There was another rape.
Just two blocks away this time. The item was no longer buried in the police blotter.
Then another. Front page news this time. A police source was quoted as saying that he feared a serial rapist was on the loose in Charlestown. Well, no kidding.
Maybe it wasn't the same guy who broke into her place, she tried to convince herself. But each time she read a description of the attack...the knife, the ski mask, she knew. The dreams had returned, and she saw those things all too clearly each night when she could no longer fight off sleep.
She stood at her desk, back to the door reading the front page. "Charlestown Rapist Strikes Again" the headline screamed. She was waiting for them to think up some name for the attacker: the Masked Madman or the Ski Mask Striker. Something clever and catchy to sell newspapers.
It was her way: to fight off her feelings with dark humor. She had a pocketful of witty quips at the ready anytime someone confronted her with the inevitable"Jordan, are you okay" She would toss of a one-liner, something more clever than her old standby"I'm fine."
She wasn't, of course, fine, but no one else need know that.
She had read the brief but lurid article through for the third time. She wasn't been aware that someone had entered her office until she felt something sharp pressing into the small of her back. And then a voice, unfamiliar, gravelly, with a southern twang:
"Don't move a muscle, little lady."
She froze for a nanosecond. Then her arm jerked backwards, landing her elbow into the intruder's gut. There was a pained yelp from behind her, and the sound of the intruder stumbling backwards.
She spun around. It was a man, doubled over in pain on her office loveseat. He had a bandana covering his face and a gun in one hand.
She lunged forward. He threw up his empty hand and pulled the bandana down with the other.
"Jordan, for the loved of God, put that thing down" It was Nigel. She stood mutely. He was lying there dressed as a cowboy, toy gun, bandana and all. She looked up at her raised hand, and only then realized that she had somehow grabbed the letter opener from her desk and had been about to bring it down to the center of Nigel's chest.
"Nigel..." It was all she could manage to saw. "What..."
"It's Halloween, Jordan! It was just my homage to the American West. Billy the Kid, Jesse James. You know"
She still stood, immobile, with the letter opener gripped in her hand.
"Come on, Jordan! Joke's over. Put it down"
She let the opener fall to the floor with a clatter.
"I'm sorry, Nigel. You scared me."
"Well, consider it repaid in spades"
Lily appeared in her doorway. She was wearing a white angora sweater and a pair of bunny ears. Halloween. Jordan had forgotten all about it.
"What's going on? Nigel, are you okay? What happened"
"Jordan here was about to perform a live autopsy on me with her letter opener."
Lily looked at her questioningly. Jordan shrugged numbly. "He scared me" she repeated.
"Well, come on, Wyatt Earp. That'll learn you." Lily helped Nigel up, his arm still wrapped protectively around his solar plexus.
Lily turned back to Jordan as she and Nigel limped from her office. "Are you okay, Jordan"
She was still standing there, staring into some distant space. There was no clever comeback. She nodded slowly. "I'm fine." And then she smiled a winning smile and winked.
"Sorry about that, Nige. I guess I forgot to tell you that this Halloween, I'm going as Letter-opener-wielding Crazy M.E." She managed a chuckle, but it hadn't come out as funny as she intended it.
She didn't notice the looks of concern that Nigel and Lily traded between themselves as she stooped to pick up her opener.
She saw them out with a cheery apology and goodbye, but shut the door as soon as they rounded the corner.
She sat at her desk for a long while, taking slow, deep breaths. Finally, she picked up the telephone and dialed. She wasn't afraid. She wasn't going to let this thing take over her life. She'd show them.
"Woody? It's Jordan. I was wondering...would you like to get together tomorrow? I thought maybe dancing. We had such a great time last time...Great! Pick me up at eight."
She closed her eyes and repeated silently:
I'm fine I'm fine I'm fine I'm fine I'm fine I'm fine.