Chapter Ten
Brynne
I slam the meat cleaver down again on Jordan’s torso. I need his body smaller to fit him inside my kiln. No one ever suspects anything when you tell them you do pottery and need a kiln. I wanted to order a specialized one that was bigger but getting it to my basement was a challenge.
Jordan’s abs were outlined to cut. He is starting to bloat and I didn’t have time to finish him off yesterday, so I have to do this fast. I make my last cut and grab the chunk of his drained body. I toss it in the kiln with the rest of his sorry ass. If it hadn’t already shriveled up, I would have kept his cock and used it as a paintbrush for my painting today. It wasn’t big to begin with and I needed something to hang onto while painting.
I latch the top of the kiln and notice my phone ringing on the work table. I didn’t think I would get service down in these tunnels, but Clara and her superpowers managed to set that up for me. I take off my bloody apron and latex gloves and throw them on the floor. The apron doesn’t cover the entire front of my body. Jordan’s blood must have gotten on my face and chest .
“ I see I was interrupting something,” Clara says over
the video chat. I look into the camera of my phone and see the blood spatter on my face and breast.
“Sorry, I thought he wouldn’t be such a mess since he bled out over the night.” I bring the phone with me up the stairs and into my master bedroom.
“ I understand why you needed a long driveway now.
Wouldn’t want them to see you naked,” Clara teases.
“Don’t act like you wouldn’t kill naked too,” I raise my eyebrows. “Why are you calling anyway?” I smirk.
“Max Penfield,” she says plainly. I sober up and turn the water on in my shower.
“What did you find out? I thought we were going to move onto William Ashburn?” I ask.
“That was the original plan, but since Jordan was one of your patients, I want to double back and make sure we didn’t miss anything before adding another.” Clara raises her eyebrow at me to drive home how serious she is. Sometimes I forget that she is seven years younger than me. I knew as soon as she came with me on our first kill that she was like me. She is truly the only person on this entire planet that knows the true me and I intend to keep it that way.
“What do you think we missed? You took care of the car. I made sure I discharged him as my client six months ago. We have been doing our sessions in the places you suggested. Plus, I trashed the burner phone he had been using for those sessions. We didn’t miss anything. He is currently getting turned to dust,” I shrug.
“I know we didn’t miss anything, but it takes far more work to cover our tracks when we know them up and personal. Max is an outlier, we found him in our research. We have been keeping tabs in the dark instead of in the open.” I know she is right, but I don’t get the same satisfaction out of these kills. The look on their faces when they realize I betrayed them before I do the final blow is literal art. I’ve been trying to recreate it in my paintings for years.
“Send me the information and I’ll get started after I’m done with my meetings today.” As much as I would love to skip work, I have to keep up with my fake normal life.
“Done, I’ll talk to you later,” I wait for her to hang up. “Brynne, I love you and stay safe,” she adds.
“Always, Love you too.” I hang up before stepping into the shower.
I let the hot water burn my skin as I step underneath it. The water turns red as Jordan’s blood runs down my body. I slide my fingers down the valley of my breast. The red water runs between my legs and down the drain. I didn’t think I had this much blood on me. I close my eyes and think about the other night. The way Jordan screamed as the vice tightened on his balls. The fear in his eyes at the sight of what I had done.
I rub circles around my clit and use my other hand to pinch my nipple. Jordan’s tear-filled eyes almost make me cum, but I haven’t gotten to my best part yet. I moan when I insert two fingers inside my pussy. I abandon my breast with my other hand and continue rubbing my clit. The image of the hedge trimmers glimmering in his eyes comes front and center. I can feel myself tightening around my fingers. Jordan’s fear blankets his face and the agony flashes in his eyes as the handles come together.
The blood flowing out of him where his cock is supposed to be. I feel my legs quiver and I let my orgasm run down my legs. I shake with pleasure and slowly remove my hands from my pussy. Before resuming cleaning myself off, I take a few deep breaths. I can’t go to work with any trace of that fuck on me.
As I look down the last of the red water runs down the drain. My excitement drains from me as well. This is why I will only ever have Clara. No one would understand my excitement when it comes to killing and the damn color of their blood.
