You Can't Run by Hope Davis (best way to read books .txt) 📗

He stood in the hallway and looked around, this was the only part of his plan he hadn’t perfected yet. He hoped what he had thought of would work. He briefly glanced down the stairwell, which was in the center of the building, to see if there was any busy bodies loitering. There didn’t appear to be any. He smiled. This was much more exhilarating than normal.

He heard footsteps coming up the stairs, this was going perfectly.

He stayed by the opposite wall until he heard her feet reach the third level. Then he began to amble towards the staircase.

He stepped to the side to let her pass, and she smiled at him.

As she looked back in the direction of his door he made his move. Grabbing her from behind and putting the rag over her mouth before she could scream, she started kicking violently and he held her securely while she squirmed, careful not to be too close to any of the walls or doors. He didn’t want her foot to make contact and alert anyone to what was happening under their noses.

It seemed to take forever for her to fall unconscious, his adrenaline racing at the possibility of being caught. As soon as she was completely still dead weight in his arms, he dragged her to his door and brought her inside. He set her on the table he had set up, went back to close the door and slid the lock into place. He closed the curtains then turned to Alia’s unconscious form. He would have to be quick.

He pulled out the solutions he would be testing this time and expertly filled up a few syringes. He injected them into her calf muscles one after another.

Then, his active participation done, he sat back in his chair to observe, waiting to see if anything happened. He was worried that she might wake up, so he had taken extra precautions to tie her down, but chances were, even if she woke up, she wouldn’t be able to do anything anyway.

With a smirk he pulled up the notes app on his phone and began typing the patient’s condition and his observations.

He was such a brilliant scientist.

CHAPTER 17

NAYA

She was driving to work the next morning when the call came in. She answered over her car’s Bluetooth.

“Detective Largusa.”

“He got another one.”

Naya groaned and felt herself press the gas pedal a little harder. “Send me the details, I’ll meet you there.”

“Alia Larson, she lives on the third floor of a building on Blake Street. Her boyfriend called it in. I guess she is really religious about her running routine and he says that she was due back at eight, and it’s now nine.”

Naya thought it was a bit premature, but she also knew that this fit  their guy’s M.O. A text with an address came through and she clicked it, it opened in her GPS and she pushed the button to redirect.

“I know, it’s too soon to be sure she was taken, she’s only an hour late, but he was adamant that she was never late. And he said he keeps trying to call her phone and it’s been shut off. He says she never shuts it off while she runs because she listens to music and tracks her run with it.”

“And there’s no possibility her phone could have died?” Naya took the next corner a little too fast, but she recovered and pressed the gas even harder, her department issued light flickering on her dash.

“He says she was religious about charging it and that it, and I quote, ‘straight up wouldn’t happen’. I’m telling you; this kid gave 9-1-1 a rough time.”

“How old?” Naya turned onto Blake Street, heading towards the tall building up ahead, which she felt instinctively was the one Atlas was talking about.

“Twenty-five, her and the boyfriend have been living together for two years, says they were about to get married.”

“Damn. This guy is all over the map. The only thing we know is that he likes female runners.”

“There has to be a reason…” Atlas thought aloud. “I see your car. Park on the curb next to me.” She saw him waving, she pulled towards him and parked where she was told.

“Wow, this is a fancy building.” She said as they walked into the lobby.

He nodded. “I think it’s one of the few affordable high rises in the downtown area. Mostly because it’s so old and the neighborhood, normally these kinds of apartments cost thousands a month.”

The door had been unlocked for them but there had been a security pad, and Naya surveyed the lobby she noticed there were also security cameras in plain sight, though the lobby itself seemed unmanned. She assumed the security cameras were probably monitored off-site by a contract company or that the building was owned by another company that monitored all their properties from a central location. Naya pointed them out to Atlas.

He nodded. “I’ll request the tapes.”

Behind the lobby was a hall with a single freight elevator, and behind it was an open doorway to a staircase that went up to the residences. Atlas pressed the button for the elevator while Naya walked over to the bottom of the stairs and looked up, she noticed that the stairs circled and stopped at every floor, she could see all the way up to the top.

“Damn. This elevator is taking forever.” Atlas complained.

Naya looked around and noticed the lack of an additional elevator. “One elevator for an entire building?”

“Yeah, but these old buildings usually only have one elevator shaft since elevators were expensive to build at the time.”

“What floor?” She placed her foot on the bottom step.

Atlas looked down at his phone. “Third.”

“No problem.” She started up the stairs and heard Atlas follow her lead shortly thereafter. They reached