Wendy was back from vacation so Greg was put on desk duty for an additional week per his physical therapist. Greg preferred the DNA Lab to going through tons of paperwork and old case files.
Catherine had the evening off. They tried to get the same shifts off, but then they thought people would start becoming suspicious about them always being off together, so they did not make the request.
Greg had been going over to Catherine's after work since she was still home alone. Her daughter was coming back in two days.
He looked at the clock on the wall. It was already 4 am. Only a couple more hours and he could go. The one good thing about desk duty was he never had to pull overtime.
Catherine had gone to a midnight movie showing at a theater close to her. It was something she did often since she was not able to sleep at night. She finally pulled into her driveway around 3:45 am. She opened the garage door and parked the car inside. Her garage was full of boxes on one side, stuff from her ex-husband that she never got rid of.
She yawned as she walked up to her door in the garage. She thought she heard something move. She spun around fast only to see a large man for a brief second before being knocked out.
Her head was pounding when she woke up. She had not opened her eyes yet. She knew something was wrong, very wrong. She knew she was lying down and her arms were tied up over her head. Her heart thumped with the nerves she had inside her. She had a terrible feeling of who it was she saw so briefly before she was knocked out. She was afraid to open her eyes and see him, but she knew she could not hide from him forever.
She slowly cracked open her eyes and saw him pacing at the foot of the bed. She now realized she was on her bed and practically naked, tied up to it. He had stripped her down to only her underwear. The panic was rising inside her. She turned her head ever so slightly just to see the clock besides her to figure out how long she was out. It was already 6 am.
"So you've finally woken up, Catherine Willows. I was starting to think I knocked you on your head too hard and that would have defeated my purpose, partially." Tyler Renning walked over to her bedside and sat down on the edge of the bed next to her. He pulled out from behind him a large knife. He gave her a wicked grin, licking his lips as his eyes traveled over her body.
Catherine shivered and tried to pivot her body away from him on the bed.
"Oh no, no, no, my dear, there is no escape for you. You are my little toy until the little punk arrives."
Her eyes opened wide, realizing he meant Greg.
Tyler saw her wordless reaction and chuckled. "You are probably wondering how I know he will come. Well, I used your cell phone and sent him a text message, telling him you were eagerly awaiting his arrival. I have been watching you two from afar for the past few days, planning when to make my move. I cannot believe you two are actually together. He is a bit young for you. I think I would be more of your style." He looked at her, then at his knife, then back to her. She swallowed, scared of what was going through his sick, twisted mind.
"What do you want from me," she finally asked him.
"Wow, she does speak. So unlike dear Greg, who could not keep his smart-ass mouth shut. Anyway, you asked a question I am willing to answer, just so you can understand your fate."
"The plan is," he took his knife and placed it on her thigh and then slightly puncturing her skin, drew it down her leg. She cringed trying not cry out in pain.
"The plan is to cause a little bit of damage to this perfect skin of yours and then wait until the little punk arrives and overtake him. Then I can lay you two side by side, like Jessie and I did when we were working as a team. I will do my work and then her work, since you all killed her in jail."
"We already told you she died from her constant drug use."
He just shook his head, placing his knife on her left arm now. "NO! You all just want me to believe that, but I know you all killed her. Now I will take you and Greg down for her death and my imprisonment." He gave her another evil smile then drew blood down her arm. She whimpered from the pain she was now in. He was not cutting deep like he had with Greg but it was still painful nonetheless.
"I think that is enough for now. The real fun will begin once your boy toy gets here. And now I can't have you screaming when he comes here, so," he grabbed a roll of duct tape he had on the nightstand, which he had used to bound her hands to her bed post.
Catherine had to stall him or distract him somehow, hoping he would not hear when Greg came in. "How did you manage to get into your other victims motel rooms?"
He grunted. "I guess I can tell you, since you will be dead soon enough anyway. We followed them back from the bars and pool halls to their rooms. We waited a little while and then Jessie went to their door, knocking frantically, acting like she was running away from an attacker. Once inside she would needle them to knock them out and then let me inside and we would start our fun. She used to be a nurse, you know. She was hot as hell in her scrubs when she wore them. I met her when I had to go to the hospital for a bad cut I had. We kept in touch, but then she was jailed for stabbing her crappy ex-boyfriend. When she got back out we got hot and heavy. But she still had connections at the hospital and she managed to get the sedative we used, whatever the hell the name was. She was always better with the medical aspects of things. She knew just where to cut without killing a person right away. Damn she was good." He looked distant for a few seconds.
