STALKING SAPPHIRE (Sapphire Dubois: Book 1)

Chapter 10

When he woke up, he was dangling upside down above a gigantic meat grinder. He looked from side to side, his face as red as a tomato from all the blood that had gathered in his head.

It hadn’t been easy, but with some elbow grease and a wheelbarrow, Sapphire had gotten him up there. She had improvised and done it well. But she decided to save her pat on the back for later. She had only just started.

Sapphire stood a few feet away, head level to him on a metal ramp, holding the controller to the meat grinder in her hand.

“Hi,” she said and tilted her head along with his.

“What the fuck!?”

“Yes, why don’t you take a few extra seconds to deal with your situation,” Sapphire suggested. “Let me start by thanking you for the wonderful gift.”

Sapphire hoped she sounded more confident than she felt. Truth was she was terrified. Terrified she would find out what she already knew. Something so obvious, it was almost embarrassing.

“What the hell are you talking about!?” He swirled, spun, and thrashed his body around, trying to get out of the chains she had wrapped him in.

“Riiiight.” Sapphire pushed the big green button on the remote and started the meat grinder below him. Its sound was loud, overpowering, and had the perfect intimidation factor. George Rath looked down in sheer panic and Sapphire smiled at him. “Where is she? Is she alive?”

“Who?”

Sapphire demonstrated her index finger for him, and then pushed the arrow down button. The chain began lowering him.

“Stop! Stop! Stop!”

“What? I can’t hear you!” Sapphire joked as she shook her head and leaned her ear closer to him.

“I don’t know who you’re talking about, you crazy bitch!”

The disappointment was overwhelming. Sapphire took an extra second before she pressed the up button and shut off the grinder. It wasn’t him; she knew before she started searching for him, but she wanted it to be him so badly, she had done a damn good job playing make believe with herself. She had conjured a suspect out of thin air.

Usher’s annoying voice once again interrupted her at work. She picked it up and looked at the display. Shit! She’d missed her lesson.

“You, shush. Or I’ll drop you in the meat grinder,” she warned Rath. “I’m so sorry, Marco.”

Silence on the other line, then he took a breath. “Are you okay?” he asked. “I mean, was there an emergency or...”

“Heeeeelp!” George Rath shouted and Sapphire quickly held the phone to her chest to drown out his voice. She turned on the meat grinder for a quick second, which immediately shut him up. Sapphire brought the phone back to her ear, giving Rath a warning look.

“Yeah, I was at work and my boss hit his head pretty badly, so I had to take him to the emergency room. That’s him in the background; he’s delusional.”

“Oh, is he okay?”

“Yes, he’s fine now, as long as he doesn’t do anything sudden,” she said staring coldly at Rath. “I’ll still pay you for the session.”

“How about you make it up to me by buying me dinner?”

Sapphire felt a sting in her heart for him. He sounded so hopeful.

“Um...I have to go, but I’ll definitely see you on Friday, right?”

“See you on Friday.” He was trying to not sound disappointed but didn’t do a very good job of it.