Killing Roses

11__Not-so-safe house

Valerie sunk into the warmth of her hoodie, letting her toes sink into the thick carpet.

"Miss Quinn?" she lifted her eyes and pursed her lips.

Oh, that's right. The detectives wanted to reanalyze the case. They thought she knew whoever was doing this.

Val sighed. "Look, I have... no clue whatsoever."

Roman leaned forward, his elbows on his knees. "Think carefully. Perhaps throughout your college days. Is there anyone you can think of who could be doing this?"

Valerie shook her head. "No. Seriously, I spent most of my time alone."

Detective Cooper tilted his head. "Any ex-boyfriend's, ma'am?"

Val blinked and the Detective looked sheepish. "Sorry, just standard procedure."

Valerie cleared her throat. "Uhm... yeah. Just... one. But he's in Alaska. I mean Austria! Austria. He's been there since we left college."

The detectives wrote something down. No doubt a reminder to pry into her past later, Val thought. Her fingers fiddled in her lap as she glanced at the cops.

"But... I mean, this can't really be someone out to kill me, right? Like, it's not for real, right?"

Detective Parker pursed his lips. "Whether it's real or not, we shouldn't take any chances. We're going to arrange another safe house as soon as—"

"Again?" Val asked wide-eyed. Roman nodded slowly. "But, why? I mean, he just found the address for the last one! If this is real, this guy can clearly find me in any of your safe houses."

Roman's eyes fell closed. "Miss Quinn, I assure you that your safety is guaranteed—"

"Unless this safe house is all the way in Africa, I'm not going!"

Roman opened his eyes to find that she'd crossed her arms and turned her nose up. He shook his head. Did she think this was a joke?

"You can't stay here—"

Val spun around. "I can't stupidly walk into that creeps traps either! In case you've forgotten, Detective, I have a minor with me now, and even if I haven't carried out the paperwork that makes him mine to care for, his safety is still my responsibility!"

Roman c****d his jaw to the side, gathering all his strength to remain calm while dealing with her stubborn ass!

"You should also know that as long as he's with you, that kid's in danger too!" he told her. "His life is threatened too."

Val looked at him, her brown eyes filling with realization.

"That's alright, Miss Valerie."

Val looked up as Michael walked into the room, his gaze fixed on her as he clearly ignored the cops.

"Hey," she said to him as she struggled to compose herself. Damn, why hadn't she thought about that? What if the stalker hurt Michael? Poor kid. Finally finding someone to help him out in this cruel world, only for that person to become the target of some killer. Talk about rotten luck.

He walked over to her, shoving his hands into his pockets. "It's alright, Miss Val," he repeated with a shrug. "Out there, I nearly get killed every single night. At least if I nearly get killed this time, I'll have a roof over my head."

Val stared at him and swallowed the sadness she felt. "That's some messed up logic, Michael," she told him quietly.

Roman studied the kid, noting how he so obviously ignored him and Cooper.

"Where're you from, kid?" he asked and watched the boy's thin shoulder's tense.

Val's gaze went to Roman's. "He's—"

Roman raised a hand, cutting her off. "Let the boy answer."

Michael slowly turned to face Roman. Roman stared at him, getting hit with this sense of familiarity. He clenched his jaw on it, forcing it away. That was nothing more than his own wishful thinking.

"Huh?" said Michael.

Roman tilted his head. "I said, 'where're you from?'"

Michael swallowed and shrugged a shoulder. "Nowhere."

Roman's eyes narrowed, but he let it go, reminding himself to find out every single thing there was to know about the kid.

"What's your full name?"

Michael grew even tenser. The cop was trying to send him back, wasn't he? The thought of returning to the hell he'd run away from two years ago had Michael's insides knotting painfully. There was no way he could go back. He was willing to die first.

"Okay, that's enough," Valerie said when she noticed Michael's discomfort. Roman's eyes showed how irritated he was with her intrusion, but Val wasn't caring at the moment. He needed to stop harassing Michael. "Maybe this isn't the best time, Detective."

Roman sucked in his bottom lip and bit it in frustration, but forced himself to nod. "Alright, Miss Quinn. No problem. I have other things to figure out anyway, like where the hell I'm gonna put you two."

**********

Valerie couldn't have been more uncomfortable. She peeked at the back of Roman's head as he drove. She couldn't believe this. His place?! When did cops ever take victims to their homes for safety? Tsuh! It was unheard of, wasn't it?

Val swallowed and tightened her grip around the huge stuffed bear in her arms. She'd insisted on taking it, despite Roman and Michael's expressions of disgust. She didn't care what they thought. She'd had that bear since she was born. No one was going to separate them.

"Why're we going to his place?" Michael whispered beside her.

Val leaned over and shook her head. "I have no clue. But don't worry, he won't hurt you so don't be scared."

