Chapter 15
A thousand thoughts were running through Stellas head, as she looked at the gun in her hand.
What did this mean?
A part of her wanted to believe that this was completely unrelated to Robert Norman but she couldn't. She didn't believe in coincidences like this.
Did this mean Tomas killed Robert Norman? What if he did?
Stella shook her head trying to get her thoughts in order.
What if he killed him because he killed Aletheia? Could she really blame him for that?
But why did he lie? Robert Norman had died around the same time Aletheia did, shouldn't he have been out of the city?
"Stella? Are you in there?", asked Tomas stepping in the bathroom.
Damn it Stella, just because you just wanted to clean your hands, couldn't you have locked the bathroom door.
He looked at the gun in her hands, but she couldn't read the expression that came over his face. Guilt? Hurt? Anger? Satisfaction?
"Did you kill him?", Stella didn't know if it was a good idea to just ask him that, but she didn't know what else to do.
"What if I did?", the calm voice alarmed Stella. It didn't show any emotions at all, she had expected anger, but not this. His voice sounded like he was taunting her playing games with her.
"Why? Why did you kill him?", Stella looked around the room looking for a phone or anything else useful.
Should she be scared of him? She reached for her weapon, just in case, but her holster was empty. She had left it at the station after storming out of the interrogation room.
Tomas looked at her as if studying something under a microscope.
"He deserved it", he shrugged, "and just so you know, the gun's not loaded."
"Because he killed Aletheia?", asked Stella, she was beginning to feel uneasy and scared.
Tomas looked at her as if she was joking, before he burst out laughing.
"That wimp? He couldn't have hurt a fly, wasn't even able to throw one punch at me."
Panic was rising in Stella but she tried not to let it show, she tried to think of a way out of this situation, but nothing came to mind.
She was trapped in the bathroom, with Tomas blocking the only way out.
"Did you kill her?", Stella was dreading the answer to that question but she had to know.
"She was looking so scared, a bit like you. She was begging me to let her go. So pathetic!", he spat. "Please, please don't hurt me anymore." He mimicked in a high-pitched voice.
Stella mind was working on overdrive, how could he have done it?
Mixed with her fear another emotion was beginning to build inside of her, anger, anger towards Tomas and towards herself.
How could she have been so stupid? She was a trained CSI, why hadn't she noticed anything? God she had actually felt sorry for him!
He looked at her with an amused look on his face.
"Come on don't look at me that way! You must have hated her! While she had loving parents you had nothing, you would have done the same! You know she was cheating on me with that stupid colleague of hers, I saw them!"
"You are crazy", spat Stella. She couldn't listen to him anymore.
He had killed her sister! The moment his fist connected with her face, knocking her down, she realised she shouldn't have made him angry.
"You know that's exactly what she said! Stupid lying bitches, you are all the same!", He lashed out kicking Stella in the stomach, as she tried to get up.
The second kick connected with her ribs and knocked all the air out of her lungs.
Get up Stella! You have to get up!
Stella fought back the pain and struggled to get up, just to get knocked down again.
She tried to catch her breath when she spotted the gun lying on the floor.
Tomas didn't seem to notice her reaching for it.
He went to kick her again, but this time Stella was prepared, before his foot collided with her she used all her strength and threw the gun at him.
Her throw wasn't very strong considering her position, but it was enough to buy her the time she needed to get up and push her way past Tomas and out into the hall.
She tried to remember the layout of the apartment, turning she headed for what she hoped was the front door, but found it locked.
She ran into the living room searching for some kind weapon, but came up empty, she didn't fancy fighting against a man twice her strength with dead flowers from a broken vase. She went to the phone she had seen earlier that night.
Her hands were shaking when she typed in Mac's number. But before he could pick up, Stella felt herself being lifted up of the floor.
She tried to struggle against the grip, but Tomas was stronger than her. She tried to kick him, but that made him even angrier and he shoved her into the wall.
When he let her go Stella slid down the wall, she tried to stand up but she felt dizzy and her sight became blurry.
You can't give up now Stella, he will kill you!
She opened her eyes and tried to concentrate to clear her vision, but as she focused on what Tomas held in his hand she wish she hadn't.
