Read my Lips

Chapter 15

Lying in bed with someone she'd been paid to care for wasn't something Eliana would ever even consider doing. But from the moment she arrived at Spencer Reid's door, there was nothing typical about this job. She clearly didn't set any sort of professional boundaries with him. And the same was true for his mother, who she'd become attached to almost immediately. Diana Reid was clearly suffering from an incurable mental illness. But that didn't mean she wasn't funny and sarcastic and as smart as her super genius son. Her brain just processed things in a different way from most people. And in Eliana's opinion, being different wasn't always a bad thing. Spencer's mom was amazingly well read. And when she wasn't stealing kittens from the local animal shelter, she was offering Eliana thoughtful advice and critiques on her upcoming doctoral dissertation that she really appreciated. After Eliana and Diana finished eating bowls of macaroni and cheese on the couch and watching the new episode of WestWorld together, it didn't seem unnatural at all for Eliana to climb into bed with her. In honor of their new best friend, T. Hiss Eliot, they lay back on their pillows and took turns reading to each other from The Waste Land.

The tiny gray and white kitten was curled up on Diana's chest, purring softly in contentment. Eliana went slightly past the chapter it was her turn to read, not stopping until she was sure Diana was asleep. Then Eliana eased herself out of bed, tucking the covers around both woman and cat. She left the book open on the nightstand and tiptoed out of the room. There wasn't a clock in Diana's room, leaving Eliana to guess the time. Lynn was due to arrive for his shift around 9pm. When Eliana glanced at the clock in the living room and saw it was a half hour past that time, she started to get worried. It wasn't unusual for Lynn to be fashionably late. But for him, that typically meant arriving at five or ten minutes past the hour. Not thirty.

Eliana had to search the apartment for her phone. She finally located it on top of the refrigerator in the kitchen. She set it there earlier when she was using it to play music while she cooked them macaroni. There was a message from Spencer, but Eliana clicked on Lynn's texts first. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that he'd messaged her to let her know he wasn't going to make it. He said he was having an emergency. And then Lynn sent her a picture of a cute guy with no shirt on. The image made her giggle. Emergency my ass, she thought. Eliana wasn't in a hurry to be anywhere else, so she didn't mind staying the night. She texted back, telling Lynn that she would give him until lunchtime the next day if he brought both her and Diana lunch from a local sandwich shop. All she got back from him was a thumbs up, which made her laugh harder since she assumed Lynn was too busy with his 'emergency' to type up an actual response.

Eliana checked Spencer's messages next. He texted around nine, looking to video chat with her like they planned earlier. And when she didn't respond, he had an amusing conversation with himself in her inbox about what she might be doing and where she was. He was worried about her taking the metro home and lamenting that he should have left his car there for her to use. Eliana shook her head and smiled as she replied, promising him she wasn't being murdered at the metro station, she was just busy reading T. S. Eliot with his mom. Once she sent the text, Eliana took her phone into Spencer's bedroom. She stripped her shirt off, revealing the white cotton bra she had on underneath. With her cleavage on display, Eliana took a few choice selfies. She held her arm straight out, making sure Spencer would be able to see his own bed in the background of the shots. Eliana picked the cutest one. And then she sent it, adding the caption wish you were here with a few hearts and kissy faces. He didn't respond right away, leaving her to assume that he'd fallen asleep waiting for her to call him back.

Since she wasn't planning on staying the night, Eliana didn't bring pajamas with her. She briefly considered sleeping naked. The idea of sleeping in Spencer's bed with nothing on was appealing. But she was technically on the clock. And if his mom had some sort of issue in the night, Eliana didn't want to be running around the place ass naked. There was a pile of Spencer's clothes strewn across the seat of a nearby chair. The stack looked to be either stuff he intended to send to the cleaner, or clothes that he wore that weren't dirty enough to wash but not clean enough to hang back up in his closet. Eliana plucked one of his button down shirts from the pile and lifted it up to smell it. Her intention was to sniff the fabric and make sure that the shirt wasn't too far past wash day before she put it on. But the shirt smelled so good, like green apple scented hand soap and Spencer's aftershave, that she found herself pressing the fabric to her nose with her eyes closed and really taking a hard inhale. The smell of him made the heat pool between her legs. Eliana lowered the shirt down, giggling at herself and the way she was acting. Like a total major creep. Like some kind of panty sniffer. She really had it bad. She couldn't remember ever getting turned on by the aroma of Riley's dirty laundry. She tried to avoid even touching it if she could help it. Especially his socks.

