The Mistress: Book Four in The Doll Collector Series

Chapter 20: Kristopher

No. She is manipulating you. She knows how to work you.

But she is my wife, I trust her.

You shouldn't, she has Agent Valentine saved under Obstetrician. She is lying to you and you are letting her.

What should I do?

Teach her a lesson.

I can't hurt her; she is my wife and the mother of my children.

Is Jordan even yours, he could be Zach's. Maria did spend a lot of time with him. Is this new baby even yours? You came home to find Zach there and suddenly Maria was pregnant.

Without warning, Maria's arm felt heavy over me. She was home all day, taking care of the baby. She had plenty of time to get into trouble. She was always so paranoid about me cheating on her. They say when your partner behaves this way it is because they have something to hide.

I lied awake for the rest of the night. When the morning light broke through, I moved Maria's arm off of me and stepped into the shower. An anger had been born sometime in the night and had grown and matured deep within me.

As I stepped out of the shower and swept a hand over the fogged mirror, the face of the killer that I was, was staring back at me. Maria was still sound asleep in bed, so I checked on the baby briefly, before going downstairs. A light snow had powdered the ground overnight. With a windshield scraper, I knocked the ice off of the glass then cranked the heat full blast. I had tried to be good for Maria and had denied myself my only pleasure. No more, I would bend to her no more.

As I arrived at the station, I shut the door to my office and settled down into my chair. Madame Daphne had created a mobile app that disguised itself as a fitness app. Many messages had come in since the last time I had checked in. Many women, so many women, all searching for someone to fill their loneliness.

I blindly chose a screen name, sending a response, then to another woman and another. Their responses came quickly and before too long, I had a target. It was a woman of 40 years, named Marissa who wanted to meet tonight as her husband would be away on a business trip.

We selected a place, no dinner, no formalities, directly to the motel.

Before setting my phone down I searched for the name of the receptionist at the vet's office. Sofia. She was young, learning the ins and outs of veterinary medicine and a wonderfully delicious target.

Her response was almost immediate. I could work on her while I took care of Marissa.

I grabbed my coat from the rack and left the station. My boss here was nothing like Lieutenant Baby. So long as I had something to report, he wasn't on top of me, and liberty was just what I needed.

Delphi had not worked out very well because there wasn't a place to keep her. Maria would have found her, and you don't shit where you eat.

Living in Tulsa, there weren't many abandoned complexes, and it made me wish we had run off to Detroit. However, working in homicide, we had a long list of crime scenes. Many of those homes hadn't sold and were simply sitting vacant. Forensics had swept them, so they wouldn't be bothered by the police department anymore.

Some of the addresses had remained in my memory because they were crimes scenes I had investigated. The cases were closed, the homes were abandoned, and I had found a workspace.

One home was in the outskirts of Tulsa in a town named Broken Arrow. It was a mix of farmland and the home I was looking for, was a farmhouse.

It had been a murder suicide. Sad really, but oh well, their loss was my gain.