Tomas had taken out a pocketknife. Stella could see that the blade was covered in dried blood.
She was going to die just like her sister, killed by the same knife.
Come on stop being this weak! Fight! The voice in Stella's head screamed at her.
She tried gathering her strength and used her legs to knock Tomas's feet from under him.
Unfortunately, he fell on top of her. She screamed when she felt the knife piercing her shoulder.
Tomas got to his feet again pulling the blade out of her shoulder. Reaching down he grabbed her jacket hauling her to her feet.
Stella could feel her warm blood covering her shoulder and arm, when he pulled her up.
"You bitch! I will kill you!", Stella had never been this scared in her life.
The same eyes she had found beautiful when she first met him, now terrified her. She had no doubt in her mind that he would do exactly as he said.
He threw her on the floor, where minutes earlier she had been picking up the pieces of the vase.
This is going to be a crime scene again...
She felt pain shooting through her wrist when she tried to stop her fall. She wanted to use her hand, but she couldn't move it.
She used her other hand to pick up one of the pieces of the vase, she knew she had just one chance, one chance or it would her body next to her sister in the morgue tomorrow.
Tomas was bending down towards her with his knife in his hand.
She tried remembering the models Sheldon had in the morgue to demonstrate cause of death.
This is it Stella, now or never...
Stella shot up as fast as she could and caught Tomas by surprise as she pushed the piece of vase into his neck.
He screamed pressing his hand to his neck to stop the blood from gushing out of the wound.
Stella saw the knife tumble out of numb fingers, saw his blood mixing with her own on the floor.
It was over. Everything was over.
She felt cold and the pain she was in was almost unbearable. She knew she should fight off the unconsciousness, but she couldn't.
She tried to concentrate on staying awake but her thoughts kept wandering. She thought of Mac and what he would think finding her body.
Stella didn't want to imagine what that would do to him.
She wasn't sure were the two of them stood now, but she had now doubt in her mind that he couldn't deal with the death of someone close to him again.
In her mind she saw him sitting in his office again like earlier that week, when he had thought he died, how horrible he looked.
She remembered a quote she had heard some time ago.
"The bitterest tears shed over graves are for words left unsaid and for deeds left undone. She had always thought this to be true."
But was it?
A part of her couldn't help but wonder if it had been better she never told him about her feelings for him.
Then at least she would know where she stood and maybe it would be easier for him to move on, when she died.
Maybe...
Then she thoughts wandered to Lilian.
Poor little Lilian, she was probably sleeping in the next room somewhere.
What was going to happen to her? Her mother dead, murdered by her father and her father killed by her aunt. What a screwed up family, if we can even call us that!
Her breathing was low and she felt weaker as more blood left her body.
She's going to grow up not knowing about her family, like me. Maybe it's better she'll never know the truth.
She did her best to make the blood flow stop, but with her injured wrist it was nearly impossible.
The truth isn't always how you would like it to be. It's easier to imagine some fairytale story instead of knowing the truth, where husbands kill their wives and parents give there children away for no apparent reason.
With every second that passed Stella had to fight harder not fade into unconsciousness.
She could hear the sirens somewhere far away.
Stay awake, Stella! Help is on the way! You can't give up!
Maybe Mac had gotten her call after all. She looked at her brother in law. Then her gaze fell on the family picture on the wall behind him.
The picture had been taken in the backyard. Aletheia was sitting on the garden bench with Lilian in her lap, the sun was glistening in her eyes and hair, she was smiling happily.
Her husband stood behind her, his arms wrapped around her with a proud smile on his face as if to say.
'Look at them, I'm the happiest person on earth with them as my family.'
She managed a weak sarcastic smile
Family isn't always what it's supposed to be, is it Lilian?
In that moment she lost her battle, she was just too weak. Her eyes closed and she finally gave in to the dark.
I hope you have a better life than this.
The End
AN: Ok this is it, the end. I know I'm evil for ending the story this way, but if you like I would write a sequel. I have a few ideas spooking through my mind.
So well, please tell me what you think about the story, what you didn't like or what I could do better.
Thanks to all of you who wrote reviews, you are the reason that I was able to finish the story.
Special thanks to my awesome betareader fruitbat00, I really don't know what I would do without you.