Eliana shucked off her clothes, setting them on top of the small pile that was already forming in the chair. She left her underpants on, pulling Spencer's shirt on over them and fastening enough of the buttons to keep it from flapping open. There was a significant height difference between them, making his shirt fit more like a short dress on her. The sleeves hung down past her fingertips. She rolled them up and plugged her phone into the charger on the bedside table. The bedsheets were cool and soft. And like the shirt she'd borrowed without permission, they smelled of soap and the woodsy musk of his aftershave. Eliana clicked off the bedside lamp and snuggled down under the sheets. The room was still partially illuminated by the tiny night light in the corner. And between the comforting glow of the tiny yellow bulb and the manly smells surrounding her, Eliana was asleep only moments after her head hit Spencer's pillow.

Eliana awoke with a start. She sat up, clutching her rapidly beating chest as she gasped for breath. She felt disoriented, unsure of how long she'd been asleep or where she was. Something woke her. And she gathered her swirling thoughts, trying to remember if she'd been having a bad dream. She couldn't see anything. But she could feel that her arms were prickled with gooseflesh. The hair on them was standing up. And she rubbed at her skin, trying to calm her nerves. Everything was fine. She was at Spencer's apartment. Lynn didn't show up for work. So she stayed the night. Despite her reassurances, something still didn't feel right. And Eliana started to worry that she'd been woken up by something Spencer's mom was doing. Diana was a sweet person. But she was also schizophrenic. And Eliana hadn't been around long enough to be able to predict what she might do if she woke up feeling scared or confused.

"Diana?," Eliana said, calling the woman's name as softly as she could. "Are you up?"

There was no answer. So Eliana pushed the covers back and swung her legs over the edge of the bed. She blinked her eyes. It was so dark in the room that she couldn't even see her hand in front of her face. The nightlight, she thought. The bulb must have burnt out. That's why she woke up feeling so disoriented. Eliana felt along the side of the bed until she reached the edge of the bedside table. Then she skimmed the top, feeling for her phone. She could use the flashlight or even the glow of the screen to give off enough light that she wouldn't be fumbling around in the dark. The bedside table was empty. Eliana felt across it again, this time moving more slowly. But her phone still wasn't there. She was forever losing her phone. But she was sure she left it on the table. Because she sent Spencer that sexy selfie before she went to sleep. Eliana felt down the side of the table, rubbing her hand along the wall until she found the outlet. The charger was still plugged in. And she followed it like a tiny lead rope, expecting to find her phone at the end of it. When Eliana reached the end of the charger cord and did not find her phone attached to it, she felt a surge of actual fear. Someone had been in the room, standing right next to her while she slept. Maybe that's what woke her up.

"Diana?" Eliana called out again, this time slightly louder. "Are you okay?"

Eliana cursed under her breath as she rose to her feet. She felt along the edge of the bed, following it to keep from stumbling around in the dark. But when she reached the other side, she had to let go and step away. Eliana stuck one arm out in front of her, moving it back and forth as she shuffled forward in the direction she hoped the door was. Her arm swung to her left, hitting the doorframe. The door was open. And she was one hundred percent sure that she shut it before she went to sleep. She wouldn't have changed her clothes and taken half dressed selfies with the door open. Not with Spencer's mom there.

"What in hell," Eliana grumbled. Not only was the room dark, the entire apartment was pitch black. She was starting to wonder if the power had gone out completely. Because she knew she put night lights in every room. Eliana bought and installed them the same day she locked up all the knives and the medication in the cabinet under the kitchen sink.

A loud crash in the kitchen broke the silence. Eliana jumped at the sound of breaking glass. She took a quick step back, knocking her funny bone against the door frame. Wincing, Eliana held her elbow with her other hand as she moved towards the noise. Spencer's shirt was hanging loose around her body, reminding her that she was barefoot and wearing nothing under it besides a skimpy pair of white cotton panties. She felt vulnerable. And she was scared she might step on glass and cut her feet. But she was also afraid that Spencer's mom was cutting herself up with glass. Eliana was not only responsible for the woman because it was her job. But she also cared for Spencer and his mom on a personal level. She would be devastated if anything bad happened to her.

