Melody: A Novel Part 19

"Not even in the bayou, huh?" Melody contemplated Loggia's theory.

"No, not even in the bayou." He shrugged. "So, uh...we'll be gone in probably about twenty more minutes. Any questions?"

"Uh, you searched all around the room, right?" Melody asked.

Loggia nodded.

"I know you said the snakes don't come from around here, but did you see any holes?"

"I saw no holes that any snakes would have been interested in. Anyway, snakes don't just crawl into someone's bed and stay there." He grinned. "They're adventurous, curious creatures. They get bored easily, and Miss Cruz's bed wouldn't have been that entertaining to them, unless a rat was in it."

"Oh G.o.d." Sarah held her chest. "I'm scared to death of rats." She looked around.

Loggia laughed. "I was just kidding, Miss Johnson. I'd better stop talking or neither one of you will be able to sleep. What you can do is track down the pet store that may have sold these. Then you can find out exactly what happened."

Melody leaned up. "Are you saying that you think someone put these snakes in my room?"

Loggia looked at the officer. "Uh, maybe you should speak to the policeman about that." He left the kitchen.

Sarah looked at the officer. "This is just a simple situation, right?"

He took off his hat. "Miss Cruz, you may want to make a report of this."

"Report..." She looked at Sarah. "So you really believe this wasn't accidental?"

He cleared his throat. "All the facts are telling me that it's probably not. So since I'm here you might as well do a report. Judging from what Loggia said, and he's the expert, these snakes being here was no accident." He tapped his pencil on the table. "You said you're very frightened of snakes, Miss Cruz?"

"Very. I only have to see a picture of one and I go crazy."

"Uh-huh. Do a lot of people know you're afraid of snakes?"

Melody shrugged. "Of course my friends do. And Sarah. Wait." She grinned. "My friends wouldn't do this."

"Not as a practical joke?"

"No. Believe me, my friends wouldn't do something that would scare me half to death."

He crossed his legs. "Would anyone else? Do you, uh...have any enemies, Miss Cruz?"

Sarah stared silently.

"No, I..." Melody exhaled. She certainly did have an enemy. And she'd definitely p.i.s.sed him off. A feeling came over Melody that told her she had to be right. Keith Taylor put those snakes in her bed. She looked at Sarah. Melody no longer entertained any other explanations. The b.a.s.t.a.r.d did it. Even though it seemed incredibly farfetched, it had Keith written all over it.

"Miss Cruz, were you going to say something?" The officer stared at her.

"I know who did this." She looked at Sarah. "His name is Keith Taylor."

"What?" Sarah shouted.

"Yes, I know he did it, Sarah!"

"You are unbelievable!" She paced in front of the stove. "You can't stop blaming Keith for anything, can you? This is completely ridiculous!"

"Who is Keith Taylor?" The officer gawked.

"It's not ridiculous, Sarah. Keith hates me, okay! He has every reason to get back at me!"

"For what?"

Melody sighed. She hadn't mentioned that she'd reported Keith for s.e.xual hara.s.sment. With Sarah's current state, she chose to work around that.

"Sarah, you know Keith hates me. We both know he wants me out of the picture!"

"Who's Keith?" The officer yawned.

"Keith doesn't hate you, Mel! Anyway, what do you think this is, a f.u.c.kin' movie? Who would be insane enough to put snakes in someone's bed?"

"You heard what Mr. Loggia said! He said they couldn't have gotten here by accident. Why won't you listen to reason, Sarah? You refuse to see Keith for what he really is! I don't understand you!"

"Stop it! You just stop it right now, Melody! Keith did not do this!"

"For the last time, who is Keith?" the cop shouted.

"My sister's boyfriend and possibly the devil," Melody muttered.

Sarah scoffed. "Melody, you're scaring me. You can't give up this animosity you have toward Keith. And why? He never did a d.a.m.n thing to you!"

"No, he does things, but you just won't pay any attention to them! He did this, Sarah! I don't care what you think!"

"Well, this is very interesting." The cop jotted down Keith's name. "What's his address and phone number?"

Sarah sighed. "Officer, this is not necessary! It's hearsay at best. I know Keith did not come in here and put those snakes in Melody's bed!"

"How do you know?" Melody shouted.

"Because I was with Keith all evening, okay?" Melody gawked. "When would he have had time to do this, Melody? Can't you see how sick this seems? You cannot spend your life blaming things on Keith."

"Then explain how the snakes got here, Sarah. Explain it!" Sarah looked away.

"You can't can you? Keith has this in him, Sarah. He's dangerous and you're gonna learn that soon enough. I just hope it's before it's too late." Melody looked at the officer. "I won't press charges." The officer gazed. "Does that make you happy...sis?" Melody ran upstairs.

Sarah sighed.

"Yes?" Aileen peeked out the keyhole Sat.u.r.day night. A handsome man smiled at her. He waved his hands through silky blond hair. The darkness of night couldn't hide those magnetic blue eyes. Aileen never opened the door these days without peeking. A girl could never be safe with the Albany Predator at large. He hadn't hit anyone in Aileen's neighborhood yet, but she didn't take chances. Melody would have been proud to see how careful she'd been lately.

