Don't Look A gift Horse

Kelly Stanley had begun to dress when the phone rang.

“Good morning. Are you Kelly Stanley?”

“Yes.”

“Congratulations Kelly. You're the winner of a trip to Hawii for two weeks. You will also receive two thousand dollars in spending money.

“I do. When do I go?”

“You will leave in two days, you lucky girls.” Charm trickled through the phone. “You can call to pick up your tickets from my office in the Plaza Hotel building on Flinders Street. If you call around five tomorrow evening I'll have every thing ready for you.”

“Thank you. I'll be there.” Kelly was excited to have won a trip just when she was due to begin her holidays. She hadn't made any other plans because she couldn't afford to go away on a holiday.

Kelly finished dressing in record time for her to rush to work at the shoe factory. She puffed when she rushed through the door at work.

“I won a trip,” she gasped. “I'm going to Hawii. All expenses paid. I will have spending money too.”

“Good for you,” said one friend.

“I wish I was the lucky one,” said another friend.

“How did you win it. Did you enter a competition,” inquired another.

Her smile faded.

The gleam of happiness faded from her orchid blue eyes.

“I don't know. This guy called me this morning to tell me I had won. He told me where to collect my ticket.”

“Sounds fishy to me,” said Sahara, acting catty because she hadn't been the one to win the trip.

The whistle blew.

The girls began to do their work.

Kelly didn't have time to discuss the trip with anyone at work.

She rang her mother to tell her about the trip when she arrive home.

During the next day the time seemed to drag until Kelly left work.

She made her way to the Plaza Hotel to collect her ticket.

Kelly walked up the steps a few minutes to five into the building.

She walked past shops until she found the office of Jordan Somme.

The office was near the rear of the building complex. Kelly walked into the reception area of the office.

“Hello. I'm Kelly Stanley. I have an appointment with Jordan Somme.”

The girl looked at the appointment book. “Will you take a seat. I'll tell him you are here.”

Kelly paced the floor while the girl went into another office. She came back out of the office followed by a handsome man with dark hair, golden eyes, and a trust me smile on his kissable lips. He had a taut muscled body with a great tan. Kelly would kill for a tan the colour of his. Jordan Somme was a man she'd always dreamed would be hers to keep forever.

“Good evening Kelly. You can come in, now.” Sex appeal bounded from every part of his body, and voice.

Kelly walked past him to enter his domain.

“You can leave, now, Jeanette. I won't be needing you any more today,” Jordan told her, then closed his office door.

Kelly sat on a chair in front of his desk.

Her hands clenched together on her lap to stop her trembling.

She had become very nervous.

“Can I interest you in a drink,” Jordan offered, walking toward the liquor cabinet, where a tray with an assortment of drinks in crystal bottles. “I usually have a drink at the end of a hard day. A sherry to celebrate your win.”

“A very small sherry,” Kelly accepted the offer. “I don't usually drink alcohol.”

Jordan poured her a sherry.

He handed it to her before taking his chair behind the desk.

He took a sip of his drink.

Jordan opened a brown envelope to look inside. “Your ticket, hotel reservations, and spending money are all ready for you. The money is in travellers cheques. I hope you enjoy your stay in such a heavenly place. I wish I was going with you.” Jordan smiled all the tine he chatted to her.

He watched her closely.

He picked up his glass.

He held it out toward her. “Congratulations.”

She lifted her glass to his, tapped the side, before they drank.

“How did you come here, Kelly. Car. Bus?”

“Bus.” Kelly began to feel a bit funny.

Her head began to spin.

“Well, drink up. I'll drive you home. There won't be another bus from this area for another hour.”

They both finished their drink and left the office.

His car was parked in the car park in the basement of the building.

Jordan drove patiently through the heavy traffic.

He brought the car to a stop in the front of Kelly's home.

Her foggy mind was fuzzy, and confused.

She didn't remember telling Jordan where she lived.

She couldn't remember much.

Jordan stepped from the car.

He opened the back door to take out a bunch of white roses before he walked around to help Kelly.

She had opened her door.

She tried to stand but her legs wobbled and gave away.

Kelly collapsed back on to the seat.

“Are you okay, Kelly,” Jordan asked, with concern in his voice.

“That must have been a strong sherry. My legs don't want to hold me.” She smiled, groggily.

Jordan leaned into the car to put an arm around her back to help her to her feet.

He kicked the car door shut before he helped her to the front door of her home.

“Where's your door key, Kelly?”

“In my purse.” She opened her purse to search for the key. She jangled the key ring at him when she had found it.

“Can you open the door?”

She flashed him a crooked smile.

She leaned forward to the door.

Kelly kept missing the lock.

The lock seemed to keep moving away from the key.

He placed the bunch of roses between his knees before he guided her hand toward the lock to open the door.

Taking possession of the roses he walked her inside.

He placed the roses on the table just inside the front door.

Jordan picked up Kelly to carry her to the lounge room.

Kelly dropped her purse, and the envelope to the floor to grab him around the neck to stop her falling.

“Thanks for bringing me home. I wouldn't have made it on my own.” Kelly kissed him before wriggling in his arms.

He toppled backward on to the couch.

He kept wriggling to make them more comfortable but there wasn't enough room on the couch for his plans.

Jordan pulled away from her. “Where's the bedroom.”

Kelly pointed to indicate the direction.

He kept kissing her to keep her mind occupied.

Jordan moved off of the couch taking Kelly with him.

He lifted her into his arms to carry her to the bedroom where he placed her on the edge of the bed.

He began to strip off her clothes.

Kelly fumbled with the buttons on his shirt.

Due to her woozy state she didn't have any control over her body movements.

Jordan stood to remove his own clothes, and shoes.

