“You’re not moving out.” He regretted the words and the tone as soon as they left his mouth. “What I mean is—”
“What you mean is exactly what you said. You think that because you’re the almighty Steele Bennett that everyone should just do as you say. Well, I’m sick to death of you barking orders at me. And if you remember correctly, after you fucked me yesterday you said it would be a good idea if I was gone. Something about me making you crazy.” Her snort of laughter made his head hurt. “If you ask me, I think you’re already crazy.”
Steele listened to her breathing. He wasn’t going to argue with her over the phone, but she wasn’t going to leave his house just yet. He wasn’t…Steele wasn’t finished with her. He had no idea what else he wanted to do to her, but fucking her nightly and most of the day was a wonderful way to start things moving in the right direction.
“I’m not able to leave here yet. There are over two hundred dead that we’re trying to match names to the trophies that we uncovered today.” He didn’t know why he was telling her this, but it seemed really important to him that he did. “The police have five hundred of them; over five hundred pieces of peoples’ lives that they don’t know who they belong to, and I’m going to have to stay here until it’s complete.”
She didn’t say anything for a long time, and he thought she’d hung up on him. When she did speak, it was soft and comforting to him. Her words didn’t matter. They were just that, words, but the feelings he got from them felt good.
“Come here. I want you to come here and be with me.” He tried to think how to get her there right now. “I can have the chopper ready to go in an hour. You can be here in less than that after you leave the ground.”
“I’m not going there.” He could hear the surprise in her voice; no anger, but plenty of surprise. “You said that I drive you crazy. Why the hell would you want me near you when you’re working?”
Why indeed. “I need to be buried inside of you. Sink into you so that all this will go away, even for a time. Come here and let me fuck you so I can’t think about this for a while.”
Her silence this time was telling. He knew as surely as he was standing there that she was pissed. Before he could explain more why he wanted her, she spoke again.
“Set it up. I’ll be there soon.” The line went dead, and he felt like he’d just been handed a great gift. Then he thought of how she had sounded and his heart twisted in his chest. He’d hurt her. And if her tone was any indication, he’d hurt her badly. He promised himself that as soon as she got there, he was going to make it up to her. Before he got lost in the Baggies again, he called his pilot and told him what he wanted. Sitting back at the table, Steele tried to think about something other than Kari, and it wasn’t really working. He needed her that badly.
As Drew matched a name to a bag, Steele picked up another one. The man appeared before him almost as soon as he touched the gold lock of hair. Steele waited for him to say something, but the man started sobbing immediately.
“Did you find my wife?” He asked him what her name was. “I can’t remember. I can’t remember anything. They hit me in the head and I can’t…did you find my wife?”
“We’re looking. Was she killed when you were?” The man looked confused for a second and shook his head. “But you’re sure she’s dead?”
“No. I don’t know anything. We were having a nice dinner. And…and….” The man looked around, then back at him. “Did you find my wife? She’s so beautiful. Long dark hair, and she has this pretty dimple on her left cheek.”
Steele tried to think if he’d seen a picture of a dimpled woman and didn’t remember any. He asked the others, who handed him several files. Opening them up so that the man wouldn’t see anything but the picture, he told Steele that none of them were her. When Ray handed him a single file, the man started sobbing again.
“That’s my lovely wife.” He reached for the picture only to come up short. His finger slid right through it and he started to cry again. “I want to see her. Do you think I can?”
“I’m sorry, sir.” Steele felt sorry for the man. “I’m sorry to tell you that I’ve no way to….” He looked at the file and the lock of hair in the bag. Pulling it out, he closed his eyes and searched for her. The moment she came to him, Steele opened his eyes.