"We never did find where you hid all your stuff, where was it?"
"We kept it at an old abandoned shed out on Shelby Rd, way far away from where we did our pickings and work. We had discovered it on a hiking trip."
"Why such the mess in the rooms but yet you cleaned up with the bleach in the bathrooms?"
Tyler was getting mad. "You know, you might be just as bad as that little punk Greg Sanders with all your questions. This is the last one I will answer only because you are such a pretty thing. Again Jessie was the clean freak, might have been because of her work in the hospital, but she was always like that…even where we stayed. She had to have things in order. The bloody walls? I love blood, how it looks, the way it smells." He leaned in closer to her. "The way it tastes. Now no more." He ripped off a piece of duct tape and put it over her mouth. "There! Now you can try to scream but no one will hear you, not your precious Greg when he comes in. Now I will take my place and wait for him to come." He flashed a wicked grin and closed the bedroom door almost completely, standing behind it.
Catherine's mind raced with fear and worry. She had no way of freeing herself and she had no way of warning Greg of the trap he was going to walk into. She looked at Tyler, who stood behind the door, twirling his knife in his hands. He was going to attack Greg immediately with the knife. She could not bare the thought of Greg suffering again.
Greg drove to Catherine's house eager to see her since he received her text message. He knew she hated being alone for long, since neither her mom nor Lindsay was home.
He parked his car in the driveway and went up to the front door. He used his key to let himself in. He said her name quietly as he closed the door behind him. He knew she might be asleep so he did not want to wake her up unnecessarily if he did not have to. He would just sneak into her room like he had a few times before.
She was not in the living room, so he figured she was in her bedroom. He walked up to her door and partially opened it. His eyes opened wide in alarm when he caught sight of her bound, half naked and bleeding. He caught her eyes looking behind the door. His mind and reflexes raced. He slammed against the door, pushing it back into Tyler who stood behind it.
Greg knew he made the right move when he saw a large knife fall onto the ground from behind the door. It fell near the foot of the bed. Greg went to slam against the door again but felt resistance this time. Greg decided to go for the weapon on the floor instead before Tyler got it first.
He ran from where he stood by the door and dove down to grab at the knife. He had his fingers on it when he felt a kick to his ribs, which caused him to lose his grip on it. He fell onto his back, clutching his side. He looked up and saw Ty sneering over him. Greg frantically looked for the knife again. It had slid under the bed. He tried reaching for it again.
Ty pounced down on Greg and punched him in the face. Greg felt his head spin a bit, but he continued trying to reach for the knife.
"You are nothing but a pain in my ass, boy. I am going to finish off you and then your girlfriend once and for all." Ty put his left hand around Greg's throat, attempting to choke him.
Greg took his right hand and tried to cut off Tyler's hold on his neck. He was not paying attention to what Tyler was doing with his other hand. Suddenly he felt a fierce sharp pain digging in his side. He just gasped as the pain seared through him.
The pleased look on Ty's face infuriated him. "Looks like I'm going to get the best of you this time around, punk."
Greg could feel Ty twisting the smaller knife into him. He tried to keep his focus, although a bit strained now from the pain he was in. Greg's fingers still fought for the large knife.
Greg gasped again as Ty pulled the small Swiss army knife out of his side. Ty snickered evilly. Greg lost his concentration on the knife again due to his finding it more difficult to breathe.
Ty lifted his head and looked at Catherine. She had tears in her eyes; she could not see what was going on since they were down on the ground at the foot of her bed, but seeing Ty only made her worry more.
"Sorry doll, not going quite as I planned but I will be with you as soon as I am done with your boyfriend here, which will be very soon."
Catherine had not heard Greg say or make any kind of noise. She wondered if he was even still alive. She tried screaming for him through the duct tape, but still she did not see him or hear him.
Ty turned his attention back to Greg, leaning down over him. "Your end is very near. Do you want to beg now for your life before I make things worse? Or will you beg for a quick death?" He laughed wickedly at Greg then turned his head towards Catherine again.
"I'll make you the same offer too, sweetheart, as soon as I am done here."
Catherine now feared the worst. He was going to kill Greg and then she was next. She did not know how they could get out of this alive.
A/N-I needed to get some excitement of the tense kind back in this story before it is all over. Thanks Haldir's Heart and Soul, GoldenLocks, tricks-meuler, and all my other loyal readers and reviews. I am glad you are enjoying the story.