Both naked, Jordan lifted Kelly from the bed to fold back the covers.

He placed her in the middle of the mattress then climbed on the bed beside her.

Kelly's mind tried to fight its way through the fog to bring her back to reality.

To stop herself making a huge mistake but the fog was too thick.

Her will power to fight what happened had disappeared.

She had no control over her actions.

Some powerful force pushed her.

Controlling her reaction to Jordan with every fibre of her being.

To her dazed state of mind the sex seemed to go on for hours.

Some time later all the feelings left her body.

Kelly's mother arrived early next morning to see her daughter before she was due to leave for her holiday.

She knocked on the door but there wasn't a reply.

The key to the door was in the lock.

Kelly never left her key in the lock for any reason.

Kelly always made sure her doors were locked.

She turned the key then pushed open the door.

“Kelly. Kelly. Where are you?” Her mother kept calling while slowly making her way to the bedroom.

Everything seemed to be in place.

She opened the door to the bedroom to find Kelly in the bed.

“Kelly,” she called, not wanting to frighten her daughter. “Why are you still in bed. You'll miss your flight.”

She walked over to the bed to touch her on the shoulder.

When her hand touched the cold skin of her daughter she screamed. “Oh, my god.” She shook Kelly to try to wake her. “Oh, no, Kelly. Who did this to you.” Picking up the phone with shaking hands, tears blurring her eyes, she dialled the number for the police.

“Bondi Police. Sergeant Baker. How may I assist you?”

“My daughter is dead. Someone has killed my daughter.”

“Who are you. Where does your daughter live?”

“Rae Stanley. I found her dead in her bed.”

“What's the address of the house?”

“Twenty-four Meadow Drive. Please hurry.”

“Someone will be there in a few moments. Don't touch anything.”

By the time Rae reached the front door she heard different sirens coming toward the house.

The screech of tyres.

Slamming of doors.

Running feet.

Everything seemed unreal to her.

This wasn't happening.

She'd wake soon to find she'd had a bad dream.

A nightmare.

“Where is the victim?”

“In the bedroom.” The shock of hearing the words were too much for Rae.

She collapsed to the floor.

“Take her outside,” Detective Sorenson ordered, then continued on through the house to the bedroom with the coroner hot on his heels.

The coroner checked Kelly without disturbing too much.

“How long?”

“Can't be sure. At a guess I'd say about five, six hours.”

“Cause.”

“There's no sign of physical abuse. No bruises. No scratches. You'll have to wait for the rest of the results. But I have a feeling this may have been caused by some type of drug, or poison. May be a new way to subdue the victim before sex.”

Detective Sorenson walked around the room to see if he could find any evidence for his crew who were now searching the house for other evidence.

Something wasn't right.

Her body was lain out.

A bunch of white roses were placed on the bed beside the body.

One hand had been placed under the stems.

“Not another one.” Jake Robins stood in the doorway to the room.

Sorenson spun to face the person who had spoken. “Jake. What do you mean?”

“This is the third one. There have been others in other states. All the same M.O. But no one has been able to find the person responsible. The way the victims have died has been kept out of the papers. I heard the call so I thought I'd drop by. The flowers were with held in the hope he'd make a mistake to be caught.”

“How did she die,” he asked the coroner.

“A combination of drugs, and poison, I'd say.”

Jake lifted the bed covers. “You'll find she has recent had sex. The guy has aids.”

“He has?”

“Yes. You want a guy who has aids. Who has a desire to get even with any female. I guess he caught it from some female.”

“Thanks a heaps. Where do I find this person?”

“At the Plaza Hotel, probably,” came a voice from behind them.

The men turned round to look at the officer standing in the doorway dangling an envelope from his gloved fingers. In his other hand was a business card with the name and address.

“Where did you find that?”

“On the floor under the couch in the lounge room. This contains a plane ticket and some travellers cheques.”

Sorenson took the envelope from the officer.

He and Jake, left the house to drive to the Plaza Hotel.

They found the office after a short search.

Both men strolled into the office to talk to the receptionist.

They produced their badges.

She knew she had left her escape too late.

“We'd like to speak to Jordan Somme.”

“He left a message he didn't want to be disturbed,” Jeanette told them. “Can I help you?”

“No,” Jake butted in. “This is a police matter. We want to see him, now.”

“I'll see what I can do.” She picked up the phone to contact Jordan but there was no answer to her buzz. “Sorry. He isn't answering.”

“We'll just go in.”

Both of the detectives walked toward the door they hope was the office of Somme. Jake opened the door to find him slumped over the desk. He looked back over his shoulder. “You'd better call for an ambulance.” He moved quickly to where Jordan was.

He felt the neck for a pulse.

“Don't worry about the ambulance. He's dead.”

“He's left a note. It says, 'Life has become unbearable. Too much pain. Revenge is not sweet.' Wonder what that means?”

“He might be referring to the murders. Or to his aids. Someone has given him an orchid. The flower has fallen to the floor. I wonder why everyone has flowers,” asked Sorenson.

“To kill them,” Jeanette spoke from the doorway.

The both officers swung around to look at her.

Sorenson dropped the flower.

“How do you know?”

“I've watched him prepare the flowers, and the drinks, for his victim. He didn't know I knew.”

“You knew?” They stared at her in disbelief.

“Yes.”

“How are the flowers used to kill?”

“You breathe in the smell from close range.” She pulled an orchid from behind her back.

Jeanette quickly lifted the orchid to her nose. “Like this.”

She inhaled deeply then collapsed to the floor.

Both detectives raced to her side.

Felt for a pulse but Jeanette was dead.

On the screen of the computer they found written in capital letters, “THE BASTARD KILLED MY SISTER.”