"I think the power is out," she said, trying to keep the panic out of her voice. "There's no reason to be scared…" She took another step forward before she called Spencer's mom by name again. "Diana. It's me, Eliana. Are you in the kitchen?"

"I'm not Diana."

The voice came from the kitchen. It was low and deep. The voice of a man. And not one she knew. Eliana stood still, engulfed in the darkness and frozen in terror. The kitchen light clicked on. The sudden brightness momentarily blinded her. She blinked her eyes against it. And then she saw him. Or it. Because Eliana was quite sure it was a monster standing in Spencer's kitchen rather than a man. His face was long and white, with two horns sticking up on either side of the forehead. His mouth was twisted up into an unnaturally wide smile. Eliana took a step back. She wasn't dreaming. This wasn't a nightmare. The thing in the kitchen wasn't a monster. It was a man in a white devil mask. And that scared her even more. Eliana took one more look at him. And then she let out a bloodcurdling scream.

The lights snapped off. And Eliana was plunged back into darkness. After the blindingly bright light of the kitchen, it seemed even darker in the apartment. And she realized that this man must have blacked out all the windows. Because there wasn't even a sliver of light coming in from the city outside. Eliana lurched in the direction she hoped would lead her to Diana's room. Her first instinct was to barricade them both inside and call the police. It wasn't the best plan, given that she didn't have any idea where her phone was. But it was all she could come up with at the moment. Eliana rushed across the room. She clipped her shins on the coffee table, yelping as the sudden sharp pain made little white dots appear in the blackness.

Eliana screamed again. But this time her cry for help was muffled by a gloved hand. She swung her elbow, connecting hard enough with her attacker that he momentarily released her. Stumbling forward, Eliana swung her arms wildly in front of her. She was dizzy by the time she hit the bookshelf. Her lips tasted sickly sweet. And Eliana realized that it wasn't a glove that the man pressed down over her mouth and nose. It was a rag soaked in something that would knock her out. She clawed at the books, pulling them from the shelf in an attempt to keep her knees from buckling under her. Eliana fell to the floor and scrambled forward. Her plan of locking herself in the other bedroom was forgotten. She headed towards the apartment door, intent on screaming out into the hallway for help. They were in downtown DC. It was unlikely that anyone would actually come to her aid. But if Eliana knew if she screamed loud enough, Spencer's neighbors would probably call the cops on her.

Her legs were so heavy, she had to use the wall as leverage to get herself back on her feet. Eliana stumbled forward with her hands out, hoping to connect with the wall or the door with her palms rather than her face. Her already bruised legs bumped into the couch. And she stopped, confused for a moment as to why the couch was pulled across the room and positioned in front of the door. Then she realized the man in the devil mask must have moved it to prevent her escape. She'd never be able to push it out of the way, not with how limp and shaky her body already felt. He was going to get her. And there was nothing she could do to stop him.

The man grabbed her again. This time his arm went around Eliana's slim waist, anchoring her in place as he forced the damp rag down over her nose and mouth. Her legs shot out, swinging and pedaling in the air as he drug her backwards. She could feel herself starting to lose consciousness. And she fought back against the sensation, willing herself to stay awake and fight.

Suddenly, the living room light flashed on. There was a muffled thunk. And then Eliana felt herself hit the floor. Her limp body slapped against the wood and she was sure she felt something in her wrist crack. She looked up, her eyes widening in horror. Spencer's mother was holding a large glass candle in her hand. The same one she used to thump the man over his head. And it looked like she got him good too. There was blood running down over his ear.

The man turned on his attacker, blocking the next blow and backhanding Diana across the face before wrenched the candle from her hand. Eliana could hear someone screaming when he brought the candle down over Diana's head. It wasn't until her voice caught in her throat that she realized it was her. Diana slumped to the floor. And Eliana prayed the woman was unconscious and not dead. Please don't let her die, she thought. Her bare feet slipped against the floor, unable to catch enough traction to push herself backwards. Tears were blurring her vision. But she still saw the gun when the man pulled it out from under his black leather jacket. He pointed it at her. She assumed he only meant to threaten her with the weapon. If he wanted to kill her, he could have easily shot her while she was asleep in Spencer's bed. But then he pulled the trigger and shot her in the chest.