STALKING SAPPHIRE (Sapphire Dubois: Book 1)

Chapter 1

The forest lay still beneath the dark California evening sky.

The wind blew through the leaves, creating music and eventually a song, joined by the drip-drop of the rain. For many it was a great night to stay inside, cuddle up in front of the TV, and spend quality time with loved ones.

A perfect night to kill, Richard Martin thought as he watched the young woman in front of him run for her dear little life. A perfect night indeed.

Her dark hair glimmered in the moon’s light, illuminating the path leading him toward her. She was in high heels and ran very poorly over the patches of moss and dead twigs. He didn’t even have to pace; it was actually more of a brisk walk. Plus, he liked giving them some space; it usually seemed to give them a sense of hope, which in turn led to an even more surprised expression the moment before the big event. The Grand Finale.

He gazed at the young woman’s short skirt and her exposed thighs that he would soon cut open, precisely twenty seconds after he slit her throat. That was always a need. A need so deeply imbedded in Richard's mind that it seldom left him much choice. He had to do it.

Slit the throat first.

Oddly enough, he related it to what had seemed like an insignificant event from his childhood in the Park Avenue apartment where his nanny had fed him gummy bears while they watched Sesame Street. She told him only once, but it had lasted a lifetime.

“Bite the heads off first,” she said. “That way they don’t suffer as much.”

He had loved her as if she were his own mother, and since his actual mother was off somewhere getting her nails done or gossiping with the girls at the country club, it had worked out perfectly.

Seeing the two together, most would assume the nanny was his older, slightly slutty-looking sister, but to Richard she was his mommy. That was, until she met a man, got married, and had a son of her own. She left Richard behind in an instant.

The thought of tracking her down crossed his mind. It would have been the grandest finale of them all. A nice bookend.

Killing the nanny would have been great and rewarding on so many levels, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to go through with it. For some reason, random was his cup of tea.

It wasn’t like he minded killing people he knew—he would have loved to—but it just didn’t work. Richard tried killing his own secretary at Smart Tec, but as they lay in bed and he reached for his knife to slice her delicate neck, Richard froze. If he killed her, who was going to do all his side work the next day? Who was supposed to file away his paperwork using the blue sticky notes like she did? It had taken him three months to train her, and he certainly didn’t have the energy to go through stacks of resumes, interviews, or even interns to find the right fit. The thought turned him off so badly, his penis went soft.

“What’s wrong?” she had asked.

“You’re too fat,” he had answered and got off her, disappointed in himself and his impotence.

Ironically, she quit the next day. Apparently, being called fat was frowned upon by the mentally sane. He tried another time with the local grocery sacker but all in vain. If he killed her, who would sack his groceries? The pimply 15-year-old boy with the braces and sweaty palms? Who knew where those hands had been? Richard had been 15 once and he knew exactly where those hands had been, and he did not want them touching his fresh produce. Therefore, the girl lived to see another day.

He sped up; his victim was getting too far away for his liking.

He studied her as she began to wheeze, out of breath, straining more and more.