for backup and medical.
“She’s nuts,” Desiree said. “Who treats a guest this way? Out of nowhere she came at me with a knife, told me she was going to kill me and bury me deep in the swamp where nobody would ever find my body.”
“Why did you come here? What exactly did you want to discuss with her?” he asked. He remained next to Angelique, who was in excruciating pain.
“George’s birthday is coming up and I just wanted to see if she wanted to help me throw him a surprise birthday party,” she replied.
“Sh…she is the one who attacked me be…before,” Angelique managed to gasp out. “S… She wanted to k…kill me.”
“Don’t try to talk,” he said to her. She saw the concern on his features. Heck, she was concerned for herself. It was getting harder and harder for her to breathe and the dark edges of unconsciousness encroached closer and closer.
The darkness finally overtook her. Her eyes slowly closed and she knew no more.