When Leanne saw Cassandra murder her friend in cold blood, fear flowed through her veins like nothing she’d ever felt before in her life. Not even the scariest of ghost stories during Halloween as a kid had ever made her feel so terrified.
Her mind bounced like a Ping-Pong ball in various directions while her body froze like a block of ice. Then she began to shake uncontrollably. Although the leaves of the trees concealed her, she wasn’t more than a hundred feet away from Cassandra, if even that. As much as she wanted to run, doing so would only cause the rustling of leaves and the snapping of twigs that would alert Cassandra instantly. Besides, the sexy, but now obviously deadly nurse, knew she’d left in the same direction she was about to return in when she was close enough to hear her and Brittany arguing.
She then had the sudden realization that taking too long to return home might make Cassandra suspicious, so she took a deep breath and dared to emerge from the woods and into the house, hoping to put on her best acting job ever.
Act natural and breathe normally, she coaxed herself.
She stepped through the back door and into the kitchen. The room appeared dim at first after being out in the sunlight. She listened for any sounds within the house but didn’t hear any, and assumed that Cassandra was still in the garage.
She hurried down the hallway and into the bathroom where she then splashed cool water on her face.
Footsteps suddenly sounded outside the door, coming closer and closer. The knock that came next nearly caused Leanne’s heart to jump right out of her chest. “Leanne, you ok?”
“Yeah, but my leg isn’t healed quite as much as I thought it was. I’ll be out in a sec.”
“Ok.”
Taking another deep breath and once again hoping she could pull off her best act ever, she opened the bathroom door and stepped out into the hallway. She glanced in both directions but didn’t see Cassandra. Opting to head into the living room, she pretended to limp a little more than she had been earlier.
Cassandra was sitting on the couch, casually flipping through a magazine. For a minute, Leanne wondered if she was losing her mind and hadn’t really seen her kill her friend as easily as one might step on a bug. Without looking up at her, she asked, “Is it sore?”
“Yes,” said Leanne, trying to keep her voice steady. “I almost feel like I’ve been kicked in the leg by a horse.”
“Then I’d better have a look at it.” Cassandra tossed the magazine aside and looked directly at Leanne. Leanne had to fight like hell not to look away. “Sit.”
Leanne hobbled over to the couch and sat down where Cassandra had patted the cushion. She lifted her leg for Cassandra to see.
“Doesn’t look any worse to me,” the nurse said without touching her. “Want me to get you something for it?”
Leanne nodded and attempted a smile. “Yeah. It feels worse than it looks.”
“Okie Dokie,” Cassandra said as she rose from the couch.
She knows, Leanne realized. My God, she knows, and she’s going to kill me next.
Urging herself to remain calm and not jump the gun, she waited for the nurse to return with her pills. Her heart beat madly against her ribcage that she feared that it was actually audible.
“I need to leave early today,” Cassandra said as she returned with the pain pills. “Will you be ok alone?”
Leanne nodded in a way she hoped wasn’t too eager and swallowed the pills.
The nurse left to change into her uniform and then returned to where she sat on the couch, trying to act like she was interested in the magazine that had recently been tossed aside.
“There’s plenty of food in the fridge. Help yourself to anything you want.”
“Ok.”
“Any plans tonight?”
Leanne momentarily glanced up at Cassandra. “No, just the usual. Movies, reading, online stuff, and trying to stay off my leg so I can start my own job next week.”
When Cassandra went to kiss her before leaving, she feared she’d give herself away, but a moment later, she was staring at the closed door. Maybe she didn’t know she’d witnessed what she’d done, after all.
Leanne listened as the SUV pulled out of the garage and then she rose from the couch in search of her cell phone.
Where had she left it?
Oh, yeah. It was on the kitchen counter. She turned and headed into the kitchen, intent on calling the police and then for her parents to come and get her, but just as she was reaching for the phone, a thought crossed her mind. She had assumed Cassandra left earlier because she was going to dump the body somewhere, but what if she was wrong? What if it was still in the garage? If it were, the police may very well suspect her and pin the murder on her. Cassandra would undoubtedly deny it, and whom would the police believe? Her… someone who was basically a nobody with no life, or a registered nurse dedicated to saving lives and not taking them? After all, she was staying in her home, and Cassandra didn’t know her very well.