When someone asks what my favorite color is and I say red, I don’t mean the bright red that we used to color hearts as kids. I mean the crimson red that blood turns as I place it on my canvas. The dark red of the blood in the bucket after I’ve drained as much as I could from my last victim. It’s so dark I can almost see my reflection in it. As if I’m looking into a lake of blood and seeing exactly who I am. Not who I was made into.
???
I pull into my parking spot and grab my bag. The feeling of eyes on me has the hair on my arms sticking up. I turn around to check behind me and don’t see anything. After taking a deep breath I continue to walk inside the office. I’m probably just paranoid after talking with Clara. I know we covered our bases with Jordan.
If there was a problem, then the police would have figured it out by now. He has been gone for a few days. If he is as important as he talked about in his sessions, then it won't take long for a missing person’s report to be filed .
“Doctor Thornton,” Adam says from behind me as I turn down the hallway to our offices.
“Doctor Epson,” I say plainly.
“I never got your call the other day,” he pushes. I keep my fake smile plastered on my face. I can see right through his nice guy look. He tries to hide his true colors, but it's in the way he carries himself. You’d think with him being a therapist he would know how to hide these parts of himself.
“Sorry I’ve been busy.” Not a complete lie, but I doubt he gives a shit anyways. He doesn’t think I’ve noticed his cell phone going off constantly at lunch. He is obviously seeing someone or multiple people. I wouldn’t put it past him to have multiple side pieces.
“I figured. Are you busy this Friday? Everyone is going out after work. I wanted to see if you wanted me to pick you up,” he stands eagerly awaiting my answer. I should say no and walk to my office, but that isn’t what a normal person would do. Maybe he thinks I’m interested because I haven’t done something like that.
I have the same act for all the men I interact with, some take the hint and others like Adam are either too oblivious or just don’t give a shit and keep trying.
“Where is everyone going?” I ask. His eyes light up at the little glimmer of hope he thinks he has. I’ll entertain this if everyone is going out, but time alone with Adam seems like it would be torture on its own.
“ Just out to Alchemy for a few drinks.”
I look down at my watch. “Sounds good, I have to get ready for my appointment.” I walk toward my door, but Adam opens his mouth again.
“ I’ll pick you up at seven?” Adam suggests.
I nod in response. “Wait how do you know where to pick me up?” I ask as I twirl around. I don’t broadcast where I live for a reason.
“ It's listed on your employee file,” Adam smirks.
I want to walk up to him, grab his balls and twist them. Who does he think he is going through my file? I plaster that fake smile on my face. “You looked at my file?”
“I was hoping you’d say yes so I wanted to be prepared.”
“ Next time just ask me. I like my privacy,” I clarify.
H e nods his head once. “Understood. I’m sorry if I
crossed some boundary. That wasn’t my intention,” he tries to backpedal. I want to let my true side out, but I can’t. I opt for my made-up self and stay polite.
“ Thank you. I do have to prep for my morning
appointment,” I point to my office door. I can see that he is about to apologize again. “I’ll see you Friday night,” I add to shut him up. He gets that excited look on his face and finally leaves. It’s not that I don’t like Adam, he can just be too persuasive and it shows who he really is. I can tell he always got what he wanted as a child.
A s I turn on the light in my office, I look at the clock
hanging above my desk. I don’t have an appointment until ten, but I needed time to go over what Clara sent me on Penfield. I open the encrypted files she sent me and start combing through them.
I can already tell I don’t like this guy. I’ve heard a few things about him since he has had a few run-ins with the law, but money has a way of making charges disappear. His daddy is a judge and forgot the conflict-of-interest ethic when he took his oath. His son has a squeaky-clean record after taking advantage of one too many times with underage girls.
I click next on my laptop and see a death certificate for a girl named Sophie Lamanta. I don’t remember her name being mentioned in previous police records. I don’t even understand how Clara got these if his record is clean. Wouldn’t they delete these like she deleted my files? My case is completely different than our little friend Max here. I don’t want to be found, but he seems to attract all sorts of attention.