Michael eyed Roman in the rearview mirror. Roman met his gaze and Michael quickly turned his away, staring out of the window. "I'm not scared," he murmured to Val.

Valerie leaned over to look out of the window when the car came to a stop. Roman glanced back at them. "We're here.

He got out of the car and walked to the trunk. Val watched him with wide eyes before turning to Michael. "We get out, right? W-we're supposed to follow him."

Michael pursed his lips and nodded. "Yeah?"

Wearing identical expressions of confusion, they got out of the car to see Roman already putting their stuff on the pavement. Val looked up at the classy apartment building. All she saw was glass glittering in the mid-afternoon sunlight.

Damn. Wasn't it too flashy? The killer would see the glass from miles away.

Valerie bit her lip. But, it wasn't like glass spelled her name, she needed to chill and stop being paranoid.

"Miss Quinn!"

Val blinked. "Huh?"

Roman and Michael were staring at her from the entrance to his building. Shamefully realizing she'd been standing there and staring at the building with her mouth open, Val hurried over. When she reached them, Roman narrowed his grey eyes on her, eyeing the ridiculously large bear she held.

Silently, he turned on his heel and strode into the building, their bags in his hands.

They reached the elevator and stood waiting.

Val peeked at him self-consciously. He hadn't said a word about what happened between them. Had he forgotten? Damn, he'd have nothing less than f*****g dementia if he forgot something like that! Valerie huffed to herself.

The shiny steel doors swished open, just as Roman got a phone call. He stepped on the entrance of the huge elevator and indicated for Michael to put in their bags as he accepted his call.

"Parker."

"Yo, Detective," said Stark.

"What have you got?"

Stark sighed. "Man, you need to get down to HQ ASAP. Got the results in from KC. You have to see this. And that's not all. Detective Cooper checked on Miss Quinn's ex. Not looking good."

Roman looked at his watch. "s**t. I'm at the apartment. I need to get them settled in."

"Chase is there," said Daniel. "Yeah, his last check-in says he's at your apartment. He felt shitty about this morning, so he insisted that he guard Miss Quinn again. Wants to redeem himself, y'know?"

Roman bit his lip and glanced at Valerie with a frown. "Alright. I'll be right there."

Hanging up, he put the phone into his pocket and held up his keys to Valerie. She blinked at him.

"Hm?"

Roman sighed and picked up her hand, settling his keys in her palm. "Officer Chase Kingston from last night is up at my apartment. Head up immediately to level nineteen, apartment no. 75. He'll ensure your safety until I return." Both Michael and Valerie blinked at him blankly so Roman sighed and took his foot away from the elevator doors, gently pushing Val in.

"Wait," she said. "B-but—"

"And please," said Roman. "Don't try and ditch him this time. We know what happened last time you did."

He gave them a curt nod as the doors slid closed. Valerie blinked at the closed doors.

"Did he just leave us here?"

Michael stepped forward, carefully looking for number nineteen. "Yup!" he said as he pressed the button.

Val sighed. "This is crazy. Chase Kingston's the UFC fighter cop, right?"

Michael snorted. "Uhm, yeah. He is."

"Great. He watched us like a hawk. Take me back to my high school days, why don't you?"

Michael looked at her. "You had bodyguards in high school?"

She looked up at the numbers glowing gold as the lift ascended. "Yup. My dad thought it was necessary for some bullshit reason. Don't know why."

He blinked. "You're rich enough to have bodyguards?"

It was Valerie's turn to snort. "Was! I'm currently living as a disowned child until my father gets over his old man's temper tantrums. Until then, I remain strictly working class with a bit of money."

"Yeah," Michael glanced away from her. "I don't think that really makes sense, Miss Val."

"Neither do I, kid."

The elevator doors swished open and Val trudged out. She walked all the way to apartment no. 75.

The hulk at the door stood straighter.

"Miss Quinn. Officer Kingston at your service."

Val gave him a crooked smile. "Hey, Officer. Uh, about this morning, sorry we ditched you like that. I hope it didn't get you into trouble."

"Not at all, ma'am." He shook his buzz-cut head and nodded at her before heading to the elevator to help a struggling Michael.

Val glanced at the keys in her hand and with a shrug, went over to the apartment door.

When she'd unlocked it, she trudged in slowly, wide eyes staring at everything. Straight ahead from the short corridor, she saw long dark curtains covering large windows, blotting out any sunlight. The place seemed deadly silent, giving Val the chills. She hoped Michael and Officer Kingston would be along soon as she walked further into the eerily dark apartment.

When Valerie reached the living room and her gaze went to the open plan kitchen to her right, every single muscle in her body froze as she stared in horror.

The minute she saw it, her eyes saw nothing past it.

She saw nothing at all past the pair of booted feet on the kitchen platform.

Slowly, her gaze rose, taking in two strong legs that could easily kick her dead and stopping in horror on the hands hanging at the man's sides. And the bloody knife clutched in them.