"Uh, h.e.l.lo." The man smiled. "This may sound strange, but maybe you could help me. I'm looking for a Mrs. Aileen Andrews. Can you tell me which house is hers?"

"Oh, that's me." She smiled. "I'm Aileen Andrews."

"Oh. Well then, this must be my lucky day. I'm doing a routine check tonight, ma'am. Uh, actually I'm investigating a crime that's been committed not far from here. I'm a detective and..." He held up his badge. She nodded. "I just wanted to come in and ask you some questions."

"What's your name?" She squinted.

"Detective Kemp. May I please come in for a second? I've been investigating the Albany Predator. If you aren't sure, you can call my precinct. They'll vouch for me."

She grinned. "That won't be necessary." She hurriedly opened the door. She looked over his badge. "I'm just being careful these days. Especially since they said the rapist may be a cop."

"Yeah, you should be very careful." He walked inside without waiting for an announcement. He looked over the tidy living room. He leaned to get a glimpse of the hall toward the kitchen. "Beautiful home you have here, Mrs. Andrews. You seem so young to have such a beautiful home."

"Yeah, well..." She pushed her fluffy hair behind her ears. She stroked the sides of her thin housedress. "Will this take long? I planned to take a nap."

"Oh, not at all." He took out a pad and pencil. "I just needed to ask you some questions. There was a woman a.s.saulted a few blocks down." They sat on the couch.

"Got your name from someone in the neighborhood. They said you stay home during the day, and the lady was attacked Friday morning."

"Yes, I'm a stay-at-home mom, if you want to call it that." She smiled. "All this talk about this rapist scares the h.e.l.l out of me."

"And it should because he's very dangerous." His eyes twinkled. "He's a lot more dangerous than the cops are letting on. We have to do that, you see, in order to catch him. We also don't want to scare the victims."

"Well, I'll definitely do my best to help. I don't know if I saw anything."

"No one strange going around the neighborhood?"

"Uh, no. I mean, if someone walked down the street, I'm sure I didn't notice them. Not with a two-year-old taking up most of my time." She smiled.

"Ahh, you got kids?" He blushed.

"Yes, a little girl, Danielle." She pointed to the picture by the lamp.

"Oh, she's beautiful. Enjoy being married?"

She showed off her ring. "Yes. My husband is a truck driver. He's in Texas right now."

"I see." He looked around. "Uh, are you all alone?"

"It's just me and my daughter. She's sleeping." She gestured upstairs.

"Don't you hate being alone on Sat.u.r.day nights?"

"Well, I'm getting used to being alone all of the time. I mean, my husband is always away working. I guess I shouldn't complain when some wives' husbands are too lazy to even take out the trash." She chuckled.

"But it still doesn't compensate for him being gone, huh? I bet you're very lonely, aren't you, Aileen?" He paced around the living room.

"Yes. I am. But you didn't come here to talk about my boring life." She stood.

"Are you guys any closer to catching him?"

"Who?" He glared at her.

"Well, the rapist." She waved her hands. "You getting any closer?"

He smirked. "Hard to tell. But if the victims keep cooperating, things will turn out better in the long run. So, I can imagine how hard it is with your husband always being away, huh?" He leaned against the door with his hands in his pockets. "Makes no sense to me. Thinking of leaving him?"

She laughed. "Funny. But uh, we'll make it through. Hopefully, he won't have to work this hard much longer."

"So you have to juggle time with him, huh? Are you two still able to have fun together?"

She rubbed the back of her neck. "Uh...we do what we can. Is there anything else I can help you with, Detective?"

"Huh?" He gazed.

Aileen remained beside the couch. She now knew what Melody meant about that "frightening" feeling. She experienced it with a vengeance at this moment. Something about the way this man looked at her terrified her. She hardly listened to her gut feeling these days. Tonight, she would. "Uh, you know what? I'm expecting some friends over."

"Are you?" He raised an eyebrow. "Well, I just have one more question, if that's all right with you."

"Then you'll leave," she politely ordered.

"Of course." He nearly b.u.mped into her when he stood from the door. "Now this question is very important, Aileen."

"Okay." She crossed her arms.

"You said you and your husband have to compensate for a lot of things, right?" He rubbed his hands.

"Wait, I thought this was about the rapist."

He smirked. "Oh, it is. Is s.e.x something you and your husband have to compensate for, Aileen?"

She trembled. This definitely wasn't right. "You know, I uh, forgot I have somewhere to be."

"Oh really? A few seconds ago you said you had friends coming. Which one is it?"

"Both. See, uh, I have to get some food for the get-together, you know."

"All women?" He smiled.

"Yes."

"Then maybe I should stick around." He grinned.

She pretended to take the suggestion as a joke. "Uh, maybe you should come back another time. I'll call your headquarters if I know something..."

He grabbed her. "No need."

"Let go!" He held her by the waist. "Help!"

"Things were going so well with us, Aileen. Just like a woman to start acting all crazy." He walled his eyes.

"You're the rapist! You are!" She struggled in his arms. "Someone, help!"