The Death Thief

Dame

"W-what?" I mumbled, biting the tip of my thumb as I recalled the sweet, kind doctor who had been so gentle with my wounds and had shared such friendly smiles with me. How could he be a murderer?

"Sorry, he was compelled to kill me, maybe," added Calista with a roll of her eyes. "I suppose I shouldn't be flinging allegations around too haphazardly, but he effectively killed me by ratting me out." A sneer curled her lip as she dropped the bottom of her shirt and snapped a single strap of her overalls so she didn't have to hold it up around her waist.

"For all we know he didn't actually murder you," said Everett in a low voice. "If he damaged something in there it may have been purely because you two were performing surgery, where? In your rooms at the hotel?"

"I was desperate," said Calista with a heated hiss. "Antonov knew he couldn't just take me, I had to agree to it and time was running out. He didn't like Scarlett putting his baby factory on hold and he didn't know when another young and viable female would be called to town. So his seductions went from charming to aggressive to threatening. He told me exactly what he was going to do to send me whimpering into his arms once the contract's protections were gone. I'm a strong woman, but I am also a reasonable one."

She then paused, turning her snarling lips and penetrating eyes on Kyra, who returned the vicious glare with a slight cock of her head and one barely raised eye brow. "Since Matias's break with Bernadette seems to be at a standstill, I didn't know how long I'd have to survive on the streets on my own. I would need endurance and that would require removing whatever hurdles I could while I could. Antonov wouldn't dog me if he knew I was infertile. I feared retribution, of course, for leading him on, but this was the last card I had to play. I hoped his flighty nature would simply lead him to boredom if he knew I was barren. Of course, now it really isn't an issue one way or another."

"All right," sighed Everett, who drew out the chair and once again motioned for Calista to sit down. "Please have a seat."

"I told you I'd prefer..."

"I think you are misinterpreting my politeness as a request. It is not. Now please have a seat."

This time Calista didn't argue. With a stiff lip and a tight jaw, she took her place on the chair.

"Now," he continued, "tell me what you should have told me the night you died. What do you remember last?"

"It's true that I don't remember the moments before my death," she said with a sigh. She crossed her arms, her eyes darting to and fro while she sorted through her memories. "I'd say a good hour, maybe more, is missing. It's a long walk out to my secret meeting spot with Matias. We needed to be deep in the forest to have some hope of keeping our rendezvouses quiet, but I also don't know how long I stood there since Matias never did show. I still don't know why that is." She then turned to look Everett square in the eye. "That's not a lie by the way."

"I believe you," he replied with a gracious gesture of his hands. "Now continue."

"How far back do you want me to go? I spent most of the day at the hotel. I couldn't eat all day because he was going to be knocking me out with anesthesia and I needed an empty stomach."

"He could do that?" asked Everett, who had taken a seat on the corner of the table. "Doesn't that require some special equipment?"

"He said he borrowed the machine from one of the doctors, he didn't tell me which, probably because he knew they'd get in trouble should I ever rat him out. Of course he might not have known either considering none of the doctors in town would lend their equipment to a human. Bernadette surely paid them off." She shook her head, placing a palm against her forehead as a little cry squeaked out of her throat. "I should have questioned it. I would have, I know I would have. Had I not been so desperate."