“I took her in because she was injured, officer, and had no idea she was capable of murder. I swear!” she imagined Cassandra saying. “I felt bad for her. She’d just been dumped and had lost her job because she was unable to work. I didn’t know her well and just thought I’d help out while she was so down on her luck. I should have checked her out first. I really should have.”
Leanne willed herself to keep calm and think. If she called her parents or someone else and had them come and get her, they would want to know why. She could tell them she and Cass weren’t getting along, but if she waited till the nurse was home to tell them the real reason was that she’d killed someone, that might look odd, particularly to the police.
She stood rooted to her spot in the kitchen for what seemed like hours. Finally, she looked toward the attached garage. Did she dare go into it? Curiosity finally won over, and she slowly propelled her body forward.
She placed her hand on the doorknob. It felt surprisingly cool. She slowly pushed the door open. For some reason, she expected darkness, but there was actually enough light streaming through the garage windows to see quite well. Without stepping down the few short steps into the double-car garage, she glanced over the entire space, slowly, from left to right. None of the boxes she saw was big enough to conceal a body.
Leanne closed the door and felt oddly relieved. Then again, what was odd about the relief in knowing you weren’t home alone with the dead body?
Back in the living room, she noticed the rat that had approached his door, hoping to be let out for freedom, exercise and attention. “Hey, Marshmallow,” she said affectionately.
The rat hopped out of his cage and explored the living room with the kind of curiosity and fascination that a person explores a newly discovered cave. Finally, he hopped up onto the couch and settled on Leanne’s lap.
“What should I do, Marshmallow?” Leanne asked as she stroked the rat’s back.
The furry critter looked up at her as if to suggest he was clueless and that only she could figure it out.
Leanne knew the proper thing to do was to report what she had seen. But she didn’t want to be implicated in a crime she hadn’t had anything to do with either, and if Cassandra really did try to pin it on her, what was to say the older, more established, and successful nurse wouldn’t be believed?
But what if she were next? What if Cassandra got pissed at her?
Or was it only those she felt were a threat to her freedom that she killed?
Had Cassandra really killed her ex-husband?
Questions, questions, and more questions!
Leanne was suddenly aware of the fact that she felt incredibly tired. So tired her eyelids felt like literal weights.
“Hey, babe, you ok?”
Leanne thought she was dreaming at first. She moaned and then struggled to open her eyelids. When she did, she found that she was still on the living room couch, only Cassandra was now hovering over her.
“You ok?” Cass asked again.
“Y-yeah, I-I guess so. Where the hell did that come from?”
“Where did what come from?”
“I felt so damn exhausted. Barely half an hour after you left, I felt exhausted as hell. I didn’t mean to fall asleep.”
“It won’t hurt you,” Cassandra said as she placed her handbag on the counter.
“My God, it’s already after eleven?”
“That it is, my dear.”
So much for deciding whether or not to turn Cassandra in that day. She felt almost relieved that the long and unexpected nap had made her decision for her, but she also felt like she was in deeper than she already was. Was this what the nurse had meant when she said she was already in too deep?
“Oh, my God, the rat? Where’s the rat? Marshmallow, where are you?” Leanne sleepily got to her feet.
“You had the rat out?”
“Yeah. Then I was hit with exhaustion like never before and fell asleep.”
Cassandra stepped over the rat’s cage. “Looks like he’s already gone home, hun.”
“Oh, good,” Leanne latched the cage door shut.
“Want a midnight snack?” asked Cassandra as she headed back into the kitchen. “Or an almost midnight snack?”
Leanne thought a moment. “You know, I really am quite hungry, so sure. That’d be nice.”
“Crackers and cheese ok?”
“Fine,” Leanne said, wondering if Cassandra had given her more than just a painkiller. “I can’t believe I slept so long. I’m going to be up all night now.”
“Eh, I wouldn’t worry about it. It was only sleep. Besides, maybe I can think of something to wear you out,” the nurse said suggestively, sending a chill down Leanne’s spine.
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